<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore right now and my schedule this year is...</p>
<p>English 2 Honors
American History 1 Honors
Geometry Honors
Biology Honors
Spanish 2 Honors
Art
Gym</p>
<p>Im planning to take these classes junior year...</p>
<p>AP Language and Composition
AP US History
Algebra 2 Honors
Chemistry Honors
Spanish 3 Honors
Intro to Computer Programming
Personal finance (required) half the year and health the other half</p>
<p>I have an 8 period schedule and I don't know if I should take a class instead of lunch. I want to take more science and math classes because that's more related to my career, but I still want to take 4 years of every academic class. </p>
<p>I asked my guidance counselor about independent study, but she said it was for people that can't fit classes into their schedule. They are also only worth 2.5 credits instead of 5. Can someone please explain to me what independent study is? Take classes online? </p>
<p>Because of this, my senior year's schedule would be something like this...</p>
<p>AP Literature and Composition
AP US Government and Politics
Pre-Calculus Honors
Physics Honors
Spanish 4 Honors
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus? idk if i can take it at the same time
And then if i dont take lunch, I could take AP Chem or physics</p>
<p>But, this still would not be all the science and math classes...I would like to take AP Environmental Science, another science, and possibly AP Statistics too. All these classes have prerequisite requirements, Im not sure if im able to take them at the same time?</p>
<p>What independent study is just depends on your individual school. Nobody can really answer that except an official from your school.</p>
<p>But I don’t see how you’d be able to take pre-calc and calc at the same time? Unless you self-study precalc over the summer or something?</p>
<p>The schedules you just listed out are ambitious, and I think it’s great to be ambitious, but they also just seem illogical?</p>
<p>Why would you take honors physics and then try to squeeze in AP physics at the same time?</p>
<p>Independent study can be a great thing. But again, it just really depends on your individual school. At my school and neighboring school districts, kids do IS either when a class they’re interested in isn’t offered or their schedule doesn’t fit (French and Art are offered the same period, so they just go to French and IS Art).</p>
<p>I’ve known kids who do IS because of the French/Art situation (or something similar) and what they do is they IS the class that is easy to still suceed at without actually being present daily, if that makes sense. It’s much easier to IS art because that’s more individual than ISing a foreign langauge where being in class with the other kids would be helpful. If I had to IS something from your junior year schedule, I’d say personal finance/health. From senior year I’d say IS AP Gov because depending on your teacher, that can be a lot of reading and work that you can do on your own. Classes like Spanish or AP Lit or Calc are more helpful to actually be present for because the dicussions are more beneficial, I suppose?</p>
<p>But overall, my advice to you is to still go talk to your school counselor again and plan out the next two years of high school. That will be the person who can actually answer your questions as it pertains to your specific situation. Nobody on hear can tell you how independent study works at your school or how your school lets you take classes. Good luck, it sounds like you have some pretty high goals. Don’t be too put down if you can’t take every class you want to. Remember that high school isn’t designed so you can take every class you want to, so if you have to make a sacrifice, it’s not the end of the world.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think I can, that’s why I was thinking about independent study. I would only be able to take up to pre calculus going by these schedules. You’re right, I would probably take physics with AP Chem, Bio or Environmental Science then. You said kids do independent study when the school doesn’t offer those classes. I would like to take Mandarin and my school does not have that, I am taking Spanish right now. Would it be a good idea to take Mandarin? I am Chinese by the way. I’ll talk to my guidance counselor. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>I personally advise not taking Mandarin. Just stick with Spanish for 4 years. Don’t get so overwhelmed with your class schedule. Highschool isn’t made so you can take every single class offered. Just pick what you are interested in that is challenging and stick with that. Don’t worry if you can’t fit AP whatever into your schedule.</p>
<p>I speak a dialect of Mandarin…Fujianese. I can listen and talk some Mandarin, but reading and writing is much harder. My parents can speak, read, and write Mandarin though.</p>