I am currently a sophomore in High School, and for my Junior year I enrolled in, AP English Language, AP Spanish Literature, AP US History, and AP Environmental Science, I feel as if this will be too much to handle, but im hoping I might get some insight on this decision.
You should be fine. Those look like some of the easier APs.
It all depends upon the student. Some have no issue, while others struggle with one or two. You (and you parents/teachers) know better which category you fall into.
While the workload depends, in part, on the teacher, APES is generally not considered to be a high-workload course. The other three are. The reading list for AP Spanish Lit is very extensive, so if you can get some of that reading done over the summer, it would help.
re: AP ES
Have you taken Bio, Chem and Physics? Most colleges would like to see those before AP ES. Taking AP ES just because it is AP is not the boost you may think it is. I would consider Honors Physics before AP ES
@bopper makes a good point.
I’d go so far as to say biology, chemistry, and physics (even if they are standard/regular) are considered more rigorous than APES.
Most competitive universities will expect you to have them, so make sure you do complete them before you graduate.
If you’re telling yourself “this is too much to handle” and you’re taking four AP courses, you’re making a big mistake. How do you know you’re going to do just fine with this schedule? If you think it’s too much, don’t do so many rigorous courses. Taking too many is a good way for a cocky student to fail all their courses. If I were you, if possible, I’d find the AP courses that you’d feel least comfortable taking and replace them with honors. Out of English, Spanish, History, and Environmental Science, which do you find yourself doing the best in? Which makes you feel most confident? Work from there until your courseload starts feeling like that’s the most you can take without it being “too much” and then stop. Colleges look for quality over quantity. They’d much rather see a student with all normal courses getting As and Bs than a student with all AP courses getting Ds and Fs.
Hope this helps,
Simon
- Class of 2019
I took honors chem this year, and honors bio last year, so im guessing it would be alright to take APES next year?
I’ve always taken honors and AP, and haven’t gotten any less that a B in all of them, so i’m not so much worried that I were to fail a class next year, but just a bit scared to start getting possible C’s in select classes.
Take Physics regular perhaps, save APES for senior year.
AP LAng and APUSH are common for top juniors.
AP Spanish Literature supposes you got an easy A in AP Spanish lang - did you? If not, do you have an alternative Spanish class? AP Spanish Lit is your most difficult course.
Probably a good idea to save APES until senior year, just kind of iffy on seeing a regular class in my schedule for the first time if I were to take regular physics.
And yes, AP spanish lang came very easy to me this year, just took the AP test May 8th, very easy as well.
What would your senior year look like?
Technically senior year, I would only need 5 more credits, and the 4th year of English, but I’m assuming it would be, AP Calculus AB, AP Gov/Econ, AP English Lit, AP Chem, Bio, or APES, depending on whether or not I change it,or just not take a science, but I don’t know if my school would let me have a 3 period day.
You can take APES if you want to. Just make sure you take physics as a senior if you take APES now. I am taking AP lang, apush, and apes next year as well. If you apply yourself, it will not be too much work. The work really depends on the teachers mainly. So ask current juniors.
You would need 5 classes senior year, so, AP calculus+lit+gov/econ+science, plus one fun class or AP stats.
What are you thinking of for a major?
I want to be Pre-Med, so I want to get rid of as many GE classes as AP classes in High School so that way I won’t have to do them later on.
If you don’t take pre-reqs in college because you got credit or it, you need to take a more advanced class in the subject.
Remember that all pre-med pre-reqs need to be taken in college or if you take the AP credit you need to take a more advanced class in the same subject.
As a premed, you must take physics in high school (preferably AP physics 1and/or 2 but it can be honors physics and even regular physics). You should also have AP Bio one year, AP chem another one. (not together).