Senior Year, APs, etc.

<p>I'm currently a junior taking 3 APs, English Lang., Chem, and US and have some questions about other APs and what I should do for the rest of this year and next. Because there are around 3800 people in my high school, our AP classes are generally the hardest classes with loads of homework, which combined with my clubs and athletics, will make it a busy year. I also kind of hope to maintain my class rank, so they need to be classes I can get A's in.</p>

<p>My senior year will look something like this:</p>

<p>AP English Lit.
AP Psychology
AP Spanish Lang. or something else
AP Calc AB or BC
AP Biology or AP Physics C</p>

<p>So 5 AP's and maybe a 6th during the 2nd semester. My course outline says I should move on to Calc BC, but I likely will take AB because of how difficult BC is.</p>

<p>Problems:
1. Spanish AP. Some colleges I'll apply to recommend 4 years of Spanish, but Spanish AP is extremely hard at my school. Not even native speakers get A's.
2. Bio vs. Physics. Bio is easier from what I hear and I have a weak background with physics, but I'll get 2 exams if I take physics and I'm not sure how difficult it is.</p>

<p>If I do well enough on all of the AP exams, I should be able to be a National Scholar, although it won't matter if I receive it at the end of senior year. I just found out about self studying, and thought about doing it so I could at least get Scholar with Distinction by the end of junior year. I'm not even sure my school allows self-studying. And since its very late into the year, should I even try?</p>

<p>Any recommendations or suggestions about anything would help a lot.</p>

<p>What possible majors in college are you considering, and what are your possible colleges’ policies on each AP test?</p>

<p>Calculus AB will be half the speed of college calculus, while calculus BC will be full speed.</p>

<p>Psychology may be given credit for a one semester introductory psychology course.</p>

<p>Neither biology or physics C AP tests are widely considered fully equivalent to college courses (especially by medical schools), though they may sometimes be given limited acceptance. Physics C is best done with a good calculus background; if you are taking calculus concurrently, it is best to be taking BC. At many colleges, physics and engineering majors are recommended to start the physics courses after completing first semester freshman calculus (if they did not do well enough on AP tests for calculus AB or BC from high school).</p>

<p>Interested in engineering, chemical, nuclear, biomedical, really anything scientific interests me. And also mathematics and political science sort of. Most colleges I’m positive I’ll be accepted at (U of I, Purdue) will take credit for 3s and higher. Longshots like MIT, Yale, or Stanford will take some 5s if I receive them I believe. Others (which I’m not even sure about, haven’t visited them, GIT, Vanderbilt, Michigan, UCB, Chicago, NW) take some 4s and 5s. It varies a lot.</p>

<p>So BC and Physics C is a good pair? And any opinion on self-studying?</p>

<p>For engineering, AP physics C is likely more important in terms of subject matter than AP biology, but (in some cases) AP biology may give you more subject credit because it may be accepted as fulfilling a peripheral science requirement for an engineering major, while AP physics C may not be accepted as much due to physics being a core science requirement.</p>

<p>If you are interested in math or engineering, taking BC over AB will better prepare you for college math courses. However, if you get less than a 5 on the AP test, you want to consider very carefully whether you want to skip any freshman calculus courses – if old freshman calculus final exams are available, use them to compare your knowledge to what is expected from students who took calculus at the college.</p>