<p>Next year I'm taking AP Bio, AP Physics C (both EM and mechanics), AP Calc AB, AP Psych (a joke @ my school), Ap Government (both Comparative & Political), AP English Literature, and self-studying AP Environmental. Is this too much? Due to ECs, I don't get home until around 9 @ night and I'm worrying about being able to complete my homework. How much work are these? How many are you all taking?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t bother with environmental, because it those look like senior year classes, and if you are a senior then the colleges won’t see your AP Exam scores. A lot don’t even take environmental credit. One thing to considar is that each of those (except for psych) may be like an hour AT LEAST of hw each night, and so with your current schedule you are looking at seven hours of homework bare minimum… that means you’ll be going to bed at 4:00 Am, just putting that out there. Maybe drop something not related to your major? Or get ahead of the weekends?</p>
<p>AP Bio: Lots of work
AP Physics: Lots of work
AP Calc AB: Some work
AP Psych: No work
AP Gov’t: Little work
AP Comp Gov: Little work
AP Lit: Little work
APES: Could get a 5 after reading a prep book 2 weeks before exam</p>
<p>9 tests is a bit brutal if you don’t get back until 9pm. I’m taking 8 AP exams this May, and although I spend a lot of my time with EC’s, I do around 4-12 hours of homework every night. (I get back at 6ish, so sometimes there are all-nighters).</p>
<p>I would lighten your load a little, especially if you don’t get back until 9. You don’t want to look like the guy who takes all the APs just for a boost in GPA. I’d say just keep the ones that fulfill required high school credits (AP Calc, Gov, Lit) the ones related to your future major, and the ones you’re genuinely interested in. If it doesn’t fall under any of those categories, then don’t put yourself under hours of stress just to bump up your GPA .03 points.</p>
<p>$.02</p>
<p>It’s a balancing act. I’m taking 6 APs next year, however I’m adjusting my activities to allow the work req’d for the classes. Decide what’s more important really</p>
<p>Physics C may be a struggle if you are only in calculus AB.</p>
<p>It really depends on you, how long it takes you to do work, how much work is expected for these courses at your school. Talk with other students who are in these classes at your school to get an idea how much homework is required. For example, Vctory wrote AP Lit was little work. At our school it is the most time intensive and demanding AP course. It is much more time intensive than Physics or Calculus. It really depends on your school and your natural inclinations. You also need to think about how you want to spend your senior year. </p>
<p>To be honest, it looks look you’re loading up on AP classes for college apps. You need to be a bit more thoughtful and focused. Can you be more discriminating in your choices? Do you know what you want to study in college? Think which classes will actually help you after you get into college.</p>
<p>If AP Psych is a joke, why do you want to take it? If the answer is “for the easy A”, don’t take it. You may be unpleasantly surprised. It probably isn’t a difficult class, but it does require some effort. Take it if you’re interested in the subject and you think you 'll enjoy the class (calling it a joke suggests otherwise). </p>
<p>Physics C is very difficult if you are only taking Calc AB.</p>
<p>Take Physics 2, not Physics C, since Physics C presupposes calculus (ie, you take Physics C if you’ve already taken and passed Calculus AB). Take EITHER comparative or political for AP Gov (unless your school requires you take both). Don’t bother with AP ES and AP Psych.
So you’d have: AP bio, AP Physics2, AP Gov (EITHER comp or pol), AP Lit, and 2 electives or subjects you’re really passionate about.
Colleges don’t like “drones”, kids who “stockpile” APs just because they’re offered and they don’t know what else to do. You need to have 4 AP’s senior year (if you can handle them), 5 “core” classes, but also classes that show focus, or passion. Some of these classes may correlate with your future, hoped-for major, or with clubs - If you’re into science, are there science clubs (First Robotics)? If you like Literature, is there a literary magazine or a book club (or could you start one)?</p>
<p>Don’t overload yourself. It looks like you are doing this just for the sake of looking good on paper. I agree with some of the others, focus on one or two subjects you really like. </p>
<p>Maybe take away the self-study course. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself–you’ve got a great courseload already!</p>
<p>It is quite possible to take AP Physics C and AP Calc AB at the same time and do fine, it just depends on how well the instructors in your school coordinate. At our HS, the courses are structured to complement each other, and it really does help to take them at the same time.</p>
<p>However, taking anything beyond 4 APs (Maybe 5 if one is like AP Psych), is simply asking for trouble, and does little to impress colleges. If each AP is supposed to be the equal of a college course (I know, not exactly true), then you won’t find many college students taking more than four courses at once, 5 if you’re an engineering major. Virtually every elite liberal arts college expects you to take eight semesters of four courses a semester, so why would a high school student be expected to take more?</p>
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<p>Note that many high school AP courses cover in a year what a true college course covers in a semester (i.e. material is covered at half the pace). Examples include calculus AB, psychology, the government ones, physics C if mechanics only is a year long course, physics 1 or 2 if each is a year long course, environmental science.</p>
<p>In other words, a course load of 5-6 high school AP courses may cover less material per semester than a course load of 4 college courses.</p>
<p>You are correct, but HS seniors have other courses to take as well, which sort of evens the score. Plus, they’re not in college yet, they’re really not expected to be at college workload either, just showing good progress toward getting there.</p>
<p>Also, if there is little marginal benefit from taking more than 6 APs in HS, as discussed elsewhere, which is usually thought of as 3 junior year and 3 senior year, cramming those six into one year is just excessive and unnecessary.</p>
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<p>It probably depends on which AP courses are involved. If most of them are the more rigorous ones in core academic subjects like English literature, calculus BC, a foreign language, biology/chemistry/physics, a history, and an art/music, that may look better than if they were mostly the lighter ones like psychology, human geography, environmental science, etc… Also, some high schools’ curricula run up the AP count with duplicative AP courses, like English language and literature, calculus AB and BC, physics B (or 1/2) and C, or foreign language and literature.</p>
<p>Only AB calc? Go BC or go home! </p>
<p>But in all seriousness: It really all depends on your work habits and how cooperative your teachers are when it comes to distributing workload. In most of my APs, we get anywhere from the next week’s to the next two months’ of homework ahead of time so that we can manage our time. If your teachers do this and you take advantage of it, you can easily keep up with the work of many APs. This year I’m taking more APs than I’ve ever taken before combined and I feel LESS burdened by work because my teachers do a better job of letting us work on our time than my prior teachers.</p>
<p>Also, a note about Physics C since i see a few people saying that you need to have taken calc first: I’m not in it because I’m not planning to major in a natural science, however a lot of my classmates in calc (BC) are also in physics C and were only in precalc the year before. They sometimes know the clac topic we are doing before we do it because the physics teacher taught it to them. So it is definitely possible.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone! I decided to drop AP Physics and government, but go up to BC and take environmental as a real class not a self-study. Five will be better than nine.</p>
<p>I think you have made a thoughtful decision that will work well for you.</p>