Course selection for Sophomore year of high school.

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1 
 I am currently a 9th grader who is selecting courses for 10th grade. I come from a poor Taiwanese family and am a first generation student. I am planning on getting very good grades throughout high school and taking demanding courses so that I can get scholarships because this is likely my only chance of affording college. Here is my freshman course load; everything is at an A+ except for Business which is an A because the teacher is not a fair grader and puts questions on her tests which are not covered in class. I am taking every honors class available for freshman. Biology is not honors because this is not offered at our school. Spanish 2 is technically a 10th grade class because I took Spanish 1 as an eighth grader.  I am taking choir to fulfill my music credit for graduation and business to fulfill my elective credit. I am also only taking Physical Education because it is mandatory.

Mixed Choir
Biology
Geometry Honors
Business
Spanish 2
English 9 Honors
Global History Honors
Physical Education

Here is my sophomore schedule: AP Euro is equivalent to Global History 2 and AP World is not offered at my school. I had to fight with the counselor to take AP Biology; I am one of the first sophomores to do so. These are the only AP's that I can take as a sophomore and I cannot take any electives because AP Biology requires extra lab classes. Once again, there is no Chemistry Honors at my school except for AP Chemistry which can only be taken after Chemistry.

AP Biology
Chemistry
Algebra 2 Honors
Spanish 3
English 10 Honors
AP European History
Physical Education

*Health 10 taken over the summer so that I can have one study hall a week.

Please let me know if these courses are too much or too little. My current EC’s are Math Club (even though I am a freshman, I am one of the best people on the team), Model United Nations, Fall Drama, and Spring Musical.

Also, please let me know if there is a way to get a reduced price on AP Exams because they are $90 or so a test which is hard for my family to afford.

2

The proposed sophomore schedule is fine. Whether you can handle chem and AP Bio concurrently is something only you (and perhaps your counselor and parents) know.

Yes. Talk to your GC,

Do yourself a favor - don’t blame the teacher. In the first place, nobody wants to hear it (especially for an A), and in the second, the expectation is that a person will accept credit/blame for his/her successes and failures.

3

Thanks @skieurope . This probably will be my only business course anyways because it was only an elective.

4

I think that’s the perfect course load for a sophomore. AP euro and bio are challenging, but they are good AP classes for underclassmen. About the exam fees, most schools offer fee waivers and with those you will only have to pay a registration fee which is $20.
Good luck!

5

Nothing wrong with taking 2 APs as a sophomore, but I would be a little concerned about taking AP bio without chem first. That’s a prerequisite in our school. Also, students tend to focus way too much on number of APs. Your life is not all APs. You need to think about the big picture, how many other classes are you taking, how much time do they take, and how much time do your ECs take? At our school drama is a huge time sink but presumably you know how much time it will take. Presumably you have some idea how you compare to some other students at your school so you should be able to get a better idea by talking to them. Those APs are both pretty hard but certainly manageable.

6

Looks good.

7

@tspmf12 Don’t bump old threads if you have no important information to offer.