<p>Hey CCers out there!</p>
<p>Here's my schedule for next year:
AP Enviro Science
AP Economics (Macro and Micro)
AP Stat
AP Calc BC
AP Lit and Composition
AP Music Theory
Honors Band
Honors Research
Gym</p>
<p>Ok so, I've been told by my guidance counselor that he knew someone at a local college where I could sign up for a college course. This course though wouldn't appear on my transcripts, because I have already maxed out on the # of credits to be taken at my school.
I was planning to take organic chem, since I want to go into pre-med. I'm not thinking of placing out of pre-med in college, I just want to learn a general overview of the subject, before actually taking it in college. Do you think I should take the class? It is good to take it in the spring, when I about know where I'm going to college, so I'll have less stress and etc.? Also my only concern is taking the class while taking AP my 7 AP exams. Would it be too much?</p>
<p>If you take it in the spring, you’ll have a college class on top of preparation for all those AP exams. I’d suggest fall if you take it at all, because taking a college class while preparing for 7 AP tests would be rough, even with a few college acceptances under your belt. I also wouldn’t suggest organic chemistry as that’s a notoriously tough course that is better suited to a college lifestyle when you have plenty of time to study/do homework, whereas in hs your life is full of school/ECs/homework/various time-wasting things that are necessary when you’re in high school.</p>
<p>Unless you know that this OChem class is easy/has very little homework, I wouldn’t worry about it. You already have a very rigorous courseload and it will not make a huge difference in how most colleges view your rigor, and if you’re not trying to place out in college then you are better off just self-studying in your free time or over the summer – less pressure :)</p>
<p>Edit: Adding my personal experience a little bit: last year I took 2 college math courses (multivar, stats) that were quite easy and had really no time commitment aside from the ~1-4 hours a week I had class. This year I’m taking Chinese I & II which are the same situation. OChem would likely be different and require extra time unless the class is unusually basic.</p>
<p>I would recommend not taking it until college, personally. 7 APs is more than enough to show that you have a tough schedule, and will help you fill up most of your liberal electives, plus you don’t seem like you have the time.</p>
<p>I also took college math and that didn’t have much time commitment, but math comes easily to me and requires little memorization and effort. Ochem is a lot of memorization.</p>
<p>Ochem is hard, if the one you are planning to take is easy, it probably isn’t at the level of the one you will take in college so it won’t place you out of it (update, just noticed that you didn’t want to place out of it, so never mind). At my school, it is a weed-out class and many people struggle.</p>
<p>It would not hurt at all to look over the material over the summer if you want to. You could easily get a textbook, my school uses a book by Marc Loudon, though its used for two semesters and about 1400 pages, so I don’t recommend it for an overview.</p>
<p>I’m sure a place like Khan academy or perhaps some college professor has uploaded some lectures online, that plus a book and some time over the summer sounds much better in my opinion than cramming it in with that crazy schedule.</p>
<p>@liusarose and @aqsewfqq Thanks for the advice! I think I’ll just look over the orgo chem material over the summer!</p>