I visited my high school yesterday and it reminded me in 2 months I’ll choose my high school classes. What courses should I take? How hard is honors, because I think I can take them all pretty without getting over welmed. Consider the factor that I have near perfect grades. 98 English 102 in S.S and a 100 in the rest. I have I’m algebra 1A.
Familiarize yourself with what credits you’ll need to fulfill as graduation requirements & consider those when picking your courses.
It’s difficult to say what classes you should take, as different schools have different requirements, options, etc. Chances are, you won’t have as many choices your freshman year as compared to your senior year since you’ll be getting your basic requirements out of the way early on.
As far as for how “hard” honors classes are, it depends on the individual & the school. In my experience, it’s pretty easy to pass an honors course with high grades assuming you keep up with assignments and notes. If you’re doing well in your classes now, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with honors courses. Talk to your current teachers or counselors and they’ll be able to give you a better, more personalized idea of what classes will be right for you.
It is ok to ease into it. No need to load up on honors courses Freshman year.
- you’re on the honors track so take Honors classes. It’s more possible/easier to ‘drop down’ a level than try to go ‘up’ a level because pace is faster in honors.
- some schools are very rigid if you don’t start on the honors track.
- core classes (typically taken each year through junior year) include English, history/social science, foreign language, Math, and science.
Typically for a freshman planning on a 4-yearbxollege/on the honors track, it’d mean something like * English 9H, GeometryH, AP HumanGeo or World history 1, BiologyH, foreign language 1or 2. Plus health/PE and an elective.
(*Lots and lots of variations across the country!)
Everyone had some great suggestions. One thing I can add is to read the course catalog. The high school probably has one online if not in print. Check your high school’s web page if you haven’t been given one.
DD’s catalog is updated yearly, and is great about spelling out the high school’s graduation requirements as well as typical expectations for 2-year colleges, four-year state colleges, four-year private colleges, and highly selective/competitive colleges. It has a 4-year schedule planner in the back for students to fill in. The tracks are spelled out and lines connect you to your options for the next year. As @MYOS1634 pointed out, it is often more difficult to jump to a higher track than to drop down. Prerequisites are spelled out too.
Honors classes are not that much more difficult than 8th grade classes per se, but the pace moves much quicker than middle school. To accommodate, more homework is usually necessary. Her friends in on-level classes only have about an hour of homework each night. DD and her honors friends have around four hours a night. It is a lot, but often the non-math teachers give them several days to do the assignments, which helps them plan around after school activities. It is a good idea to talk to current students and teachers if you are concerned about the workload.
- Take as many honors classes as you can
- Read through the typical honors course progressions and start from there
- Have you taken Algebra? If not, and you are interested in a STEM career, then plan how you can double up on math (or take a math over the summer) so you can take Calculus by 12th grade.
- Don’t try to take AP classes before you are ready.
- Its okay to take fun electives as long as you are taking Math/Science/History/English/Foreign Language