Senior Schedule Help

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m a junior and I’ve started to think about my senior classes for next year. My school offers both AP and IB classes and, as of this school year, I’ve met my grad requirements for science (Biology Honors and Chemistry Honors), P.E. / Visual & Performing Arts (P.E. I and Dance Performance I), and foreign language (Spanish I and Spanish II). My school gives us 6 periods to fill with classes, with a minimum of 4 classes to take for your senior year. I have classes that I want / need to take for sure for next year with the exception of two that im still trying to narrow down. I perform very well in Spanish and Chemistry this year and least in Math. I perform normally in English and History along with HOR&R. I’m not enrolled in the IB diploma program and our school doesn’t offer the AP Capstone program.

My classes this year:
History of Rock & Roll
Spanish III Honors
Chemistry Honors
Math III Honors
U.S. History
IB English A1 HL1

(History is a regular class, not honors or AP…)

My “for sure” classes for next year:
Psychology
IB Math Studies SL
IB Economics SL
IB English A1 HL2

With Spanish, I defínitely want to take Spanish for a fourth year. I’m debating whether to take AP Spanish Language and Culture or IB Spanish B SL. The AP Spanish Language class at my school is more focused on the actual language itself while the IB SL course is more focused on the reading and writing aspect of it. While I prefer to about the language and vocabulary more, I wouldn’t mind too much learning about the literary aspect of the language. The same teacher teaches the AP and IB Spanish classes and has been for years.

As for Science, I’ve been thinking about take AP Physics 1. The only other class in my school that teaches about physics is Conceptual Physics which you would take as a freshman (I took Earth Science in my freshman year). The concept of physics does interest me even though I know almost nothing about the subject. I don’t know if that will just add to my already high workload. In place of physics, I could take either a TA class or do Offcie Work. I could get some homework done in those classes but I’m not sure if colleges will look and wonder why i didn’t take another honors or AP class instead.

2

AP Spanish will result in credit and placement in college, whereas IB SL typically will not but sounds more interesting and more likely to prepare you for college classes in that subject.

AP physics 1 will require a sound mastery of algebra2 and Trigonometry concepts. It is a strong introductory physics class so if you’re doing well in math (at least a B in math3H) it’ll be an interesting challenge and you’d get college credit, saving you from taking a science class in college. If you’re currently getting less than a B in Math 3 Honors, I’d suggest you take Conceptual physics regular - it still counts as a physics class for college admissions, introduces you to the basics of the subject, but doesn’t assume as much math.