PLEASSEEEE help a sophomore with her junior classes!!!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Okay, so I'm aiming for Yale, so I really want to keep my rank high. I think I have a good chance at benig second, or maaaaaybe even first. MAYbe. I guess I want to take the easier AP courses, not that it's really possible. I'm also aiming for national AP scholar (so I want at lesat four 4's and four 5's.)</p>

<p>I've already taken Human Geography (5) and am taking World History (which will hopefully be a 5).</p>

<p>To get to the point, so far I have chosen to take:</p>

<ol>
<li>AP English</li>
<li>AP US History</li>
<li>AP Chemistry</li>
<li>AP Calculus BC (wondering if this is a bad idea, lol)</li>
<li>AP Studio Art</li>
<li>PAP Spanish IV</li>
</ol>

<p>Now I have two more classes I can take.. but I don't know which. My first choices would be</p>

<ol>
<li>AP Stats</li>
<li>AP Psychology</li>
</ol>

<p>But I also need to take PAP physics, so I would take that senior year. My friend pointed out the cons, and now I'm wondering if I should take PAP physics in next year... and then I also want to take AP Art History, which I think I'll enjoy greatly. I've heard that AP Art History is easy to get a good grade in, but the AP scores aren't too hot. </p>

<p>So in the end, there are two slots left, but I have AP stats, AP Psychology, PAP Physics, and AP Art History to choose from. I guess I would aim for the easier ones, but arrrghhh. What <em>is</em> easy?! Everything is so confusing!</p>

<p>So please help me, experienced ones! I would absolutely love opinions, stories and suggestions. What you do, what you learn... how difficult it is/etc. Maybe tell me I'm making a huge mistake by taking blah-blah-blah. Too many AP courses do you think? I don't know. Just ANYthing would be great. Thank you!</p>

2

<p>;__; and I’m wondering if this post will just go by ignored… or am I being to impatient? Haha</p>

3

<p>Does PAP mean Pre-AP? And do you really want to fill up your schedule with 8 classes? </p>

<p>I’ve heard Psych, Physics (non AP), and Stats are really easy. </p>

<p>Good luck with that course load. I would die.</p>

4

<p>Yes, Pre-AP. And gosh… yes, I guess so. I know I’m asking for a killing here, but hahaha… I’ll live.</p>

<p>Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile: I guess any of those three would not be too hard. Hmmm… ughhh idk still.</p>

5

<p>If you are a normal kid, AP Stats is NOT easy! Do not listen to what these people are telling you…</p>

6

<p>AP stats isn’t? I’ve heard from everyone that it was, especially if you have good algebra skills. (maybe it is our school’s teacher that is) I shall rethink that then… find out more about it O_O</p>

7

<p>There’s not very much math in it, so maybe that’s what makes you think it’d be easy. The hardest math you do in AP Stats is Z-Scores/variances/linear transformations/plugging numbers into formulas, all of which is really easy and stuff you probably already know how to do. What makes it hard though is that you have to put every single number you come up with into context and interpret its value in context of the problem. I think that’s the most troubling thing for myself and most of my classmates. We have a 35% fail rate for AP Stats at our school, but a 90% AP Exam pass rate. So obviously my teacher is hard, so my opinion might not be that helpful.</p>

<p>But go ahead. If you can take calc though, take that instead.</p>

8

<p>Ohhhh. I see. Yeah, I think I’m leaning toward taking Pre-AP Physics and AP Psychology right now.</p>

<p>Thanks for the comment :)</p>

9

<p>People that bomb other math classes (at D’s school) have no problem with AP stats. It is not even like math - more like logic. Just google “easiest AP classes” and you will see that AP Stats is mentioned over and over again as being one of the easiest (along with Psych and Enviro).</p>

10

<p>So I’m getting the impression that what I take will not affect me greatly since it’s all pretty easy AP classes? Well that’s good :smiley: Thank you~</p>

11

<p>As someone who got into Yale and Stanford, I’ll say that becoming “AP National Scholar” doesn’t mean ****. You can’t even use most of your AP credits at Stanford. Also, don’t just take the easy AP classes to keep your rank up. If colleges see you took the easy ones instead of the harder ones where you could’ve learned something useful, that could be looked down upon. Just take whatever courseload that will have your counselor write “most difficult courseload” on her counselor recommendation for college apps. </p>

<p>AP Stats isn’t hard. I had a horrible teacher (rest of my class got 2’s/3’s…maybe my school is just dumb (it is)), but I still got a 5. If you actually read the textbook (most AP Stats classes have the same book), you’ll do fine. </p>

<p>For your last two spots, I’d take AP Stats and AP Art History (since you’re interested in it). AP Psych is a joke. I literally started self-studying (no class…and literally no prior knowledge) for it TWO DAYS in advance. I just read Barrons twice and took the practice tests in the back and got a 5 easily (finished way ahead of time limit on both sections). Note: I DON’T recommend you do what I did rofl. I procrastinated terribly and then those two days sucked worrying about if I could finish studying in time. Luckily the material was interesting enough that I could stay awake while reading the book. If you end up taking that class though, just memorize all the terms/people/people’s ideas. A lot of the MC is straight-up “who was the person who did blah blah?”</p>

<p>I think going for rank 1 is worth it. Take the AP classes (especially Junior year, which is the last full year you can GPA boost yourself to the top ranks). Your schedule will be tough, so you’ll need to learn good study techniques and learn how to stay on top of your work (don’t procrastinate or you’ll die…and by die I mean get B’s lol).</p>

<p>gl hf pm me if you want more advice or w/e</p>

12

<p>Ohmygosh. Thank you. Ahahahaha. That helped a looooooot. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: </p>

<p>D: really? The AP scholar thing doesn’t matter? Wow, I see… okay, I’ll take AP stats, I think. I’ve also read in other threads that it was possible to self-study AP Psychology; thanks for confirming. What I’m really worried about is Pre-AP Physics. Would it look bad if I never took an AP Physics course? Because I’d have to take Pre-AP Physics my senior year, if I took AP Art history… </p>

<p>Yeah, I think I’ll try really hard to become valedictorian. I’m a lucky case, because if rank one right now wasn’t going to transfer to another school, I wouldn’t even try…</p>

13

<p>Yeah I don’t know why people care about the AP scholar awards. They literally mean nothing. Don’t worry about Physics. The only chem I had in high school was 1 summer course after freshman year, and it was a joke. I ended up fine (not doing anything related to chem though obviously). Just take Pre-AP Physics senior year (or find a way to get around that and take AP…parents complaining helps a lot).</p>