So I already sent in my future schedule but future changes to it are possible. I’ve been given a lot of recommendation to take APUSH next year as a junior. However, I have also heard that the class is impossible and that it’s very hard to maintain a good grade without spending 3-4 hours studying. What do you guys think? My current junior year schedule is as follows:
AP Chemistry
AP Psychology
AP Lang
AP Calc AB
U.S. History Honors *
Tennis *
The star next to the classes mean that I am thinking of changing the class. I heard that junior year should look the most aggressive. I’m trying to enroll in an Ivy League school, so definitely I will be prepping this whole summer for SAT. Do you think with 5 AP’s, that will be too much? Should I just stick with the schedule I have now or step up my game and take APUSH? Thanks!
Push yourself without overworking yourself. Talk to current juniors and seniors and ask them how APUSH/Tennis is and see what they say. APUSH is a lot of reading and memorization of facts, and a lot of things on the exam is specific. Since you are taking 4 other APs you need to weigh the costs and benefits of taking APUSH and whether its helpful for you.
AP Psych is an easier AP while Calc, Chem and Lang are harder. What will you major in in College?
Best of luck!
@TheSlacker16 I am thinking of going into the medical field in college. And yes, all the juniors I’ve talked to say that APUSH is a very difficult class. Have you taken it?
If that’s the approach you have to college, you won’t get into any Ivy League school. They are all distinct. Do you realize how ridiculous it sounds to want to join an athletic conference regardless of the school? Would you wanna join any SEC school? The environments of Vandy, Mizzou, and Texas are VERY different. What about PAC-12? You wanna go to Utah, Stanford, and Washington? Do research. Quit the brand hunting.
And any Ivy League is a terrible idea for pre med. GPA is pretty much everything and your GPA will inevitably be lower and a more competitive school.
@TheSlacker16 lol well there are 2 teachers who teach the course at our school; one teacher makes the class really easy but fails to prepare you for the exam while the other teacher makes the class hard but prepares you well for the exam. I think I’ll give APUSH a try and if I can’t handle it, I’ll switch to honors. Thanks for your opinion!
@CaliCash I know a student who’s going to Columbia and they did nothing but study all day. They did get a full score on the SAT, which was very beneficial to them.
@cjchasinglife There’s no way for me to take Calc BC junior year UNLESS I took a really hard precalc class this year and have a test average of 93 or higher. I’m taking precalc this year but an easier class (in my school, we have precalc AB and precalc BC and I’m taking precalc AB). However, I am going to take calc bc senior year.
@Frigidcold Yes, since I pretty much already have all the required high school credits, I can have electives in my schedule. Should I replace tennis with a harder class so colleges see that I’m challenging myself?
How “hard” these classes are depend somewhat on what kind of person you are.
AP Chemistry was not too bad for me; I had a teacher who pushed me a lot, but I understood the material and got a 5. I guess the key to Chemistry was reviewing the material a lot and making sure I understood some of the more challenging topics (acid and base equilibrium and electrochemistry definitely did not click the first time I learned them).
AP Psychology and AP Calculus AB are pretty reasonable APs, you shouldn’t have any trouble there. AP Language was a pretty good class for me because my teacher was chill and I have a pretty good grasp the multiple choice: Critical Reading was my best SAT topic, I got an 800 on that. Most of my prep work went into the essays.
APUSH was probably one of my easiest classes. There was a big emphasis on analyzing documents in my class, so be prepared for that. There is a lot of information to memorize: I recommend outlines (tedious as they may be) to memorize the information if you’re not a history buff. If you’re into American history, then I don’t think this class will be much a challenge to you.
I feel like you should keep Tennis if you have been doing Tennis for freshman and sophomore years to show continuity. Yes junior year should be rigorous, but I found that a lot of my friends overloaded on APs and consequently had to drop classes (in the middle of the year) so they could handle all the work they needed to do.
All in all, good luck for junior year! It was my favorite high school year so far. I hope SAT studying goes well!
Hey! I’m a current sophomore and took APUSH this year (its mainly a junior class at my school also) I say go for it because with the new format of the exam, all the questions are paired with a document and most of it is reading comprehension! Obviously like any history class you need to memorize but it’s not as much as it used to be!
Top 25 universities/LACs want to see a TOTAL of 4-8 APs. After that they consider course rigor is good and move on to other parts of your application. Stick to that schedule, no need to make it harder.
In addition, even at Harvard 1/3 admitted students stopped at precalculus, and while about 2/3 had calculus, there’s no difference between AB and BC (unless you’re applying to a School of Engineering, and even there is doesn’t really matter THAT much). Taking Ab as a junior or senior is perfectly fine too.
@MYOS1634 Thank you! I think I’m going to stick to my current schedule (not taking APUSH) because I heard the workload is crazy in the class (at least for my school) and the passing rate is very low. The reason I was considering taking the class is so it can look good on my college application in senior year and boost my ranking (it went down dramatically when I received 2 B’s in honor classes).
If you were receiving B’s in honor classes before Junior year, not taking APUSH seems reasonable. Besides, it seems like a whole lot of work for not even preparing students well for the exam.
@dblazer Well at our school, we have 4 quarters (2 semesters). I received a B and an A for the 1st and second quarter respectively. However, I received an 89 on my exam so I ended up with a B overall as an semester grade (I had to get an A on my exam in order to get an A for a semester). I was super bummed because both of my A’s in the second quarter were VERY high (100+). And yes, most students taking APUSH at my school receive 3’s on the AP exam.
Don’t worry. Do your best in the classes you’ve chosen, try to get A’s.
Note that selective colleges would expect to see a Foreign Language in your schedule, unless you already scored well on an AP Language class (or took the SAT Subject and scored 700+).
@MYOS1634 Thank you. I have already taken Chinese online for 2 years (my school doesn’t offer the class so I took it online) and am continuing the 3rd course during the summer (the 3rd course of Chinese is honors and there is no AP Chinese class available). I am taking the SAT 2 Biology next Saturday. I researched some of the colleges that I want to attend, and for admission, they need 2 SAT subject’s scores. I will already have 1 test done, and I am thinking of taking the SAT subject for chemistry (taking AP Chemistry next year) next year. Also, I will be self studying for the SAT Subject for Chinese and the AP exam senior year. I have one question, for the SAT math levels (there are 2 levels), what’s the difference? Obviously one is harder than the other, but what topics are covered on both tests? Thanks!
Math 2 has precalc, trig, and everything you’ve learned before. Check out the Collegeboard website for more specifics. Take the SAT Math 2 if you want to do anything even remotely science/math related.