So, I’m a current HS freshman who is planning on taking 5 AP classes next year (provided that I am able to successfully self-study AP Calc AB this year). I’ve asked people in my school how difficult it is to do that and almost all of them told me that it’s a near-impossibility, which is somewhat concerning. These are the ones I’m planning on taking: AP Biology (year-long), AP English Language and Composition (year-long), AP U.S. History (year-long), AP Physics 1 (only AP offered first semester), and AP Calculus BC (second semester). I’m generally a good student with a good work ethic (I would say I’m academically at the level of a top 20 percentile CCer and FWIW, I’m shooting for HYPSM), and I’m very confident on being able to earn As in all of these classes, but I feel like I may be underestimating how much work needs to put in for these classes. I’d like to compete in competitions like the USABO and AMC 10 next year, so I really want to know the feasibility of doing well in these classes while also being successful in these competitions. I’d really like your thoughts on how much time this courseload would take up and whether or not you recommend doing this.
If you are actually serious…
Don’t do this.
- You are a freshman in HS. You need to get a feel for the jump in the level of work.
- It is okay to be a kid.
- What would be your plan if you are taking Junior level english as a freshman? What would you take next?
- College don’t expect this
- Are you in the right school?
- If you are this crazy smart, what will you do junior/senior years? go to community college?
- If you are not ready for all of this, and you do poorly, your GPA will follow you
I would suggest taking an honors track (maybe with advanced math) for freshman year.
See how that goes.
English: Honors 9th grade English
Math: You may be ready for Calc…why not just take Calc AB
Science: Honors Bio
SS: Honors US history
Foriegn Language
If you excel, then add more APs .
Whoa! What’s the rush? Our school doesn’t even offer more than one or two APs for 9th graders. I will say, we limited my son to 1 AP that year, and it turned out we should have let him take both, but five? And you want to have time for ECs?
Just don’t. Kids these days have way, way more work than I did when I was in high school. Did my education suffer? Not a bit. Focus on who you want to be, not the school you want to go to.
Is this a belated April’s Fools?
Having read (and participated in) some of the OP’s other threads, I’d say no.
@skompella9892 There have been statements made by admissions officers at elite schools like Stanford and MIT that basically say that admission is not a case of “he who has the most APs wins.” Beyond 6-8 (year-long) judiciously chosen AP courses, diminishing returns start to set in.
My kid, a current sophomore, is taking 2 APs, one of which is Calc BC. For that course, she typically has 2 hours of homework per night. APUSH is also a very time consuming AP as is AP Bio which is heavy on memorization.
I have never heard of Calc BC being offered as a one-semester course. Is that even possible at your school?
As a sophomore two AP courses should be sufficient, especially if you haven’t had any before. I recommend Calc AB or BC (assuming you are currently in pre-calc and doing well) and either APUSH or AP Bio but not both. Depending on how well you manage those, you can then plan your AP schedule for junior year based on personal experience.
@bopper @Trixy34 I believe that both of you believe that this is what I was planning on taking freshman year. To clarify, I’m a current HS freshman who will be taking these classes in my sophomore year. As a freshman, I am currently taking two AP classes (AP CSP and AP World; I’m self-studying two more, and those are AP Psychology and AP Calculus AB), so I would say that I am somewhat familiar with the rigor of AP classes. Also @bopper, I have already completed Biology, 9th Grade English (English I), and Spanish I in middle school by testing out of them or taking them in a classroom setting, so I’m not taking them this year.
@mamaedefamilia Thanks for the input! Also yes, our school offers Calc BC as a one-semester course because of it involving a lot of Calc AB (which is a prereq for BC).
Colleges don’t like self studying - they want you in a classroom, participating, taking tests, doing group work.
Right now, you run the risk of being evaluated as an AP drone, a kid who’s hoarding APs for the sake of counting how many he’s taken, so don’t do it. Stop with the self studying (or don’t do it next year since I assume you already registered for AP tests - take them and do well).
First; what’s your plan? THere needs to be consistency, the whole HS plan needs to make sense.
List the three years of classes you plan on taking for each subject:
English:
Math:
Foreign Language:
Science:
Social Science:
Personal picks:
I would highly recommend taking ab calc in school. You are far ahead and Calculus really requires a very strong foundation. Not taking English is not a good idea whether you took it in middle school or not. Many colleges will not look at MS grades for HS classes although they are on your transcript. While being ahead is good, too far ahead is not always the wisest. You also should be taking a foreign language.
@MYOS1634 Typed this from memory, but it’s most likely accurate:
GR - Graduation Requirement
7TH GRADE
- Math 1 Honors (GR)
8TH GRADE
- Math 2 Honors (GR)
- English I Honors (GR)
- Spanish I (GR)
- Biology (GR; tested out of this)
- Earth and Environmental Science (GR; tested out of this)
- World History (GR; tested out of this)
9TH GRADE
- Math 3 Honors (GR)
- English II Honors (GR)
- Civics and Economics Honors (GR)
- Health and Physical Education (GR)
- Precalculus Honors (GR)
- AP Computer Science Principles
- AP World History (GR, but already covered with normal World History in 8th grade)
- Chemistry Honors (GR)
- AP Calculus AB (self-study)
- AP Psychology (self-study)
- Spanish II (summer course)
10TH GRADE
- AP English Language and Composition (year-long; English III GR covered with this)
- AP U.S. History (year-long; American History I and American History II GRs covered with this)
- AP Biology (year-long)
- AP Physics 1 (1st semester)
- AP Calculus AB (2nd semester)
- Spanish III Honors (summer course)
- Maybe self-study AP Environmental Science but not sure because it might be too much with my schedule (probably not after considering what you told me)
11TH GRADE
- AP Chemistry (year-long)
- AP English Literature and Composition (year-long; English IV GR covered with this)
- AP Statistics (2nd semester)
- PLTW Introduction to Engineering 1 (1st semester)
- PLTW Principles of Engineering 2 (2nd semester)
- Calculus III (Community College)
- Spanish IV Honors (summer course)
12TH GRADE (need 3 more semester-long classes to fill up my schedule for this year)
- AP Spanish Language (year-long)
- AP Microeconomics
- AP Macroeconomics
- AP U.S. Government and Politics
- ???
- ???
- ???
@scubadive I have a solid foundation in calculus, which is why I elected to self-study Calculus AB rather than take a year-long course that may be too slow-paced and repetitive. Also yes, I should be taking a foreign language and I regret not taking one this year just because it would bring my GPA down as it’s a CP class (it was a stupid decision). I’m going to take Spanish II over the summer if I am able to get the class.
It is a bad idea to stop math especially depending on your major down the road. Your course schedule starts to fluff off junior year then senior year. I would take spanish during the school year. You appear light on history. What about physics II or C? AP Psych I would push back to junior or senior year. You are too heavily loaded sophmore year. I would balance this out over the next three years. Where is your fine arts?
So then I imagine you can without instruction can do BC Calc? While AB is easier than BC there are curve balls. Now some kids just intuitively understand calc without really any effort but for the vast majority it is not the case. Can you dual enroll for math after BC? Even if calc is easy for you not having math past calc is not wise. I would also highly recommend if you plan on taking AP Spanish not to keep doing summer spanish as presumably its online and no where as rigorous to prepare you.
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I corrected an issue I had with my math classes (I’m taking Calc III in junior year). I’ll likely do what I have posted above and take another math through the online program at NCSSM (provided that I am accepted) during senior year.
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It’s because I’ll have exhausted all the major courses at my school by that time.
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I really should take Spanish during the school year, but I’m too reluctant to drop any of my classes on my current schedule to take it.
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The four-year path of history at my school is World History (I did this in 8th grade), Civics and Economics (I did this in 9th grade), and AP U.S. History OR American History I and American History II (I’m doing this in 10th grade). I’m going to do AP U.S. Government and Politics in my senior year (which isn’t a graduation requirement) and maybe try taking AP European History as a 5th block course or as a self-study sometime in either my junior or senior year if you recommend taking another history class.
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I don’t think either is offered at my school, but if it is, I’d take AP Physics II in my junior year and move Calc III to my senior year.
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It’s too late to do that as I have already registered for the AP exam (I’m self-studying it this year).
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I probably am, but I’m pretty confident in my ability to manage them if I allocate my time effectively and smartly.
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I’m not taking any fine arts because none of the colleges I’m looking at seem to require them. If I do have to take one though, I would take it in my senior year as an online course (this is very popular at my school because there’s a fine arts class that is very easy that many people take online).
Colleges will not be interested at all in what you took before high school.
If you think you are guaranteed admission to a top college due to taking 16 AP classes, you are mistaken, especially if you plan to self study some of them when there are clearly plenty of others offered at your school. Top colleges might expect anywhere from 6-8 APs, depending on your high school. They will expect good grades above all, as well as a balance of school and ECs. Top colleges also care about what else interests you, but that rarely includes accumulating a bunch of APs for no real reason.
Remember, there is no point in taking AP classes if you can’t get a good grade. As your plan stands at the moment, I can’t see you maintaining high grades in all of these classes over the next three years without you ending up seriously stressed out and unhappy.
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I can do that, but I’m not going to because I really like the Calc BC teacher at my school (he was my Math 3 teacher this semester, probably my favorite teacher all-time) and because it would seem a bit alarming to colleges to self-study two major AP math classes.
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I can dual-enroll, and I’m going to take AP Stats, Calculus III through dual-enrollment, and another math through an online program by a prestigious residential school in my state (provided that I am accepted to this).
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I agree with that point. I’ll likely have some issues catching up to students that took Spanish in a classroom setting but I feel like I can handle it by learning it online.
@Lindagaf The points you make are definitely concerns I’ve kept in mind while I’m thinking about this, but I feel like maintaining high grades isn’t extremely hard if I am able to learn the classes over the summer before taking them (this could help limit the studying needed for the class and allow me to do other work in the class if I know the material already). I definitely see your point about appearing like an academic drone to colleges by doing this, but I’m taking the AP classes more to challenge myself than to appeal to colleges. Also, I plan on stopping self-studying content-heavy AP classes like Calculus AB following my experiences doing it this year (it’s been pretty stressful) and because I’ve realized there’s really no point in doing it. Thank you so much for your thoughts.
Are you looking for advice, or for someone to tell you your idea is good? I’m not going to tell you that. Your schedule will be plenty challenging without attempting 16 AP classes and maintaining high grades in all of them, in addition to trying for AMC10 and USABO. HYPSM etc claim that they don’t use AP scores in their admissions process. Grades matter the most. Grades get you to the gate. The other stuff gets you through the gate.
You just don’t want your rigor to appear as though its decling especially junior year. Are five AP’s doable? Yes. Can you dual enroll senior year? While I totally understand boredom or not feeling challenged, self studying for AP’s is totally unnecessary. While you want to be challenged you need balance with outside the classroom as colleges are strongly looking at that. And I have seen it in math where kids very strong in math eventually reach a point where it does not come naturally.