Hi! I’m going into my senior year and will be taking 6 APs:
German
Calc BC
Physics 2
Gov/pol
Stats
Lit
I selected the courses earlier this year but in hindsight, I think it’d be best to drop one of them so I don’t drown myself in work and unnecessary stress, especially since I’ll also have to work on college applications. 5 APs is still plenty anyway—I “only” took 4 last year.
I’m having a hard time deciding which one to drop though. The first three are pretty much non-negotiable, so I’m trying to decide between these:
Gov/pol: would like to keep as a followup to APUSH. I’ve heard it’s not as bad as APUSH anyway, but I could consider dropping it if necessary.
Stats: I genuinely want to learn stats, but there’s no need to take a formal course for that. I can self-study specific topics on my own time if need be. Teacher warned that it’s not difficult but students assuming it’s an easy side course with little homework is a common trap. Thinking of dropping this one.
Lit: I don’t particularly like analyzing literature or doing too much assigned reading, but this is a logical followup to AP Lang. Also thinking of dropping this one. I’m mainly worried about the reading workload but I’m not sure how bad it’ll be.
Some other considerations:
I’m generally stronger at STEM and will be pursuing CS in college. Will be applying to selective schools.
AP Lang’s reading workload was okay last year, but I found APUSH reading quite annoying.
Gov/pol would have to be replaced with regular government and civics, and Lit would be replaced with regular English so there’s no flexibility. Dropping stats, on the other hand, might allow me to take a TA period (“computer science mentor” on transcript) instead. I’m not sure how that looks in terms of admissions though, as I’m already taking a free period.
There may be a new gov/pol teacher this year.
My school doesn’t have honors courses. I’ve had bad experiences with disruptive classmates in regular classes before, less so in AP classes. Most of the people I know also take APs.
I’m conflicted on whether to drop Lit or Stats, keep everything, or decide after taking the courses for a few days. Any thoughts? Ideally I should decide earlier for a higher chance of my schedule working out.
If you want to study CS in college, the likely effect of high enough AP scores:
German: possible higher placement in college German, which may help fulfill a college foreign language requirement (more likely in a liberal arts based major, since engineering based majors usually do not have foreign language requirements).
Calculus BC: possible second semester calculus, a typical requirement for CS major.
Physics 2: usually not if physics is required for the CS major, since calculus-based physics is typically required if any physics is required.
Government: possible general education requirement.
Statistics: usually not, since statistics required for CS is typically calculus-based statistics.
English literature: possible English composition requirement.
If you are stronger in science and math, you will probably find statistics to be the least work and least difficult, but it is also likely to be the least valuable in terms of usefulness of AP credit.
You may want to check the CS major and general education requirements of colleges of possible interest, as well as their AP credit listings.
AP Gov is a sleeper. Did not study a day for the class or exam, and finished each section of the exam with more than 30 minutes remaining. I still got a comfortable 5. It’s also a very interesting and engaging class, so I would recommend it.
Coming from a fellow CS major here, who is also much stronger in STEM that humanities, AP Lit was a KILLER. I took it for the sole reason of “having taken the most rigorous schedule, blah blah blah…” The readings were INTENSE (worse than APUSH imo) and it was completely and utterly useless for my future. I ended up not even taking the exam and barely scraping by an A each semester in the class, despite getting nearly perfect essay scores and a 5 in AP Lang the year before.
So in conclusion, I would strongly strongly STRONGLY recommend you drop AP Lit. Unless your school is wildly different, it’ll save you the equivalent of 3 APs worth of work and no college/uni will bat an eye.
I see 2 choices. 1) AP Stat is an elective. I am guessing you can drop it and not replace it. I don’t think you will find it difficult but dropping it will give you more time in your other classes. 2) drop AP lit but still need to take non honors English. It will be much less homework but it’s still additional work.
I don’t think it matters much either way to a college and once you are past midterms, your grades can slide ( a little). Thinking about you - I would probably go with option 2 because I am guessing you will enjoy statistics more than AP lit.
Having to spend a year in government or lit class with students who know little and care less sounds soul destroying. Keep those APs, they will give you an education. If you need or want stats, you will take it in college. You won’t take another lit class, so it might as well be a good one.
I’d still have to replace stats with something to fulfill my school’s schedule requirements, but it could just be a TA period or some other filler class.
Really appreciate the insights from everyone. I’m leaning towards AP Lit but given the mixed responses, I’m starting to think that it might be best to give it a few days and decide based on how the classes and teachers are at my school. Unless Lit would help my applications significantly?
Looking at colleges, MIT and Stanford don’t accept either one, and the local in-state only accepts Stats. It’s at least somewhat reassuring that as a senior, doing badly on AP exams isn’t such a big deal as long as I can scrape by with an A in the class.
AP tests senior happen after you get your admission decisions. They won’t matter at all other than possibly getting credit. And you will know by then where you are going and if it matters.
FWIW my D chose honors English senior year because she had 4 other tough APs (including physics C and chem) and she still regrets not fighting her counselor to do AP because the class was so boring. (Her school capped the number of APs). She’s a senior in college now and it still comes up, so that’s why I said to drop stats.
FWIW - my dd was told by her AP Calc teacher last year that most kids will see the largest improvement in SAT scores after they have a few months of Statistics. Proved to be true for my dd.
I also recommend dropping AP Lit. AP stats is actually an incredibly useful class. Both of my kids benefited from it very much as it gave them a strong foundation in stats. My eldest actually became a stats TA in college (not her major) and my son aced a different college course because he already had the background knowledge needed.
Keep Gov because it will give you a bit of balance. It’s regarded as an easier AP, but your schedule will still be plenty rigorous and it might keep you from getting stressed from your heavy workload.
I’m thinking I would drop Lit. What did you get on Lang? Don’t just base on the the 2 schools. Many schools will give 3 credits for a 3 and 6 for a 4 or 5. I think it is the same class credits for Lit but not 100% .
Are you only applying to 3 schools? There are many great CS programs that may give you a lot of required credits if you passed that many AP.
If you like Stats stay with it. As many others said it will probably be more useful in your life and major than Lit.
100% agree with not basing the AP credits on just a couple of schools. My D’s school gave gen ed credit for most scores of 3+. Those gen eds gave her a higher standing to register for classes, made room in her schedule to do certifications and concentrations, and in general take what was more interesting to her. She was very happy that she took so many AP humanities courses. The AP sciences, mostly had to be repeated for her major anyway.
At S21’s school he was able to get 27 required credits from AP (a few didn’t count.) Huge for Mechanical Engineering. He was able to start at Calc 3 and Physics 2.
If you’re looking at these types of colleges (among others), having a more challenging set of courses helps, regardless of your intended major. So I’d recommend dropping Stats or Gov if you think you can handle the rest.