Hello, I’m currently a freshman. I was thinking of the following schedule for sophomore year: AP euro or world history, drivers ed/SAT prep (required), AP bio, french 3, english 10, AP Calc AB, art course (required), and AP chem.
I have already taken courses that qualify me for all of the courses I mentioned, and have so far been fortunate enough to find them quite easy in school. However, I have a concern about the workload of an AP. I have talked to upperclassmen, but all seem to find different APs more time consuming than others. As a note, I do have an interest in the STEM field, so I honestly don’t care about whether or not I take AP euro or world history (about half of my class takes it, however.) To give an idea of my time, I have about 4 hours to do homework per night on weekdays after I come back from sports practice, am pretty free on Saturday afternoons, and have almost no availability on Sundays. Would it be reasonable to take the courses I mentioned? Thank you in advance.
I would consider it a high risk schedule.
No.
Which is basically the same thing you were told the last time you asked the question.
I would not recommend taking both AP Bio and AP Chem concurrently. In addition to the time commitment required by virtue of being AP’s, each requires a lot of time for labs and lab reports. For many schools, these classes are either double-periods, or require additional time before/after school. Save one for junior Year.
While the workload will depend, in part, on the teacher, 45-60 minute of HW per AP class is common. So 4 hours would likely not be sufficient to complete all the HW with the schedule you propose.
AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Calc together is gonna be the worst. Maybe you should split them up? You’re only gonna be a sophomore
Thank you for your replies, I will definitely take your answers into account when selecting my courses soon. Overall, I’ve been fretting a lot about my schedule next year, so thank you for taking the time to look once more at the same question I asked previously, while not making a big deal out of it. Have a great evening, everyone!
Are you currently in precalculus honors? If not, take that next year.
Don’t take AP Bio and AP chem together. Have you taken chemistry honors yet? Physics honors or AP physics 1?
Your schedule is light because you have a bunch of BS classes. I would not recommend taking AP Euro or French 3 though
Based upon the OP’s past posts, some of his/her target colleges recommend 4 years of a foreign language, so there is certainly nothing wrong with French 3.
OP, don’t take AP Bio and AP Chem at the same time. Just don’t. You have three more years to spread the courses you want to take over. By the time you graduate, you could take AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Physics without ever having to double up, if you wish to do so. Also, I’m sure you’ll be fine with Honors or even regular world/global history sophomore year; the rest of your schedule is rigorous enough and you don’t want to go into the humanities. Two demanding math/science APs sophomore year should be sufficient to show that you are challenging yourself. Also, if you get to Calculus BC by junior year, look into dual enrollment (if it’s readily available to you) senior year for some further math options, such as Calculus III, in the event that you earn a 5 on the Calculus BC exam and an A in the class. DE is also an excellent way to get a head start on obtaining college credit without having to worry about taking exams, and if you stay in-state, it generally demonstrates strong course rigor. Be warned that these classes can be very challenging and they offer little of the cushioning that high school or college-level high school courses do, especially a high-level STEM class like Calculus III.
I might be missing something, but we have no idea what classes OP is taking this year besides the vague statement that they will have prerequisites for the classes they want to take next year, although it goes without saying that Freshman schedules are nowhere near as rigorous as classes taken during later years of high school (which are when the AP/DE/IB classes start to pile up). Also, many of the higher-tier universities recommend at least three years of foreign language, and the OP will be at a disadvantage if they try to apply to those universities without taking French 3. Even though college admissions may not be important to you, personally, and you might not agree with this (frankly, I don’t agree with it fully, either), a lot of people on here actually try to make themselves look as attractive as possible to admissions boards of colleges they wish to attend by adhering strictly to their recommendations, and this could entail taking courses that a student doesn’t care or isn’t curious about or courses that don’t make sense for what the student wants to do in the future.
Thank you very much for all of your help: I saw that a common question was what courses I am taking this year. I am taking the following: (honors all) Civics/Economics, Health/PE, Biology, French 2, English 9, Precalc, strings, chemistry. Thank you, once more, and I appreciate all your help.
I’d recommend you take:
English 10
Drivers Ed/SAT Prep
AP Calc AB
French 3
AP Bio it AP Chem
Art
Regular world history
And some STEM elective or whatever you want
I believe that you present a very reasonable schedule: I think I’ll stick to 2-3 APs tops, after hearing all your advice.