<p>I moved to the US this summer, and I'm enrolled as a junior in my local high school. I had been placed in freshman classes and was doing my best to convince the school to move me up in classes, and I got what I wanted (for the most part) in the end. My current schedule:</p>
<p>US History (regular, not honors or AP)
Honors English 5
Honors Trigonometry/Algebra 2
PE
AP Chemistry
French Year 1
Journalism (no honors/advanced version available)</p>
<p>However, I have commitments after school and also go to a tutoring center (not for chemistry or any of my homework though) because I need to make up all of my regents, so I get home at 8PM. I also just got transferred into AP Chemistry, and I missed two weeks of work. I feel as if this really impacted me because I'm struggling to catch up with what I missed, on top of the giant piles of homework and daily topics we need to study from this class.<br>
I could maybe achieve good grades in this class if I put in a lot of effort and studied straight after I got home until midnight, but I don't want to live like that. I think those two weeks will be difficult to catch up with.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of self-studying at my own pace without the additional pressure of a school course that could potentially bring down my otherwise high GPA (above a 95 in all my other classes, for the most part).
Will it count the same if I self-study and, let's suppose, get a high grade in the AP exam? I'm trying to get into AP Calculus AB, but I doubt my school will get this changed. </p>
<p>So, no APs in my junior year (technically, on my transcript). How badly will this affect me when colleges decide whether to accept or reject me? Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>You transferred into this high school from outside the country. When you apply to college, you will need to provide official copies of your records from your original high school. You will not be evaluated the same way as a student who attended your US high school for all four years. </p>
<p>Right now the most important thing is to get settled into your new life in the US. If AP Chem is too much, then stick with regular Chem, and consider taking the AP course next year.</p>
<p>Do what is best for yourself, not what others expect you to do</p>
<p>I agree AP Chemistry would be very challenging for a foreign student just arrived particularly from a non English speaking country. Many college would require TOEFL. Among all these standardized tests you are going to take in the upcoming year in addition to accommodating a new environment and education systerm, you really don’t want to put extra burden on yourself.</p>
<p>The thing is, I was born and lived here until the seventh grade, and my English is perfectly fine. I was only out of the country for three years, the first two years of high school included.</p>
<p>And there is no honors chemistry available at my school, only normal/regular chemistry. It’s really easy, because I already took all three sciences in my previous high school. AP Chemistry is just challenging enough, but I get home too late and really don’t have any time to dedicate to studying for everything.</p>
<p>I have to make my decision tomorrow, and I feel as if I should drop to normal chemistry because my other option is staying and struggling and I would probably get good grades if I give up everything in my life and all I did was study as soon as I got home and give up a lot of my sleep, but that’s not what I want to do. 
This is a final decision, and I don’t want to end up regretting dropping down in classes if that’s what I choose to do. I really want to get into a good university, even trying for universities like Columbia and MIT, but I’m worried.</p>
<p>If I drop down in classes and take regular chemistry, but self-study for the AP Calculus AB exam and AP Psychology (which I planned to do already), would it show up on my transcript equally? </p>
<p>Thank you so much for your time; I’m stressing about this.</p>
<p>I just got home from school and I’m leaving again for my extra classes in just ten minutes ugh i am so stressed</p>
<p>and some of my friends here are taking several APs (chemistry included) and pulling great grades and they have time for other things too. I can’t even handle one AP and I feel terrible and dumb. gbreijkghjdf</p>
<p>okay sorry i’m done thanks again for your answers</p>
<p>You should have said move BACK to the US instead of move o the US. That change many things. Anyway, do whichever way you feel more comfortable. Colleges like students challenging themselves, but getting a poor grade in an AP class does not help at all.
Self study AP would not show up on your transcript and you only need to self report AP scores for school applications. Nevertheless, it would help you to get a high honor AP scholar faster and you will have more credits for college assuming you have good scores in the exam.</p>
<p>Do you need all the extra tutoring for the Regents, considering it sounds like you took a rigorous courseload at your international/foreign high school, are fluent in English, and should thus be able to handle the exams fine?
This may solve your dilemma with AP chem. IF you’ve taken 3 years of science already, you should be able to catch up on AP Chem - regular chemistry would just be boring for you. However if you feel you couldn’t do well in AP Chem without cutting on sleep and if you can’t reduce the number of regents-related classes so that you can get home at a decent hour, perhaps APChem is too much of a burden.
Self studying won’t show on your transcript but if you register for the test, take it, and do well in May, this will signal universities that you’re able to work independently at a high level, something they always appreciate. :)</p>