I’m aiming towards competative colleges, like UC Berkeley and UCLA, but I’m not sure whether I should take AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC. If I take AP Calculus AB, it’d be easier for me to get an A and the GPA bump, which gives me a better chance of getting admitted into colleges. If I take BC, I have a lower chance of getting an A, but if I do, I’ll reap the benefits of extra AP credits, (compared to AB) and it’ll stand out more for colleges. I also trust the teacher who teaches AB and BC to help me understand the math well. Then again, I’m taking 4 other AP classes, (AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Bio, AP Chem) so I’m not really sure at this point. I talked to my counselor. When I asked her for advice about whether I should take AP Chem or AP Psych and AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC, she recommended the easier classes for me…and I’m not sure how to take that. I’m definitely going to take AP Chem. I’m just still unsure about AP Calc.
Go with calculus AB. It doesn’t really make a difference for admissions since it’s calculus.
HoVer, I would STRONGLY caution you against taking AP chemistry and AP bio together: thé time commitment due to labs, complexity and amount of homework, make the combination almost impossible. With the rest of your schedule, it’d be insane - remember you’ll have a hidden “wiritng intensive class” called ‘collège applications’ on top of it all.
In shiet, take either one.
For your last period, take foreign language, art history, AP psych or AP human geography (easy AP 's - won’t help with admissions but may help with rank if they use weighted GPA) or an original , ‘fun’ class such as Current Events or Home Economics.
Top schools only expect you to have 4-8 AP 's, TOTAL. DON’T overload your schedule ; make sure it’s well-balanced and won’t make you work on sleep shortage.