So I’m going to be a freshman next year and I got my recommendations for classes for next year and I was recommended for AP world history but I also want to take AP computer sciences is that too much for freshman year? I will also be taking Biology honors,English 9 honors,Algebra/Trig 2 honors and French 3
Do you have any other requirements like gym or fine arts that most freshman take? That would likely lessen your load to be able to adjust to HS. The level of difficulty for any class is very teacher specific. Is the APWH class for freshman only?
In addition to the above, it also depends on which AP CS, and, if AP CSA, your past experience with computer science (not that it’s really needed, but might make the transition easier).
Yes I have a gym requirement that I’m just going to get rid of in my freshman and sophomore years since it’s only two years. Also the APWH class is majority freshman but there are still some sophomores. The CS class would count as my electives class and if I don’t take it I would take something less stressful like engineering one that doesn’t really have any hw
DD is in three honors, one AP and one DE. For her it is doable, but it was a MAJOR culture shock coming off junior high (for both her AND her parents). The homework is unbelievable, and it doesn’t help that she never met an extra curricular activity that she didn’t like.
Would I recommend this for everyone? Absolutely not. On the other hand, She will be taking a similar schedule next year (and has agreed to drop a club or two), but having been through the gauntlet this year, she will face next year’s challenges with a higher level of confidence.
I strongly advise against taking aps freshman year. its a big adjustment from middle school, and your schedules alrrady full of honors. just take it sophomore year. whats the big rush?
You sound smart so I have no doubt that you could maybe, possibly, conceivably pull this off, but it is going to be a lot of work. WAY more than anything you had in middle school. One thing to keep in mind is that if you take too many challenging courses you WILL get burnt out. Last semester, I took seven classes, including four APs and one honors. One of my courses (by far my easiest) was only one semester, so this semester I am only taking six. With all of the extra time I have by not taking that course, I brought my weighted semester GPA up from a 4 to a 4.46 and I feel way less stressed out. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will not have any time for any extracurriculars or a social life with that schedule. If you are genuinely interested and want to pursue these things proceed with caution, but if you are doing it for college admissions (which I assume you are as you posted this on college confidential), realize that it may constitue a GPA drop and that colleges value both outside-of-the-classroom experiences and your classes.
Take AP World but save AP CS for Sophomore year.
Both my S and D will tell you that in order to do well in any AP History class (they each took 3, none in their freshman year and got 5s on all of their tests) you will be required to do a good deal of reading and outlining of the chapters. Remember all AP classes are college level courses so you could have at least an hour worth of homework each night just for that class. As someone mentioned above, you don’t want to burn yourself out. Colleges want to see that you are challenging yourself but they also are looking for a well rounded individual. You don’t want your academic course load keeping you from ECs. Good luck!
I would start with 1 AP. The problem is, you don’t know how you will do. If you do poorly, it is still in your GPA. No college will say “well, they took it freshman year.” They will think “They got a C” and “it was dumb to take it freshman year.”
You may be someone who could do that…but I don’t think you know that. Take 1 AP and see how it goes. If it goes well, then you know you can do that level of work.
I am taking APCSP this year (18-19) as a freshman, and I would put it simple for you: APCSP is NOT hard. The first semester of class mostly include basic theoretical knowledge about computer science, and is free of coding (yet). To say the least, as long as you have good memory or enough effort to put in, it is a breeze to get A for it. The second semester will be slightly challenging, but the coding part never go beyond arrays and loops, meaning that it will still be quite straightforward logically and should not pose a huge difficulty.
The real obstancle throughout the APCSP is about the 2 performance tasks, and in particular Explore. The explore task require considerable amount of writing and information absorbing, but I still consider it within the control of a freshman like me.
I didn’t take APWG for freshman year. But since I was somehow able to enroll in APCSP 4 weeks after start of semester (abnormally) , I recommend that you register for Honors WG and see how that goes. If your school offers 2 weeks or above worth of course change periods, make the best use of it.