Last minute schedule decision!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>I need to make quick schedule decisions for next year because the deadline is approaching. Please help me consider my two choices:</p>

<p>1st choice: (7 Classes)
AP Calculus
APUSH
AP Biology
AP Sats
AP Enviornmental science
English 11 H
Spanish 2</p>

<p>2nd choice: (6 Classes)
AP Calculus
APUSH
AP Biology
AP Sats
English 11 H
Spanish 2</p>

<p>The thing is, I don't know whether 5 APS and 1 Honors will be TOO much for a Junior. Can I even have extra time to study for the PSAT/SAT, SAT IIs, AP Exams, and be able to complete a significant amount of ecs (including a sport and community service for at least 4-6 hours a week?</p>

<p>Can anyone please tell me how everything I've mentioned about can be done while getting ALL A's in the 1st choice classes? Will 5 AP classes and the maximum amount of classes (7) make a significant amount of difference over the 4 AP classes and one less class (6)?? I have 6 as my 2nd choice because there are no other classes I'm interested in of than AP Environmental which is in my 1st choice.</p>

<p>Again, is it possible to maintain straight A's (Mabye 1 B) in all of the classes listed in choice A and study for all the exams and do a considerable amount of ecs all together at once? I've heard people doing 6+ so I would like to challenge by self because I want to. Thanks in adv.</p>

<p>--Btw, would it be okay if I didn't take AP Exams in 1 or 2 of the classes? Do colleges want you to take one in every AP class that you've taken? Also, I think my SAT score is around 1700 right now and I need to study big for next year (including PSAT). I barely have any ecs, and I have not taken any SAT IIs or APs yet. I'm planning to take 2 SAT II subject tests in the beginning of my Junior year and I am taking 1 AP Exam in May. Please consider this situation also when telling me your opinion for my schedule choices, thanks!</p>

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<p>I think you ought to pick option 2 simply beacuse you could use the extra time. 4 AP's is pleanty. You should definately take the AP test for all of your AP classes otherwise colleges may wonder why you even took the course. unless the teacher is a total idiot and you could'nt pass.</p>

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<p>Are you interested in environmental science?</p>

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<p>Yes, I just went to the teacher today and talked to him about what APES is and what's the workload. He told me that its mostly thinking and is basically a little bit of every science blended together. I love biology by the way, so do you think I'll like environmental science too? I just like to know how things work (love physics) like the millions of cellular functions going on in our bodies every second! Learning is almost always interesting (except math is getting boring for me, it use to be my favorite subject). Anyways, the teacher said that the hw each day was going to take an hour or less and that we would be doing a lot of research and labs in class. Sound easy? Can someone please consider my other questions? Thanks a lot!</p>

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<p>dude take ap english it helsp muchh more than anyother ap class
seriously it will help with essay writing for colleges and ull becoome great writer</p>

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<p>I'd say option 2 and take APES next year. I second the AP English (if you can)</p>

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<p>We don't have AP English for Juniors, we only have it for seniors =[ Why should I take choice 2?</p>

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<p>I can speak with experience and say go for option 2, and I apologize for the long rambling post in advance. haha</p>

<p>I took 4 APs and 1 Honors junior year and it was just way too much work. I didn't take my own advice and went on to take 5 APs plus 2 english and art elctives this year against my better judgement and have realized it was a mistake again. I thought I could handle it having gotten all As until that point but I couldn't. I'm a pretty bad procrastinator so I think had I manage my time better I could have been more successful but junior year is such a hectic year that I don't know how well I could have done. </p>

<p>If you are really, really good about time management I would say it's possible that you can continue to do well in all those classes (but do know that it isn't going to be as easy to get staight As like it may have been in 9th/10th), but I don't think the payoff is worth it. You'd have to go into it with the mindset that you just have to get the work done, though. </p>

<p>You have a plenty difficult schedule to apply to colleges with if you have 5 APs junior year, 1 sophomore year, and presumably a few more as a senior. Don't let college talk get you too concerned about it all, really. I spoke with an admissions counselor at UVA, for example, who basically told me I would have a really hard time getting in (OOS) without taking AP Physics (I was signed up for 5 AP classes, the science being environmental), so I was convinced I wouldn't get in...but I did, without the coveted physics lol. </p>

<p>With 5 APs you aren't going to have a lot of time to begin with, but i think 6 would just push you over the edge. You will probably be able to do justa little bit better in all your other classes if you cut one, which I think is more worthwile. I don't think the different in 5 or 6 is enough to lose that valuable time for studying for SATs or maybe joining and extra activity that would also look good and would be much more enjoyable than more work. Also try to work on the SAT stuff over the summer when you have more time than you will during the year, but also don't give up your summer over it either. </p>

<p>As for AP Enviro specifically, it may not even be that huge of a stress reliever to drop it, I think it depends on your school though. A lot of college view it as the joke AP, but I think it's becoming more respected. It kills me because arguably the hardest teacher in my school teaches the class and I have soooo much work in it, worked hard, got high grades, but colleges probably don't think much of it. I think either for this year or next it's a really good class. If you like bio there is definitely some of that, some Earth Science, some Chem... it's made me consider doing something in the sciences (I'm a humanities kid) as is a valuable class. If it hurt my chances of getting into a few places, oh well, I have learned a lot. </p>

<p>AP Sats? Stats? Do you, if you don't really like math anymore, need two math APs? Just something to consider. That person at UVA told me she'd go with AP Calc over AP Physics if that was what I was torn between because I already had an AP Science (chem) but no math APs...they like to see well rounded, but at the same time like interest in an area so I don't know lol. </p>

<p>Also, not sure if this occurs everywhere but at my school ifwe don't sit for the AP exam we only get "honors" noted on our transcript instead of AP so it is worth it to take the test. Out of all the colleges I applied to I think only 2 asked for AP scores, but I told them anyway. I think colleges wonder why you didn't tell them and did take the test. </p>

<p>Sooo I don't know, good luck with your decision!</p>

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<p>a lot of people on here says that they barely have any homework for their APs and they barely study for the classes and get a good score on the exam?? I find this very hard to believe. What is the real work load?? My school isn't THAT competitive or hard, it's somewhere in the middle.</p>

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<p>when i took AP physics my freshman yr, we certainly had a lot of homework. (i've never heard the no-homework-for-AP-classes thing, but maybe different schools do things differently..?)
however, AP classes at my school give absolutely NO homework whatsoever after the AP exam and final exams are given -- which is early may for most classes. they spend the last month and a half of school partying. :'D</p>

<p>i personally would choose option 2 -- you can always mash a lot of AP couses into your senior year when you don't have to worry about SATs, etc, and they'll still show on your transcript when you send it out to colleges. </p>

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<p>Don't colleges look at Junior year the most though? As for senior year, I'll probably be taking another SAT in the beginning and mabye some SAT IIs and stuff. Plus I'll be working on applications. =/</p>

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<p>Option 1. Environmental science is supposed to be a blow-off AP course anyways.</p>

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<p>What do you mean by blow-off course?</p>

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<p>Do NOT take five AP classes. I don't regret it, but it's a ton of work. This year, as a junior, I'm taking AP ( Biology Calculus AB, Computer Science, English Language, and US History) I have no time in the week, and I really do not have sufficient time to study for the classes. I'm frequently up past twelve doing my homework (including some leisure time so I don't go insane). Consider your choice deeply, because if you overload yourself, you will find it very hard to get free time to yourself.</p>

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<p>Can you go into detail on how many hours it takes you approx? Would you even have 6 hrs of free time in week? Again, I only know that Calculus and Sats are hard because of the teacher. The others don't have much work from what other people have said. I guess others only have around 1-2 hours of work per day. So I'd probably be studying around 4-7 hours depending on how much work I get for every class. That will leave around 1-4 hours of free time for studying, ecs, and other stuff. Does my evaluation sound about right for my school?</p>

<p>How hard is your school btw? This year I took AP physics and barely had any hw for most of the days we would have around 15 problems per week to solve but the exams and tests were hard (but curved) so we had to study a lot for those if we wanted an A.</p>