Is it realistic to self-study these AP classes as a freshman?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>New here. I used to lurk for ages as a middle schooler, finally got around to making an account. I understand the people on this site are very upper-echelon in terms of academics, ECs, and just knowledge about stuff in general, so I wanted to get some input from other people.</p>

<p>As a freshman, my school only offers AP statistics, which I decided to push over into my sophomore year, so I could make room for my Latin, orchestra, and technology education class (we're required to have a credit of tech ed at my school) frosh year. But I know that most people screw around, maybe not necessarily get bad grades, but just waste away a lot of time in general frosh year, and end up really busy their junior and senior years. I don't want to end up getting 20 minutes of sleep a night later in high school (or now, for that matter). So I think that if I went ahead and self-studied some AP classes during frosh and soph year, but none junior and senior year, that would take a lot of pressure off, so I could concentrate on getting my community service hours in, filling out my app, SAT 1 and 2, getting in EC leadership, etc. my last 2 years of high school. So what I want to know is this:</p>

<p>Would this schedule be too difficult?
frosh year schedule:</p>

<p>Biology GT
US History GT
Precalc GT
English 9 GT
Designing Tech Solutions Honors
Latin 1
String Orchestra GT</p>

<p>In addition to self studying following AP classes:</p>

<p>AP Psychology or AP Human Geo (haven't decided yet)
AP Micro
AP Macro</p>

<p>Soph year schedule will be:</p>

<p>Chem GT
US Gov AP
Calc AB AP
English 10 GT
Latin 2 Honors
stat AP
Independent Study GT</p>

<p>(I am dropping orchestra, I don't enjoy it)</p>

<p>I plan on self studying AP classes soph year:</p>

<p>AP Psych or AP Hug (whichever one I don't do frosh year)
AP Env Sci</p>

<p>Would a schedule that looks like this be too hard? I personally don't think so, but my counselors disagree. (They don't know me yet so that's another thing.) Would it be a good idea to self-study these APs? I'm only self studying the "easy APs" because I'm really looking for the 5. I don't want to risk a potential 3. I have heard Env Sci can be hard... Does anybody have any advice. I could use anything and everything. I'm still incoming frosh so I'm not looking at colleges or anything yet but I don't want to pass up opportunities my frosh year and have myself kicking myself in bed senior year.</p>

2

<p>You can definitely be able to self-study Human Geo, Psych, and Env Sci. Econ might be a bit harder. Your class schedules don’t seem to be incredibly hard, so I think you should be able to manage. I wish I had thought about self-studying AP’s in freshman year. :P</p>

3

<p>I self studied both economics the weekend before and got 5s, without too much background in the topic. I simply read the 5 Steps to a 5 books on macro and micro and then took the provided practice tests. It was really easy to get down, and that may just be how I learn, but I don’t think you’ll have a problem, especially if you start early than I.</p>

4

<p>TOTALLY! Use online courses for that.</p>

5

<p>Definitely doable. </p>

6

<p>Consider it preparation for college because ANY moderate to heavy load in college (especially if you have a job) will require much more time and effort to get a decent grade than an AP/GT/Honors load. </p>

<p>I didn’t consider myself lazy in high school, but now I wish I could go back and whip my freshman self into shape. If you don’t push yourself now, college will be a huge surprise (many people drop out because they aren’t prepared for the hike in difficulty). You HAVE TO self-study in every class there. You may as well get good at it now. </p>