High School Course

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi,
I’m going to be an incoming freshman and I want to major in either Chemistry or Physics. I mapped out my high school courses for all four years to get a better flow, would anyone have any recommendations, tips, or advice? Thanks!

(*) indicates an honor class that covers AP material

Freshmen
Global Literature
H Pre-Calculus
AP Physics 1 (*)
Global Thinking
Studio Art
Chinese One

Sophomore
American Literature
AP Calculus BC
AP Biology*
AP U.S History*
H Chinese III
AP Chemistry
AP Physics C

Junior
Upper Mid English
H Multi V Calc, H Linear Algebra
AP Economics* (Micro and Macro)
AP Chinese*
AP Stats
AP Art History
H Organic Chemistry

Senior
English
H Senior English
H Physics: Thermodynamics, Waves + Electromagnetism (AP Physics 2)
H Advanced Topics in Math, Further Math: Analysis
Conservation Biology, Intro to forensic Science
H Anatomy of Revolutions, H Global Migration in the Modern Era
H Chinese VI

Summer Classes
Freshmen: H Chemistry, H Chinese II

2

Take a deep breath.
It’s good you’re trying to map out your 4 years, especially since many paths are sequential, but some of your choices aren’t possible.
For instance, dont try to take 2 lab sciences the same year, let alone 2 AP sciences.
Is AP Chinese equivalent to Chinese 4 at your school (its generally seen as level 5).
Do you speak Chinese as a heritage language?

3

Thank you so much, it could just be that just coming out of an admissions process is making me overthink this and possibly push myself. And to answer your question, yes our Chinese 4 is the equivalent of AP Chinese; I’m not fluent in the language but I have some prior experience and exposure to it, just not total fluency.

4

SUGGESTED CHANGES to make your HS plan doable and practical if your goal is, say, Harvard or MIT. In particular, you do NOT want to seem like an “AP robot”, who just stockpiles AP’s. They want 8 TOTAL over 4 years, that’s it. Or, as Stanford put it “it’s not a game of who has the most Ap’s, wins”.

Freshman year
Global Literature
H Pre-Calculus
AP Physics 1 (*)
Global Thinking
Studio Art
Chinese One

Summer: Chinese 2

Sophomore
American Literature
AP Calculus BC
AP Biology*
AP U.S History*
H Chinese III
Elective that is FUN and NON AP.

Junior
English Honors
H Multi V Calc, H Linear Algebra
AP Economics* (Micro and Macro)
AP Chinese*
AP Chemistry
AP Art History

Senior
H Senior English
AP Physics C
H Advanced Topics in Math, Further Math: Analysis
H Anatomy of Revolutions, H Global Migration in the Modern Era
H Chinese VI