<p>I'm a rising freshman, and I'm a little confused about science classes.</p>
<p>Most freshman take regular/honors Bio. Then I'm assuming most sophomores take regular/honors Chem. If that's the case, then there are only two years in high school where you're allowed to take AP science classes (AP Bio and AP Chem). If that's the case, how are you guys able to take AP Physics in senior year (besides self-studying)? I doubt the majority of people on this forum self-study classes. Thanks.</p>
<p>At my school I did AP bio sophomore year and AP chem junior year and so I will do AP physics next year. </p>
<p>Each school is different.</p>
<p>Sorry for double posting (on my phone right now) but I took the honors courses at my school for those subjects and took the AP exam afterwards. So I somehow made it work. AP exams don’t require AP classes.</p>
<p>Every school will handle this differently. When I was in high school, they required everyone to take bio, chem, and physics before they could take the AP sciences (but I think they’ve changed this since I’ve been there). So what I did was take bio freshman year, chem and physics sophomore year, AP Bio and AP Chem junior year, and AP Physics senior year. It’ll depend on how your high school does it–perhaps you could ask your guidance counselor when you start school, or if you know any older students, you could ask them.</p>
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<p>In my experience, non-honors students generally don’t take biology freshman year. It varies a lot by school, but this is what I’ve observed.</p>
<p>Regular:
9th grade - physical science, earth science, general class called “science,” etc.
10th grade - biology
11th grade - chemistry
12th grade - either no science or physics, forensic science, anatomy & physiology, etc.</p>
<p>Honors:
9th grade - honors biology
10th grade - honors chemistry
11th grade - generally physics or an AP science (physics should be taken at some point)
12th grade - no science, or another AP science, or anatomy & physiology</p>
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<p>You take more than one science class per year. I took four science classes junior year. Each year you have an English class and a math classes and a foreign language class and a social studies class and maybe something else the school requires, but you should have room to take more than one class in a certain subject.</p>
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<p>Self-studying APs is more common than testing out of classes for high school credit, but I’ve done both.</p>
<p>I hate to sound redundant, but the sequence of science courses varies from school to school. I really like how my school does it and it makes sense. People in my school doesn’t self-study, and personally I never heard of self-studying any AP class until I came to this website lol, soooo…</p>
<p>My school does it this way:</p>
<p>FRESHMAN:
<p>SOPHOMORE:
<p>JUNIOR:
<p>SENIOR:
<p>Science electives: Environmental science, and AP Environmental Science (ONLY IF ONE HAS TAKEN BIO AND CHEM)</p>
<p>Most schools has this system in my area and it has worked really well in my opinion.</p>
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<p>I meant “math class.” I should have taken another English class…</p>
<p>While most students at my school choose not to take all 3 AP science classes offered, if a student chooses to do so, their schedule looks like this:
9th grade: Biology
10th grade: Chemistry and Physics
11th grade: AP Chemistry & AP Physics
12th grade: AP Biology</p>
<p>Another way to take AP Physics senior year, without self-studying or doubling up sophomore/junior years, is to simply not take AP Biology or AP Chemistry. I took Biology as a freshmen, Chem as a sophomore, Physics as a junior, and AP Physics as a senior. I hated biology so I opted out of AP Biology, and heard horror stories about AP Chem at my school so I chose not to take it either. You don’t have to take AP Bio & AP Chem to take AP Physics.</p>
<p>My school only has 6 periods, so it’s hard to double up on a subject, unless you want to drop a foreign language or the career elective pathway. Would you recommend taking an AP science class online during the school year(even if you are doing a bunch of EC’s)? Or, would it be better to self-study for the ap test?</p>
<p>Here the advanced students take bio, then Chem honors , then either anatomy hon or ap bio or both.</p>
<p>Each school handles it a different way. Some people take more exams by doubling up on some sciences in one year. There are currently(will be 7 in 2015 after Physics B is split into Physics I and Physics II) 6 AP science exams: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics B, AP Physics C: Mechanics, and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. Additionally, most students enter high school having already taken IPS (Introduction to Physical Science) Honors in 8th grade. But some do not, and take Earth-Space Science in 8th grade instead. Many schools also offer additional science electives: Marine Biology, Earth-Space Science, Anatomy & Physiology, and Forensic Science. </p>
<p>At my school, the honors track works like this:</p>
<p>8th Grade:
-IPS Honors</p>
<p>9th Grade:
-Biology Honors (If you get a form signed and some other stuff, you can take AP Biology.)</p>
<p>10th Grade:
-Chemistry Honors (If you get a form signed and some other stuff, you can take AP Biology. Also depending on what math class you are in and if you already took chemistry honors online, you may take additional AP science classes.)</p>
<p>11th Grade:
-Physics Honors or an AP science (Biology Honors and Chemistry Honors are prerequisites, but Physics Honors is not.)</p>
<p>12th Grade:
-Any science elective or an AP science </p>
<p>Depending on your school’s AP science policy, you may not be allowed to take an AP science class freshman or sophomore year at all, or you might have to fill out some paperwork and get a waiver signed. Some people take Physics Honors before AP Physics B, or take AP Physics B before AP Physics C. This is not really necessary, as some people do take AP Physics B, or even C, without any prior Physics Honors class. Some schools may just allow you to skip honors courses for biology or chemistry, and might even prepare you well enough for the AP exam in a single year. If you wanted to take all 6 AP science exams with adequate preparation and don’t mind doubling up on some APs, this could work:</p>
<p>8th Grade:
-IPS Honors</p>
<p>9th Grade:
-Biology Honors</p>
<p>10th Grade:
-Chemistry Honors
-AP Biology</p>
<p>11th Grade:
-AP Chemistry
-AP Physics B (With the new AP Physics curriculum revision, if you want college credit for physics, you might as well skip AP Physics I and AP Physics II altogether. Each is supposed to take one year of class instruction. You could take a year of honors physics, or just go straight to AP Physics C, which is more likely to get you credit than AP Physics B/I & II.)</p>
<p>12th Grade:
-AP Environmental Science
-AP Physics C (prepares you for both AP Physics C exams)</p>
<p>For me:
9th: Hon Bio
10th: Hon Chem and Hon Physics (most people did NOT do this)
11th: AP Chem
12th: AP Physics</p>
<p>For most at my school:
9th: Hon Bio
10th: Hon Chem
11th: AP Bio or AP Chem or AP Enviro (and maybe Physics also)
12th: Drop science or AP Enviro or AP Bio or AP Chem or AP Physics</p>
<p>At my school, the high achieving kids generally do Bio, Chem, Physics, and an AP class senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. I don’t think I can double up on science since I plan on taking orchestra as an elective. Or should I cut out orchestra? Thoughts?</p>
<p>At my school the “standard” science progression is
9th: Physical Science
10th: Biology
11th: Chemistry
12th: Anatomy or APES
Most kids never take an AP Science. AP Chen is technically offered, buy it usually ends up being independent study because too few students sign up for it (the teacher is one of the most hated in school). Up until my sophomore year, freshmen could go straight to biology if they got an A in 8th grade science and algebra 1, so my science courses were
9Th: Biology
10th: Chemistry
11th: AP Biology
12th: Anatomy or AP Physics B (whichever fits into my schedule).</p>
<p>I doubled up on sciences. At my school, it’s required to take chem and bio before you take the AP. However, you don’t have to take physics to take the AP. So I did:</p>
<p>Freshman Year - Bio
Sophomore Year - Chem & AP Bio
Junior Year - AP Chem & AP Physics B (the death year, it’s HIGHLY recommended you don’t take these the same year)
Senior year - I plan on self studying AP Physics C</p>
<p>A lot of people at my school double on science junior year. Then, technically you could double up on science AP’s senior year, but no one really does that. (I was thinking of doing it but I didn’t because it’s, ahem, crazy.)</p>
<p>This is what I did/am doing (I’m a rising senior.):</p>
<p>9th: Honors Biology
10th: Honors Chemistry
11th: Honors Physics/AP Chemistry
12th: AP Biology</p>
<p>If I wanted to, I could have taken AP Physics C next year. Our school requires that you have taken physics 1 (honors or regular) and to be enrolled in or have completed AP Calculus BC to take AP Physics C. </p>
<p>@Yakisoba How many electives do you have junior and senior year? We get two. Do you have required PE or something? I would drop orchestra if it comes down to it.</p>
<p>@1sparkle2 I get two electives each year, but I need to have 3 years of arts OR language credits. I’m taking Chinese and Orchestra, so either of them can be the arts/language credit. So I really only get 1 elective a year, but I just finished my required PE and health last week.</p>
<p>This is what I’m doing.</p>
<p>9th: Honors Bio
10th: Honors Physics
11th: Honors Chem, AP Physics B
12th: AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C</p>
<p>The reason I can do this is because I completed my fine arts and foreign language requirements in 10th and 11th grade respectively.</p>