Next year, I’m going to be a junior, and it will be my first time taking any kind of AP class. This is what I’m thinking of:
AP Calculus BC
AP US History
AP Language and Composition
AP Chemistry
AP Physics
Spanish 2 (honors not available)
Auto Shop (honors not available)
Does this sound like too much? Any advice for the AP classes and how they went for you?
Thanks!
That’s wayyy too many - jumping from zero APs to give sounds like a really bad idea. Since you’ve never taken APs before, limit yourself to 3 (or perhaps lang, APUSH, calc, physics1 if you’re currently making straight As). Here you’re taking 5 hard APs, including two that are known to be huge time sinks (Chen and APUSH).
First, don’t take two AP sciences at once. Second, are you in honors history and English this year and what grade are you getting?
My recommendation would be for you to keep AP Chem for senior year.
If you’re getting As in Honors English and honors history, you can keep APUSH and AP lang.
Are you in precalculus honors and does your school offer a choice of AB OR BC? (Not AB then BC)?
How are you going from geometry and advanced algebra as a sophomore to Calc BC as a junior?
I agree with @MYOS1634 - it’s too many AP’S. Save one of the sciences for the following year.
@MYOS1634 My school doesn’t offer honors English/history, but I’ve heard that AP Lang isn’t too bad and APUSH is just a LOT of memorization/analyzing history (correct me if I’m wrong). AB is offered, but it just covers Calc I, and BC covers both Calc I and II, so maybe I could do DE senior year.
@skieurope I’m gonna take Honors Pre-Calculus over the summer. And yeah I agree, I guess AP Physics as well would be too much along with AP Chem (I’m thinking AP Chem b/c I’m doing Honors Chem this year and the AP teacher is amazing).
Would taking a free period instead of AP Physics hurt my chances at getting into an Ivy League school?
Your schedule is similar to what juniors on the advanced track for all subjects take, but the problem is, as MYOS1634 said, it will be an intense jump in rigor compared to your apparently not rigorous 9th/10th grade years.
I have been in your situation before; I went from only one honors class sophomore year to 3 Honors, 3 AP, and 2 Dual Enrollment classes junior year, as well as 2 additional Dual Enrollment classes the following summer. I managed to pull all As and 1 B first semester and all As second semester, but it was absolutely brutal and I lost a lot of sleep. If you are capable of handling a rigorous courseload and motivated to tackle seemingly immense quantities of work, I’m sure you could do the same, but keep in mind AP Chemistry and AP Calculus BC are arguably the hardest AP classes that you can take.
Also, having taken over a dozen online classes before, I question the integrity of a foundation that an online Pre-Calculus course will provide for AP Calculus BC, so if you do make the decision to jump into BC, be sure to devote a lot of time to making sure everything you are learning online is retained. It is very easy to skate through online classes without learning anything; I had gaps in my knowledge of Honors Chemistry that caused problems when I tried to take AP Chemistry a few years later, even though the online course offered just as much (actually even more than) as a traditional course would.
You should NOT take Precalculus over the summer unless you’ve shown exceptional aptitude at math. It’s a tough class and it’s the foundation for all calculus courses, so that, if your background is shoddy and you have gaps, calculus will become harder than it ought to. If your normal class next year is Precalculus, take Precalculus Honors during the year, and Calculus BC senior year. No college will ask for more than that.
If you choose to take AP Chem, don’t take AP Physics1 and save it for senior year.
The jump from regular English and regular History to APUSH and AP English Lang is likely to be brutal.
So, my advice is
Precalculus Honors
AP US History
AP Language and Composition
AP Chemistry
Spanish 2 (honors not available)
Auto Shop (honors not available)
Study Hall or ‘fun class’
I would not be too concerned about this. Since honors is not offered in 9th/10th grade for English and history, all students will be in the same boat. Yes, the course load will be more intense, but if your GC thinks you can handle it, you probably can.
I also agree with MYOS to not take precalc over the summer unless you are a math whiz. I agree with her proposed schedule above.
I hate to say this to you, but I feel like if this is your first time doing APs, your schedule will be WAYYYY too difficult. The jump you are taking is too extreme. To put this into comparison, honors courses are similar to community college material and AP courses are similar to college material. The first time you should take AP courses, you should take a maximum of 3. Do NOT take any more because this will be a world of hurt if you don’t like the way things are going next year.