Junior Year Schedule

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I know it is late, but I am in the process of enrolling back into my old high school for junior year and have these classes chosen for junior year:

Honors Literature & Comp 11
Pre-Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Psychology
French lll
Health + Civics (required semester classes)

I am not aiming at super selective schools, basically places like Michigan Tech and Michigan State. I am not like the elite students that this website is full of. I do think I am smart, but I am still worried about whether I can handle this schedule. Any tips for AP Chem and AP Psych would also help a lot.

2

My son said AP psychology was an easy A. He also said AP Statistics is so easy that it shouldn’t be considered AP, so you might look into that class. Both of my kids took the Latin route, all the way to Latin IV, and that was their hardest class. So, unless languages come easy to you, your French III may be your toughest challenge. Now, that being said, if you are fluent or even conversational in French, that will be a huge plus, as many majors require a foreign language. Another thing, my son said the junior year is the most important, and it looks like you are well set. Good luck to you.

3

That looks good and you should not shy away from applying to the Honors college at both Tech and State assuming your GPA is a good B+. You should also look into Grand Valley State honors, Kalamazoo, perhaps Albion, and if you can look OOS there are lots of possibilities (check out the book or website Colleges that change lives.)

4

Thank you so much!

5

The number one thing for AP Psych at my school is the reading. You’ve got to do your reading, or else.

**disclaimer: Psych at my school is not known as an “easy A”. It’s a ton of work, but it seems that is not the usual case for AP Psych

6

If I did not do AP Psych, would that hurt my chances for college if I got better grades in the other classes?

7

No. Psych is not a core class. You can take it any time you like as long as you have you core classes covered.
Core classes are English and history/social sciences (4 years), math through precalculus or calculus, foreign language through level 3, 4 or AP (and typically a minimum of three years), and science including one each of bio, Chem, physics at any level, plus one more (one of the three at AP level if you’re aiming for stem).
Everything else is up to you.

8

I’m doing AP Chem this year & I did AP Psych last year
Please keep in note that these responses are based on how the teachers for AP Chem & Psych are at my school
To keep it short & sweet…
AP Psych
*Was an easy A for me (depends on teacher)

  • But the class did not prepare me well enough for the AP exam
  • Really interesting in my opinion and has LOTS of vocabulary terms
  • Concepts are really easy to remember
    AP Chem
  • hardest AP class at my school
  • if you get a 3 or above on the exam, the teacher at my school changes your grade to an automatic A in both semesters, meaning that if you had an F first semester and you got a 3 on the exam, you automatically get an A
  • lots of time
  • practice,practice,practice !!!
  • Khan Academy is a great resource
  • if you want to do well then you have to take the initiative