I need some advice on how to establish my schedule for my junior year, i’m currently in all honor classes so i have an idea of the way AP will be. The 5 ap classes I’m considering are ;
Ap physics B
Ap chemistry
Ap english 3
Ap human geo
Ap u.s history
along with honors algebra 2
I know how hard chemistry is, but i’ve learned so much and wouldn’t want to forget by the time i decide to take ap chemistry. do you think its doable?
Also, i have another question. I have encouraged my best friend to also take these classes, along with spanish 3, and honors algebra is. I’m a little bit worried about her taking ap chemistry and ap physics because she wasn’t in honors chemistry so she hasn’t learned the depth of chemistry. My plan was to tutor her in the summer and share with her everything i’ve learned and hopefully she can keep up next year. Do you think its doable for her as well? or should she take out any classes?
thank you
First of all please don’t make your friend take any ap class she would enjoy in the 1st place. Otherwise it would be to rupture for them and might end up hating you for making them do so. Ask them if they truly want to take those classes. Also I’m a sophomore too and I’m taking 4 ap classes next year so we’re both kind of in the same boat except I took APUSH this year and hated it. So if we think we can handle these AP classes and have a genuine want to learn more about our courses then by all means we should Defoe toy take them. Otherwise don’t and it might be a little bit challenging to go from no AP classes to freaking 5 some might call you crazy I will call you insanely motivated. So be careful !
hmm let’s break it down:
0 - okay
1 - okay
2 - okay
3 - smart kid okay
4 - smart kid
5 - rather tryhard smart kid
6 - tryhard smart kid
7 - tryhard
8 - tryhard that has money to spare
9 - rich tryhard
10 - rich tryhard that doesn’t have much of a life
11 - rich tryhard that doesn’t have a life
12 - rich tryhard that, well, idk
13+ - why…?
so if you don’t want to be considered a tryhard, don’t take more than 5. cuz if you can manage to ace all those, you can do better things with $500 and 15 hours… and your life in general I guess
It depends on the school. Some schools let students take a bunch of APs and they are poorly taught and thus, not that difficult. Others are extremely rigorous and even an “AP- lite” class like Psychology can become extraordinarily difficult. It depends.
@kirito69 I’m taking my AP tests for free because my school allows reduced-lunch students to waive the fee. Don’t make general assumptions and call people “tryhards” when you don’t know the context.
@student123444 That’s very nice of you to offer your friend help. The first thing I’d ask your friend is, “Are you genuinely interested in these AP classes?” I see many of my friends break down because they fall asleep on their textbooks because the classes are so boring to them. Meanwhile, some absolutely adore the classes they’re in, albeit they might have more/less AP classes than the ones who “burn out.”
If you have not taken any hard year long AP classes before, I’d advise taking only 2-3 AP classes -chose either
AP science class , but not both , and Apush- which requires a LOT of reading.
What is AP English 3?
There are only 2 official AP english classes- Literature and Language. LIterature ALSO requires a LOT of reading and written analysis.
If you want to be able to sleep your Jr year- limit the # of AP classes you take to 3 max.
I don’t think you should worry about “too many AP classes”, but more about how much you can handle. Some people can handle one or two at the most, while others can handle 6 or even 7. It’s really up to you. You’ll have to analyze how well you have done thus far, and if you think you’ll be able to accept a much larger challenge.
@Newdle sorry if I offended you - the post was supposed to be read jestingly.
but I do think that if you’re taking 10 APs or so, you are wasting your time. just… why take 10 APs? either you won’t do well on some, in which case why take them, or you can probably do better things with your time (cuz if you can ace 10 APs, you’re probably above APs).
also, just wondering, under your school’s policy, would you be allowed to take as many APs as you wanted for free? I kinda assumed that students who do take an incredulous number of APs would have to pay for at least a good number of them, so that’s why I made the “rich” assumption.
@kirito69 Thanks for understanding and sorry for acting a bit angry there. In the survey portion of the AP scoresheet, I usually put “I wanted to test my understanding of the material.” At least in my perspective, if I’ve already learned the material out of love for learning, why not take the AP test? I only lose 2-4 hours of my life and a bit of sanity from having to write a lot of FRQs.
Students who are taking a ridiculous amount of APs usually end up paying for a few at my school. If you are in the class, however, it’s free regardless. I’m currently taking 5 AP classes and 2 AP tests (my school did not let me test out of chemistry and into physics in the beginning of the year, so I decided to teach myself them instead), so I’ll be paying for 2. Note that my school has 6 school periods, and I’m actually technically taking 9 classes (I am ridiculous; thus, I must pay for the 2). I probably could get the 2 waived, but I feel like I’ve already been blessed enough to be able to take 5 for free.
I took 5 APs and got all As and one 89 -_-. It is doable but all year school has been miserable and I have depression now. I also think I did terrible on the ap tests. I don’t recommend taking them! Studying for them and taking them is so stressful. Most of the tests are super difficult and make you feel really stupid. If I could go back I would take the classes but not the AP tests…
Good luck. Take the classes you are truly interested in. That is all that matters.
I’m taking 3 of the APs you listed(Lang APUSH & Human Geo) and I also came from (almost) all honors. When choosing AP classes you should evaluate your strengths and weaknesses; for me, I’m generally weak in some sciences and (especially) math. On the other hand, I’m really good in reading & memorization; writing is something I’d like to improve on. About your friend: she should realize what she wants to take based on her strengths/weaknesses. It’s not best to enroll in APs because your friends are taking them.
Don’t take both AP Chem and AP Physics the same year. AP Lab classes are not only intellectually challenging, they’re also very time-demanding.
Top colleges (Harvard included) only expect 4-8 APs TOTAL. So, no need to “overload”.
Algebra2 Honors, Spanish 3 Honors, AP Chem, AP English Lang, AP Human Geog, APUSH +1 one class of your choice (not AP) like choir or home economics or even honors physics or CS… would all work.
I dont know about your school but my school is an extremely good public school and there really arent “AP-lite” courses. Ap psych which is generally known as easy everywhere is known as one if the harder ones at my school. The average score though last year for the 100+ kids that took the test was a 4.8. At my school most kids choose 3 APs junior year and then maybe 4-5 senior year. Most are very time demanding so i definitely wouldnt take ap chem and ap physics. I was in all honors in tenth grade and then moved up to 3 Aps my junior and got 2 As and a B(apush blows). So what i would do is know how much you can handle and go from there
I wouldn’t push your friend into something not right for her. As for how many APs is too many, the transition from honors to AP is bigger than you would think. I would be very careful taking 5 and make sure your grades don’t suffer.
Honors Algebra 2, AP Human Geo, and AP Eng are all manageable. (My AP Eng teacher had us write 4 pages of homework per day but that’s atypical).
AP US History was the best class I have ever taken and I doubt I’ll ever find a class I love more. A plus was that my teacher barely gave any homework. He gave perhaps 3 hours of homework a month. That’s not standard, though. I believe most APUSH teacher have their students read and outline chapter after chapter from the textbook? So take that into consideration. Ask the upperclassmen about the amount of work each of these teachers gives.
Be cautious about taking two AP sciences in one year. I did it sophomore year because I truly loved both classes. I don’t regret it, but I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep per day. The labs were fine actually but the exams tended to be on the same day.
