Hey, I’m a soon-to be freshman of the class of 2020 and I made a 4 year plan to have an idea and plan to follow… I’d appreciate some advice and opinions on it. I’m a little lost on when to take the virtual classes in the summers of 11th grade and during 12th grade, I know my interests will change and things will happen, but I’m gonna try to adapt the plan if I need to as I go. Thanks.
9th grade -
English 1 PreAP
Geometry PreAP
Biology PreAP
World Geography Studies PreAP
Health Ed./Spanish for Spanish Speakers 2
Drawing 1
Individual and Team Sports (Boys)
Summer School before 10th grade -
Principles of Health Science
10th Grade -
English 2 PreAP
Algebra 2 PreAP
Chemistry PreAP
AP World History
Spanish for Spanish Speakers 3/AP Spanish Language and Culture
Psychology PreAP/Communication Applications
Health Science 1
Spring - Take the PSAT and ACT
Katy Virtual School -
Spring or Summer: AP Psychology
11th Grade -
AP English Language and Composition
PreCalculus PreAP
AP Biology
AP US History
AP Physics 1
Anatomy and Physiology of Human Systems
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
Fall - Take SAT, ACT and PSAT
Spring - Take SAT and ACT
Katy Virtual School -
Summer: AP European History and/or AP Art History or nothing
12th Grade -
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
Clinical Rotation
AP Physics 2
AP US Government/ AP Macro-Economics
Fall - Take SAT and ACT one last time
Katy Virtual School -
Fall or Spring: AP European History and/or AP Art History or nothing
Extracurriculars:
National Honor Society
Health Occupations Students of America
Pre-Med Society
Key Club
Model UN or Student Council or Both
I’d recommend switching AP Chem and AP Bio so that you have chemistry fresh in your mind junior year. I don’t think you need to take a Pre-AP Psychology class if you’re taking AP Psych online - it’s usually not necessary. AP Art History seems out of place to me, since you are focusing on pre-med throughout your transcript and you only have one art class (that was taken freshman year). AP Euro won’t really give you an edge on your transcript, so I’d say that that class might be excess. Throughout your progression, you take 2-3 science classes. Even though you want to go into the medical field, 3 sciences are unnecessary. I suggest you drop AP Physics and maybe AP Chem.
Take the SAT/ACT only junior and senior year - it’s not recommended for sophomores to take those tests.
Overall, I’d say this is a strong progression. I don’t think you need virtual school at all. Make sure you have time set aside for your EC’s.
Hey! I think your schedule looks great and is perfectly balanced. As long as your classes and extracurriculars are chosen because you like them and not because you think colleges will, then you’re all set.
Oh gosh, another stressed out freshman who thinks they have to spend every summer in summer school.
9th grade–
You’re going to take Principles of health science followed by Health science 1? Doesn’t’ 1 mean that you don’t need a prior course? This seems very redundant, plus you are only a high school freshman not a medical student. Get a broader education and expose yourself to more stuff rather than just health science–I don’t even know what that would be at a level where you haven’t yet taken basic bio or chem, but 2 classes in it seems excessive. Don’t you have PE and other requirements?
10th grade–
Why do you need “pre AP psychology”. Just take AP psychology, it’s one of the easy APs and will be much better in an actual class than online, not to mention freeing up your summer out of coursework.
Spring - Take the PSAT and ACT
OK you really don’t need to start taking the ACT as a sophomore. Seems like you live in SAT country, so you might not need to take the ACT at all. I think it’s crazy to plan 7 SAT/ACT sittings.
You’re premed apparently. Unless you are particularly interested in history, maybe going to major in it in college, why would you take both AP world history and AP European history. Skip the online Euro course.
You only have one arts class in your entire schedule. You don’t have to take so many premed classes. You’re not even in college yet, and even college premeds don’t need all that stuff. Take some time to enjoy and explore.
The problem is I understand your POV but my school requires us to complete an endorsement, and I’m looking to graduate under the Distinguished Achievement Plan…
On my district’s course selection sheet Health Science 1 comes after Principles of Health Science.
I’m already completing the PE credit requirement freshman year under the name of Individual Team Sports (Boys)
I wanna take PreAP Psychology because there are no other classes that I can take that are 1 semester only (There are some but they’re like dance related and I don’t want that), because I started the foreign language requirement early in 8th grade.
I did Algebra 1 in 8th grade so I already met that requirement and am 1 year ahead in terms of math.
I actually have 2 arts classes in my entire schedule because I took Art 1 (Highschool credit) in 8th grade.
I wanna take more classes such as AP World History, AP Euro History, and AP Sciences because I wanna aim for valedictorian, I know if’s hard but if I don’t challenge myself I’ll never know if I could’ve been one or even a Salutatorian…
Anyways, thanks I appreciate yall’s opinion, and I’ll take some of your advice in consideration If you have anything else to tell me, I thank you
Course selection sheets may just show the order of the classes. Look and see whether Principles of health sciences is listed as a prereq for health sciences 1, and whether pre-AP psych is listed as a pre-req for AP psych. If they aren’t then it seems they are optional. If they are, that may still only be a recommendation. I’d ask your GC about them because both those classes sound unnecessary to me.
Ok well, what’s “communications applications”? Why not skip both of those and just take AP psych?
" I know if’s hard but if I don’t challenge myself I’ll never know if I could’ve been one or even a Salutatorian…" You may find this hard to believe but once you leave high school no one will care, not even you. Unless you’re obsessing now about winning a gold or silver star in 5th grade?
@DrTortoise - Parent of a Houston area HS students here, you schedule looks awesome and is on par with the schedules of most Houston area Kids if not a bit over ambitious.
I would switch out the PreAP World Geo for AP Human Geo if Katy offers it. It is a good way to get your feet wet with the APs.
Katy is similar to our school district and you are going to want to stay in the Pre-AP/Honors and AP courses if at all possible. We too “have” to take the pre-AP psych because of the semester issue and available weighted classes as 1 semester only. But I am not sure you really need all the summer classes unless your sole aim is Val/Sal.
Since you are aiming for Valedictorian you know that you have to play the numbers game with your GPA and you seem to have that all figured out. Be sure that you are going to be able to pull a 100 for those non weighted classes because they will pull for GPA down if you are going to play the number game this way.
If you are not hung up on the Val title then I am going to suggest that you could back off on the APs even elite college pretty much stop counting after 5. Unless you want to keep them to obtain credit. Be sure that if you are looking at UT-A you are gonna want to stay in the top 7% just to be sure of the auto admit. That is going to be hard in Katy.
Which endorsement are you aiming for? STEM or Multi-Disciplinary?
Have you considered taking a different foreign language, as it appears you are a native Spanish speaker? You could maybe get away with just taking the AP Spanish test to prove fluency.
Really you do not need to take the ACT that early either.
It’s nice to see someone from the Houston area! I really appreciate all the information, and yeah I’m aiming for Val/Sal… I’m actually doing the Public Services - Health Science endorsement, i’m sure you’ve heard of it? And I’m actually Brazilian so I think in Portuguese and stuff, but I moved to Los Angeles when I was little and then lived in Mexico where I went to a bilingual school and learned Spanish and English, so I don’t know, should I just take the AP Spanish test to prove fluency?
I would consider simply taking the AP Spanish test to prove fluency and picking up a different foreign language to meet the requirement for a foreign language but of course sticking with Spanish might give you a nice “breather” in the midst of your very rigorous schedule. I’m sure you know that you will need two years of foreign language to qualify for distinguished.
My D16’s class Val was a native Brazilian and moved here between his sophomore and junior year.
If you have anything else to tell me, I thank you