How important is AP Chemistry?

<p>hi, i'm having a little dilemma with course selection and was wondering if anyone could help. i am a sophomore currently taking ap biology(took regular bio last year but no chem) my only current option for science class next year are chemistry and physics, the first being a requirement......so here is my problem, if i take chem next year i will be taking ap chem in senior year, and many people have told me that the senior classes almost don't matter since the colleges will never get to see my scores...i am worried because i know many people who take ap chem in their junior or even sophomore year and my lack of chem, a core ap class, may make me stand out as unwilling to challenge myself. I have attempted at applying for course advancement by taking a class over the summer but my counselor insisted against it(i go to a very large public school where policies are rather rigid) please kindly share some insight im very stressed</p>

<p>Don’t swear it. Many/most people who take AP Chem take it as a senior. Colleges will see it, since it’s on your mid-year update. The won’t see your score before admission, but that is hardly a dealbreaker</p>

<p>The schools that care about this don’t need to see your scores. They need to know that you are taking a rigorous program all 4 years. Since they will know what you are enrolled in senior year, and they’ll see your mid-year grades, it is important to take tough classes your senior year.</p>

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<p>Senior-year courses matter and colleges will know about them. They don’t care much about AP test scores even when they have access to them. It doesn’t matter whether you take AP Chem as a junior or a senior. And make sure you take physics at some point.</p>

<p>I’m actually in a extremely similar situation. I’m a sophomore in AP bio ( took honors bio last year). I thought I would need to take chemistry over the summer ( my school is also a very large public school with over 3,500 students), so it would be difficult to get into a summer class. I know at my school we can take summer classes at other schools in our district and through other programs if we get it approved by the school, so maybe you can look into that? I looked on my school website at the course descriptions and it said for AP chemistry all we needed was bio and concurrent enrollment in Algebra 2 or higher. I’m pretty sure the course description document is way outdated, but if I can’t get into summer classes I most likely will use that to force them to put me in AP chem lol. Basically, you should try and look at all the opportunities you possibly can at your school because maybe there is a loophole. Unless, of course, you’d rather go through with your plan above. </p>

<p>hi, thank you for your comments. i have talked to my counselor about taking chem outside of class over the summer or even during the course of the school year(technically i could have and probably should have taken chem this year but being greedy for ap credit i filled up my schedule with ap stat instead) the program i wanted to do was johns hopkins cty online but apparently the online class isnt lab intensive enough to prepare me for ap chem…i have also considered taking a course at local community colleges but the transportation may be a bit of a problem, and the cty summer camp is just too expensive…does anyone know any school-approved programs that provide classes for course advancement? </p>