Is this schedule awful?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m a current sophomore/rising junior. Scheduling season is looming upon us, so my GC has instructed me to begin thinking of the classes I’ll take next year. I’ve come up with something like this:

AP Spanish Language - Incredibly easy here, I’ve heard. Teacher loves me, I love her, obvious pick

AP United States History - I like history, especially US history. I also love the teacher. He told me to take APUSH or he’d give away my wooden shield

AP Physics C - I figured it would be good to knock out physics and since I’ll be taking Calc along with it I’d be prepared. Apparently the teacher is a funky dude.

AP Computer Science Principles - Another notoriously easy class, and the next one in the PLTW CS track so an obvious choice. My CSE teacher also teaches this and he told me he expects to see me in his AP class next year.

AP Calculus AB - Only AB is offered, next class in the math track. My worst subject is math, so I’m a bit iffy, but I know I could pull a solid B/B+/A- as I have this year in Pre-Calc so I’ll take it anyway.

AP English Language - I have an A+ in English. My teacher told me if I took anything below AP Lang she’d hunt me down and throw something at my head.

Guidance Intern or Teacher Intern - This one I’m not sure on—since I’d be taking 6 APs, I sort of want a reprieve. Could take another academic class such as Web Design but I don’t really feel like it. If I were to intern with a teacher, I’d choose my English teacher.

I was also pondering taking Abnormal Psychology or Intro to Electronics and Projects at a local CC online, perhaps instead of an internship thing in my last slot I could do an independent study slot thing and allocate that time to a class like this?

Anyway what are all y’all’s thoughts? Am I stabbing 23 knives in my back by taking this? For reference, I am currently taking Spanish 3 (A, first semester grades in parentheses), H. World History (A+), H. Chemistry (A), PLTW CS Essentials (N/A), AP Psychology (A), Dual-Credit Pre-Calculus/Trig (B), and H. English 10 (A+).

2

AP Physics C was the most difficult course my daughter had in all of high school. If it’s both Mechanics and E&M you may want to consider putting it off until senior year. She also found AP language and APUSH to be a ton of work. She took them in the same year as well, but that was without all of your other APs. IMO, this is a way overloaded schedule, especially since you only took 1 AP this past year, and one of the very easiest.

3

Six APs is a lot. If math is not your forte, leave AP Physics C for senior year. Is there an Honors Physics or AP Physics 1 class that you could take instead? Also, you are in your third year of Spanish and you say that the AP Spanish class is easy, will you be well prepared for the exam? Do you know how well students in your school typically do in the exam?

4

It would be better to take AP physics C after completing AP calculus AB (equivalent of college calculus 1), since the usual prerequisite for the first calculus-based physics course in college is calculus 1 (with calculus 2 as a corequisite).

5

@momofsenior1 Thank you! I think I’ll wait on AP Physics then. AP Spanish here is super easy work wise (from what friends say) but yeah APUSH I’ve heard is tough.

@InfoQuestMom The only physics class offered at my school is the AP C course. In fact, the only non-AP science offered that I haven’t taken is Anatomy and Physiology, which leaves me in a pickle. The AP Spanish class here doesn’t really prepare students well for the exam; I believe the pass rate is around 20-25%. I’m not entirely sold on taking the Spanish exam anyway because I want to do another foreign language in college anyway.

@ucbalumnus That makes sense! Thank you!

I’m stuck on the science thing. I could do a dual-enrollment science class like geology but idk…

6

I wouldn’t take AP Physics C. Talk to the teacher, could a section of AP Physics 1 or Honors Physics be offered? Offering an advanced Physics class ONLY and thus offering Physics ONLY to students who’ve completed calculus junior year is seriously limiting considering most selective college want to see some form of it (even conceptual physics works).

AP Spanish Language
AP United States History
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Calculus AB
AP English Language
Guidance Intern or Teacher Intern
Dual Enrollment Physics for non science majors ONE semester , such as
https://catalog.uark.edu/search/?P=PHYS%201023
https://umdphysics.umd.edu/academics/courses/986-physics-105-physics-for-decision-makers.html

That would be a HUGE jump in rigor compared to your current schedule though.

7

@MYOS1634 You’re definitely right; I was thinkin about maybe dropping AP Spanish to just Spanish 4 or taking a break in Spanish till senior year?

8

Foreign language, like math, is sequential, so taking a year off is ill-advised. You could indeed take Spanish 4 junior year and then AP Spanish senior year.

Spanish 4
AP United States History
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Calculus AB
AP English Language
Guidance Intern or Teacher Intern
Dual Enrollment Physics for non science majors ONE semester

= would be a more reasonable schedule.
(Approximating in terms of AP Psych difficulty, the above schedule would be like having 6 or 7 AP Psych classes plus one regular class.)

9

@Myos1634 Thank you! I think that’d be pretty doable. AP Psych hasn’t been much work, a little challenging but if every class were like that I could do alright.

10

AP Psych is one of the easiest AP classes, so when you say it hasn’t been much work, don’t expect every AP class to be that way.

I agree with what’s been said about saving physics for senior year- I would not take it without a calculus background. I also agree with @MYOS1634 about doing Spanish 4 and THEN AP Spanish, if only for the fact that the leap from one AP to 5 or 6 is huge! APUSH and Lang aren’t overwhelmingly difficult, but they do have heavy workload demands and so will be very time consuming outside of school.

Also bear in mind that your junior year will likely be generally busier than sophomore year. You have SATs and ACTs to prep for, generally you’ll start doing college searches and tours, and a lot of students get jobs and cars as well around junior year. I’m not saying you’ll be doing all this for sure, but just keep in mind that your personal schedule is likely to be busier. Don’t sacrifice your mental health and free time.

11

What’s the OPs prospective major. Taking AP computer science for the sake of it because its easy is a waste if you don’t want to do a stem major (there is also some math involved and considering you’re a little weak I don’t think you’d enjoy the class). I also wouldn’t recommend AP physics C because your haven’t taken calc yet.

My recommendations:

AP English Lang
AP Spanish
AP Calc AB
APUSH

I wouldn’t go more than 4 or 5 APS junior year since you’ve not experienced this level of rigor yet and you’ll need time to study for the SAT/ACT.

12

Re: #10

Actually, AP CS principles should be a good overview of CS, where one learns enough about it to understand its relation to other things, even if one will not major in CS. I.e. take it for the knowledge, not the AP credit.

13

@cram545 I plan on going into CS, sorry if it seemed vague lol

@ellalexa I already have a job and car and stuff, taken the SAT once (obviously will retake with more prep)

Thank you! :slight_smile: I’m thinking of maybe doing the dual-enrollment physics option if available and maybe doing Honors US History if necessary? My current teacher would be angry if I didn’t do APUSH lol

14

@CavsFan2003 Lol definitely take AP computer science then.

I get the vibe you enjoy US history (look at your profile pic lol). Remember, you do well in the classes you most enjoy so I would reccomend APUSH.

Also, I highly reccomend taking physics, whether it’s honors, regulars, AP or dual enrollment. Colleges like to see it.

15

@cram545 You’re definitely right lol I’m a history nut despite my formal interest in STEM

Schedule picking is so hard… don’t want to overload myself but don’t want to underload myself!

16

That is a lot but beware of the notorious big bad AP Physics C. Other than that, everything else looks doable if you put in a lot of effort

17

If per chance you’ve already got some decent programming background (most CS-intent majors do nowadays), I would skip the AP CSP class. That’s pretty much a rookie beginning class. Instead I would go straight to AP CS A, if it is offered.

You’re actually ok taking AP Physics C with AP Calc AB concurrently, but Physics C will be a real pain without any previous Physics class. So you’re better off taking an Honors Physics class or taking AP Physics 1 if offered. You could take AP Chem for next year also.

18

CS Principles is specifically about more than programming - it deals with all the facets of computer science.
(For an analogy, it’d be like complaining AP World doesn’t include much European History: true but beside the point.)

19

@professorplum168 I would LOVE to skip CSP, as I have Java and Python experiencd, but we follow the PLTW pathway so we’re required to go sequentially (I tried to skip CS essentials cause it’s literally just MIT App Inventor)

I actually think my school will be offering AP Physics 1 my senior year, so I might just wait till then.

@myos1634 I’ve heard it’s mostly getting into the mindsent of CS and less on actual programming, like you said. It might be a cool class, imo