Help please? Suggestions on HS Senior schedule

Parents Forum
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<p>My daughter's schedule is a killer and by this afternoon or tomorrow morning she needs to decide how to change it. She has 3 APs (Bio, Physics and Music Theory), 2 Honors courses (Latin, Econ/Gov't), 1 college level (Gender roles in Lit), and Calculus. Their school is on a 6-day cycle and because of the labs, on 3 days out of 6 she has no lunch period. On 2 of those days she doesn't even have a study hall--no free periods at all! </p>

<p>She can't drop/change the 2 Honors courses (Latin, Econ/Gov't), Gender roles in Lit, or Calculus. So that means she has to decide about the 3 APs.</p>

<p>She wants to keep AP Physics and Music. She's thinking of dropping AP Bio and taking AP Psych instead which would make her schedule a little lighter since she would have just 1 lab. </p>

<p>Or she could drop AP Bio without substituting another course but then she feels that her schedule is not strong enough. </p>

<p>On the other hand she could drop AP Music and keep Bio but she's enjoyed all her music courses, is looking forward to this one and thinks she can do well and keep her GPA high. She's in band and chamber ensemble which would fulfill the school's music requirement.</p>

<p>Other factors in the decision:
1. Rigor. I know that her GC will rate her courses as the most rigorous but if schools are looking at the transcript carefully, do AP Music and/or AP Psych look as strong as AP Bio? Also she's not planning to major in Music or Psych.
2. Colleges she's applying to and majors. One of her top choices is Cornell and since we're NYS residents she's looking at the colleges where we get a tuition break, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) or College of Human Ecology. In either school she would major in Biology, or, in CALS, maybe Environmental Science. Would her application look stronger with AP Bio? She took Honors Bio in 9th grade as well as the SAT II where she scored 730.
(She'll probably minor in Physics and may even apply to other colleges as a Physics major, which we can't afford to do at Cornell) </p>

<p>I wish her school would let students take more APs earlier--they can't take any in 9th &10th grade, and only 2 in 11th.</p>

<p>Any advice or ideas are welcome!</p>

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<p>My son took AP Bio, AP Physics and AP Calc as a senior, and it was a fiasco. And that was with only five courses total, and the English and history were elective type classes in areas that really interested him. I.e. not hard. Granted, he probably wasn’t as motivated as your D. </p>

<p>Personally, I think drop one of the two AP sciences and don’t pick up another class. AP Physics is pretty challenging. </p>

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<p>How strong a math student is your D? If she “gets” things intuitively, she may find the Calc/physics combo not so stressful. But if she’s among the weaker math students in her classes, she may find that combo too time consuming.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about “bio major or no bio major”. I think the issue is having a course load which shows off her academic strengths to their greatest advantage (i.e. if she ends up struggling tremendously in AP bio, what have you gained?)</p>

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<p>I just looked at the AP credit for Cornell in CALS see the link;</p>

<p><a href=“http://cals.cornell.edu/academics/upload/2012_AP_Placement.pdf”>http://cals.cornell.edu/academics/upload/2012_AP_Placement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Seems AP Music isn’t probably isn’t going to help her. AP Psych could give her credit. I would drop Music and either take Psych or not take anything. It would be a good idea for her to take AP Biology because she may find like my son did that Biology really isn’t what she wants to major in at college. Better to try and see now rather than once they are in college. Plus if she really is into Biology then she shouldn’t have a problem with that class.</p>

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<p>Can she talk to the Band or Orchestra teacher and drop one of those performance classes or switch to self-study, i.e. still attend once a week, self-study the music and still perform in concerts - to free up some more mods in the 6 day cycle?</p>

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<p>Is it AP Physics 1 or AP Physics C? If Physics C, are they doing a semester each of Mech and E&M, or a full year of Mech? There is a big step in rigor between those various levels. I would think AP Bio would be doable in combination with AP Physics 1. Only for some kids though in combination with Physics C.</p>

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<p>I agree, which AP Physics? AP Physics 1 is only half the material of AP Physics B I think, and might be doable, but AP Physics C uses calculus and might be rough as she’s learning it at the same time. And yes if they do both halves of the C curriculum that’s twice as hard. My kids never tried to double up on science APs. They did let you do AP Physics B (now 1 and 2) without a preparatory physics course, so you could get in all three science APs before graduating if you wanted to. They also did Regents Bio in 8th grade and most honors kids didn’t take Earth Science which helped with the scheduling.</p>

<p>What sciences has she had already? If she’s interested in biology taking AP Bio makes sense, but if she hasn’t had any physics course at all, that also makes sense.</p>

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<p>Just sent my third child off to college. What I found in dealing with their senior high school schedule was to keep in mind that maintaining a good GPA is crucial. Of course strength of classes matter, but better to have your daughter focus on what she will do well in and not bury herself. Also, some colleges do not accept the AP class for credit and then only with a 4 or 5 grade. My kids challenged themselves but also took the lower level class in what they were not strong in. This is a great time in her life and she should be able to attend classes without stressing out and missing all the wonder things senior year has to offer! Try for balance. Good luck!</p>

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<p>If I were reviewing an applicant who wants to major in bio sciences, the first question I’d ask is, “Why didn’t she take AP bio?” If she must drop something, I’d pick the college course, or else music or physics (if it’s her second physics class and it isn’t physics C).</p>

<p>I think that you need to judge the workload based on how junior year went for her, how strong a student she is, and how much time commitment she has outside of school. Just saying she has 2 days with no study halls doesn’t mean much. At our school, many kids don’t have any study halls.</p>

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<p>Study halls aren’t standard at our school either, however it’s rare that someone misses out on lunch. (Partly because they have a bizarre system of having half periods for lunch.)</p>

<p>Normally I’d say the big three sciences are more important, but if those particular schools have limited majors taking AP Bio might be a better bet.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the input! Update, this evening there was a Senior Parent meeting and we spoke to the GC, who says that seniors are allowed to go through a full 6-day cycle and then decide if there’s a course to drop. Previously we had just spoken to the scheduling dean who wanted to know right away if there was another course to be added but it doesn’t really seem helpful to drop & add a different course.</p>

<p>@Ynotgo‌ and @mathmom‌, not sure which AP Physics she’ll be taking but from what I know of the school I think it’s the less advanced one. She took Physics last year, really liked it and did well (a 93 or 94) which is why she wants to go further with it. In 9th grade she did Living Environment Honors and the SAT 2 Bio (730) while in 10th she did Honors Chem which she thought she’d like but didn’t.</p>

<p>Here’s the school catalog description which gives me no clue as to the course level but I’m an English major and haven’t taken Physics since middle school</p>

<p>"AP Physics (12) (Honors) 1 credit
This is a college level course in physics. The concepts of Mechanics, Electricity, and Magnetism,
Waves and Optics, and Modern Physics will be explored in depth to further the understanding of the
concepts of physics. The AP Physics examination is a requirement for successful completion of this
course.
Prerequisites: 1) Students must be enrolled in or have completed Pre-Calculus.
2) Honors chemistry/physics students must have a 90% average for the year plus
pass the midterm and Physics Regents.
3) Regents chemistry/physics students must have a 93% average for the year
plus pass the midterm and Physics Regents. "</p>

<p>@blossom, she’s a relatively strong Math student but not a natural-born math nerd, did our state’s 9th grade Algebra as an 8th grader, struggled a bit in 10th grade with Algebra 2/Trig but recovered last year with a good Pre-Calc teacher, ended up with a 93. Her SAT score in Math is 660, she’s much stronger in CR/W as well as in ACT Science and the verbal sections.</p>

<p>@Madison85‌, for music, band and chamber ensemble each meet once a week after school except for the week before the December & Spring concerts when they have several extra rehearsals. This is the 1st year that students can take it for credit and we were warned that consistent attendance will be very important. She doesn’t want to drop it because it was one of her favorite ECs, she likes the teacher who runs it (who really likes her too) and will probably be appointed band co-president this year.</p>

<p>@MichiganGeorgia‌, thanks for looking up the CALS page, we were at Cornell 2 weeks ago and have a hard copy of it somewhere in the house but not sure where.</p>

<p>@mathyone‌, not having a study hall isn’t the biggest issue (though most students in her school have them at least 5 days in the 6 day cycle), it’s the no lunch 3 days a week including a day when she has no breaks at all. She was given a card that gives her permission to eat quietly in any class except for labs but that’s not the same as a lunch break.</p>

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<p>That is essentially the description of AP Physics B, which has been replaced this year by AP Physics 1 & 2. (Some schools allowed concurrent enrollment in AlgII/Trig. But the AP Physics C classes would require at least concurrent Calculus.) AP Physics 1 & 2 is intended to be a 2 year sequence; however, some schools plan to teach 1 per semester. AP Physics 1 is intended to be a course that can be taught as a first course in physics, and would not normally require another physics as a prerequisite, though that is understandable during the transition. </p>

<p>If she has already taken 1 physics course (even if it was only a non-honors conceptual physics course) and her intended major is Bio, I think that AP Bio would be more useful on her applications than AP Physics 1. I also expect that AP Physics 1 (without 2) will be seen as less rigorous than AP Bio.</p>

<p>If this is mainly an issue of eating lunch in a class vs. eating during a regular lunch, I think that is a smaller issue than asking whether she can handle the homework load of the classes she has and get the kinds of grades she wants. DS17 has a 30 minute lunch, but most days he is in a club meeting, so may be taking minutes, doing debate, taking math club tests, etc while also eating lunch.</p>

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<p>Agree with Ynotgo, that sounds like it is not Physics C, which requires calculus and is more rigorous. Personally, I think it’s a waste of time to spend a second year studying physics without calculus. Most likely she would repeat the material in college so the main benefit would just to be more comfortable with it. I think she’d get more out of the AP bio. Also, she is stuck in the middle of this awkward AP physics transition. AP bio is probably a harder class though. My daughter took Physics B last year, and she felt it was pretty repetitive with the honors physics class she previously had. I understand that some schools use Physics B as their first physics class. She also took AP bio and did not say it was a lot of the same she’d already learned in honors bio. I think it went in depth over the honors class more so than the physics class did. </p>

<p>(Edit: Just looked back saw that she may also be applying as a physics major. In this case, maybe it is worthwhile to take the physics. She won’t get any credit for it though.)</p>

<p>At our school, first lunch starts around 10:25, just 90 minutes after school started. So it’s pretty common for kids to eat during classes and most teachers allow it. They do still get the 22 minute lunch break though.</p>

<p>Have you spoken with parents of older kids? The schedule you gave is certainly something that some students can handle, but it depends on the student and the workload at your particular school. Is it normal for students at your daughter’s level to take a schedule like that at your school? I think there are a lot of honor students at our school taking more than one AP science class as a senior but they can do this without missing lunch. </p>

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<p>if it were my kid I’d be having her drop the Physics. If she ends up a physics major she’ll need to take the proper college sequence- with Calc. If she doesn’t, she’s already got one physics class under her belt. She is going to find the Calc somewhat challenging and better to have her focus on doing well in it than floundering due to being over-scheduled. </p>

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<p>Both my kids did very well in AP Bio - even the non-sciency kid. I would say it’s not difficult in terms of concepts, it’s just a lot of material. Our school always has the AP kids get a jump on things by requiring some AP work in the summer. I know for AP Biology they skimmed through one of the AP review books. All this is to say I’m another vote for taking Physics in college. She’s had Bio, Physics, and Chem - it makes sense to take AP Bio.</p>

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<p>I’ll throw in another variable that was key for my kid - who is teaching? D opted not to take AP Bio because the teacher has a very low AP exam pass rate. She likes Bio, took “pre-AP” bio in 9th grade, and will almost certainly take it in college. But not this year.</p>

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<p>I would drop either one of the AP Sciences in favor of AP Psychology. Unless it makes a a big difference in her schedule, I’d tell her to keep the science she prefers (or the teacher she prefers) and drop the other one. There should be a big of wiggle room to allow for personal preferences even in a senior year schedule.</p>