<p>Ray, you are viewed in context. If no APs, then it’s the choices you did make and the successes. Many great hs have no APs, one-two, or major limits. Those kids can still get into top schools. All the time. Some top colleges discuss this, on their web sites.</p>
<p>So, if your school offers 15, are you supposed to take lots and lots? Not necessarily. The right ones, wise choices.</p>
<p>Maintaining and improving your class rank and GPA is much more important than self studying a few APs. You can self study those 3, but MAKE SURE your actual classes and their work take priority over your self study.</p>
<p>XDJuicebox – All right, I’ll work on my time management! Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>Brisingr 99000 and Rayden54, I agree with lookingforward’s respective posts on your situations. I’m really not the one to ask.</p>
<p>Cortana431 – Okay. I do value my GPA and rank over these APs 
I’m determined to nab val or sal, or I’ll be very disappointed in myself! I will probably devote no more than an two hours a week to self-studying unless anyone says more time is better…</p>
<p>APUSH is US History; I think it’s a bit less dense than World. We don’t have AP World at our school, so I don’t know exactly how hard it is 
My friend took Micro/Macro and got 5’s on both, and he isn’t big on studying. His GPA is 3.5 and those were the only AP’s he took for his senior year. So, all in all, I don’t think Micro/Macro are too difficult.</p>
<p>I was a sophomore last year, too. I self-studied AP Psychology and AP US Government and received 5s on them. The reason I did it was mainly because I’m at an IB school that doesn’t offer AP classes, so I thought it would “look good” on a college application if I self-studied a few APs. And although getting 5s on those two tests was a great accomplishment, I wouldn’t advise you to do the same. Looking back, it took a LONG time to self-study those two AP classes, and it will probably take you even longer to study AP History. That was time I could have invested in something more meaningful: such as winning a national essay competition, doing research in my intended major, interning for a local congressman, etc. These pursuits will help you A LOT more when you apply to college and will be much more worthwhile than spending your weekends pouring over a Barron’s prep book. I’m not saying that self-studying APs doesn’t help. I’m sure it shows a lot of initiative and it definitely won’t do any harm. But I really don’t think that getting a 5 on one or two extra AP tests will make a huge difference when admissions time rolls around. If you want to become val or sal, I’d suggest to continue taking courses online or at local colleges. These courses will increase your GPA and get you one step closer to nabbing that val spot. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, APs don’t really make that much of a difference! You said you want to get into a “selective school” – if that means HYP or any of the other Ivies, it really won’t make a difference at all. Do something more meaningful in your spare time – something that will make the adcoms go “Wow!” That’s what I would have done ;D</p>
<p>Hpotter12 – Okay, that sounds doable. I may look into Macro/Micro then. Thanks!</p>
<p>Closertothestars – That’s very smart, actually. The thing is, my school requires you to physically take the courses on their campus to count as honors credit. So taking these classes won’t help my GPA, only keep it where it is or hurt it. But maybe I’ll take them anyway, just for more credits.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice! But you sound smart, getting 5s on those two AP tests, I’m sure you would/will do great college-wise anyway. I will definitely look into some more writing competitions (I do have a few that I’m looking to apply for already) and I’ll pick up some research if I can. Thanks again!</p>
<p>alliekinz wrote: <<lisa6191 --="" i’m="" sorry="" you="" feel="" that="" way,="" i="" just="" want="" to="" push="" myself="" the="" hardest="" while="" still="" can.="" there’s="" only="" one="" shot="" at="" harvard="" (and="" many="" other="" top="" colleges.)="" like="" do="" have="" some="" meaningful="" ecs="" violin="" and="" dance,="" so="" not="" completely="" about="" academics.="">></lisa6191></p>
<p>Speaking as a parent and an interviewer for one of those schools you all would sacrifice a limb to attend: I am underwhelmed by the students on CC who are obsessed with accumulating as many AP scores as possible. I am even more underwhelmed by the students who are obsessed with self-studying for two dozen of the exams.</p>
<p>Piling up as many AP credits as possible makes sense in the following scenario: You plan to attend a school where (nearly)all of those credits will apply to your degree, saving you thousands of dollars and allowing you to graduate early. Otherwise, I really think you are not using your time or your skills wisely.</p>
<p>Find what you love to do, and go do it. If taking 25 AP exams really is what you love to do, that makes me sad.</p>
<p>Those top schools want students who have an impact in their community, who think about others, who think beyond “will this be on the midterm?” </p>
<p>If you would tell me that you are so underchallenged by your high school that you need to study for every AP exam in existence to keep yourself engaged, then I would tell you either 1) you need to be in college already, or 2) it’s time for a project or for independent research. </p>
<p>And to all of you: Harvard’s acceptance rate is below six percent. Unless you win Intel, there is nothing you can do to guarantee you will be admitted. So, all of you, ask yourselves: If you follow your current plan for high school with the hope of getting into HYPSM, and you are accepted to none of those schools, will you have a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from how you spent your secondary school years, or will you feel only frustration? If your answer is “only frustration,” then I urge you to re-evaluate your plan.</p>
<p>It is most definitely effective.</p>
<p>Is OP by any chance asian? Just a wild guess.</p>
<p>Your violin playing as an EC really depends on how you developed it. For example, I’m the concert master at my school, I played in the gifted high school orchestra before it was cut, and I get paid for playing at concerts and stuff.</p>
<p>As for self study AP Environmental Science, I’d say that’s pretty difficult if you want a 5, having taken the test and receiving a 5 last May. There is a lot more to EnSci than recycling and the carbon footprint. There’s policy, ecology, biomes… It’s a lot to cover on your own. It’s also important to recognize that the FRQs call for a lot of real-life examples that may be difficult for you to research with everything else that it seems you’re doing. It’s possible, but again, very time consuming. I say don’t do it unless you are seriously convinced that you should.</p>
<p>Also, I really do think it’s better to just not self-study any APs unless they count for your major because you’re only in high school once. When else are you ever going to be able to play competitive sports? To be in school assemblies? To go to prom?</p>
<p>I believe it’s really important to have fun in life. If you delay all your fun for work in hopes that the fun will come when you’re successful, I think you’ll find yourself very upset all of the time. It’s great that you want to do well in school, but I worry that you’ll forget to have fun and enjoy life, too.</p>
<p>I noticed that you play violin but aren’t in the orchestra. As a fellow violinist, I wonder-- why not? Are you afraid it’ll ruin your GPA? Call me an idealist, but gosh, I think an hour a day of playing violin in an orchestra, which can have such a beautiful sound, is 200% worth a .25 drop or whatever it is in GPA.</p>
<p>As a senior, I feel like I can look back at high school and say I did a pretty damn good job having fun in high school while still having some pretty darn good grades.</p>
<p>My advice to you is to appreciate your high school days because you’ll never get them back. Study because you love the subject and have lots of fun.</p>
<p>@ridethewave this was very insightful… Thank you! Eye opener…</p>
<p>here’s my 2 cents: You’re spreading pretty thin. You’re probably gonna burn out pretty fast. Colleges like AP classes in high school b/c it shows you’re ready for college level classes. But taking WHAP is almost pointless if you’re gonna become an engineer, right? Take those relevant to your career/major of choice. It shows more that you’re following your passion and not just taking them for the extra GPA and whatnot.</p>
<p>FWIW, I’m currently a junior. By the time I graduate, I will have taken 17 AP classes, and most of them were required (I go to a public magnet school). I’m taking 7 APs this year and I can honestly say I don’t feel like I’ve stretched myself too thin or that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. If anything, I only have one class that’s really giving me problems. Not sure I was going anywhere with this post - I just wanted to provide my perspective on things. If you genuinely want to take those APs and you’re not doing it just for the sake of college admissions, then go ahead. It’s a great experience for sure. But if not, I would reconsider. And, of course, GPA is a huge factor. Make sure it doesn’t drop because you take all these AP classes.</p>
<p>@Sora: I do play violin in my school orchestra; I’m concertmaster 
And I’m a violist in my local youth symphony.
I haven’t checked this thread in a while, guys. Thank you for the additional comments. I think I will take an online class for APES in the fall, and self-study AP Human Geo.</p>
<p>Hey Allie, I just want to say you’re doing a superb job on staying on top of things. AP’s are definitely a PLUS. I’m homeschooled now and I’ve self- studied 7 AP’s while having taken 3 in school, by the time i finished Junior. There will be more in Senor year.
I lost track of how many AP’s you took and didn’t take but I hope I can help you work out some concerns.
AP World I took in 9th grade by self- study. From what you’ve wrote, it seems you are an even more rigorous individual than I. personally liked history, what man wouldn’t? If you like a course centered on both the flow and detail of history, this is right for you. I started with Keystone National High school for world history, but i dropped midway, having found my own way of studying and finding many of the assignments unrelated and a waste of time. The textbook is your friend. I used the one by Peter N Sterns. What really helped was picking out every vocab term from each chapter and writing the definitions and explanations out in a book. That helps you get the flow of things. Then highlight any mention of important events and ramifications. You do a chapter or two each week. depending on your time schedule. Be sure to refer to both Barrons and Princeton review, as you are not taking the course in school and you may leave out some details. Make sure you virtually memorize the world map.The first helpful assignment from Keystone was to make a humongous world map, using grid for accuracy and naming all the landmarks and whatnot. Ever since that day I am able to draw the entire map more or less by hand. Europe, got it. Africa? Easy. The Javanese Islands? No problem. After you get that frame of the world in your mind, you are ready to start studying. Make sure to divide the world by geographical location and time period in your mental capacity. China, England, Africa, Latin America, Mideast, Russia Etc, from the BCE years to present. Then work on comparing these civilizations at various periods in history, culturally, politically, economically. </p>
<p>I found AP World essays to be quite simple if u have the details. 1 point for this and one point for that. If you categorized, +1 point, if u mention outside sourse, +1 point, etc etc. </p>
<p>After World history, the rest of the History Courses are easy game. I particularly enjoyed APUSH and AP Gov.</p>
<p>For EVERY self studied AP course, the textbook is your friend. Perhaps the only true friend. Read it from cover to cover. Enjoy it. However, many times, the last 1 or 2 chapters are irreverent to the exam.</p>
<p>If I go for an online course instead of self-studying will I get more credit</p>
<p>heyy everyone i’m currently a sophomore and i’ve taken bio 1 before and ended the year with a A+ with a near 100% score. My school doesn’t offer AP bio and offers IB instead, but I want to get some APs done before 11th grade. I’m thinking of taking AP Psych, AP Environmental Science and AP bio this may. I heard AP Psych and APES are pretty easy to handle but I’m just worried about Bio. I heard things have changed and before it was the easiest science because it was only memorization but now it’s not… 
Would it still be okay if I self-studied for it?? I have the Cliffs Bio Notes and am planning to study hard for the next 3 months… do you think it’ll be possible to get a 5?? How hard is the test?? Thank you :)</p>
<p>Update: Thank you so much for everyone’s input. I am currently enrolled in one online AP class and plan on taking the exam, along with 5 more that I am enrolled in at my high school, in May. </p>
<p>Only a 0.03 gpa increase? At my high school we get 1 additional point for honors then 1 additional point for AP. Theoretically I could get a 6.0 weighted gpa at my high school.</p>