AP Classes as a Sophomore

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi all,

I am a freshman in high school right now. My schedule currently is:

Honors Algebra 2
Honors English 1
Honors World History
Biology
Chemistry
Spanish 2
Band (3rd Highest school band)

I also do:

Speech and Debate (Public Forum)
Mock Trial (Attorney)
Club volleyball
Science Fair

My school does not offer honors science courses. )-:
Anyways, next year, I plan on taking:

AP Statistics
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Bio/Chem Lab
AP US History
Honors English 2
Band (1st Highest school band)

Along with the same extracurriculars and school volleyball.

My question: Is this going to be too much for me?

I haven’t taken any AP classes before and am nervous about them. How difficult are they? Workload? AP test? Thank you so much!

2

AP bio, AP chem, and APUSH are all usually considered to be high workload APs, and so yes it would be a lot of work. You should talk to students in your own school to see what they think because schools do differ. I noticed you dropped Spanish. You should look at foreign language expectations of colleges of interest to you. I would suggest dropping one of the science APs in favor of Spanish. That would make the workload more manageable and you probably need that Spanish for graduation and colleges anyhow.

3

It looks like you’re trying to max out on AP classes for the sake of taking more APs. I would suggest dropping AP Statistics and one of the AP sciences, and replacing them with Spanish 3 and Honors PreCalc. That would still be a very rigorous sophomore year, and you could take nearly all APs your junior and seniors years if you so desired.

4

AP classes are difficult, college-level courses. As a sophomore, the highest number that you should be taking is 2 or 2 at the most.

It is very easy to think “yeah, i can do 4 aps and sports and band and clubs” when picking out courses, but you will burn out in the middle of the year mostly due to your lack of experience in these higher level AP classes. It is crucial to be self-aware; are you really capable of doing 4 APs and your other extracurriculars, especially as a sophomore with no experience?

Anyway, here’s my critique on your schedule.

AP Statistics - Do not interrupt the calculus sequence with statistics. Take Precalculus next year, or else you will struggle in Precalculus later on. AP Stats should be taken as an elective math course.

AP Biology - Note that most AP Bio students are juniors, but it should be manageable (and a large time commitment!). Physics or Honors Physics may also be a good alternative.

AP Chemistry - I would highly recommend not taking AP Chemistry as a sophomore. You may have the prerequisites, but are you really capable in doing a college-level chemistry course next year, considering it is a very hard AP class?

AP Bio/Chem Lab

AP US History - Is AP Human Geography or AP World History taught at your school? If so, take those instead. Like AP Biio, most APUSH students are juniors.

Honors English 2

Band (1st Highest school band) - Band takes up a lot of time, so make sure you take that into account.

Where is your foreign language? Replace AP Chemistry with Spanish 3.

Here is a revised schedule that I would recommend:
Honors English 2
Precalculus (Honors?)
AP Biology (good luck)/Physics
AP Biology Lab
AP World History (if offered)/AP US History
Spanish 3
Band

Also, I had almost the same exact schedule in freshman year minus Chemistry, yet I only took one AP class sophomore year. You do not need multitudes of APs to succeed academically.

5

If you can handle that workload, take it. However, as others have pointed out, you should not interrupt your calculus sequence. You should take precalculus instead of AP Statistics, then you can take AP Stats junior year, if you would like. Two AP sciences may be killer, especially AP Chemistry, so you might want to drop one.

This is just guidance. It could be possible that you could handle the workload, along with ECs, clubs, etc, very easily. Be careful because you do not want to ruin your GPA.

6

You should really work with your guidance counselor or advisor to figure this out. For a normal good student, loading up on APs as a sophomore as you are proposing would be way too much and very risky. We dont’ know you well enough to know if you are a genius or highly gifted learner already. Your freshman year courseload is very average.I think you should take a more balanced approach and just do really well in your courses with only a few APs.

7

Very average? Maybe if the HS is Stuyvesant or Andover. I think that it’s a well-balanced challenging schedule.

The sophomore schedule, however, reads like the OP is simply an AP junkie. Proposing that schedule and not taking precalc and Spanish is being very shortsighted. I think @muufeen 's proposal is better for both the short- and long-term.

8

@skieurope You are right. I skimmed quickly in the wee hours and forgot what the freshman courses actually were by the time I was responding. Overtired middle aged parents should do a double take before responding. Yes, average if HS is Stuyvesant or Andover. Otherwise, it is impressive. The H Algebra 2 is most important to build upon in my opinion. My apologies to the OP, @emeraldhearts39 . I still stand by recommendation that you work through this with the advisors who know you. You are proposing an exceptionally heavy sophomore course load.

9

@mathyone ,
I could not fit Spanish into my schedule, but I am taking it outside of school next year. I plan on continuing into AP Spanish my junior or senior year. Thank you for your help!

10

@goldenbear2020 ,
I am starting to think about dropping AP Statistics for Honors Pre-Calc, especially since my ACT/SAT are coming up and Pre-Calc would cover more. I am also still taking Spanish outside of school, but decided not to take it in school because I wanted to take AP Bio/Chem. And yes, it does look like I’m trying to max out, haha, but I really do thoroughly enjoy biology and chemistry (I actually want to do a chemistry major now). (-: Thank you for your suggestions!!

@Muufeen ,
Thank you for your suggestions. I agree that I should probably drop AP Stats for Honors Pre-Calc because it just makes more sense, haha. I am still taking Spanish 3, but just outside of school because I wanted to take AP Chem. I agree that it’s most likely a very difficult class, but I really do enjoy chemistry (and actually want to major in chemistry, as of right now). I also am planning on going to my aunt’s college and acting as a graduate’s lab assistant to see what it’s like over the summer! So excited! Thank you for your help, though. I think that I’m going to take Honors Pre-Calc next year over AP Stats.

@IrrationalPepsi ,
I recognize you from like a billion posts. You’re like a legend (at least for me)! I am going to switch AP Stats to Pre-Calc because it does make more sense. The thing is that I’m not completely certain about how difficult our AP courses are because it varies from teacher to teacher, but I’m positive that I can pull a good grade in the two sciences. Even if I struggle, it’ll show me that I probably shouldn’t major in chemistry, which is my current plan. Thank you for your help!!

@skieurope and @dowzerw ,
Thank you for your suggestions! I am pretty certain that I’m going to make the switch from AP Stats to Honors Pre-Calc now, as it really does make more sense. I’ve talked to my guidance counselor before and he had a “yeah whatever do what you want I don’t care” attitude, so I’ve come here to ask for help. I’m nervous about taking all these AP classes, but I really, really like biology and chemistry, so I plan on taking both AP’s. I understand, though, that it’s going to be hard, but I will work hard to make it all work. I am also going to be taking Spanish outside of school to continue into my junior year. Thank you for your help!!

(And @dowzerw , your profile picture is very cute.)

11

Taking an additional class along with that outside of school is going to be tough. Yes, you can probably do it, but how are you going to feel if it means you have no spare time or if it means you don’t get the grades you think you are capable of? Only you can answer that. What’s the rush to do both AP Bio and Chem as a sophomore?

12

What is AP Bio/Chem Lab? I’ve never seen that course before! Is it new?

13

@theredqueen ,
It is just a corequisite for my AP Bio/AP Chem courses. Just to let the teachers have more time to do labs and tests. (-: It’s not really a course though.

14

@mathyone ,
Taking AP Chem now will let me max out the chemistry courses I take in school, which allows me to go find college chemistry courses to take. Of course, it’s not going to be easy, but I’m hoping that this is going to be a good experience. I also want to take AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C, and taking AP Bio/Chem now gives me experience before going into Physics, which is apparently very difficult at my school. Also, not a big deal, but AP Bio/Chem have a lab accompanying each, and each lab is 1 semester. It just makes it easier to juggle out my schedule.

However, I do completely understand your point that it’s going to be very difficult, but I guess that’s kind of what I’m going for. I’m planning on just taking this next year: (revised)

Honors Pre-Calc
AP US History
AP Chemistry & lab
AP Bio & lab
Honors English 2
Band

Outside: Spanish 3

Thank you so much!!

15

looks great but I strongly recommend you choose either AP Chem OR AP Bio not both at same time - it’s way too much. If your GPA suffers it will impact you far more than the benefit to be gained. Why not take a Chem or Bio course over the summer?

So AP Bio or AP Chem next year, then Junior Year AP Bio or Chem (reverse) and Senior Year AP Physics. If you can handle the load well you can consider taking AP Physics and AP Chem (or Bio) in same year. But you need very strong calculus / math foundation before Physics anyway. And Bio will be tons of memorizing as will APUSH.

16

Have you talked to older students at your school who have experience with this kind of schedule? I strongly recommend you do this. It’s hard for us to say, not knowing exactly how strong a student you are, how much time your ECs take, and how hard those classes are as taught at your school.

Also, you really don’t need to take college chemistry courses before college.

17

This is a very very bad idea. You have never taken an AP course so you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Many people advise not taking 2 AP sciences in the same year because of the workload, but adding on APUSH would mean many sleepless nights for you. Here are my takes on the classes:

AP Chemistry - This is considered one of the hardest AP classes. It has confusing concepts and a lot of math involved. I’m managing to keep a B in this class when I had straight A’s in Honors Chemistry last year.

AP Biology - I’m taking this next year, but according to my friends who are taking it this year, there is ALOT of memorization. I’m talking about 50+ flashcards for every test, not to mention the final…

AP Statistics - This is considered the easiest AP math course for most people. Should be manageable.

AP Bio/Chem Lab - Not sure what this is…? Not on the AP Website.

AP US History - The bane of my existence in 10th grade. Some people say it’s easy, and some people say it’s hard. It was hard for me because I hate history and could never get myself interested in what we were learning about, so I was mindlessly reading all of the chapters and ended up pulling a B in the class for both semesters. There is a ton of reading and DBQ’s are the worst…
They’ve also changed the way you take tests which is even more confusing than before: You read a passage and then answer questions based on the passage wand what you know from your readings.

18

AP Chemistry is pretty hard. AP Bio is mostly memorization. APUSH is a lot of writing. You would be able to handle it if you manage your time well. Maybe prioritizing your ECs would help with the workload.

19

Maybe I’m overlooking something, but here’s a novel concept: take college chemistry courses in college Use HS to take courses that your HS offers.

I have to second this. I personally believe that taking 2 AP courses with extra lab time concurrently as a sophomore with no AP experience is a train wreck waiting to happen. You may, however, be that exceptional snowflake that can pull it off. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

20

@meb1meb1 ,
My goal is to anything it takes to pull an A. I have the mindset that anything is possible (probably gonna kill me one day). The problem is that I have 3 physics classes that I’d like to take and 2 that I really want to take, so waiting until senior year to start is too late. Thanks for the information about a calculus foundation for AP Physics-- I’m taking calculus junior year, so there are 2 physics classes that I can’t take until senior year. However, our school offers AP Physics 1, which only requires a Pre-Calc or Algebra 2 background, so I plan on taking that. Thank you for your help!