Improvement in grades- senior year?

<p>Up until junior year, my grades were stellar and I had a 4.0 at a decent, but not great, public high school, and suddenly when I had honors physics, AP Lang, AP chem, and AP calc bc, my grades went down because I couldn't handle it. This scares me because I don't know if universities will really take into account the fact that I took 3 APs (and I really struggled in AP Chem, and somewhat struggled in Calc) and a hard honors course enough, and junior year is the most important. By going down, I mean b or b+, and not in every class. But also, senior year first trimester is going much better for me (taking an elective, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Lit, AP Physics, and Calc 3 at a community college - definitely greater courseload), and I'm projecting all A's in everything but AP Lit, but I've had a straight-A record in English otherwise. </p>

<p>How much does improvement in senior year actually help? Would colleges (Ivy leagues, Duke, Stanford, etc.) consider my grades this trimester as some sort of accident? OR would they see it as me genuinely improving? Should I perhaps mention it somewhere on my applications?</p>

<p>Thanks! :)</p>

<p>It really depends on the school. But, if the drop in grades is due to a sudden increase in rigor, you are genuinely improving to the eyes of many.</p>

<p>would anyone share any insight on the issue?
First semester senior year 2 B+s but I was on a steadily rising trend for fresh-junior.</p>