Has he taken biology and chemistry? Is this physics class a pre-requisite for AP physics c?
I agree algebra 2+ geometry is doable, but I’d be wary about taking physics on top of it and would save it for junior year. Honors chemistry would e a more logical choice and still rigorous.
My S took geometry,honors algebra 2 and honors chemistry his sophomore year. Geometry was easy, algebra 2 had a lot of homework (for him, when D took it, she breezed through with barely any homework). Honors chemistry was one of his favorite classes and I don’t remember him having a tough time with it.
Taking these classes were the only way for him to “catch up” with his class and take ap calc and ap physics in high school. He survived and I don’t remember it being bad.
S wanted to go into engineering and playing catch up helped a lot in college.
S did non honors English and social studies but he wasn’t interested in bumping up to honors in those classes. He always did better in classes he was interested. He did not have a 3.8 in high school, did great in college. D did have a high GPA in high school, did fine in college. Both are out of college and have great jobs. Different paths, same results
My sophomore is taking Honors Geometry and Honors Algebra 2 right now. He’s also taking Honors Chemistry.
It’s been a decent amount of work. He is doing well, but has a lot of homework. He participates in a lot of extra curricular stuff, so I don’t think he could’ve handled anymore.
I think he will take H Pre-Calc junior year, and then AP Calc senior year for math.
We are trying to figure out the rest of his schedule, how many AP’s to take. He won’t be taking 8 Ap’s for sure, we’d like him to have 3-4 by end of senior year in the classes he is most interested in.
Wait on the physics. I can’t understand taking physics concurrently with math classes that are needed to do physics.
I disagree that calculus is needed for any good b school, but it depends on what else the student is doing. I think there are better uses of time than hours of homework, but that;s me.
I think taking both geometry and algebra II concurrently is doable. I would also suggest waiting on physics. My D is currently taking physics and algebra II, and even though the algebra is a “co-requisite,” she wishes that she had waited one more year to take physics as it’s very math intense, even on the conceptual syllabus. A couple of her fellow students agree. Has he already had biology? If so, I would suggest AP Biology.
I took Honors Geometry and Honors Algebra 2 sophomore year. I was supposed to also take Honors Chem, but I decided to drop down to normal Chem due to the tougher math schedule. It worked out fine.
Your son should definitely take Calculus while still in high school as most of his college classmates will have done so.
Junior year grades are the most important for college applications; most true if your kid decides to apply early somewhere. So there is risk in the current plan. However, taking these 3 classes shows true interest and ability to do hard work. The alternative I would suggest is looking to take one of these classes in the summer either for credit or merely to place out of one. One of my kids did this for pre-calc honors and was able to advance early to AP Calc BC. Our high school decided to show the grade on the transcript, but not include it in the GPA, so there was no risk to hurting GPA or class rank.
My niece dropped ap calc her senior year. The thought was that she would take calculus in summer school or community college but not at her 4 year college. Because at the 4 year college, most if not all kids would have had calculus senior year and would be repeating the class. Both things that my kids found was true.
But niece was busy with other things and scheduling issues and never did take calculus. It hurt some of her career plans as without it she wasn’t eligible to apply to the business school. She has another major but was interested in business.
I think double up, find a way to take ap calc senior year. Of all of the ap classes that you can take, maybe calc is the most helpful.