I’ve recently been reviewing my projected classes for all of high school and realized that by senior year, I’ll have taken close to around 15+ AP tests… :-S Now I see that this is a higher number, and I don’t want to seem like one of those students who takes every single AP just to look smart. The fact is that in my school, most upper level people take the AP version of the class, even if they aren’t interested in the subject. I want my classes to seem focused, but I really don’t want to take the honors version of classes because it feels like it’ll be too simple.
APs I’ll take all years of high school:
9th
AP Human Geography
AP Computer Science A
10th
AP Calculus AB
AP Statistics
AP Physics 1
AP World History
11th
AP Calculus BC
AP English Lang
AP Seminar (paired with lang)
AP US History
AP Physics C
12th
AP English Lit
AP Research (paired with lit)
AP US Government
AP Comparitive Government
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
Should I drop some in my future plans? I want to focus on mathematics and science (primarily physics), but I can tell that my schedule doesn’t seem very focused… I also don’t necessarily want to take the AP english’s, but I want to take AP Capstone and as you can see, they are paired. What should I do about that? Any suggestions on what I should do?
Thank you!
As an adult, I think that HS should be a time to 1) explore your interests, 2) prepare yourself for college, 3) indicate to collges what you are capable of and perhaps as a by product, 4) acquire college credits.
If you take the above courses, you will do 2 and 3 but not 1. Do you care about AP Comparitive Gov’t? Does any college you are going to give credit for it? Would you get Gen Ed credits? Would you get more gen ed than you need?
For 12th grade…what math are you taking? What Science? You should be taking a Math, Science, and English every year.
What about foreign languages? You should be taking one as well.
What grade are you in? Are you superduper smart? I ask that because taking AP Calc and AP Physics as a sophomore is tough…only do it if you know you can do well. I read stories on CC where the kid pushed themselves too much and is getting a C and doesn’t know what to do.
For a stem major, I would focus more on AP Sciences, at least AP Chem
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Consider what your future major might be…
if you are thinking STEM, then AP Calc should be in your future and at least one AP science.
If you are history then APUSH, etc.
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What are you interested in?
Maybe you want to see if you like Psychology? Take AP Psych.
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What do you think you will do well in?
If English has never been your strong suit, then take Honors instead of AP.
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Not just take AP for the sake of AP…like don’t take AP Enviro Science just to take an AP
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Look at likely colleges (e.g., your state flagship) and see which AP courses you can get credit for
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Can an AP course satisfy a req? E.g., if you have to take a financial literacy course, then AP Econ may be a way to fulfill it, be reasonable work-wise, and get you credits at college
7)Not take too many APs in one semester…dont’ take AP Bio and AP Chem unless you are in the top 5 in your class
I wish my high school offered that many AP classes! If you think you can handle the coursework for ALL of those APs by all means do it. It’s better to feel challenged than feel bored. That being said, AP classes add up homework fast. Maybe you see how you feel about the classes after your freshman year since you’ll only be taking two AP classes, and re-evaluate after the year is over. Don’t feel pressured to make those decisions now. You said you were worried that colleges will think you are not focused enough. That’s definitely not the case and most colleges don’t need you to have that decided your freshman year of high school.
In terms of narrowing down APs, focus them on what you are interested in and what you might want credit for going into college. First and foremost, in high school you don’t need to decide your future, you need to try different things to see what you might be interested in. So if you do want to narrow down your APs, focus first on picking what you are definitely interested in.
This might sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes it makes more sense to take APs outside of your intended major to build up that credit. One of the things I’ve noticed from a lot of my STEM - major friends is that regardless of AP credit they re-took those intro classes anyway because it needed to be refreshed and because most colleges have a more specific way of teaching those courses. AP credits in English are really valuable for them because it means they don’t have to take those gen-ed required courses and can focus instead on what courses are specific to their major. I’m not saying you should make your decision entirely on this, it’s just something to keep in mind.
An important resource for you will definitely be your high school counselor and other students. Start by taking your two AP courses freshman year and see how you feel. Throughout the year listen to what the others students at your school have to say about the course-load, the teachers, the class dynamics and take that into consideration when making your decision. Your high school counselor should hopefully be able to give you some insight too.
As a high school freshman, I had every course I ever wanted to take mapped out my freshman year, as well as a list of my top colleges, and all of that had changed by my junior year. These are decisions you can make year by year, you don’t have to decide all at once. Use your college & career counselor, your academic advisor, and your upperclassmen friends as a guide. They will definitely be able to help you along the way! Good luck!
I am a freshman, almost done with the school year. I find the two AP classes that I am enrolled in very easy and I’ve made A’s all year. Also, I am in pre calculus this year, as well as chemistry and biology, so AP calculus and AP physics come next on the course progression. I am confident that I can handle those classes, given my math ability.
All of the AP classes I want to take would satisfy some sort of req. If I don’t take them AP version, I’d have to take honors anyway, but that sounds boring to me… I am always looking for a harder challenge.
So you suggest taking the AP classes to show colleges that I am ready for higher level courses, and to earn some college credits? But doesn’t 15+ seem a bit much?
If you want to do something in STEM, why is your Senior schedule filled only with APs in the subject of arts/humanities? Do you really find 2 goverment and 2 economics courses interesting? Why take Physics C as a junior when you’d have no science 12th grade?
- AP Calculus AB = Calculus I and
AP Calculus BC = Calculus I and II,
at least as far as the exams. That means you should be able to take AB without taking BC first, because the BC class should cover everything in the AB class in addition to some other stuff. However, I would recommend asking your guidance counselor because some high schools set up their classes so that AB = Calculus I and BC = Calculus II. In a case like that, you would want to take AB before taking BC.
- If you're interested in statistics, it might be better to wait until college and take a calculus-based class. I would recommend taking AP Biology instead of AP Statistics, if it's available.
- You might not need to take AP Physics 1 (algebra-based) before AP Physics C (calculus-based).
Do you have the option of taking classes at a local college? You could take multivariable calculus and a more advanced physics class, for example. Right now it looks like you just filled your senior-year schedule with random classes.
As @bopper mentioned, you should be taking foreign language classes (ideally three or four years).
In my school, you must take calculus AB before BC, and physics 1 before physics C. Also, I was going to take AP Bilogy next year, but I realized that Physics would much better suit me and biology would really not be worth the hassle for me to take it (I hate biology this year). Also at my school, the economics classes are paired into one year of economics, and the government classes are paired into one year of government. That is why I would be taking all of them.
I definitely plan on taking math and science courses at a local community college senior year, don’t worry. I was only listing my AP classes in this thread. Also I am taking at least three years of Spanish. It depends on if I do well in Spanish three if I pursue AP Spanish/ Spanish at a community college.
“But doesn’t 15+ seem a bit much?”
I guess I don’t really understand what you are asking. If you think you can handle the classes then why take a lower level course? Who will it seem like “a bit much” too?
If you are really this strong a student and you are interested in the more physical side of STEM, I suggest, skip AP stats and consider making stats one of the cc classes you take as a senior.
If you aren’t that interested in Economics, skip it, otherwise, take it as a sophomore in place of stats.
You will have a lot of work to do as a senior applying to colleges and all those APs plus some college courses may be too much. You do not want to be taking 6 AP classes and 2 tough college STEM classes while you are trying to complete your college applications.
Also, where is AP Chem? If you’re interested in STEM, you are missing both AP Bio and AP Chem, and I think that’s a bad idea when you could at least take AP chem if you got rid of some of the fluffy APs. (What even is AP seminar and AP research?)
Keep in mind that college’s only want to see 6-8 total. Everything else is superfluous. Based on your profile, they’d expect AP calculus, AP chemistry, AP physics, AP English language plus a couple others that you’d choose freely.
15 Is total overkill.
Cut out AP stats and all senior year AP 's. Since you’ll be dual enrolled for math, take an English class, a science class (I recommend chemistry foe stem majors) and a social science there.
Just stop worrying about the number of APs and focus on a schedule that meets your interests and your needs. If you are interested in the AP classes and can handle the workload, take them. Don’t take them if it’s just to impress colleges. Our school doesn’t have separate honors classes, it’s AP or regular, and I think there may be many schools like this. Our honors track puts kids into a minimum of 8 APs, 9 if they take a language all years, and more if they are particularly interested in science or add some of the others like Psych, Econ, Art, etc. My kid ended up with 12 plus 3 dual/college enrollments and no one said to her that was too many APs. Her extra AP/dual/college outside of the 9 from core coursework were all in STEM.