<p>This upcoming school year, I will be in the 8th grade taking Algebra II. It would be mostly a review though, as I've read over many Algebra and Trig books. </p>
<p>I was wondering if I should take Precalc during the summer before freshman year as a algebra/trig review and take Calculus freshman year or take Precalc freshman year and lose a possible AP slot?</p>
<p>For freshman AP, I am planning on taking:</p>
<ul>
<li>AP Chemistry</li>
<li>AP Physics (take after calc?)</li>
<li>AP Calc - depending on Precalc arrangements</li>
<li>AP Biology or Human Geography</li>
<li>AP Music Theory</li>
</ul>
<p>For other classes, I'll be taking English, Spanish III, and Wind Ensemble (band).</p>
<p>Thoughts? Tips? General advice?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Your schedule seems like a little too much for just freshman year…</p>
<p>This schedule seems pretty tough for a freshman. You will be just coming out of middle school and need to adjust to high school life. All of these AP’s will look good for college(depending on how well you do in the class). I would cut back to just 2 or 3 AP’s as it is alot of work and you might want to dedicate yourself to a few Extracurriculars that you will stick with in the long run.3 science AP’s are Alot so choose one you can’t live without!! I would take AP Bio but choose based on what you might consider studying in college as it can pertain to your major.Also, Ido recommend taking pre calculus freshman year. You don’t want to overload yourself with too much and not be able to handle it or get decent grades. So I suggest this schedule </p>
<p>AP Bio
Pre Calc
AP music theory
English
AP Human Geo
Spanish
Band…this seems reasonable and manageable for a freshman</p>
<p>My son completed Algebra II/Trig in 8th grade. He took Honors Pre-Cal in 9th. As a sophomore he took Cal AB/BC…although he got a high A and 5s on the BC and AB sub score, he found it a very time consuming course.</p>
<p>Also, my son NEVER had to study until he took AP courses. They did not allow them for Freshman at his school. Taking four as a sophomore really challenged him. Although he was able to maintain high scores through all his classes, he feels he wasn’t ready for the rigor of “jumping into” four APs. He said starting with 2 or 3 if one is an easy one (like Psych) is best.</p>
<p>Here’s my opinion.
That’s way too many APs for a freshman.
A rookie mistake is overestimating yourself and when it actually begins, you get stressed over the workload and your grades start falling.
If you plan to do that many do it in sophmore yr because you’ll know how much work you can handle by then.
And trust me, most ppl think they can handle a lot of work due to the amount of work they’re doing right now, but high school hw (even consisting of bare minimum) can be 2-3 hrs. It’s about an hr for each AP class. You don’t want to overload yourself as you colleges also look for ECs and taking too many rigorous course may leave you w/ no time for that.
Also
- I’m pretty sure you can only take AP physics after finishing AP Calc
- I would take the pre-calc frosh yr as 3 months isn’t enough to learn (trust me, been there done that)</p>
<p>If I were you I would take
AP Bio and AP Human Geography
It’s not that hard of classes and is not too much for you to handle</p>
<p>Get rid of AP Chemistry. You are not ready for AP Chemistry coming out of 8th grade. You have to take honors first.</p>
<p>…
Wow! That workload is incredible. Good luck with that and I praise you for being brave enough to take on that many classes. Are you sure you can handle that as a freshman though?</p>
<p>First off, thanks for everyone’s replies.</p>
<p>I would like to add that I have many ECs already.</p>
<p>I…:
- am a top player in my region’s mid-state honor band
- play in the local youth orchestra
- swim competitively and I’m also thinking of starting tennis
- am involved on my school’s robotics, quizbowl, music honors, and math clubs
- am involved in many different camps
- am fluent in Mandarin Chinese and simplified Chinese script, taking AP Chinese courses in 4th grade
- made a 1900 in the Duke TiP 7th grade search for SAT
- won school and regional spelling bees
- placed mostly in the top 20% in local chess tournaments and the recent SuperNationals
- placed 1st place team in the KMO Quizbusters tournament (team)
- school robotics team placed 1st in most categories in the southwest tournament and at least top 3 in Nationals (I was a prorammer)
- placed highly on local mathematics competitions</p>
<p>Also, I am thinking of doing more than 2…</p>
<p>Human Geography is a no-brainer and wouldn’t require much studying.
I will most likely go with biology.</p>
<p>Also, I am taking Music Theory, which I think is very interesting and it would benefit me in my musical studies.</p>
<p>Right now, I have listed for my probable courses freshman year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Pre-Calculus/Calculus </li>
<li>AP Biology</li>
<li>AP Music Theory</li>
<li>AP Macroeconomics</li>
<li>English</li>
<li>Spanish III</li>
<li>Wind Ensemble/School orchestra</li>
</ul>
<p>I forgot to say, I am very interested in macroeconomics and I’ve already read through many books on it, and I am involved in many lively conversations about it in my daily life.</p>
<p>Thankfully, my school offers it, and it might be easier for me than most other APs…</p>
<p>Any more thoughts?</p>
<p>^ That was the most Asian profile I have ever read. You have out-Asian’d me. Definitely going to get a jump on Pre-Calc after eating.</p>
<p>(disregard double post)</p>
<p>Also, please do understand that I had not originally planned on taking ALL of the ones I listed. I was asking the community on their opinions on which ones I should take.</p>
<p>A good number for me would be 3, maybe 4 if some are easier.</p>
<p>Enjoy freshman year.</p>
<p>Good. You got rid of chemistry. It’s a lot better now. AP Chemistry and AP Physics are absolutely not freshman classes.</p>
<p>^Yeah…</p>
<p>I still have one more school year…</p>
<p>8th grade will be one of those years where the classes are idiotically easy…</p>
<p>Yes. Absolutely yes. 8th grade year I got six 100’s and one 98 on my final report card. But trust me, that goes away fast. Science AP’s are actually difficult.</p>
<p>@1sparkle2:</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>The only difficult courses I would have are AP Bio and AP Music Theory.</p>
<p>It’s quite funny because the Music Theory AP exam is either one or two on the list of most difficult AP exams…</p>