Hello,
I am currently a freshmen and am thinking about quitting Spanish after this year (currently in 3). I had a really bad teacher this year, who I feel set me back and my current level of Spanish isn’t ready to take on AP Spanish 4. However, I’ve seen many people online saying that you should take 4 years of Spanish, so should I try to study this summer and get ready for Spanish 4, or would it be okay if I simply didn’t continue.
Review over the summer (watch Spanish-language films, buy the little book “English grammar for students of Spanish”, do lots of drills and exercises, try to read short articles online) and take AP Spanish sophomore year (unless you really think you’ll get a D or a C). Stopping at level 3 as a freshman wouldn’t be a great idea, as it’d block some of your options for college down the road, whereas continuing with AP Spanish, even if you don’t take the exam, will keep all choices open.
@MYOS1634 I think I’d be able to keep an A, but I’m in a pretty competitive school where weighted averages differ by point, not be letter grade. This means that a 100 is a different GPA than a 99, so I’m trying to keep all my grades as high as possible. The problem I feel with Spanish is that there’s no way I’d be able to keep track of exceptions and I might make mistakes in essays in stuff no matter how hard I study.
Also, I’d be taking 5 APs next year, so I’m not if I’d be able to study for the AP exam. Are you saying that it’s okay if I don’t take the exam and I’d still receive the benefits of taking 4 years of Spanish to colleges?
As long as you’re top 10% it doesn’t matter at all whether you got a 100, a 99, or a 96…
Adcoms really aren’t that granular and val/sal are chocolate medals for high school kids but have zero meaning to highly selective colleges.
Yes, colleges don’t care whether you take the exam, they want 3-4 APs jr/sr year to show rigor, and they want to see A’s (B+ is acceptable). If you choose to take the exam it’s better to get a 5 and if you don’t take the exam you won’t get credit for it (but many highly selective colleges don’t give much credit anyway since all students took AP or equivalent courses, so that they’re the default prep to their 1st year classes).
Finally, don’t take 5 AP’s. Choose 3.
Do you want to limit yourself?
Do you want to be limited to school that only want 3 years of a foreign language?
Do you want to limit yourself to going to schools that don’t require foreign language?
Do you want to possibly do well on the AP Spanish exam and get exempted from foreign language in college?
or do you want to have to remember Spanish after two years of not taking it and then take it again in College?
Take AP Spanish and take the exam if at all possible. You never know if you are going to end up in a college with a language requirement from which a good AP score can exempt you (it happened to me!). Also, Spanish gets more and more useful each year, so a good foundation might help you in your career years.
Self study over the summer if you can to make life easier during the school year. Get some materials from the library to help you.
Except in some situations, like the most selective Texas public universities and specific competitive majors at them.
I think op has established s/he doesn’t live in Texas, right?
@MYOS1634 I do live in Texas, but I plan to go to a selective college outside of state
Then your first duty is to run the NPC on a few colleges with your parents to determine what’s affordable. If you live in Texas, the public in-state universities are the first step on your college list. Check whether you qualify for UTD CollegiumV, UHouston-Honors … Or perhaps Trinity, Southwestern…
Run the NPC, check Naviance, look at th CDS for them.