I’m starting 10th grade in August, and towards the end of freshman year, my English teacher gave me the opportunity to skip English 2 Honors and take AP English Language as a sophomore, rather than as a junior as I would have. I decided to take the opportunity so that I would have one less AP test to worry about when I was a senior, when I’ll take English electives or some other option to satisfy the 4-year English requirement. I also thought that taking a class only a year before I should have doesn’t make a huge difference in how well I’ll do in it.
However, after researching this class, I’ve seen many people say that it’s an extremely difficult class, it’s not manageable in sophomore year, and that one needs phenomenal writing skills and a background of at least two years of high school English to succeed in it. Now, I’m not so sure if this was a good idea. I’m not great at writing, so was it a bad decision to take the class? If you’ve taken it, how difficult was it? What did you do in the class? How large was the workload? Do you think it’s okay to take it as a sophomore?
Your teacher thinks you are up to it. Unfortunately, how hard the class is depends on how the teacher teaches it. At my s’s school one teacher assigns a lot more work than the other. Are you taking any other AP classes?
I took AP lang last year as a Sophomore. For me, it was fairly easy, and it taught me a LOT about writing essays and analyzing pieces. However, my teacher was amazing. But to be honest if you’re smart enough to skip a whole English course then you’re probably up for it. Who knows, maybe you’ll have just as good of a teacher and it will come easy.
Thank you for replying! I don’t know what to expect from the teacher, so I can just worry about that until the school year begins. I know that there are two teachers, but I don’t know anything about them. I’m taking 3 other AP classes-- Chem, Euro, and Computer Science.
Are you diligent about staying on top of your class work or do you tend to procrastinate? If you are bright enough, which it sounds like you are, you will have no problems understanding all of your AP classes. If you procrastinate (my s’s challenge) it could be a painful year. AP euro is a lot of reading and my understanding is AP Chem is a bit of work (my s is taking it as a senior.).
My s is a science type and was actually one of the top student’s in his AP Lang class. It is not literary analysis. It is about the logic of writing (rhetoric). Math/science types with good language skills tend to do really well because it really is about learning analytical and pursuasive writing techniques and using logic. He said he learned a ton about how to be a better writer.
I should add my s does not take AP classes to impress anyone or build a resume for college. He takes them to avoid being bored silly by regular HS classes. If you think a regular honors 10th grade English class will bore you, stick to AP no matter what your fears may be.
I’m happy to hear that the class is like that. I don’t particularly like creative writing, though I love to read it. I lean towards math/science with a love of books. I know people who are “science types” and hate English, but I’m not really one of them, so I think the class won’t be too painful.
I procrastinate a bit, but I stay on top of my homework… I don’t see why those two traits have to be mutually exclusive. I know what the courseload will be for Chem and Euro, and I’m okay with it, especially because I’ve heard that those two classes have great teachers. It’s only English that I’m worried about, because I know very little about it.
I don’t like when people do things just to impress colleges. I have friends who do certain things, or care about getting A’s, only because they want to impress whoever reads their college application, and that’s just a ridiculous way to live. The 10th grade honors class reads books that I’ve already read and didn’t care for, and that’s part of the reason why I chose AP in the first place. Thank you for your post; I feel a lot better now.