<p>Ok for my junior year I can either take AP Statistics or AP Calculus AB. Word on the street is that AP Calc is wayyyy harder</p>
<p>ok so obviously I would be able to get a better grade if I took AP Stat</p>
<p>Would it look better on my transcript if I took Calc??</p>
<p>AP calc looks better. And Calc AB isn’t that hard. It’s more fun anyways, stats is boring.</p>
<p>depends on the teacher you have</p>
<p>then again, i’m in IB :(</p>
<p>yes. generally, hard sciences + calc ab/bc are regarded higher than others, and much higher than “ap lites” (enviro, psych, english). than being said, it depends on what you want to do and your teacher. any teacher can make an ap lite as hard as chem, for example.</p>
<p>For example, they will recognize the difference from AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC or AP Physics B and AP Physics C but ultimately they recognize that all AP classes require alot of additional work and reading. </p>
<p>They would also recognize AP Calculus as being tougher than AP Human Geography for example, and AP U.S History being more tough than AP Environmental science. Who knows what rating system they have in place or if there is even one at all. That varies on the college you apply to.</p>
<p>I think what grades you get in the AP classes itself and the exam scores ultimately impress them even more.</p>
<p>~ Theos</p>
<p>Take both!</p>
<p>in my view: Tier 1 (foundational) APs: Calc BC, APUSH, English Lit, any foreign language, Chemistry Biology, Comp sci AB
Tier 2: AP calc AB, Phys B, AP euro, US gov, Comp Gov,
Tier 3: everything else. </p>
<p>But any and all APs are good if you can take them.</p>
<p>^^I like and agree with this guy’s perspective on the difficulty of AP’s. However, I don’t think AP Euro should be in tier 2, but yeah, tier 3 does put AP Psych, envio science, stats, and etc in their place.</p>
<p>Nah, Euro & Physics are definitely tier 1, and Comp Sci tier 2. Calc AB is Tier 2, and everything else an AP Lite.</p>
<p>Euro was eeeeasy at my school. And somehow I managed a four on the exam (this is a bonus since I basically plan to fail the rest of my AP exams).</p>
<p>Calc is more interesting, take it, unless you think you’ll get below a C in the class</p>
<p>well I mean of course if you are comparing AP drawing to AP Calc for a business school. It’s all dependant on the university and college within that university you apply to.</p>
<p>Hmm . . . just registered for next year. I opted to take AP Bio over AP Physics. Did I make the right choice? One thing that concerned me was that some schools say they like to see “Biology, Chemistry , AND Physics.” As of now I’d have Biology (a science prereq at my school), AP Chem and AP Bio. Would it be better to take AP Physics and get the full gamut of sciences?</p>
<p>AP Euro was a complete witch with a B at Son’s school. It didn’t help that they did it all in one semester either… apparently there was a risk of blindness due to the ridiculously extensive reading. Now they changed it into a year long early euro and another semester euro that prepares kids for exam, but it’s not called AP. Then again, we don’t offer kids AP US History, but if you are getting a B+ or better in USHistory, you go to a few before-school classes to fill in some blanks on the test and you should be good to go. Son got a 4… not great, but not bad, especially as sophomore. In fact, we have quite a few classes that arent specifically labeled AP but kids take the AP test… it just pretty much confirms that even the “regular” curriculum is pretty rigorous.</p>
<p>S took Freshman Bio, accelerated Chem, Accelerated Physics, Advanced Bio and AP Bio. Had he not picked up the added humanities classes junior year, he might have taken AP Chem, but he hated chemistry. Did well, just didn’t like it. Of course, AP Bio is alot of biochemistry and he absolutely LOVES it. So much so, that he has actually switched from an econ/internal policy kind of kid to Bio!! Go figure.</p>
<p>I picked Bio over Physics, because alot of schools won’t accept the physics credit as a hard science, which is often why enviro science is usually considered a lite AP… That and that’s it’s a pretty easy test in general.</p>
<p>I’d find out if the schools your interested in will accept the credit, if not, I’d pick the one they do.</p>
<p>I was warned against taking APES (Environmental) because it’s apparently modeled after a semester-long college course, not a year-long college course like other AP’s are… so in terms of actually learning all of the material, it’s a little more watered-down than other AP’s. But honestly, if you have a passion for a certain AP, then that will speak more loudly in my opinion. (I ended up taking APES, loving it, writing one of my college essays about it, etc.)</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>AP Physics- not a “hard science”?</p>
<p>Depends on the teacher </p>
<p>Though I would take Ap Calculus</p>
<p>I consider Calculus (both), Stat, Physics (both) and Comp Sci to be on a different level since they require problem solving. APUSH, AP World, AP Bio, AP Chem while hard are almost all memorization.</p>
<p>To justify my list. I put physics B as a tier 2 because there is no calculus, and it is not that hard (esp compared to phys C). The “tier two” courses aren’t that different from the tier 3 ones, but there is a marked drop off in intellectual rigor. The separation by tiers was supposed to note a few things. The tier one is for the classes that are considered foundational, IE courses that one would normally be required to take in a liberal arts curriculum (except comp sci AB which is in there because I hear it is fairly difficult). The tier two courses are still fairly difficult, but are not necessarily foundational. The tier three courses are neither difficult, nor foundational.</p>