Thoughts on my schedule Junior Year? SCHOOL DOES NOT OFFER CALC BC NOR HONOR COURSES
AP Calc AB
AP Biology
AP Lang
AP Psych
US History
Spanish 3
Is this schedule rigorous enough? Is it too rigorous (I believe it’s just right for me)? I do not want to take APUSH alongside the other 4 APs because our school only allows us to take AP starting junior year, so taking none to basically a whole schedule may be overly ambitious and is not the right choice. Plus in our school, APUSH is notoriously difficult even for people who like history (and I definitely do not like history). Our AP Biology teacher is also known as a bad teacher as he is very distant with his students and is unclear. I am aiming for T25 schools with a major in biopsychology.
If anyone was curious, my predicted senior schedule is AP Chem, AP Stats, AP Gov, English, Ceramics, unknown (I’m still choosing between either taking AP Physics 1 or my required CTE Credit in school rather than dual enrollment).
I believe it is too rigorous because I think you should slow down and taking all of these courses will not allow you enough time to reflect on your mistakes which I believe is a very important skill you have to develop before you graduate.
Thanks for the response. I agree that with the pace and nature of these classes, I may not have too much time to reflect on my mistakes. I predict that I will do fine in Calc AB because I have a family member who excels in Calculus and will catch any mistake I make and tutor me, if that mistake goes unnoticed by me. AP Psych and AP Lang are not a major concern for me either because quite frankly, I have gotten a preview of it and I find it very interesting and enjoyable. I do not think it will be a breeze taking these classes though because after all, they are AP courses. Bio might be the only slightly hard one because of the teacher, but hopefully my work ethic and interest in biology will help me out on it. Since you find it is too rigorous, can you suggest a schedule that would be best for me in your opinion?
I would build a good relationship with the bio teacher because if he is hard that means he has less recommendations to fill out which means a more detailed recommendation and a good one for you.
I believe it is too rigorous because I think you should slow down
I suspect you will know your capabilities and chances to succeed better than an anonymous person on the internet.
Your current teachers, counselor, and parents would be other resources to validate your thoughts. No one here know you or your abilities.
Fwiw, my D is in AP Calc BC, Chem, Lang, and USHist plus French 4 and a DE Sociology class and doing just fine, so there’s nothing inherently impossible about the schedule. My older D, on the other hand, would not have been successful with that schedule. You, and those who know you, need to discuss and decide.
I assume OP would be taking AP Physics 1 though, so it’d be very hard but potentially doable alongside AP Chem, keeping in mind AP Stats isn’t very hard and Ceramics should be fun.
What science classes have you already taken? FWIW, T-25 schools will expect (or at least strongly prefer) that you take at least one each (at any level) of biology, chemistry AND physics. So, if you have already taken regular biology and chemistry but not physics, you may want to forego one of these at the AP level In order to take AP Physics 1 either junior or senior year (or doube up in science one year). I agree that AP chem and AP physics would be a lot in one year, but this may be balanced by the fact that you’re taking the easier math (statistics) and regular English senior year.
I have taken regular biology and am currently taking regular chemistry. I am skipping regular physics and going into AP Physics 1 because they are so similar, just that the AP is faster-paced, has more workload, and go into some topics you wouldn’t go over in regular physics.
If my school allows, I will being taking US History over the summer before Junior Year. If this does happen, I will move ceramics to junior year in replacement of US History. I would only have 5 classes in my Senior year instead of the usual 6 then. How doable will AP Physics 1 and AP Chem be then, with having a free period, but with consideration of senioritis?
For reference, I am top 15% in my school. I am only top 15% because I didn’t care for school freshman year because I didn’t want to stress grades>social life and mental health. I slacked off a little and got two B’s, but I recovered sophomore year and currently am sitting at a 3.9 gpa.
I am also the president of two clubs and I am working on getting my extracurriculars up, though I plan to only take time out of my day to do the extracurriculars that I enjoy, I would rather just live my life than suck up to what colleges want.
-senioritis: idk if it’s a myth or not, hopefully it doesn’t happen to me because I’m choosing classes I like.
I think it’s a good plan. BTW, since the AP Bio teacher isn’t any good, you need to know about Bozeman science! http://www.bozemanscience.com/
My kids had an AMAZING AP Bio teacher, and they still used bozeman videos. Everyone does. You’ll probably just need them more.
If you can take something this summer to get it out of the way, it would be a good idea. The other thing is that you should consider spending time this summer prepping for the PSAT. If you can make National Merit, it makes you stand out, might make you eligible for automatic scholarships at certain schools. You cannot go back and fix the few B’s in 9th grade. But you can do well from hereon out, and prep for the SAT or ACT and get a stellar score on it, and still get into the schools you are aiming for.
I am definitely going to study for the PSAT via Khan Academy and maybe an PSAT/SAT book, though I heard the SAT is going to be changed. Do you know anything about the current status of the SAT? I heard they removed the essay as a whole, and they are changing the whole format, but I haven’t gotten any information since.
By the way, thanks for the website it might come handy in the future, in which I might have to thank you haha.
If they do change the format, there’ll be a rollout, so you won’t be affected, perhaps the class of 20222 if they go really fast, but usually the rollout takes a few years.
What’s more likely is that they’ll have to change their business model if universities find that they don’t really need the SAT to figure out who to admit. As a result, they won’t have testers/retesters and their data (this is as big a deal as the money the testers/retesters pay).