Schedule Help: AP Psychology, AP US Gov, AP microeconomics, AP Physics C

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello! I am struggling to put together my schedule for junior year. Currently, the one I have set with my counselor is:
AP Bio
AP Lang
AP Calc BC
Wind Ensemble (band)
German 3 H
AP Microeconomics
AP US Gov
gym
American History Honors (online over the summer)

However, due to a change in policies at my school, I am now not required to take gym anymore, so I have an open slot. I would really love to take AP Physics C as I love the teacher and many of my friends are taking it, so we would be able to help each other out. I am planning on majoring in STEM and currently I am taking AP chem, AP Physics 1, and AP Computer Science A. I did struggle a bit with physics second quarter this year, but I have gotten pretty high As first and third quarter (91% and 95%, 80% is an A at my school because our teachers “overteach” us for APs and we learn topics that are more advanced than the AP curriculum). However, I am worried that replacing my gym class with AP Physics C will be too heavy of a course load for me. I am currently considering three schedules:

1.

AP Bio
AP Lang
AP Calc BC
Wind Ensemble (band)
German 3 H
AP Microeconomics
AP US Gov
AP Physics C
American History Honors (online over the summer)

This is my favorite schedule out of the three because I can get the civics and consumer ed graduation requirement out of the way, and I will be able to take physics, but I am not sure if I will be able to handle it all. I have also never taken bio before, so AP Bio will be my first bio course and I might struggle a bit with that since most have already taken honors bio already.

2.

AP Bio
AP Lang
AP Calc BC
Wind Ensemble (band)
German 3 H
AP Microeconomics
AP US Gov
either AP Stats or AP Environmental Science
American History Honors (online over the summer)

Although AP Stats does not interest me at all, it is a lighter AP class and it seems pretty useful. I am slightly interested in AP Environmental science, but it’s kind of a joke at my school and is not taken very seriously.

3.

AP Bio
AP Lang
AP Calc BC
Wind Ensemble (band)
German 3 H
AP Psychology
AP Physics C
American History Honors (online over the summer)

I am very weak in history and politics, so AP Gov would definitely be a challenge for me, but I am not sure if AP Psychology would be easier or harder than taking gov and microeconomics. I’m a very slow reader so I think whichever class has more reading would be more challenging for me. Additionally, I did not take a social studies course this year, so I will only have 3 years of social studies for high school and I’m not sure if the order I take these courses will affect how colleges view my coursework.

Which schedule do you think would be best? Thanks for the help, and if you have any other schedule ideas, let me know!

2

I would not recommend taking both AP bio and AP Phys C at the same time.

Wondering why you don’t just take H US history during the school year? IMO, it would look better on your transcript to take history at your school, not online.

3

Assuming your school lets you take AP Bio without a prior bio course, and assuming that AP Physics C covers mechanics and E&M, and considering you struggled with physics, I would not take these 2 concurrently. Push one to senior year. As an FYI, E&M is exponentially harder then mechanics, so Spring semester, when you’re also likely takig SAT/ACT may be a struggle.

It won’t

A lot depends upon the teacher, but none of these are among the more difficult APs.

Additionally keep in mind that any combination of 5-6 AP courses will likely be time consuming and that more APs does not equal a stronger college application.

4

@momofsenior1, my school does not offer American History Honors. It only offers it at the AP and regular level, but I think APUSH would be too challenging for me.

@skieurope, I have heard that AP Physics C is essentially the same content as AP Physics 1 but with calculus. Do you know if this is true? I am not sure if other schools do this, but I know my teacher teaches us topics that are not part of physics 1 but are part of physics C, such as electric fields, electric potential, Gauss’s Law, etc.

5

The short answer: the mechanics portion of AP Physics C is similar to AP Physics 1 but in more depth and with (very basic) calculus. The E&M portion of Physics C is not covered in AP Physics 1. AP Physics 1 also covers topics not included in AP Physics C, like waves and sound.

6

I would take regular history at school then.