<p>Hi everyone, I'm a 2016er here. And I'm from mainland China. Since our school does not provide any AP courses, I decide to do it on my own. I know it's extremely hard to learn 10 AP courses by myself, but I'm determined to challenge myself. And I love the process of learning. </p>
<p>Now I want to check if my plan is feasible.</p>
<p>May 2010: (soph year)
take AP: World History
Env Science
Human Geography
Psychology
US Government & Politics
Economics</p>
<p>May 2011: (junior year)
take AP: Calculus BC
Physics B
Chemistry
Statistics</p>
<p>I really appreciate your help if you could give me some suggestions on self-studying APs. I have read the Taiwanese's post and disire to do as well as him/her. Thank you!</p>
<p>Why not move some of those to senior year? </p>
<p>I would personally move either World History or Economics to your junior year. That way, you’ll ease up your schedule for sophomore year, and you’ll be better prepared to handle the larger courseload your junior year .</p>
<p>As AeroEngineer said, move Economics to junior year. It would free up your soph year more, but not make your junior year that much worse. Self-studying is not the easiest thing, so just stay focused and plan studying times in advance. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks! But I actually plan to take SAT1, SAT2, and TOEFL (you know I’m an international applicant) in my junior year. So I guess I should do more about APs in my soph year.
But now I think your advice is right. Maybe I should take SAT before AP since it’s easier than AP.</p>
<p>And the reason why I don’t want to move any APs to my senior year is that I take AP to improve my application rather than get college credits. But thanks anyway.</p>
<p>Hold on here. Yes, APs can have an effect on your application, but this is surely not the reason that someone should take them. How many APs you take really doesn’t have much of an effect on admissions. Other parts of your application are much more important. Study the APs because you want to, not because you want to improve your application (because then it is not a good idea).</p>
<p>Yes, as Salve! said, you should not take APs just for your college application, do it either to ease up your college courses (and some colleges may not even accept them) or just for experience and the sake of knowledge, both more fruitful endeavors.</p>
<p>I do understand that the Chinese applicant pool is quite competitive, but I really don’t see why you should do stuff (especially if you’re going to spend 1000’s of hours) just to get into a US college. I totally agree with Salve. </p>
<p>Unless your parents are going to kill you if you don’t self-study 10 AP’s, well, actually, you still shouldn’t self-study 10 AP’s.</p>
<p>May I also ask how good your English is? It might prove even more difficult for you… </p>
<p>And may I give you one good piece of advice: DON’T DO SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE IS DOING IT. Yes, you’ll probably be competing with people similar to that Taiwanese guy, but really, what’s the point of having a life if you can’t enjoy it? </p>
<p>And if I’m not mistaken, I heard that Mainland Chinese schools are hard enough already. Don’t people study 12 hours a day already (just from school stuff)?</p>
<p>Thank you. I’m kinda inspired by your opinions. I’m going to spend more time on other stuffs, like developing my hobbies, being in school’s clubs and doing voluntary work. I said that I do love self-studying APs :). As I’m learning World History these days, I find it highly interesting. But maybe not that many subjects… You’re right ttyl8, thanks.</p>
<p>Yes I know language is the biggest obstacle in front of me, and that’s why I should work harder. I like my life. You are right that I shouldn’t do things just because others are doing them. But what if I enjoy doing them?
And about Mainland Chinese students, yes we work really hard. But my school is a little bit different, half of the graduates from our school choose to go abroad for undergraduate, and most of them go to America. So preparing for TOEFL, SAT and APs is quite normal here.
I mean to be nice but I find my words kinda rude… OMG due to my poor English… Sorry ttyl8.</p>
