So I skipped a year of Language arts
New Lang art track:
Gifted 9th grade la
AP Lang
AP Lit or Gifted 12th grade la
Since I skipped 10th grade la I get to choose if I want to take ap lit senior or junior year.
Currently I think I’ll do:
AP Calc AB
AP English Lit
AP Physics I
AP U.S. History
AP Seminar
Orchestra
Any advice or concerns?
They might be opening spanish 4 at my school should I take that too? In order to do so I’d take 12th grade la during study hall
AP Calc AB
12th grade Gifted la (study hall)
AP Physics I
AP U.S. History
AP Seminar
Orchestra
Spanish 4
Here is my “history”
9th grade
Accelerated Geometry (2nd half of geometry and algebra 2)
Gifted biology
Gifted 9th grade la
Spanish 2
AP Human Geography
AP Environmental Science
Orchestra
10th grade
Accelerated Precalc
Gifted chemistry
Spanish 3
AP World history
AP European History
AP English Lang
Orchestra
I haven’t taken AP English Literature, AP Seminar, or AP Calculus AB, so I’m sorry I can’t really advise on those. However, I can talk about Spanish 4, AP Physics 1, and APUSH.
Spanish 4, in my opinion, is a really enjoyable class, so I’m gonna probably be biased in my statements, and I’m sorry about that. However, even if you are intending to go into STEM, four years of a world language is really useful for your career, college applications, and can give you a lot of benefits in daily life. However, it isn’t absolutely necessary, and if you’re really pressured or scared by the idea of another year (or got poor grades in levels 1-3), then you can stop. If you are intending to go into the humanities, however, I highly recommend you keep going. If you want to know what we do in the class, classes like Spanish 4 are definitely going to vary based on what textbook the school uses and what was taught in your 1-3 levels. At my school, Spanish 4 is considered an honors course, and is considerably far more difficult than levels 1-3. However, it is known as a really good preparation course for AP Spanish Language, and improves your Spanish a lot. There isn’t a lot of new information, just mainly vocabulary, but there’s a lot of refreshing on past grammar, and the tests and quizzes are far more intuitive and require far more thought.
AP Physics 1 is an interesting class. Most kids in my school currently taking the class are doing pretty well in the class. On the other hand, I am struggling a lot. However, if you are intending on going into a STEM field, I highly recommend you take the class despite my recommendation to avoid the class, simply because nearly all my friends who are STEM orientated love the class and are excelling in it. If you are intending on going into the humanities, I highly recommend you consider regular or Honors Physics. This is because AP Physics 1 tends to have very different science questions on quizzes and tests, that you may not be used to from Honors Biology or Honors Chemistry. It’s a very different level of thinking, and it could be potentially challenging. If you’re very interested in Physics and have a very big wish in taking the course, then go for it, but otherwise, not taking the class may be in your best interest.
APUSH is a nice class. If you have taken AP World or AP Euro in tenth grade, you will be at an advantage, but it’s completely okay if you didn’t. The class spans from the late 1400s to the present, and you will be analyzing history of the U.S. and how that ties into the current world. If you haven’t taken an AP History before, the first tests and quizzes are going to be very challenging because the question style is very different from Honors and regular social studies courses. They seem like Reading questions in their own right. The questions will more often than not, give you a picture, diagram, or passage, and ask questions about the text. If you’d like to see some example questions, they have a practice AP Exam for APUSH up, and you will be able to see what I am talking about. Similarly to AP Physics, if you are going to be a humanities major, I think this class is pretty essential. If you’re interested in history but not interested in majoring in the humanities, you should still take it as there’s a lot of benefits of the course. However, if you are interested in a STEM major, it’s okay to not take the course if it seems too overwhelming. Honors is completely okay. I will let you know ahead of time that the difficulty of APUSH can vary heavily based on the teacher. For example, one of the APUSH teachers at my school does not give any HW or textbook readings, no pop quizzes, and makes his tests based off pure memorization. The other makes all the quizzes a pop quizzes, gives about half a chapter of textbook reading most classes for HW, and models her multiple choice tests off of the style of the AP exam. It may be best to check with the people in your school to see how the course is conducted.
Overall, I wish you the absolute best of luck in your junior year. I really hope this helps, and I’m sorry if any of these courses are vastly different at your school.
Have a nice day.
Thankyou so much!!
I would take Spanish in place of AP seminar.
APUSH should be relatively easy for you if you did well in AP World. The content is obviously different, and since APUSH focuses on a smaller time period & area it is much more detail oriented, but the actual style of questions is the same (lots of stimulus based), and the writing is generally the same, so you’ll be at an advantage since you already know how to write DBQs, LEQs, and SAQs from AP World.
I would recommend doing AP Lang next year, and save AP Lit for senior year. Reason being, I’m in AP Lang this year (as a junior) and if you’re a strong writer, it’s relatively easy if you’re okay with a heavy workload and much less time than usual to write & plan your essays. I’ve heard that AP Lit, on the other hand, is a lot more challenging than Lang from my friends who have already taken both & from teachers as well. The general consensus which I have heard is that the actual pieces you are reading and analyzing are more difficult, and the AP exam is significantly harder since you may have to recall & write about content from throughout the year without having it with you.
Of course, I haven’t taken Lit yet- I’ll be doing it next year- so take this with a grain of salt, as I’m just relaying what I’ve heard plus my experience with Lang. I would say that Lang is a good class to take before Lit as it’ll be a lesser challenge that will ease you into AP English classes.
Definitely continue Spanish all four years of high school. Many colleges want to see that and it may be a freshman requirement, so you don’t want to have a gap in your language. What’s the OP prospective major?
I’m currently taking AP Lang. My language art options for junior year are either AP Lit or Gifted 12th grade la. Thankyou for your feedback!
I am planning to take seminar and research (junior & senior). I can take spanish 4 as well as seminar by dropping AP Lit for Gifted 12th language arts. the thing is they try to get enough students for spanish 4 every year but it has never been enough. Only the native speakers go from 3 to AP and though I’m good at spanish I’m not THAT good. Thanks for responding!!
I’m planning on going into the Stem field idk my specific major but I’ll be going through the Pre-Mrs track most likely if that’s what you were asking. Also thanks for responding!
Why not call BC over AB then since you want a stem major? I would recommend the schedule in your second post.
Math is not my favorite thing. The only people doing BC are people who want to take Calculus 2 via a sorta FaceTime thing with Georgia tech. The BC teacher said unless math is your favorite and you can just pick it up quickly take AB. Also the majority of BC students have already taken AB. Anyways thanks!
First question, why are you skipping a grade? It’s often pretty detrimental to otherwise competitive applicants since EC’s and impact take time. (I’m assuming you’re not a Carnegie Hall musician nor an Olympian).
Calc AB is fine.
This is a better schedule. (Completing Spanish 4 can be used as an academic “marker”, just like completing all three from bio/chem/physics).
AP Calc AB
12th grade Gifted la (study hall)
AP Physics I
AP U.S. History
AP Seminar
Orchestra
Spanish 4
Alternative: if you can switch out of AP Seminar and take AP Lit instead, keeping Spanish 4.
I didn’t skip a grade I skipped a language arts class. Our school allows sophomores to take ap lang only if we take ap euro with it too. Then from there our junior and senior choices are ap lit or 12th grade la (we get to choose which years we take it). I could drop Seminar for lit but that would cancel my plans for completing ap capstone senior year. Either way I’d take ap lit junior or senior year so. Thankyou for recommendation. If they open spanish 4 I’ll do the second schedule.
Ok then, take AP Lit AND Ap Seminar next year.
What would you take for English senior year?
AP Research may be considered an English credit for senior year then again it may not depending on the college.
12th grade Gifted language arts. AP Seminar/Research are elective at are school. (Ap lit and 12th grade la are usually the choices for senior but sophomores who take ap Lang take both of those classes to satisfy the English requirements)