<p>Hi! So I will a junior and I'm going to be taking 2 APs next year as well as Honors Physics. I honestly think I should take at least one more AP because 2 is barely anything compared to anyone here, however I doubt I will be able to take Lang as my sophomore grade wasn't high enough. I really wanna take AP Psych because I'm interested in that even though a lot of you guys suggest self-studying it. Should I drop Honors Physics? I'm not nearly as into Physics but I planned on taking it so I could take AP Physics C my Senior year, which is required if I wanted to study chemical engineering in college. Do you guys think I should keep Honors Physics or switch it to AP Psych instead? I do have one period of study hall and if it all comes down to it I may just have to drop that, but I'm afraid it will be too challenging without. What do you think?</p>
<p>bump. 10char</p>
<p>Don’t self-study AP Psych. It is a very self study-able test, but in my own opinion, self-studying sucks. I’d rather focus on the classes I’m taking at school and receiving grades for. </p>
<p>However, unless you’re taking AP Chem this year, it’s important to keep Honors Physics in your schedule, since you want to be a chemical engineer. I, too, wanted to be a chemical engineer until two years of physics classes changed my mind. I realized I’m really not interested in a lot of what chemical engineers deal with after taking physics. Yeah, the classes sucked. But I’m glad I have a better idea of what I want to do in college now. </p>
<p>So, my recommendation to you is to take both AP Psych and Honors Physics. I know the study hall has to go now, but if you were thinking about self-studying Psych anyway, it kind of balances out. That is, unless you plan on taking AP Chem as your science this year. If that’s the case, take only AP Psych and keep the study hall.</p>
<p>@1question Actually I am taking AP Chem! I feel like I’m in the exact same situation as you were, in the sense that I kind of want to do chemical engineering but Physics doesn’t interest me all that much. Then again I wouldn’t really know if I’d like it since I’ve no experience in it at all.</p>
<p>I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to take Study Hall. Why do you suggest keeping AP Psych and Study Hall if I’m taking AP Chem? Is it because of the difficulty level and the amount of work Chem has? Taking Physics this year is the only way I’d be able to take AP Physics Senior year so I wonder if I should take both Psych and H.Physics. Does dropping study hall and taking them all sound doable to you?</p>
<p>Taking AP Chem, AP Psych, and Honors Physics is do-able. But keep in mind that your grades junior year are extremely important, and juggling to many hard classes could really hurt your GPA.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d take AP Chem and AP Psych, keep the study hall, and save Honors Physics for senior year. After I took Honors Physics, I basically knew physics wasn’t my thing. I just wanted to give it one last shot with AP Physics senior year, because I didn’t (well… still don’t) have a back-up plan to engineering. If you find out you like physics (or want to give it another shot like I did), you can take it first thing freshman year of college, with a background on the subject.</p>
<p>That’s just me, though. If you think you can maintain A’s in AP Psych, AP Chem, Honors Physics, and whatever other classes you’re taking, go for it.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m a quite scared right now that I might not be able to maintain all those classes without Study Hall. I’m taking 3 including Chem and Psych. I’m particularly worried about Chem because everyone says the class is a nightmare in terms of workload. How challenging was AP Chem for you? </p>
<p>Apparently the Chem exam is changing next year and can become easier. Regardless I suppose the class will be hard either way and I don’t know if I can handle all those 3. How many APs did you do and were you able to manage all them? Thanks a lot for your advices!!!</p>
<p>I actually never took AP Chem. Like you, I heard it sucked and opted to take the physics-path instead.</p>
<p>Sophomore year I had only one AP. AP World, and I got a 3 on it. I don’t think I did any homework at all sophomore year. It was a breeze.</p>
<p>Junior year was crazy hard for me. I had 3 AP’s: US History (scored a 5), Psych (5), and Eng Lang (4). That doesn’t sound too bad, right? But I had a bunch of other honors classes, too, including Physics. Honors Physics and Pre-Calc probably gave me more work than my AP’s. I hadn’t really had to manage my time before, so I was really inefficient until February. But now that it’s all done, I had great grades junior year and did well on my AP exams.</p>
<p>Senior year was also pretty hard. I had 5 AP’s. I haven’t gotten my scores back yet, but I’ll tell you my predictions: AP Physics B (4), AP Macroecon (4), AP Gov (5), AP Calc (5), AP Bio (2). I actually did a lot less homework and went to bed before midnight nights senior year, but I think my schedule was a little too hard still. My UW GPA was a 3.6, which is alright, but I wish I would have taken it easy. By far, my hardest class was AP Physics.</p>
<p>AP World is offered at my school, although I didn’t take it because sophomore year just sucked in every aspect. Boy do I wish I had taken it. </p>
<p>Your junior schedule looks very similar to mine. I’m also taking Honors Pre-Calc. I’m not doing Lang though, but if I keep Study Hall and I’d be taking Chem, Psych, and APUSH, which I suppose is about as hard as yours since I’m guessing you did a lot of writing in AP Lang and that’s hard. What did you think of AP Lang?</p>
<p>I’m probably not going to take Honors Physics but I do plan on studying Pre-Calc on my own this summer(online and with a tutor) to take AP Calc AB or BC junior year. How hard was Pre-Calc? Many say it’s merely simplified Calculus while others say it’s essential for laying a good foundation. How did you feel?</p>
<p>Congrats on finishing high school and good luck in college!!!</p>
<p>AP Lang actually wasn’t too bad for me. At my school, practically every non-ghetto junior took AP Lang (haha the only other option is Standard English), so the teacher didn’t make the class TOO hard. Most of the year we did focus on writing. Basically, to do well on the AP Lang exam, you have to learn how to write 3 essays the way Collegeboard wants them and answer SAT Critical Reading-style passage based questions. It’s really not that much to learn if you’re a strong writer. So if that’s your thing, I’d encourage you to take that. If not, then it might be a pain to learn. Lol oops, sorry! I feel like I keep excessively complicating your already complicated schedule situation.</p>
<p>I’d agree Pre-Calc was pretty important in laying a good foundation for Calc. My Pre-Calc teacher was really tough, but taking AP Calc seemed like a breeze after Pre-Calc. If you’re really great at Algebra, you could probably pull it off, but personally, I’m glad I had a really strong foundation for Calc. It was a lot less work senior year when you start to slack off, haha.</p>
<p>Your schedule seems pretty solid. You have 3 AP’s: one of them is the one of the hardest AP classes there is, one of them is easier and interesting. It’s respectable for top 20 schools, and it’s definitely more than hard enough for top state schools. I think you chose well!</p>
<p>Haha thank you!! Good luck with your crazy schedule :)</p>
<p>While AP psych is a fun and interesting class, I would still take physics if I were you since you want to be an engineer. Pretty much all engineering schools look for that in your transcript. If you can do both, do it! Also study hall is a waste, get ready for college and take another class :P</p>
<p>I’m already familiar with most of the algebraic concepts in Precalculus. My weakness lies in geometry and trigonometric which I will work on with a tutor. I doubt I will slack off too much Senior year considering I have no life anyways :P.</p>
<p>I guess 3 APs isn’t too bad. I have horrible ECs though and since I can hardly improve on that in 1 year, considering colleges don’t like a series of short-commitment activities, I have to compensate with academics. I like my current choice of Lit class for next year and I don’t really know if I want to take AP Lang. How much does having AP Lang benefit your application? It’s taken by most juniors and I’m afraid not doing so would make me seem weak compare to others, despite that fact that I have Chem and APUSH.</p>
<p>@matt0715 Thanks for your suggestion! I’m actually leaning towards your suggestion right now, because like I’ve mentioned already I will be focusing on academics these next two years. The thing is a lot of people have advised against dropping Study Hall and I can take AP Physics C without H. Physics, so I don’t really know if H. Physics is worth it.</p>
<p>Go for physics, I regret signing up for AP Psych now because it doesn’t match with my major, engineering.</p>
<p>Did you at least enjoy the class? I think Chemical Engineering is cool but I’m also considering Pre-Med and even Cognitive Sciences. Is Physics important for premed?</p>
<p>Also, how useful are Neuro majors? I heard Psych major sucks and gets you jobless but what about Neurobiology etc?</p>
<p>Just do what you think would be the most interesting, not what correlates most with your college plans - you have plenty of time to figure that out as a junior.</p>
<p>If you’re truly interested in psych, take that. It’s a fascinating subject and easy college credit.</p>
<p>Chiming in on psych. It’s a good pre-req filler for colleges, but unless you already have an interest in it, take the honors physics course. You’ll get more use out of it. </p>
<p>I wish I had self-studied and taken another AP course instead.</p>
<p>EDIT: Wait, you’re looking at becoming an engineer? How is this even a question? Take the Honors Physics, keep the study hall if you feel like the course load will be challenging. Save AP Psych for senior year; it’s a good, but easy AP class. You’re going to want to go easy senior year, trust me on this.</p>
<p>Well the thing is AP Physics at my school doesn’t require H. Physics as a prerequisite so I think taking another AP will be more impressive? I am genuinely interested in Psychology. Also I’m will be self-studying a couple of APs too since I’m looking at getting a AP Scholar award. </p>
<p>Who knows I might just have to sacrifice Study Hall. For the greater good.</p>