I am a junior this year. My unweighted GPA is currently a 3.96 and I am number 5 in my class. Is this schedule challenging and comeptitive for college applications?
AP Language and Composition
Spanish III Honors
APES
AP Psychology
APUSH
Pre-Calculus Honors
I considered AP Biology instead of APES, but I have never taken a Biology class. I am still unsure about my science.
Soild 9.5/10. Points off for APES, but the rest of your schedule is rigorous and taking AP Bio unprepared would have been a terrible idea anyway.
Have you taken Biology, Chem and Physics? If not, take off APES and take Biology. Bio is a fundamental course- APES is an elective.
I beg to differ. I’d give this schedule a 6. I will go over the 4 flaws of your schedule. First of all Spanish III is a course usually for sophomores and freshmen. Secondly, AP ES is extremely easy and colleges will not recognize it as rigorous at all. TAKE AP BIO. Everything is re taught. Oh yeah, Psychology would be fine if you weren’t taking AP ES. You can’t have 2 easy APs lol. I mean, it’s not preferable. Finally, PreCalc…If you’re taking this junior year, take BC in senior year. If you’re not, it’s not that competitive. Everything else is spot on! 
@savagestudent7 Spanish 3 is usually taken by juniors lol
@savagestudent7 Spanish 3 is on level for juniors, just as Algebra 2 is on level for juniors. I took Spanish 3 sophomore year and some freshmen do take this class. I’ve also had friends who were in Spanish 5 (Honors) and Spanish 3- it depends on the level you were placed in.
Taking AP Bio without taking Honors or Academic Biology first is a bad idea. It seems some people forget that AP is meant to be college-level, no matter how the curriculum may have degraded. AP Bio is one of the top most complained topics in my school with it’s “mile wide, inch deep” topics, and a lot of memorization is required. Trying to learn all the topics in time for May for the first time nonetheless will make it difficult to get a decent or excellent score. While it can (and has) been done, why would he put unnecessary stress on himself junior year and risk his grades? He is taking AP Lang and APUSH so those are classes he will need to focus on. APES is a good starting class
@ethanwaters Taking one or two “AP-Lite” classes junior year followed by more Core and Elective APs (Math/Science like Calculus and Biology and European History, respectively) is a good way to see how you do in some “easier classes” while maintaining a good GPA. Taking AP Lang and Comp is also good practice for writing those college essays next year and a great benefit. Senior year can vary; some take more APs to show how much they improved from junior year and others drop a class or two while still maintaining a rigorous schedule. 4 APs to start out for junior year is great.
Thank you for the help. My schedule senior year should be College English (Honors), AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Music Theory, AP Gov/Econ, Calc AB, then some sort of Bio. The issue is that I need to take a biology class to graduate.
Okay so apparently it isn’t required to graduate, but do I still need a high school bio class?
It depends on what you want to major in. If you have extra space and want to take it, go ahead.