So my high school offers APUSH for sophomores as their first AP class. I feel like my schedule looks relatively weak because of my math and Spanish class level being only Enhanced Math II (Irvine Unified School District new math pathways) and Spanish II. My other classes are Honors English 2 and Honors Chemistry which is weighted but I guess that doesn’t really matter in the long run. APUSH is pretty rigorous, and I feel like it might cause me to drop my grades in other classes, but if I don’t take it then I feel like my sophomore year is weak without it. Help please?
How good are you at English, especially reading and writing? Did your social studies teacher last year recommend you? Or can you ask your teacher?
It’d be advantageous if you’re aiming for UCs since it’d add bonus points to your UC capped gpa (as well as uncapped, obviously).
If you feel you can get a B or higher in APUSH it’s worth a try. If you feel odds are you’ll get a C, don’t take it.
If you take some kind of honors history, you will be fine as a sophomore as far as colleges go. Like @MYOS1634 said, talk to your SS teacher last year and see what they would recommend. If you cannot excel, don’t push it. I have read many a tale of students who took classes they were not ready for (AP Chem/APUSH as a sophomore) and did poorly.
Also keep in mind that colleges aren’t going to punish you for not taking a college level course as a sophomore.