High School Course List?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I've been planning out my course schedule for junior and senior year, and I can't decide which courses to take as electives. I've narrowed it down to around 8-9, but I only have space for 6 total.</p>

<p>Core Reqs./Definitely Taking
11th Grade:
Honors English 11 (AP Lang not offered)
CP US History (not taking AP; at my school it's a death sentence, especially with a seventh period)
AP Calc BC</p>

<p>12th Grade:
AP English Lit
AP Gov/Macro
Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra (college dual enrollment)</p>

<p>Now for the electives that I want to take:</p>

<p>AP Physics 1
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
AP Physics C (Physics 1 req.)
AP Computer Science
AP World History
AP Stats
Finite/Discrete Math (college dual enrollment; AP Stats req.)
Journalism (school newspaper; if there's a well-known school newspaper in the Bay Area, it's ours--it's very hard to get onto the staff, but if I get in next year, I may be able to become an editor senior year)</p>

<p>Also, I'm doing Colorguard this year; however, I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle it junior year. I will have to take at least one more year of it for PE credits. I love it, but it eats up a lot of time--Tuesdays and Thursdays you get back home at 6:30 instead of 3).</p>

<p>I do lots of extracurriculars (this year I'm thinking of doing Science Olympiad if I get in and maybe Quiz Bowl, I'm probably doing FTC, and I'm definitely doing MUN and NHD--not to mention all the other non-competitive clubs: 3D Printing, Biotech, Neuroscience, a Literary Magazine at the junior high...), so that's something I'll have to be able to manage. I'm thinking of getting a job at a nearby laboratory (as a research assistant; they accept high school students--one of the girls who's going to Yale did research there) once I turn sixteen--spring of junior year onwards. However, I'd have to be able to manage my time.</p>

<p>I definitely want to take the first three sciences, but I'm not sure in which order/sequence to take them. </p>

<p>My intended college major will probably be physics or engineering-related.</p>

2

<p>I don’t think it should matter much what order you’re taking those three science classes in. Personally, I took AP Biology sophomore year, I’m taking AP Chemistry this year as a Junior, and I’m planning to take AP Physics 1 next year. Biology wasn’t too bad, so maybe that would be a good place to start. </p>

<p>For picking the other electives to take, I guess it would depend on what you’re planning to have as a major in college, or go into in the future. In my case, I’m taking more science classes because I want to go into Biomed or Bioinformatics. </p>

3

<p>@awakeningvenus I’ll have to take AP Physics 1 junior year if I take AP Physics C senior year; and we aren’t allowed to take AP Bio as a sophomore. I’ve heard AP Chem and AP Physics are a killer combo, but so are AP Chem and AP Bio (AP Chem and anything, really). I don’t really like Bio (it’s my least favorite science), but there’s a 100% chance my parents will make me take it anyways. </p>

<p>I don’t know what I want to go into; I love writing (like, a lot–I hope to finish a novel and maybe get it published by the end of high school), but I love science (I’ll read Wikipedia pages on quantum particles for fun). Political science is super-interesting to me (hello, current events), but so is math (the satisfaction one gets when they finish solving a difficult problem is like no other).</p>

<p>Basically, I’m interested in a ton of things.</p>

<p>Oh, and by the way, another one of my activities is dance. Which, during competition seasons, takes up a lot of time. Like, a lot. </p>

<p>I don’t know, I’m having trouble finding a manageable schedule. I was going to take AP Physics and Chem next year, but I recently learned that that’s a nearly unmanageable combination.</p>

<p>I’m self-teaching myself several programming languages, so I’m not sure if I should bother taking the AP CS course.</p>

4

<p>Bump!</p>

5

<p>Bumpedy-bump-bump.</p>

6

<p>Bump bump!</p>

7

<p>I get six courses per year, by the way.</p>

8

<p>AP Physics 1 with AP Chem or AP Bio should not be an unmanageable combination, so I would suggest that for junior year. AP Physics C with AP Bio or AP Chem is pretty demanding, but that is also dependent upon the workload requirements that your teachers hand down. Nobody here will know that. </p>

<p>You seem to have a lot of time-consuming EC’s. For the sake of your sanity, you may have to forgo one of the AP sciences, and possibly scale back some of the less meaningful EC’s.</p>

9

<p>Im a sophmore… block scheduling anyone? I have it</p>

10

<p>Yes</p>

11

<p>I don’t have block scheduling. My school is annoying like that.
And thanks, @skieurope! I really want to take all the AP Sciences; and as I’ve already taken Honors Bio and I’m taking Honors Chem at the moment, I’d have to take CP Physics if I didn’t want to take an AP science (I’m not going to forgo any of them completely), but Physics is my favorite science by far.
I’ve heard AP Chem at my school is much harder than AP Bio, so I might take Chem and Physics next year, and Bio and Physics senior year. However, I might just end up taking APCS, AP Stats, or AP World instead of AP Physics C.</p>

12

<p>

If your intended major is physics or engineering related, Physics C would be mush more useful than any of the other choices.</p>

13

<p>My only problem is that both Physics C and Physics 1 are more mechanics-based, while I prefer modern physics. In addition, my school course “aims to get you a 5 on the C Mechanics test and a pass on the Electricity/Magnetism.” I don’t want to be taking the same course over again; and I find mechanics a bit dull, honestly (it can be interesting at times, but modern physics is infinitely more intriguing). I know that Physics C would be useful, but I’m unsure about the courseload. I’d have to take Chem and Physics 1 junior year, which, in addition to my other courses and ECs, is very intense (Chem and Physics are two of the hardest APs at my school; but at least I’m getting most of my standardized testing over with this year).</p>

<p>At this point I’ve ruled out APCS because you have to bring a laptop to school every day (I don’t know why they don’t just use one of the computer labs or geography classrooms; for example, my Engineering class has 30 computers, yet it’s used for Health in the morning. They could also use the school laptops, but oh well). It wouldn’t be feasible for me, as I don’t have my backpack with me seventh period, and someone could steal it. One of my upperclassmen friends told me not to take AP World, so my only other option is AP Stats (which, admittedly, I could have taken this year, but I opted to fulfill my Arts requirement using my Engineering course–it’s only being offered this year).</p>

14

<p>I have block scheduling! I love it. </p>

15

<p>I wish I had block scheduling. Eight periods a year would be wonderful. And more time to do homework.</p>

16

<p>@topaz1116‌ @tacoperson123‌ My school has 8 period, but we have normal periods. So it’s 8, 42 minute classes a day. Every day.</p>

17

<p>We have six 53-minute classes a day. There’s a 0 period and a 7th period, but you have to apply for those courses. The seventh period requires a lot of extra time.</p>