Self-studying "easier" AP's with online courses & taking "tougher" AP courses during school year

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

TL;DR: I want to switch out easier AP courses with more rigorous ones. I’ll still take the easier AP’s exams, but I will self-study those on my own time with books + some of these [courses[/url]. Is this a good idea?

Hey CC, I recently found Yale’s [url=<a href=“https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses%5D%22Advice”>https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses]“Advice on Selecting High School Courses”](The Definitive List of Advanced Placement (AP) Online Courses - OpenCourser). I’m not planning on applying there, but I am looking at some competitive schools so I thought it was worth reading. These two points jumped out:

  1. " it is very important that we see a high level (or an improving degree) of rigor and success throughout your high school years. This includes your senior year... Do not catch “senioritis!” "
  2. "We encourage you to pursue your intellectual interests, so long as it is not at the expense of your program’s overall rigor or your preparedness for college."

Now I have to admit, I did choose more courses for senior year that I find interesting and mixed in a few that are less rigorous. Two of these are AP courses that are generally considered “easier” (that is, less rigorous), Psychology and US Government. I also have a few electives that I really want to take, but that’s a separate discussion.

My question is, should I swap these courses out and petition to enroll in other “more rigorous” courses?

For example, I’ll probably need Statistics based on the undergrad programs I’ve looked at. So I would probably be better off taking AP Statistics. Not only is it more rigorous, but it’s also very relevant and will likely help me knock out some credit hours. Is this the right way to be thinking about this?

And if it is, I’m wondering whether I can still self-study Psych and US Gov’t. Both are topics I have an interest in, but they’re not as relevant to what I want to do later. If I don’t take the courses during the school year, I would ideally like to substitute them with online courses and the usual test prep books (Barron’s, PR, etc.) from the library. The plan would be to do most of the work this summer and review periodically during the year and then take the AP exams.

Now, both Psych and US Gov’t among others are well represented by [this AP course list](The Definitive List of Advanced Placement (AP) Online Courses - OpenCourser). It seems like a lot of these are started by colleges and universities or from sites like Khan Academy.

Right now I’m eyeing the free courses from University of British Columbia for AP Psych and Purdue for APUG.

Please advise, does this game plan make sense? Are their pitfalls I should be aware of?

TIA!

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What are you trying to accomplish? Taking AP exams without the classes doesn’t help with admissions.

3

Sorry, I should have made this clearer! I’m basically going to take harder AP’s so they go on my transcript. The AP’s being replaced, I’ll self-study since I’m still interested in the subjects.

4

If others weigh-in, they will almost surely say that self-studying AP exams is a bad use of your time. Consider developing your ECs instead.

5

It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, unless you are planning on going to a university that has a liberal AP credit policy & you are trying to get enough credits to finish university early OR you are applying to universities outside the US that use APs as part of entrance requirements.

If you are really interested in Psych and Gov, you will get more out of reading books and journals in the field than doing a self-study prep, which is geared to passing an exam. As to which exams to take, do- or don’t do- but start from a place of what is genuinely important to you. Your admissions story is strongest when it is built on reality. Students who are aiming for competitive schools are often people who push themselves farther and deeper in those areas- because they love them.

ps, AP Stats is no more ‘rigorous’ than Psych or Gov. It is a useful class, and if you’ve already knocked out Calc but aren’t going on (or don’t have an option of) MVC, then it is fine as a 4th year math class.

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Thanks for the advice. Indeed, a couple of schools I’m looking at will take Psych (not sure about gov’t) and Statistics for most of their programs. A few others aren’t as generous for AP credits. My thinking is, it doesn’t hurt to prep for them during the summer. Then if I get into a school that will take Psych / gov’t I can just do a bit of review to take the AP’s.

Definitely I’m trying to keep things balanced. I will have a lot of time this summer and want to spend a bit of it prepping AP’s if it will help :slight_smile:

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As with many questions, the answer is “It depends.” While all colleges want you to take the most rigorous courses you can handle, that does not mean that every course on your schedule needs to be AP Physics C level rigor. Yes, all colleges know that the rigor of APs vary by course; nobody pretends that AP Psych is the same rigor as AP Calc, but there is nothing wrong with having a balance.

If the HS has gov as a graduation requirement, then you should take it in school. Knowing that colleges do not care about self studying, if you have free time that is not better spent elsewhere and you want to self study to rack up credits or gain knowledge, go for it. But as mentioned upthread, if gaining knowledge is tantamount, then there are better avenues than self studying APs.

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Switch out the APs if you want to, but the summer plan is, bluntly, daft and imo a waste of a summer (and if you are applying to Yale-type schools, they will be unimpressed by “Summer Junior year- self studied for 2 APs”)

Seriously, you can’t think of any better way to spend your summer than prepping for APs in subjects that might be able to let you knock out a pre-req or two?

From the point of view of admissions, literally any summer job or activity will do more for you. Scooping ice cream. Babysitting. Volunteering at the local senior center. Participating in a Clean Parks program. ANYTHING.

From the point of view of learning about psych and gov, there are dozens of things (from summer courses to internships to volunteer work) that will teach you more (and be more interesting) than self-studying APs.

From the point of view of just doing something with 3 free months- what do you really love doing? find a way to do that- and take it to the next level! If there are constraints- access, transport, money- be creative. One of the schools our collegekids went to had as their school motto: I will find a way or make one.

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The OP said he is only spending a small bit of time on his prepping and that he will have a lot of time left for doing his main activities. Sounds like a good plan.