Hey guys,
I was hoping you guys could give me some feedback on my Junior Year Schedule. Thanks, I would appreciate it a lot!
Sophomore Schedule
AP Calc AB… Fluctuates between A and A-
AP World History … A
Chemistry- … A
Physics… A
Orchestra… A
Spanish 3… A
Computer Programming 1 (half year class) … A
Engineering Design 1 (half year class)… IDK yet, just started Sem 2
English 10… A-
That is what I have at the end of Semester 1.
Junior Schedule:
AP Calc BC
AP Chemistry
AP Physics C
AP Computer Science
AP Capstone
AP Lang
AP Psych or AP Econ or normal US History(I don’t feel confident enough for APUSH)
Lifetime Sports (mandatory, half year, but the other half year I will be doing AP Chem Lab since that is mandatory)
I’m not super strong in English, so obviously taking either AP Capstone or AP Lang will be a BIG CHALLENGE. Should I not take either of them, or take one of them? If so, which? I am a very STEM oriented person.
I would really appreciate feedback, I know that my Junior schedule is a rigor overload and I most likely won’t be able to handle it. I do plan to study AP CS, AP Calc BC, AP Physics, and AP Chem a bit over the summer.
I do not recommend you taking 6 APs in a year. Here are the reasons why:
college admissions is not about the number of APs you take, rather it's about taking AP and being able to handle your outside life like ec's, volunteering, etc. This schedule seems almost too rigorous so much to the point that you won't have time to get involved in clubs or do something you actually want outside of school.
In addition, starting junior year, you'll have to start studying for the SAT/ACT and you want to find a balance between studying for those and studying for your classes at school. In my opinion, I don't think you will have enough time to study for those standardized tests with your 6 APs.
I've heard that after 8-9 APs, the amount of APs after doesn't really matter, so you probably want to save some APs for senior year. There is nothing wrong with saving a class to take senior year.
I was in a similar situation with you in English; I got a B+ because my Honors English 10 teacher though it was a good idea to give us pop quizzes. But, I still decided to take AP Lang (i'm a junior). I can confidently say that I have learned so much in that class and I had to work my you know what to get that A. I can't speak for AP Capstone but for AP Lang, you're going to have to spend time outside of class trying to improve your reading/writing skills, especially if you struggled in Honors 10. In addition, if you were to take 5 other APs (which is going to take a lot of time), you would not have the time to really grasp the material of AP Lang because of your course load, which will result in poor grades on tests and essays (I can speak from experience).
Why don't you take Spanish 4? Even though colleges only require 3 years, it would be much more beneficial if you complete your Spanish sequence at your school. In addition, it would help ease your course rigor because Spanish 4 isn't AP. However, if you got an A in Spanish 3, I recommend you going to Honors Spanish 4 but that's your choice.
Finally, by saying that "you won't most likely be able to handle it", it's a big signal to me that you really should consider cutting back on your APs. Maybe drop AP Capstone and save that for senior year if you want to take it. If you're taking that class just for the GPA boost, don't take it, as it will not help or degrade your application. Also, assuming that you already took Bio freshman year, why are you trying to take both Chem and Physics (both AP level!!!!) in the same year? What are you going to take senior year? Therefore, I recommend you saving one of those AP sciences until senior year.
Sorry for this post being long but I hope this helps and good luck with the rest of your sophomore year!
Please don’t double up on two of the hardest (probably THE two hardest) AP lab sciences at the same time.
Here is a more reasonable schedule that still demonstrates strong course rigor:
APUSH
AP Calculus BC
English 11 Honors (AP Lang is miles away from Sophomore Honors English, and you can likely still take AP Lit if you do very well in English 11 Honors)
AP science (do Physics or Chem, depending on which one you enjoy the most, assuming you've already taken Biology, you've completed the recommended one of each main lab science)
AP Computer Science
Lifetime Sports
Spanish IV (I might be a little biased because I'm a foreign language junkie myself)
You said it yourself: your proposed schedule is rigor overload. You don’t want “overload” during what is arguably the most important year of your high school career.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply!
My school doesn’t have English 11 Honors. I want to be able to take all 3 AP Sciences, so I would have to take 2 of them in one year. Spanish 4 sounds like a good idea to me too lol. You are right, my earlier schedule was definitely course overload, thank you for the feedback.
@davidyekwonkim
You’re right, taking 6 AP’s would mean that I wouldn’t have time for my extracurricular activities, and those matter as well. I am also not that interested in AP Lang or even AP Capstone and I should only do things that I am interested in. At the same time, Spanish IV would be a good class to take because I could possibly take AP Spanish Senior Year. Also, if I already get enough AP’s more wouldn’t matter after, so I should only take the interesting stuff. Thanks for your help!
You need to take physics honors or AP 1 before physics C.
Why do you want to take all three sciences? It’s better to choose and target the lens that will matter to you. Colleges DO NOT expect three AP sciences.
AP English is very useful and if your school doesn’t have English honors then you should definitely try and take it. If you like hands on projects then AP research/seminar would be another possibilty.
US history is a requirement for graduation at all us High school so regular us history is a mandatory class that cannot be replaced with AP Psych.