Should I do this?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm seriously debating whether or not I should take APUSH and AP Bio at the same time. Here me out. </p>

<p>At my school AP US is extremely hard/time consuming. According to the teacher, we have ~7 pages to take notes on, and that's an AVERAGE. He said the mean grade for first semester was a 78. I need to maintain a 3.85, so this is extremely daunting. The first test average was a 41, another daunting characteristic. It's been said that those who take APUSH average a 33 on the English and/or Reading section of the ACT, which is a huge plus. </p>

<p>Also, AP Bio is the most time consuming AP class at my school. I also heard they're doing a curriculum change so that might hurt the quality of teaching in my class. At my school AP Bio is graded on a bell curve, which is absurd in my opinion. I won't get home until ~5:00 pm every day and some days I won't get home until ~8:00 pm. I'm also taking Precalc honors and Physics honors. </p>

<p>Phys. honors is also ~1 hour of homework and Precalc honors I'm not really worrying about. The only thing I worry about is that APUSH will be extremely difficult and it'll hurt the classes I most care about (AP Bio and Phys. honors). I also value my sleep and would hope I could get to bed at a decent hour like 11-12. </p>

<p>The only other option I'm considering is taking US History over the summer to get it over with, since it's a mandatory class at my school. I don't want to take US History during the school year because really it's a soph.-level class. (I took APEuro soph. year) </p>

<p>The thing is, my dad won't let me take a summer course as it would hurt my college app. </p>

<p>** Is this true? **
*Am I way in over my head? *</p>

2

<p>taking a summer course would definitely not hurt college apps</p>

3

<p>I think he means he would rather me do a pre-college program or some STEM summer thing.</p>

4

<p>I am in APUSH and I am doing just fine (though it does vary from school to school), the last time I checked I had a 94. You get a ton of readings/note taking, a lot of essays to write and the tests are brutal, but everything gets better and you will improve. Don’t take it over the summer, there is just too much material.</p>

5

<p>I think APUSH and AP Bio would be valuable for you to take. It seems like your APUSH class would be difficult, but it’ll prepare you well for college and teach you a lot. The 33 average on ACT for those that take your APUSH class is impressive. I think that pretty much tells you that it’s a class you should take. The bell curve in AP Bio will also prepare you for college classes. You mentioned that you care about Biology, so I definitely wouldn’t let the bell curve keep you away.</p>

<p>Oh, and if you’re in AP Euro right now, I would without a doubt take APUSH. Since you’ll already have experience with history APs, you’ll be at an advantage. At my school, AP Euro is actually more difficult than APUSH.</p>