<p>Next year I will be a junior at my high school. I had signed up for AP Chem and AP Physics B. Now my high school is telling me that it won't fit in my schedule (I have room, the classes just don't align). I'm not sure where to go from here, because my plan was to take these two classes this year (with Precalc Honors) and take AP Bio and AP Physics C (with AP Calc AB or BC) my senior year. Now that I am having trouble fitting these classes in, I'm not sure if I should self study or what? If that's even possible as I know these are tough classes. I plan to apply to top tier universities, and I would like to pursue possibly Physics, Chemistry, or some form of engineering. Because of this, I really wanted to show colleges my skills in these areas (I've taken basic honors courses in all these subjects and have received 95+). I'm afraid without these classes my chances of acceptance will go down. Any advice?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance. It's just killing me that all that's holding me back is scheduling.</p>
<ol>
<li>I’m possibly going to say this multiple times. If you think it’s going to help you for college admissions and doing it only for that reason, stop.</li>
</ol>
<p>While APs do look good, do the class because you like it.</p>
<p>Personally, I would start off in AP Physics C, but that’s because I can do the material.
If you know physics well already, or willing to self-study over the summer, then you can go into AP physics C.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not just academic rigor that decides admissions. It might go down minutely, but there are a plethora of other things that go into a college app.</p>
<p>I’m self-studying AP Physics C next year, but then again I’m also taking AP Calc BC online.
It’s doable, depending on the Calculus parts in AP Physics C.</p>
<p>I’m not doing this to impress colleges. I love science. I want to go into it. I’m doing this to help myself. I want to take as many challenging classes as possible and make sure this is what I want to do, and at the same time I do hope to impress colleges with my dedication and drive. With a possible career in engineering, I really wanna focus on physics, but I also want all of these classes. That’s why I may turn to self studying. Erggg.</p>
<p>Possibly Aeronautical, only because ever since I was little, space has fascinated me so much and I think I would enjoy either something with rockets or at least airplanes. After taking Physics, I really enjoyed learning about mechanics, so possibly mechanical engineering as well. But none of that is set in stone for me yet. As of right now, I just know I want to go into science.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you would take both AP Physics B and C, especially if you’ve already had an honors class in physics. It just seems extremely redundant to me. I would just not take Physics B, it doesn’t involve calculus which doesn’t give you a true idea of physics. All the physics you’ll be using in college will incorporate calculus, so I would hold off until senior year to take AP Physics C. Just my opinion though.</p>
<p>Well the way my school does it is you take Physics (Honors or regular) then you take AP Physics B. My school currently doesn’t offer a class for C, but I am close with the Physics teacher and have talked to my counselor, so it might just end up being like private tutoring a couple periods a cycle, but I’m not sure. This is what I learned in Physics this year and got a 97 on the final.</p>
<p>If I’ve mastered all that (well, basically) where does that put me? I mean, I guess I’d rather be overprepared than underprepared, but I understand your point about being redundant.</p>
<p>Well. I am extremely determined to take Physics C by the time I graduate. But next year I’m already signed up for Bio and Physics B (literally just declared this today to my school). Could I take both? Like even if it seems silly, would the redundancy increase my chances of scoring high on C?</p>
<p>Same thing happened to me junior year, except with Chem and Physics C. I reacted horribly to the news; I was raging. Ultimately I chose Physics C and because not even Bio would work with it, I took Art History (the only AP class that would fit).</p>
<p>I would choose Chem in your case and try to get Physics and Bio your senior year.</p>
<p>Actually… In my county you pretty much have to take Calc AB before Calc BC… It’s kind of an unspoken rule for some reason. Haha.</p>
<p>I don’t think taking Physics B would increase your score on Physics C, they’re completely different courses in my opinion. Then again, I have not taken Physics B, but from what I’ve heard it would probably only give you good background. Physics C relies quite a bit on calculus also.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about being under-prepared for Physics C. I didn’t take a single physics class before I took it. Haha.</p>
<p>I had a similar problem at my school; I had to completely change my junior schedule and sacrifice things like band and driver’s ed just so I could have the science classes I wanted, and I was assured that I would get all the classes I needed senior year. Well, we got a new person in charge of the schedule, and she completely butchered mine and was just like “Yeah…people have problems in their schedules but I can’t help you. Deal with it.” Fortunately, being the winner of the Renssalear medal at my school, I recruited all of my math and science teachers to get the person to fix my schedule. I still got bumped down to regular spanish instead of honors (when I very well could have taken AP) and have to take honors physics instead of AP (I didn’t have the prerequisite class I needed anyway), but most of the stuff I needed was there.</p>
<p>Yes, I would. A similar situation occurred to me when I came to my state in 7th grade. I was qualified to take Geometry in 8th grade, but they put me in pre-algebra. This also threw off my schedule because I couldn’t take French in 7th grade, and now I’m stuck in IB Math HL with a Calc knowledge.</p>