<p>Before generalizing, people need to realize that:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Each school has x number of classes students take each semester. At my school, we only take 4 classes a semester, so that mean I could theoretically do 4 AP classes in a year (if I didn’t have other classes I needed/wanted to take).</p></li>
<li><p>Each school has a different workload. APUSH at one school doesn’t equal APUSH at another in terms of how much homework students have at night. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, there is self-studying, but OP is right–I see kids on here saying they’re actually taking 5+ APs at a time. Which is literally impossible for some kids like me. </p>
<p>Colleges don’t really expect anyone to take seven AP classes in one year even if the school allows it. Seven total is probably enough to be competitive, and after that they’ll look at the rest of your application. I feel like I always read threads on here about how you don’t get any additional benefit from taking more than eight AP classes, but I can’t find a good example of one right now. </p>
<p>“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
-“your reply seems needlessly harsh.”
-" what a needlessly rude comment"
-“What it was was snarky, and in no way reflects any understanding that everyone is not blessed with the same levels of academic ability. Some can accomplish with a modicum of effort what others work their tails off for-- to assume that anyone who struggles to do well with a heavy course load just isn’t studying is not accurate, and betrays an arrogant thought process not based in reality. But based on the opening sentence of your most recent post in this thread, it is obvious that you have a very high opinion of your own opinion – and a very narrow-minded, and pessimistic one at that.”
-“otherrs, such as the poster above, have been eloquent in denouncing your statement. I’ll take the easy way out and say you come across as arrogant and annoying and I’ll bet all the kids in your school that you look down upon are eager to invite you to all the fun parties.”</p>
<p>I answered OP’s question. The first two comments not only failed to answer OP’s question, but also attack my comment, which should be evaluated on tenability, not it’s “harsh[ness]” or “rude[ness]”
The third again attacks my comment as “snarky, narrow-minded, and pessimistic” but not its tenability.
The fourth is completely irrelevant to the discussion.
I don’t understand why you have underscored me as the only who doesn’t “have anything nice to say” and who should not “say anything at all” as these four are far less nice, and far less relevant.</p>
<p>You have 40 hrs EC per night and 8 APs. Therefore, from your perspective, 7 APs should be doable.</p>
<p>Unless homework physically requires more than an hour of writing (and by require, I mean that you will tangibly lose credit solely for the reason that you did not write enough, not any other reason), workload cannot be construed as more than one hour. Anything beyond this should be considered to be excess of the required workload. With the wealth of online resources and accessibility of contacting others, there is little reason to do hours of homework unless it contributes to good grades.</p>
<p>Workload is different at different schools but the subjects are the same and specifically, we are talking about AP subjects which are regulated by collegeboard. With consideration to the above paragraph and unless you are using epsilon-delta proofs and formal limit derivations for every AP Calculus problem and studying the wave equation / studying electrodynamics using the curl and divergence of electric and magnetic fields, and field lines of solenoids without making assumptions/using MVC in economics/memorizing speeches in a language class/etc, the difficulty between different schools is insignificant in comparison to the difficulty between high school and college. I iterate again that workload is the amount of time that is required, not arbitrarily recommended.</p>
<p>Are we talking about college freshmen in POLY 101, or is there a senior in a few 200+ classes with that workload? Again, your definition of workload varies by school and subject. My peers focusing on math use MVC in AP Statistics (in conjunction with their Calc III work). Some write research papers in addition to their work in AP Physics or Chem. I’m unfamiliar with the STEM side of things, but with my political science/international relations focus, I’m furthering research re: the Nordic model and its viability in relation to a globalized economy that I began in AP Comparative Government, making efficient use of the basic knowledge (gen ed) I learned in more fundamental AP classes. </p>
<p>My research is something I would expect to discuss in an upper level college class, not in some general first year intro to IR/PS/etc. I sat in on a few IR classes (400+) after interviews/college visits and was able to grasp all of the information taught, as well as participate in the discourse. At some high schools, the difference between AP classes and 100/200 level courses in college is negligible. </p>
<p>JarJar, in your original post, you mentioned 5 to 7 APs. I think there’s a big difference between handling 5 and handling 7. </p>
<p>A few things I’ve observed: Not all AP classes are equal in how much time they take. At my kids’ school, AP Econ and AP Psych are considered interesting classes, but not heavy workloads. If you’re already a capable writer, again, you will spend less time on AP Lang than another student might. If you have taken math through at least precalculus, you will not find AP Statistics to be very difficult. </p>
<p>Heavy duty hitters at our school include AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc (both) and APUSH. If you get finish in an hour or less, you are lucky.</p>
<p>Use your summer: Some students take a summer prep class to get ready for calculus. Others find out the reading list for their AP Lit class and read the books over the summer. Others have taken their required health class online and get an extra study hall. </p>
<p>Time management: Some students will TA for a favorite teacher. If they finish making photocopies, they can do their own studying. </p>
<p>I bought and read the textbooks for 3-4 of my classes last year over the summer (read them at work–bored lifeguards have all the opportunities in the world haha). It helped me get insanely far ahead. </p>
<p>@Jwen556 – Although you may very well be quite capable in the academic world, your perception doesn’t appear to extend beyond your own perspective. You make a very rude, dismissive comment to OP, and then wonder why so many others are offended by it. I knew when making my second post to you, that regardless of what I said, you wouldn’t get it. I don’t think you are capable of it. I told myself not to bother, that it would just devolve into a useless back and forth because the intelligence that you seem so proud of is limited by your arrogance, and lack of understanding of others. So, be my guest – feel that others who have to work hard are just making excuses. Be rude, but don’t see it. Blame your inability to comprehend why the world is against you on the world instead of looking at your own behavior. I will choose not to call you on it again, because I’m too smart to bang my head against a wall repeatedly. Especially when the wall is so clearly not worth my time.</p>
<p>In my school it is not possible to take 7 at once as we are capped at 6 classes per semester.</p>
<p>Each school is different, and some classes (micro, macro, US Govt, Comp.Gov.,Psych, stat) can be, and often are, packaged as semester courses, so it is possible to do 7 classes in a year.</p>
<p>What always raises my eyebrows is why would someone want to do this? If it’s pure intellectual curiosity, fine. If it’s to make the college application impressive, admissions has caught on to this trick. Top colleges suggest that there are diminishing returns beyond 6-8 classes thorugh all of high school. So unless the 12-16 AP classes in the high school career leads to being a Siemen’s finalist, you are better served using the extra time showing passion in another area. Those applicants whose main passion is taking AP classes are going to be disappointed when their HYPSM rejection letters arrive.</p>
<p>Jwen is technically right. Tactful? Not at all. But he is right; 7 APs are technically doable, though it usually results in little sleep and sometimes little to no free time. I don’t agree with every exact word he’s said, he but does have a point. </p>
<p>For example: reading my textbook for APUSH isn’t required for a grade, but if one wants to do well on tests, reading is a must. Reading takes 1.5 hours or so every night to every other night. I started the year by reading the textbook, but that ate up my time. So now I use AMSCO, which takes half the time (and it easier to process), and skim through the textbook to get anything AMSCO left out. Still get about the same scores on tests.</p>
<p>Doing all of the required + recommended work eats up time and doesn’t necessarily help. Getting a couple more questions wrong on tests but being able to make up for it in other ways and still getting a satisfactory grade frees up more time to work on other work.</p>
<p>Like I said before though, it depends on individual schools. Some schools require “little” things like reading, worksheets, etc. to be turned in for a grade. </p>
<p>I’m both awed and somewhat disturbed by the notion someone could do well in school with just 2-4 hours…certainly not unbelievable,since there are freaks of nature (albeit rare) who could pull that sort of thing off and still perform like the rest of who need at least 5-6 hrs of sleep.</p>
<p>@PetraElois - your last post was spot on. Well done. I think it specifically dealt with facts that led to the feelings many on this thread share.</p>
<p>Ad Hominem - appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect @Jwen, based upon the definition above your earlier comment is incorrect</p>
<p>All this talk of kids sleeping so little is pretty disturbing. Sleep is important for brain health and development and getting only a few hours of sleep every night is not healthy at all. An extra AP class or two isn’t at all worth living like that and wrecking your health over. It’s just a class. </p>
<p>My daughter took the equivalent of 6 AP classes her junior year. She was averaging about 8 hours sleep and I would have forced her to drop something if she had gotten into the crazy sleep deprivation I’m reading about on this thread. I’m constantly wondering where the parents of such kids are, and why they are allowing these things to go on.</p>
<p>@CHD2013
Ad Hominem attacks the author (irrelevant) instead of the argument.</p>
<p>-My comment is “rude and dismissive” but not necessarily right or wrong
-Other are “offended” but he does not specify the reason (only makes sense if they are offended by its incorrectness) therefore I must have made an unpopular remark or I am unpopular but again not necessarily wrong
-I have “arrogance” but am not necessarily wrong (again)
-I am “rude” one more time but not necessarily wrong
-PetraElise is smarter than I am, but my argument is not necessarily wrong (again)
-I am not worth his time, but my argument, one last time, is not necessarily wrong</p>
<p>He never attacks the logic of my argument. Only the type of person who I am and how I made the argument which are irrelevant to argument.</p>
<p>I lift 3 times a week. 1 hour per session so it’s not a huge time commitment.</p>
<p>That takes the position that every student wants to go to HYPSM… Most students are content with going to a cheaper state school, where credits from AP classes give them more flexibility with their schedules. Personally, I want flexibility to “fluff up” my GPA. As I want to go to law school, and in law school admissions the only things that matter are undergrad GPA and LSAT scores (let me emphasize: prestige does not matter if you have the numbers–and can’t save you if you don’t), I’m content with the honors college at my state school. I can finish my research, earn good grades (hoping for a 3.9+), and save my crushing debt for HYSCCN (or another T14) law school. </p>
<p>(Although I applied to one of those letters (H), along with many other top-tier school, I did not consider my finances. Long story short, my family makes too much to receive aid [even at the extremely generous Harvard; our EFC is way over how much we can pay], but with no college plan I’m going to my state school.) </p>
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<p>7-8 AP’s are definitely doable, I just disagree with him/her underplaying the rigor in an AP class. IMHO, knowledge learned in AP classes == knowledge learned in introductory level college classes.</p>
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<p>An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy. These people attacked @Jwen556’s comment “to the man,” instead of rebutting the logic behind it. </p>
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<p>There’s a sleep deprivation thread stickied at the top of this section (HSL), and it shows how awful most of our sleeping schedules are. </p>
<p>I ask that you don’t mention the parents. I made the decision to take 8 AP classes, I understand the necessity of sleep, and I try to stay as healthy as possible. As a student, I perceive myself as somewhat independent; I assumed the risk to my health, so I am responsible for whatever problems I find. </p>
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<p>I lol’d. To what you said earlier, I was comparing the workload/rigor/knowledge learned in an average AP class to a gen ed class (first/second year in college). Students that go beyond are capable on the 300-400 level. </p>