I wanted to take 10 APs next year and wanted to hear what the most APs anyone has heard to have been taken in one year getting at least a 4 or 5 (preferably 5)? I am currently going to take:
AP Calc BC
AP English Language
AP Art History
AP US History
AP Spanish Language
AP Biology
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP Psychology
AP World History
Are any of these harder or easier than others? What do you guys think? Any advice or insight would be helpful, thanks.
Darn, are you taking all those at the same time? I’d say once you go over 5, it’s too much. Doing 10 APs to impress colleges isn’t worth it because it’s not guaranteed you’re going to get all 4s and 5s. My college counselor even showed me profiles of students with 800s on SATs and 12-14 APs taken who got rejected from schools like Harvard and Yale. An application is more than AP scores. I don’t know what your strengths are or what you intend to major in, but you should take APs that tie into your interests.
What is your experience with APs? How many have you taken in the past? What scores did you get on your exams? What grade are you in? What’s your reasoning behind taking so many at once? What does your GC and parents say?
How do you take ten classes, let alone ten AP classes? How do you have time for extracurricular activities, friends and life?
My older sister’s best friend took 8 APs simultaneously and received 5’s.
However, this is obviously a very special case. How ready are you to take 10 AP classes? While I’m sure some whiz kids do this, I don’t think it’s necessary to take so many in just one year- unless you’re aiming for something like the State AP Scholar award and are actually able to earn it.
Meh. Its doable.
I think more than 5 AP classes is too many. Once you reach a certain number of AP classes, the impressive factor decreases. Are you sure you’ll be able to handle 10 AP classes all at once? I would focus on just the AP classes that really interest you or are related to your major. With all of the AP classes you’re taking, it will be difficult to fully prepare for all of them evenly. Therefore, that may result in passing some, but not all. It’s important to leave time for other things that are important to college applications, too. Is it possible to split the number of AP classes take in half? So one year, take 5 APs, and the next year, take the other 5?
What’s the point
I have done 5 APs before and have gotten 1 four and 4 fives. My school offers eight periods so I’d have to self-study human geography and world history. This is my second year of taking APs so I just wanted to see what the consensus was on doing this many. I think I’ll just stick to five or six based on these responses. I’m gonna be a sophomore, by the way. Are any of these particularly hard or easy to your guys’s knowledge?
I would not recommend more than 5 a year. APSpan is notoriously hard for non-native speakers. My school does not even let you take it unless you speak it in the home and natively. BC’s pace will probably crush you, so if you do 10 AP’s, I’d take AB before BC (unless you’ve taken it already)
If you have an active social life, either kiss it goodbye or take a few less AP’s. Its doable, just not advisable.
I did 6 last year and feel like I could have handled more, but they were easy ones. I would dial it back a bit and pick 6 at most. If you are only a sophomore, there isn’t any reason to self-study now. Just wait until next year to take the class. BC is by far the hardest one IMO, and Bio is also challenging. Psych and Stats are fairly easy. The others depend a lot on the teacher.
What year will that be?
Either you’re kidding or this is pure hubris. Far from impressing colleges, they’ll think you’re either seriously troubled or have no life.
Elite universities (including HYP) want to see 4-8 APs TOTAL for all of high school. The “everything but the kitchen sink” approach is actually detrimental. They’d rather have you pursue a class to the highest level you can, so that if necessary you take it as a dual-enrolled student at your community college, or take a class because it’s fun.
How many periods do you have in a day, or if block scheduling, how does your HS handle the blocks?
10 APs? Over how many years?? Over one year you will not get 5s. Or even 4s unless you are some type of genius.
4-5 per year should be the max. Some APs are more intense (AP Calc BC, AP English Language, APUSH, AP Biology, APWH, etc) than others (AP Eniviromental Science, AP Statistics, AP Psychology). This may vary due to your interests/strongest subjects.
I agree with MYOS1634. After 6-8 APs over 4 years, the law of diminishing returns kicks in, and the 7th/9th AP won’t help any more than the 6th/8th AP.
What is the purpose? And are all of these offered at your school, and don’t conflict, or are you planning self-study in addition to your regular courses?
If you think you can take 10 AP courses and 10 AP exams in one year, good luck. You are going to be sitting through 30+ hours of exams in two weeks.
I know that people taking 7 AP courses in one year is considered quite a lot. Five is generally the most sane people take in one year. My son took four this year and got 4s and 5s, but most were follow ups of previous courses he took in HS.
Also, if you are taking these as a senior, obviously your “4s and 5s” won’t matter in terms of college applications.
As a non-native speaker who scored a 5 on both Spanish Language and Spanish Literature, I personally do not believe it’s true. The fact that your school doesn’t let non-native speakers take the class IMO reflects poorly on the school and its ability to teach foreign languages.
To the OP, I think consensus has been achieved. Is it physically possible to take 10 AP’s in 1 year? Probably. However, it is probably not possible to do so without sacrificing everything else in your life.
As for the courses themselves, none of them are especially difficult and/or overly time-consuming with the exception on Calc BC and Bio. Calc is not bad if you have a really strong foundation in math and/or took Calc AB last year. APWH and AP USH by themselves are not too bad, but together can be a real time suck.
My suggestion would be to limit yourself to about 5.
Colleges would think that you’re trying to impress them with 10 AP’s, and that you’re one of those “programmed robot” students. Since they are all in different subjects, it doesn’t portray your interest in a topic. Also, AP test cost a ton of money.
Honestly, I would choose at max 4-5. I took 3 in junior year and 3 next year, 1 in Lang to improve my writing, and the rest in math and science because I am interested in those topics.