@mathyone ,
I talked to someone a couple minutes ago and he summed it up like this:
AP Bio- basically no homework, hard tests
AP Chem- so much homework, 1 hr, easier tests
Honors English 2- death
I guess I should start fearing English.
I’ve heard that colleges like seeing rigorous courses-- not true?
Yes, it’s true. However, just because your school offers every AP under the sun does not mean that you have to take them all. Once you get to 6-8 AP’s or their equivalent over 4 years, the laws of diminishing returns kick in; the 9th AP class will add nothing more to your college application than the 8th. You can certainly take more than 8 AP’s, but be realistic on how much/little of an impact each additional one will have on your app versus potentially taking away from non-academic pursuits.
@skieurope ,
I sure hope that I’m an exceptional snowflake. I’ve heard a lot about how colleges want passion, and I want to be able to see if chemistry will work out with me. If it does, I plan on taking more courses outside of school to make college life a wee bit easier. I’ve talked to a couple people and AP Chem seems hard, but no unbearably hard. I just talked to a sophomore who is taking AP Chem and AP Bio, and he was ashamed to tell me about it because he had an A (not an A+) in AP Chem. I have high hopes for this! Thank you for your suggestion-- I’m trying to talk to more people about this.
I think you shouldn’t structure your entire life around what you imagine will please colleges. This is likely to be counter-productive, not to mention spoiling your irreplaceable high school years.
Tell us, what kind of a student are you? Are your 9th grade classes a complete joke for you–do you get 100s without even studying when all the honors students around you are sweating it? Do most of your teachers consider you the best student in the class? Do you always score in the 99+ percentile on standardized tests? Because if this isn’t you, yes, I would be worried about heading into a train wreck.
@Keggin ,
Thank you for your help. I find myself very immersed in chemistry, and am going to work hard to keep an A in AP Chem. It’s true that there’s going to be some difficult ideas, but I am confident that I’ll be able to figure them out. AP Bio is also very interesting to me, and I think that it would actually be easier to grasp than regular Biology, which, in my school, skips a lot of reasoning to simplify it.
My teacher had students from APUSH come in and talk to us today. They both have A’s in the class, and they told us that as long as you study and work, you’ll be fine (which is probably true for anything).
AP lab is something our school does to give chem/bio teachers more time since we only have 50-minute blocks.
@swim1128 ,
What do you mean by prioritizing? (-:
@mathyone ,
I don’t really know how to answer this question, but I guess I’ll tell you how I’m doing and you can help me out:
ACT: 31 composite (8th grade but I’m going to retake, DON’T PANIC)
-33 science (98th percentile?)
-33 math (97th percentile?)
-29 English (oh man)
-29 reading (eek)
As of right now, a straight A+ student.
We recently took the state-issued PARCC test and I was 99th percentile for everything.
We took the ACT Aspire in October and I was 99th percentile for everything
Last semester:
Honors World History- 99.55%
Honors Algebra 2- 99.05%
Honors English 1- 98.53% (I had the highest grade out of all of my teacher’s students)
Chemistry- 98.04% (100% on the final!! My biggest accomplishment)
Spanish 2- 98.31%
Biology- 99.08%
Band- 100% (hahahahaha)
I do study for my tests by doing study guides, but I normally remember everything the moment I write it down. I guess I study to satisfy my nerves, but never to the point where I study more than 5 minutes.
Thank you for your help. I am very nervous about the upcoming year, but hopefully, I can balance it all!
Our high school recommends highest level math students take AP stats as a sophomore after honors geometry and algebra I and II have been completed. I am concerned about this recommendation. Seems others on here agree this jsnt a good idea.
@melb004 They’re probably doing that because students who are 2 years ahead in math won’t be left with anything in senior year after taking AP Calculus as a junior. But in general, it’s not a good idea to interrupt the math sequence with AP Stats, which should be taken either as an elective or in senior year after PreCalc or AP Calc.
@melb004 @goldenbear2020 ,
I was thinking that too, but now have decided to take Precalc. I also think that my school is adding on another class-- multivariable calculus. So after Calculus BC, I will still have a math course to take. (-:
bump? (-:
Sounds like you will be able to handle this schedule provided you have the time and motivation to work hard.