<p>I will be a Junior in HS next year and I am already enrolled in 4 AP classes (bio,chem,calc ab, and lang). I have already planned and started self-studying for AP US Gov, yet I want to take as many as humanly possible. My schedule is extremely demanding as it is (swim everyday, president of 2 clubs and member of 3 others, etc.), but I have proven to be pretty good at time management already. I am aspiring to become a pharmacist one day, which requires the Doctorate of Pharmacy degree, and I want to shave off as much time from that course as possible. I have already gotten credit from 2 other APs (US and World). What other APs should I self-study that would prove to be beneficial to me? I don't want to take anything that would take up potential credit hours, like Euro, because I don't need it. Thank you in advance! P.S. I would like for them to be fairly easy. I will be taking some more challenging ones my Senior year anyway (lit, calc bc, etc.). </p>
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<p>Self-Study AP’s are next to useless for college admissions. Unless you want to for some odd reason, don’t.</p>
<p>I’m not doing them for college admissions. I understand that colleges don’t care how many or what you took. I’m talking about college credit. I know what colleges do what when it comes to ap credit, so that’s not an issue. I’m self-studying anyway, so I want to know which ones will be beneficial in addition to my current ones. </p>
<p>Most colleges cut off APs at 45 credit hours. Also, if you’re only doing it for credit the you have to check the gen ed program at where you’re planning on going to school and check your major requirements. Also, it is quality over quantity. You will probably need a 5 in AP calc AB to get to calc 2 or a 5 in BC to get to calc 3 (just cause you get the credit does not mean you met the pre-requisite for the next course in the progression). You will also need a 4/5 to gain useful chem credit. It’s funny how many people are so happy they “passed” an exam and then they are told they didn’t get the score they needed. Only self-study exams where only a 3 is necessary like gov, econ, and psych, but even then don’t study too many that you can’t get 4/5 on exams you take at school (all of your junior year courses require 4/5 for valuable credit). Also, be wary because you’re jumping from 1 to 5-6 APs in one year, it’s like a car engine, if you just floor it, you’ll rip the engine to shreds.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice. I like what you said about quality. I definitely need to do very well on my Junior year classes. I might self-study AP gov just because I’m taking honors this year and I know a lot of the history from APUSH. </p>
<p>AP gov is a very doable exam because APUSH does kind of provide the springboard and we know a lot of the material from everyday life like watching Fox news or CSPAN. Even more doable self-study if you are doing honors. My advice on materials would be to use barron’s to get all the in-depth information that you don’t already know and then use the citizenU channel on youtube to review concepts quickly). Also, take it slow, you would have about a year to learn about six-seven chapters of information. No need to rush. </p>
<p>If you have the course at your school, I recommend taking it within that slot when you have time during the school day. I understand the frenzy of getting as many college credits before college, but honestly it is not the end of the world to take one or two GER courses versus stressing yourself out junior year. As others have mentioned, keep a balance, and check out what your college requires students to complete before graduation</p>
<p>Also check out if what you want is feasible with a Pharm Program. So if a Pharm program requires Biology, they most likely will not let you place out of college biology. They might let you take the Honors course in biology. But something like AP Gov or AP Economics which would fill in as a general elective might be worth it.
Also look if there are "categories"of electives you have to take…like so many writing, so many world cultures, so many gender studies, etc .</p>
<p>just make sure you’ll get credit. some easy ones are:
-environmental science (curve may be a bit harsh, but the material is very straightforward)
-human geography (extremely lenient curve and easy material)
-economics (not too hard, and some of the material is interesting)
-comparative government (pretty simple)
-psych (pretty easy)</p>
<p>of those, i would just see which ones give the credits that you need, and pick whichever ones you find interesting</p>
<p>Thanks again. I have one question though for @bopper. Why would a college not give me credit for bio if I earned it. Does it really matter which major you’re going into? So if I majored in Music would they then accept bio? I don’t see the logic in this.</p>