<p>D took honors biology as a freshman (final grade: 90, which got weighted up to something higher but I don't remember what) and standard chemistry as a sophomore (currently pulling around a 90, which doesn't get weighted up). She purposely did not take honors chemistry because she is much better with English/languages/history than math/science, and she was already taking honors history, honors English, honors Spanish, and a second language. </p>
<p>It's time to plan courses for junior year and she has a choice of taking standard physics or AP Bio. Other academic courses she is taking: AP Language, AP US History, honors Spanish (highest offered at this level - culture and lit), second language (no honors offered), calculus (not AP). </p>
<p>Some parents who have been through this are advising AP Bio so that she can have another SAT2 to take at the end of junior year, and because they actually feel that even standard physics uses a lot of math which is not a love for her despite the fact that she will be in calculus next year. Some parents are advising Physics because AP Bio is labor intensive. </p>
<p>Guidance counselor told her to take whichever one she wants. (Don't get me started on the lack of "guidance!"</p>
<p>How does her school do their rankings? At D’s school the more AP’s you have the higher, in general, you rank, because they are so heavily weighted. In that case, I would go for AP Bio. If it doesn’t matter, then taking physics at least rounds out the science topics rather than retaking more Bio stuff.</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes - if she knew, I wouldn’t be asking for advice. She is on the fence. @sylvan8798 - yes, the APs are weighted up significantly…more than honors. (Of course, that assumes you will have the same grade in each course!)</p>
<p>Not sure any specify physics in particular (many seem to just say “three years of lab science” - especially if not planning a science major) and yes, the plan is to take the other one as a senior. Thanks!</p>
<p>It may not make too much difference if she will take both courses in one or the other order. However, taking the AP course as a junior and the regular course as a senior may help with class ranking based on high school weighted GPA that counts extra for AP courses, assuming that she gets the same grade in each course.</p>
<p>Take the regular physics - AP Bio will be too much work and physics and calc go well together. I think it is important to get a feel of the three major sciences before doing an AP in any one. </p>
<p>Another vote for physics. If she’s not at the tippy top of the class, I’d say the boost in rankings from an AP junior year won’t matter much. As kiddie said, physics and calc go together and will reinforce each other. She may see some overlap or chances to apply what she’s using in the other class. Transference like that is always a benefit.</p>
<p>Physics is very Mathy, so if she is confident in taking Calculus, then regular physics (normally taken as a junior) should be okay.
As far as SAT2, what types of colleges is she thinking about? Many don’t require them.</p>
<p>Go with Physics this year and AP Bio as a senior. I don’t know about your school but at our school AP language and APUSH are a lot of work. Adding AP Bio on top of them may be too much work. Kids should have some time for fun in high school. Better to take the regular class this year. BTW that’s what my DS13 did and it worked out well. </p>
<p>Does your school have AP Enviro? My D did Bio, Honors Chem, AP Enviro, Physics. She wasn’t planning on a science major in college and didn’t have a particular interest in AP Bio (which at our school is a TON of work). AP Enviro is known as an “AP Light,” but the teacher at our HS was incredibly passionate about her subject, the kids got a lot of field work, and it was way more enjoyable for my D than AP Bio would have been. However, my D wasn’t applying to schools where she needed SAT subject tests and rank wasn’t an issue (HS doesn’t rank).</p>
<p>My younger son did AP Bio and APUSH at the same time, but just honors English. He had plenty of free time. I think she should take physics and unless it was going to make a huge difference in rank, (assuming she did well in AP Bio). I think there’s more synergy with physics and calculus, and I think it’s good to get the three basics out of the way before delving deeper in whatever science you like best. I don’t feel super-strongly about this though - as long as she takes physics some time!</p>
<p>Unless she really wants to take the Bio SAT2 (this seems questionable to me given her apparent lack of interest in science), I think taking physics makes more pedagogical sense. There is some overlap between physics and calculus. My daughter took calculus first, and had to kind of figure out the physics-y problems they were doing. I’m sure it made it a little harder for her than it had to be. Then she took physics and found some of it rather repetitive because she’d already had to figure out that stuff in calculus. </p>
<p>You don’t need AP bio to take the Bio SAT 2 - my daughter took it after Honors Bio as a freshman and did great (710 I think). You don’t have to have a science SAT 2 even if you apply to a school that requires 2 SAT subject tests. </p>
<p>D’d been having a science class issue too though in her case she loves science and doubles up in it so it was more about “which advanced one”. She did take Bio, Chem and Physics because…well they’re the main 3. </p>
<p>In my D’s case, Physics is team taught with pre-Calc because they do complement each other. Next year she’ll do Physics 2 and AP Calculus for the same reason.</p>
<p>I would probably advise Physics for your D also, unless she is passionate about Bio.</p>
<p>@kiddie - Unfortunately she found this out too late as she finished honors bio last year and I imagine her knowledge would be rusty.</p>
<p>@mathyone - It’s not lack of interest as much as it is that she is more interested in humanities/language/etc. Of the sciences, she seems to like Bio way more than Chem, but given a choice between any science and any English, she would choose the latter.</p>
<p>It’s funny that so many mention the overlap between physics and calculus. It makes me wonder how students on the regular math and science tracks do. If a student is on the non-accelerated math track (algebra as a freshman, etc.) they don’t even get to calculus by the time they graduate, but on the non-accelerated science track would still get to physics by senior year.</p>
<p>I think physics is the smarter choice for her, based on the input here.</p>
Better to take the regular class this year. BTW that’s what my DS13 did and it worked out well. </p>