Questions about four-year schedule

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello! As a sophomore, I've decided to plan my next two years of high school. I'm actually transferring to another high school, an IB World School, for my junior year to (guess what?) participate in the IB Program. In my current school, I only took AP classes (I finished taking my last AP exam of the year today), but at my new school, which offers a great myriad of courses, I can take AP and IB courses concurrently. </p>

<p>Freshman Year:
AP Human Geography (4 on the exam! Yes!)
Algebra 2 Honors (It's really Pre-AP, but I just say Honors because it's weighted as an Honors class)
Health Science 1 Honors
Biology Honors (really Pre-AP)
English 1 Honors (Really Pre-AP)
Spanish 1
P.E.</p>

<p>Summer: Spent volunteering at a hospital</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
AP World History
AP Biology
Chemistry Honors (really Pre-AP)
Health Science 2 Honors
English 2 Honors (really Pre-AP)
Precalculus Honors
Spanish 2</p>

<p>Summer: Volunteering at a different hospital; I won't stop until I have a minimum of 300 hours. Seriously, my goal is 500.</p>

<p>Junior Year (scheduled):
AP English Language
AP Calculus AB
AP US History
IB Biology 2 SL
IB Psychology
Pre-IB Spanish 3
___________/Theory of Knowledge (TOK)</p>

<p>Here's my situation. Should I take a regular class to give me less stress? And less homework? That way, I could focus on the AP and IB classes I have and ensure that I pass all of them with a minimum of 4 (on AP) and 6 (on IB). Or, do I take another AP class, like my school administrator suggested, and work even harder to pass all 4 AP and 2 IB exams. I also want to enjoy high school.</p>

<p>Senior Year (Scheduled):
IB Math HL
IB History of the Americas HL
IB English 4 HL
Physics Honors
IB Spanish 4 SL</p>

<hr>

<p>AP Microeconomics/TOK</p>

<p>Again, should I take another IB class when I already have all these rigorous courses planned? Or can I just take a regular course? I'm interested in Creative Writing and was thinking about persuing it, not as a major, in college. Would it make my college applications somewhat "stand out" to have 5 credits of English when most, ok, probably all, of the applicants only have 4 credits?</p>

<p>If I were to take another IB class, it would be IB Philosophy. Yay or nay?</p>

2

<p>If you are good enough in math to be two grade levels ahead (calculus as a junior in high school), shouldn’t you be able to handle AP Calculus BC instead of AB?</p>

3

<p>In my school, we aren’t allowed to skip AP Calculus AB. They make it a prerequisite to AP Calculus BC for most students. There are exceptions for seniors who don’t have enough time to take both AP Calculus classes. But since I’m a junior taking PreCalculus Honors, I have the time to take AP Calculus AB in my junior year and AP Calculus BC in my senior year. They won’t let me skip to BC. And I want to take IB Math HL, anyway. What? It’s Higher Level.</p>

4

<p>And you didn’t even answer my question. You just came here to cyber-bully me.</p>

<p>I noted the sarcasm and the taunting.</p>

5

<p>MissGene, I do not think that ucbalumnus was trying to be sarcastic and taunting. I just think he/she was just asking that question because at several schools they let people take Calc BC and skip Calc AB. I think he/she was just being sincere in his/her question and just trying to help you with your course schedule. And taking Calculus as a junior is typically 2 grade levels ahead (at my school the seniors normally take precalculus so calculus technically is 2 grade levels ahead) so I do not think ucbalumnus was trying to be sarcastic in that manner either.</p>

<p>Ok, now I will try to help answer your question. I think your junior and senior years are fine as is and you do not need to take another AP/IB class for your schedule. I think that it will be more beneficial for you to not take another AP class junior year so you could focus more and ensure you perform to the best of your ability on your courseload junior year. </p>

<p>For your senior year, if you would like to try creative writing in senior year, then I recommend doing so. Your senior year schedule already is very rigorous and I do not think it would hurt your schedule significantly to take one normal course. However, if you do well junior year and you do want more of a challenge, then you could take IB Philosophy as you suggested. I recommend going through junior year then finalizing your senior year courseload. If you find it is challenging and already exhausting, then it might be better to take creative writing senior year so you don’t overload yourself. If you find that you want a greater challenge for senior year, then take IB Philosophy. </p>

<p>I hope I helped with your course load decisions.</p>