AP Environmental Science

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey guys!</p>

<p>I was wondering about AP Environmental Science. </p>

<p>Are any of you taking it, or have taken it?</p>

<li>Is it a difficult course?</li>
<li>Is it a fun course?</li>
<li>What does the course teach? What is its focus?</li>
<li>If I take the course, will it help me If i want to become a researcher, engineer, biologist, etc.?</li>
<li>Do colleges see it as a challenging course? If it isn’t, will they think I’m “slacking”?</li>
</ol>

<p>For some reason, I’m really interested in the course.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys!</p>

2

<p>I'll let you know at the end of the semester lol.</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>I'm very interested in the material (want to potentially major in environmental studies), so I didn't think it was a "difficult" course nor was it a "difficult" test. I got a 5, even with screwing up 1 out of the 4 FRQs. It depends, of course, on your school and the teacher.</p></li>
<li><p>Again, the fun part depends on your teacher. For me, it was really fun because we did lots of labs, went out in our swamp in waders testing toxicity on a regular basis, tested for e.coli and other bacteria in our school's drinking fountains, toilets, etc., visited my town's local sewage treatment plant and saw how it all works, went to the local marshlands, watched interesting movies, tested ozone levels in and around my school, had the "Veggie Van" come which is run purely off leftover cooking oil from local restaurants. It was a fun, interesting, low-key class where we all pretty much learned what we had to. Again, this was my experience... apparently they switched teachers at my school this year and it sort of went downhill.</p></li>
<li><p>I'd recommend having taken bio and chem (AP isn't necessary, at least a basic intro course though) first because a lot of the course is based around ecosystems and a lot of the toxicity, air pollutants, etc. sections is based on chemical makeup, so you need a foundation of these. After having taken earth science, bio, and chem, I appreciated having a class where I felt that the material we'd learned before actually <em>applied.</em> It covers basically everything - bioethics, population studies, poverty and wealth disparity, water cycles, rock formations, sustainability, national parks.. a breadth of stuff.</p></li>
<li><p>Researcher, yes, biologist, yes... don't know about engineer, but I'd imagine so. I just think, even if it's not your main interest, that especially with today's changing climate, that environment studies should be a part of everyone's education in some way. It just helped me understand a lot of today's issues more.. now I know <em>why</em> we have global warming, <em>why</em> third world countries matter in terms of environmental problems, now I understand what was said in An Inconvenient Truth or Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded.</p></li>
<li><p>I'll be honest, they won't look at it like they will AP Chem or Calc BC. It's rumored to be one of the "easier APs" yet the average grade is a 1.8 or something on the test? I really don't think colleges consider any AP classes to be "slacking", although it is known that the concepts in this course are generally easier. If it's something you're interested in, though, and you do well in it, I think they'll appreciate that. Just make sure you have 2 or 3 other lab sciences as well.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Hope I helped a bit! I'm super into anything environment related, as you can tell, haha.</p>

4

<p>Thanks a lot! Is there a lot of math involved in AP Environmental Science?</p>

5

<p>Not so much - there's some, but very simple ... usually 1 FRQ on the test has some sort of calculation, but it's usually something like finding the birth rate, death rate, population growth rate, or efficiency of electricity. No calculus or anything!</p>

<p>But if I recall correctly, there's no calculator allowed on the test, so any calculations have to be done by hand. Therefore, they don't give you hard numbers or anything.</p>

6

<p>a lot depends on the teacher
if your interested, you should feel free to talk to your current science teacher or whoever teaches APES to find out if you'll like it</p>

7

<p>All of my friends HATED that course. But it was mostly because of the teacher. They watched Soilent Green one day... didn't work hard. One kid wrote why his teacher was really lame and how much he hated the class on his FR.</p>

<p>He still got a 3.</p>

8

<p>LOL at ^! I heard it's pretty much impossible to get a 5 cause the curve is so low?</p>

<p>haha I'm procrastinating on APES hw as I type.... I'd recommend taking it senior year if you plan on getting senioritis. Although that could just be at my school..... my teacher's really cool and smart, but apparently half the people in the class didn't know it was an AP class when they signed up for it, so it's filled with a. bunch. of. freaking. morons. So the teacher doesn't really teach so much as give notes out of the book and lecture. </p>

<p>And I don't think I've learned much new material except for the fact that the apocalypse is approaching.</p>

9

<ol>
<li>Is it a difficult course? - Sorta.</li>
<li>Is it a fun course? - Yes.</li>
<li>What does the course teach? What is its focus? - Human effects on the environment, ways to save it, and health problems. </li>
<li>If I take the course, will it help me If i want to become a researcher, engineer, biologist, etc.? - It will teach you a lot... </li>
<li>Do colleges see it as a challenging course? If it isn't, will they think I'm "slacking"?</li>
<li>APES is challenging... don't let anyone give you the impression its an easy AP.</li>
</ol>

10

<p>at my school APES is the easiest AP course.. and easier than every single Science course that isnt Geology... I have to say its my least favorite course despite its ease because of the fact that I know I am wasting my time and havent learned jack</p>