<p>I'm going to be a junior this upcoming school year. AP classes are not offered at my school until then. The past 2 years, I've taken all honors classes and doubled up on sciences last year (Chem w/lab and Bio w/lab). My question is what are AP classes like compared to Honors classes? I know they're going to be more challenging because they're college level courses, but what should I expect? Any huge differences? Things I should know?</p>
<p>Incase you're wondering, the AP classes I'm enrolled for this upcoming year are AP Physics C, AP Chem, AP Calc AB, and AP Lang.</p>
<p>Any information is appreciated! Thank you!</p>
<p>Honestly, it depends on your school/teacher. Some AP classes basically consist of the teacher assigning busy work and inflating students’ grades, while others are challenging classes that encourage higher level thought. You will probably have more written homework, math problems, etc. than you would for an honors class. Of course, you’ll probably spend a few weeks/a month before the AP exam review, which can feel tedious (although it’s usually worth it).
I took AP Calc AB last year with a pretty great teacher and found it to be both challenging and interesting. Math has never been my strong suit, but I managed to maintain 91-92 in the class and score a 5 on the exam. Some great resources for Calc AB are online videos. Consider checking out PatrickJMT and GetaFive. Both are free and offer plenty of examples following lessons that really help the concepts stick. </p>
<p>AP in classes in general are faster paced, geared more towards learning material on the test (usually with the last quarter consisting of final projects and free time), and more challenging. If planning to take them, definitely take the AP test at the end of the year which may give you college credit.</p>
<p>If you want more information on them, do a quick google search on them and potential differences</p>
<p>The advantage of AP classes is that (in general) they are closer to college-level courses and will prepare you better for your college classes.</p>