<p>I'm currently a junior in an uncompetitive public school, which offers only a few AP courses: AP Chem (took this year), AP Calculus AB (took this year), AP Eng Lit, AP Physics C Mechanics and AP Bio (last 3 are offered at senior year).</p>
<p>I'm going to sign up for AP Physics C (I don't have confident in taking AP Eng Lit, because English is not my native language, and I have been in an Eng environment for only 2 years), but I am also in a dilemma of whether to take AP Bio!</p>
<p>I have several reasons to NOT to take it:
① I heard there are tons of vocabulary terms in AP Bio to be memorized, which might be overwhelming for me;
② I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to get in pre-med or bio-related major; my tentative majors are engineering or business related (eg. Accounting)</p>
<p>But, there are also some reasons that I SHOULD take it:
① Taking it make it look like that I have a rigorous schedule, considering we don't have many other AP courses;
② Taking an extra AP course may make college admission think I like to challenge myself, thus increases my change in getting into a better college.</p>
<p>Please share some of your ideas! I really need your help!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH IF YOU CAN GIVE ME SOME HELP!!!</p>
<p>Biology is interesting stuff. I’m taking it next year for the rigor appeal, but also because I want to delve deeper into the theory of evolution and such.</p>
<p>If you’re going to end up getting a bad grade in it, it’ll probably be better not to take it. If you’re not very interested in it, then you definitely shouldn’t take it. That’s my opinion, anyway. Of course, you can still go ahead and take it for the rigor, but…</p>
<p>Is the option of taking college classes out?</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I will have a good grade as long as I work hard, but do you think an AP biology class will help me with my college application if my major is nothing to do with biology?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone who took it before found AP Bio very time-consuming? Okay to take with AP Bio and a college class of Calculus II? Not overwhelming?
Thank you so much!</p>
<p>AP Biology (with a decent grade) on your transcript will probably show colleges that you are intelligent, hard-working, not a slacker suffering from senioritis, and they will probably find it overall impressive. Naturally, it isn’t a deciding factor, and many kids are probably similar. Taking two AP science classes at the same time is very commendable, though…</p>
<p>And of course, classes that show that you’re interested in a certain major would help, but taking AP Biology won’t do anything to harm you. It’ll just do good, if you get good grades.</p>
<p>I took AP Biology in my junior year. I had a pretty fun teacher, so I consider myself rather lucky. Class time was extremely fun…actually, it was kind of free time at times. The homework, however…THERE WAS A LOT OF IT. Do NOT slack off, or you will regret it, especially if homework is worth more on your class than it was on mine. From my experience, AP Biology is quite the time consuming class.</p>
<p>If you add that with a college class with Calculus II…some people can handle it. I myself probably can’t. It could potentially be overwhelming and you’ll probably have to survive on about five hours of sleep (if you’re lucky) every night, but…it’s possible. Just almost definitely overwhelming.</p>
<p>I have to agree with Kagami that AP Biology in general is a time-consuming course. Personally I haven’t taken the class yet but from what I’ve read on other threads and from what I’ve heard most people say, they all tend to agree that AP Bio requires time and effort and involves more memorization than AP Chemistry. However I must point out that every school is different. AP Biology at one school can be extremely rigorous and thorough and a walk in the park at another. </p>
<p>If you are comfortable with math curriculum or you are confident that you can receive a good grade in a Calculus II college course, then I support your decision to take it. Otherwise, I would recommend against taking AP Biology with Calculus II if you think it would overwhelm you. Hope this helped a bit.</p>
<p>I think you should take it! It won’t be so bad if you take AP Physics and AP Bio, with a college class Calculus II. That makes admission officers happy, which is a good thing! =)</p>
<p>My mum teaches PhD studies in Engineering so I asked her… AP Bio may “look good” but in terms of being useful, it probably won’t help you once your in school.</p>
<p>However, depending on what kind of schools you’d like to get into, I would suggest taking it if you were looking at upper tier schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges would expect you to take two science classes, let alone two AP science classes, at the same time. Given your description of yourself as a learner, Physics does seem to be a better choice than bio. I’ve always maintained that Bio is more like a social studies or social science course, much more langauge-based than chem or physics, which seem to match up better with math skills (visual-spatial).</p>