APs for a sophomore---URGENT!!

<p>Ok...so I'm going to be a sophomore nes year and course choosing coming up real fast and I need some expert CC advise!</p>

<p>So far here is what I know someone has done and I plan on doing: </p>

<p>(If it is pertinent to the issue at hand, I have all A's and A+'s this years, though I am not taking any APs)</p>

<p>1) AP Physics I
Accelerated English
AP Calculus BC (take pre calc honors in summer)
Spanish 3-4 Accelerated
AP European History
AP Biology</p>

<p>But do you think that this would be too "hard" as in take over four hours a day to get straight A's?</p>

<p>Also, I am going to take a colege class in Biology, so I think that I should be well-prepared for AP Bio, but I literally barely know anything about Physics. </p>

<p>On the other hand, I have 3 years of chem. experience, so would it be wiser to take AP Chem next year instead of Physics? </p>

<p>THANKS FOR ANY RESPONSES!!!
Greatly appreciated..!</p>

<p>I would go with AP Chem, then maybe go with AP Physics afterwards. And the college biology class, what year are you taking it?</p>

<p>It really all depends on how you feel:</p>

<p>I’m going to assume that AP Physics I means Mechanics. It can get sort of tough, but it’s not that hard if you have a good foundation in math and lots of patience and scratch paper. </p>

<p>For me, AP Biology was REALLY hard, and I hear that it’s supposed to be one of the hardest APs. Still, with your previous grades, I’d say go for it. </p>

<p>The most important factors are:
A) Whether or not those classes are taught by good teachers. This will make a huge difference on your understanding of the material and how long it’ll take you to study.</p>

<p>B) Whether or not you have other things to do. Do you play on the b-ball team? Do you spend hours each day practicing an instrument? If so, you need to make sure you have excellent time management before taking those APs.</p>

<p>C) Whether or not you are interested in those classes. Or, at least interested enough to do well. Because I love chemistry, I breezed through AP Chem last year. I originally hated APUSH, but because of my excellent teacher I did well. If you get stuck with a bunch of APs that bore you and make you feel like you’re wasting your time, you will be in for a world of hurt during sophomore year.</p>

<p>You will definitely have more than 4 hours of homework each night with that schedule. AP physics isn’t too hard. I went straight into it this year and am having no trouble at all. AP bio and AP euro are both memorization types of classes that require tons of notes, do if you want to save time I would take off one of those classes and add a much less time consuming class.</p>

<p>Also, there are very few cases where you’ll actually need four hours EVERY DAY to get As.</p>

<p>You should be prepared to stay up really, really, absurdly late on some rare days, though, when the homework suddenly piles up. That’s how APs work.</p>

<p>Edit: The four hours a day thing depends on how bright you are and how cruel your teachers are. I go to a school where lots of kids take lots of APs. The students who get straight As are hard workers, but I still don’t think they need four hours every day. Just my opinion, though.</p>

<p>Don’t jump from 0 APs to 4 APs especially of those caliber, especially if your high school is competent.</p>

<p>u will die in spanish AP the AP test is supposed to be impossibly hard…idk if thats ap at 3-4 doe…and im in physics honors right now as a sophomore its not hard and if its physics B u should be fine but if its c u will need a good teacher or lots of self study…the others arent terrible…bio really isnt that bad as long u have a good teacher</p>

<p>

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<p>yeah probably, especially if you take physics.</p>

<p>i would take ap chem for next year, since you have a lot of chem experience.</p>

<p>but why are you taking precal over the summer? you’re a sophmore, so precal is ahead. that just seems a little ridiculous for you to self study…i mean can’t you do something else? </p>

<p>btw, unless you’re really really smart, maybe taking ap physics without ANY physics knowledge is a bad idea (unless the class in your school is set up so you don’t need any prior knowledge). but since you’re a sophomore, isn’t there a physics honors class you can take? and then you could save ap chem and ap physics for junior and senior years. i mean, you do have two more years left after next</p>

<p>Don’t take BC without taking AB.
I think you make be in over your head. I’d pick three max, especially since you’re worried about your GPA.</p>

<p>Unless you have good time management, I probably wouldn’t take 4 APs as a sophomore. And why do you want to do Precalculus over the summer, and then head straight into AP Calc BC!?</p>

<p>Once again, thanks for your respsonses…I think that I’ll prob. Cut my schedule down.</p>

<p>1) AP Physics I is replacing AP PHysics B next year, and I believe that it is more spread out and easier. Also, this is the only level of physics my school offers for a sophomore.</p>

<p>2) Yes; I am in five different clubs and 2 different activities outside school, so I’m basically busy all days of the week.</p>

<p>3) I’m not going to self-study pre-calc over the summer, my school is offering a class. Do you guys really think that AP Calc BC is very difficult? I already have 2 years of Algebra, a year of geometry, and will have a year of pre-calc.</p>

<p>4) I think that I will scratch AP Euro off my schedule because it appears that the concensus is that it is a very difficult and time-consuming class. Can someone please tell me the averGe amount of time spent doing outside work in this class, and what score I should expect on the AP exam if I I study for about an hour and a half each day? </p>

<p>5) I LOVE almost all of these classes…I just hate Spanish…but I’m forced to do it…</p>

<p>6) If any of you have time, can you please tell me about how much work I should expect in each of my classes?</p>

<p>THANKS A LOT…</p>

<p>I also took the jump from no previous APs to 4 AP classes during sophomore year. My school has an unofficial policy of an hour of homework a night per AP class. This policy completely overestimates the workload in some classes, while underestimating others.</p>

<p>Work load varies considerably between teachers and schools. The best way to get a measure of workload is to ask students at your school who have taken the courses you are interested in. That being said, I encourage you to take the hardest schedule that you can manage. If you believe you can take 4 APs sophomore year, go for it.</p>

<p>Once again, you cannot jump from PreCalc to BC. You won’t even know derivatives, intergrals, maybe even limits.</p>

<p>From what I’ve seen, taking a math course over the summer and going into an advanced math course is a bad idea. I have a friend who took Algebra 2 over the summer before sophomore year and took Precalc during the year (usually Algebra 2 is the advanced Sophomore math class) and he ended up failing Precalc and having to retake it this year because he wasn’t as well-versed in Algebra as they expected him to be. Take this concept, skip Calculus AB, and you’re basically screwed for BC. You won’t be as prepared as you seem to think you will be. If your school’s AP classes are as hard as they should be, a jump from 0 to 4 APs will be really hard to handle already.</p>

<p>First of all, I know which high school you go to because I go to the same one. Anyways, what I would say is take one science (bio or physics), one social science(euro), 1 math(calc bc), 1 world language(Spanish)</p>

<p>Also I would not recommend taking precalc over summer. You’re going to run out of math courses knowing our curriculum.</p>

<p>I’m in AP Euro this year. I’d estimate I spend 45 minutes on homework each day for that class, and about four hours studying before a test (over two or three days). Every once in a while, we also have to do these things called Free Response Essays, which are in-class essays that you absolutely must prepare for at home - if you want at least a B on those you need to prep for like 3 hours…although I don’t know if all AP Euro classes do the Free Response Essays or is it just at my school…</p>

<p>In AP Euro, it isn’t really hard to understand the information. It’s just that you have to memorize a lot of stuff and memorize it in great depth.</p>

<p>Considering how many other AP/accelerated classes you’re taking, and that you’ve never taken an AP before, and the fact that you will only be a sophomore next year…I’d recommend that you don’t take AP Euro.</p>

<p>Also, I second the thing that other people are saying about Pre-Calc/Calc BC…you really should take AB before doing BC.</p>

<p>I would really recommend against taking AP calc as a sophomore. Very few students, even gifted students, have the mathematical maturity to handle it this early. Even if you’re one of the lucky few that does, precal over the summer is not going to give you a good basis to work on top of. Really bad idea. Do not do it. </p>

<p>Take a look at these recent posters. Very talented kids. Good at math and science. Took AP calc too early and wondering why their transcripts are messed up:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579402-ap-calculus-ab-bc-sophomore-year-help.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579402-ap-calculus-ab-bc-sophomore-year-help.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1579194-harvard-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1579194-harvard-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, this poster. Loaded up on dual-enrollment classes at a local college, was overwhelmed, fell into deep procrastination. Which is a common thing for smart students to do when they hit a brick wall:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1579418-great-test-scores-not-so-great-grades.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1579418-great-test-scores-not-so-great-grades.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Now maybe you’re the rare individual with the intellectual maturity to handle it this early. It seems plausible. (Then again it seemed plausible for the three individuals above, too.) What’s the payoff of finishing AP calc sophomore year? If your school is really exceptional they might offer one year of math above that level. After that you’re either taking no math, or taking upper level math courses of dubious quality at your local community college or directional U. And you’ll probably have to retake those anyway in college because 1) better math departments require it anyway as a matter of policy, and 2) you’d likely be doing dual-enrollment classes at a very low-ranked institution, but you’ll likely be admitted to college at a high-ranked institution. Courses at your future institution will not be commensurable in quality, rigor or content with your dual enrollment courses. So freshman year you’ll be taking calc 3 and linear algebra, just like you would if you hadn’t taken AP calc sophomore year.</p>

<p>Lastly, consider this essay, which makes a strong case that rushing to calculus is not the best way to build your math skills. </p>

<p>[The</a> Calculus Trap](<a href=“Don’t Fall into the Calculus Trap”>Don’t Fall into the Calculus Trap)</p>

<p>Consider doing precalc next year, using your spare time to do enrichment activities - maybe math team, or self-study in areas like discrete mathematics.</p>

<p>^ I’m a sophomore taking AP Calc AB this semester and BC next and I have the highest grade in the class. It’s not even like an easy teacher, my teacher gives out ~3 hours of homework every night, but she has a 100% AP passing (4+ actually) rate for her class.</p>

<p>but regardless, you definitely need to take AB before BC
unless they teach AB along with BC, I have no idea how your school works</p>

<p>I jumped from 0 APs freshman year to 4 this year, but they’re easier APs, but you will definitely have at least 3 hours of homework some days.</p>

<p>Calc BC is a breeze IF you’ve had Calc AB. I’d say about 2/3 is repeated. I wouldn’t do 4 APs…do 3 so you have a life outside of studying! At my school, AP Bio is one of the hardest classes and AP Euro Hx is pretty easy. I would opt for AP Chem over AP Bio for sure. Good luck deciding.</p>