Freshman Year?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi,
I'm currently in 8th grade, and I have been reading a couple posts on this forum, so I've decided to join.</p>

<p>So many people on this site are taking classes of super geniuses...12 APs, Calculus BC in Freshman year...what?</p>

<p>Anyways,
I am not super smart or anything, but am looking for some advice on High School courses.</p>

<p>I'm still debating whether or not to go to a vocational school or my regular high school, and after my parents and others telling me (and reading this forum), I've discovered people take APs FRESHMAN year. </p>

<p>My regular HS doesn't offer APs for freshmen; and for sophomores, the only AP is AP Euro. The Vocational school doesn't really list what courses they have online, and I haven't gotten the chance to meet with them yet, so I have no idea, but do you think it would be a good idea for me to take an AP course freshman year? I am very determined to do well! </p>

<p>Which AP class would be good one to prepare for maybe over the summer? I know I might do AP Chinese since I graduated last year with honors, but anything else? My school right now is evil and doesn't offer any math course beyond Alg. 1, but in HS, I plan on taking Geometry, then Pre-Calc, then AP Calculus. I have been studying hard to skip Algebra 2 since I had already taken a combined Algebra course in 6th grade...long story. </p>

<p>Also, what would a good schedule look like? One that could maybe get into the Ivy's, but not those extreme ones with 10 APs or something? </p>

<p>My HS schedule would be quite boring; English 1 (there's no honors english), Global Perspectives (no honors either for this), Geometry Honors (I'm surprised only 5 people in my grade got into this...), Spanish 2 Honors, Latin 1, Bio, Chamber Orchestra...nothing much for freshman year, so I'm looking to add some APs since I suspect freshman year will not be as busy. </p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

2

<p>CC is the 1%. I’m willing to bet some people don’t even fully tell the truth on here. </p>

<p>Take what you can handle, and what you want to take. Colleges will see what classes your school offers and its rules about taking classes (in other words, you aren’t going to be penalized for not taking an AP class freshman year if you couldn’t). </p>

<p>Each school has different classes, so just take something you think will be challenging, but also something you will do well in (and like). </p>

<p>Personally, I don’t believe there’s nothing wrong with not taking any AP classes freshman year. My school doesn’t allow it, and I think it was good for me to get transitioned to high school before taking on APs. </p>

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<p>Is there any particular reason you’re considering the vocational school? What kind of school is it exactly? (Where I live, most of the people at the vocational school are kids who want to get trade school certificates before they graduate from high school rather than going to four-year colleges. Of course, they can still go to four-year colleges if they want.)</p>

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<p>The most impressive people are probably the ones most inclined to post their accomplishments on the Internet. (Well, the most impressive people probably aren’t procrastinating on here, but the second-most. Or whatever. :P) I really don’t see the kind of stuff you mention all that much anyway. This site is mostly full of people saying they’re not as good as anyone else on this site. </p>

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<p>Yes, generally because their high schools let them. If your high school doesn’t, no worries…colleges don’t expect you to take classes your school doesn’t let you take.</p>

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<p>If your regular school will let you, sure. If they won’t, don’t bother. You’d be better off just taking the most challenging courses your high school allows you to take, and working on your ECs.</p>

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<p>What will you take in your senior year?</p>

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<p>Whether or not you can get into an Ivy League school probably isn’t going to depend much on your schedule. I mean, your schedule is one of the most important parts of your application, but everyone who applies to an Ivy League school is going to have taken the most challenging classes their schools allow them to take. You’ll have to differentiate yourself with your ECs, essays, recommendations, etc. </p>

<p>How many AP classes will you be able to take, given what your school offers? How many can you handle at the same time? I’ve read that you don’t derive much extra benefit from taking 10+ AP classes compared to 6-8. Here’s a [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1577928-impression-of-ap-classes-and-admissions.html]thread[/url”>Impression of AP classes and admissions - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums]thread[/url</a>] about it. </p>

<p>Why the Ivy League specifically? </p>

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<p>It’s better to skip Geometry. Algebra 2 is hard to skip since you learn so much, and you definitely wouldn’t have been able to understand all that stuff in 6th grade.</p>

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<p>Hmm it’s a lot to think about :confused: </p>

<p>I don’t understand geometry at all so I most definitely can’t skip that, but…</p>

<p>good to know it’s not weird not to be taking 12 APs freshman year</p>

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<p>Well you don’t really need geometry for any of the math later. You need to be very strong in algebra 2 for pre-calculus and later calculus.
But really there’s no point in skipping any of them; I am starting in 9th grade with Algebra 2, doing Precalc/Calc AB in 10th, and Calculus BC in 11th. But that’s only because my middle school had geometry, and my high school has HL Math, which comes after Calculus BC. You just want to skip these math years so you can be like the people you see on the internet. But really? There’s no need.</p>

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<p>No skip Algebra 2. You want to have a good class of geometry for the ACT.</p>

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<p>First of all, you need to decide what kind of education you want. Vocational school is generally for kids who want to learn a trade and get a job straight out of high school. Secondly, the vast majority of freshmen don’t take AP classes. And of those that do, I think many are taking AP human geography, which seems to be widely regarded as a very easy AP. I would guess that the admissions officers know that as well. Just take what your school offers in a challenging program and don’t worry about it. And don’t skip years of math unless you find math really easy, are super-motivated and are really confident that you learned the material well enough on your own. Oh, and, why Latin? </p>

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<p>To clarify: The Vocational School I am going to focuses on STEM. It’s actually a group of different schools; some focus on careers and such, but the one I am going to is a more vigorous STEM school. I want to go there because my high school math program is terrible (no advancements possible; my middle school didn’t even have geometry), and I am interested in becoming a dermatologist. The Vocational School offers many more science electives, engineering courses, and also allows you to place out of math courses. </p>

<p>@mathyone (is this how you tag people), I want to take Latin because I am genuinely interested in the language (I love learning new languages), but also because my school offers very few electives that are useful or even fun. </p>

<p>I am thinking of skipping Algebra 2 because

  1. I took an Algebra 1 course in 6th grade AND in 8th grade (moved; school’s math program horrible; everything else is better but the math is just…)
  2. I am really interested in the math, and I am really determined due to the fact that I have been retaking the same courses again…
  3. Since I already took Algebra 1, I am currently using an Algebra 2 textbook and solving problems, reading through concepts, as if I was actually taking the course. My math teacher allows me to do this. I am also thinking of taking an Algebra 2 course over the summer.<br>
  4. Isn’t there some Algebra 1 and 2 overlap? </p>

<p>Also, is precalculus viable to skip? I’m just wondering…I’ve been reading too many forum posts. </p>

<p>I don’t want to skip math just because of people on the Internet. </p>

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<p>If you are learning algebra2 on your own (does that include trigonometry? most alg2 texts have a few chapters on trig) and if you are comfortable with it, then I’d suggest skipping the alg2 class and enrolling in precalc at next convenience. See how you can do on some alg2 exams. If you are really into math and wanting to accelerate, you might be able to take geometry and precalc at the same time next year. But you’d have to convince your school and drop something, probably the Latin, so it may not work out for you. If you’ve self-studied alg2, it’s probably not a good idea to skip precalc, unless you’re pretty serious about self-studying math and feel you are really able to fully master it without any instruction. (Just to clarify, I think you might be able to self-study precalc if you are self-disciplined and very good at math. I’m not recommending just skipping it.) There are kids like that, but usually they’re pretty math-obsessed. Also, it’s not clear how much racing through the math curriculum will help you. Depends what options it opens up for you. </p>

<p>Personally, I’m not a fan of Latin unless you want to study classics. The way I look at it, any of the Romance languages will get you much of the linguistic insight you get from Latin while also teaching you a useful language that people actually speak. </p>

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I don’t think that’s too shocking. The standard math track would have had you in pre-algebra in eighth grade, so geometry would have been two years ahead.</p>

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I skipped pre-calculus two years ago by taking the final exam without taking the class. I got an A, but I was completely on my own learning the material and I procrastinated a lot, so my knowledge of pre-calculus is suboptimal and it’s been an impediment a couple of times in higher-level math classes. It depends on how you study and how much you’d procrastinate. </p>

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How about you don’t skip ANY of them? Just my opinion.</p>

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<p>If you want to skip the classes, make sure you completely cover the topics on your own time. Otherwise, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. </p>

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<p>Precalculus will teach you more trig than you will ever need for the ACT, so I think that suggestion may be null.</p>