Freshman year: All A’s
Sophomore year: All A’s and one B+ in Honors Algebra II (very difficult teacher). All honors courses except English
I play a high school sport every season so busy until 6PM most days
I am interested in math/science though I am pretty well-rounded and do well in most subjects.
I have no idea what I am interested in for college - will apply liberal arts
Practice ACT with no prep at all that I took a few months ago, I scored a 31 - hoping to get 32/33. English section was lowest score.
I generally do well on tests with memorizing content
Now to the decision-making…
I am scheduled to take for junior year:
AP Bio,
APUSH,
AP Spanish
Honors Precalc
Honors English (cannot take AP English until senior year)
Journalism (full year elective to work on school newspaper)
Computer Science (1/2 year elective)
I am considering dropping either Honors English or AP Spanish and not sure what to do.
I feel that I may have “too difficult” a schedule for me to manage and keep up my good grades. I did not take Honors English in 10th grade though I was recommended for it. I got an A in regular English in 10th grade and it was an easy class for me. Signed up for Honors English this year but have the most difficult teacher and think it may be too much for me. I also do not have a lot of confidence in my writing.
As for AP Spanish, at my high school choices for junior year are either AP Spanish or regular Spanish. I have taken Honors Spanish both 9th/10th grade and got As but I do not like Spanish at all and intend for this to be my last year. I have the same teacher for AP Spanish that I have had for the last two years - she is not a great teacher.
I cannot decide if I should keep schedule as is and sacrifice my GPA a bit, or drop the Honors English or AP Spanish.
I am no expert (and I may not be much help), however I believe if you do not think you will do well in Honors English, it would be best to drop that class. In most colleges’ eyes, junior year is the most important year, so it would be best to stick to a schedule you are confident in. I took AP Spanish last year with a mediocre teacher and passed the AP exam with a 4. I think it’s an important class because acquiring a foreign language is a useful skill and colleges will take note of your knowledge and ability. Not only is it useful for college admissions, it may also be useful in the workforce.
I do not think you have too difficult a schedule. Keep it and sacrifice your GPA a bit.
Have you gotten to Spanish 4 in yoru studies? If so , and you have no interest in Spanish, I would drop that. I would not drop Honors English (or downgrade) if you want to be a liberal arts major.
Talk to your guidance counselor and make a decision as to which class to drop down a level in. I don’t think it really matters (unless dropping a level in English would mean you can’t take AP English next year).
Thank you. As for AP Spanish - this is level 4 in our school. I probably will not continue to level 5 as a senior so this will be last year. My guidance counselor thinks I should keep schedule as is and feels I can handle all the classes. I can drop down a level mid-October if I feel it is too much he says.
Are you getting a B+ or higher in all your classes so far, and sleeping about 8 hours a night?
If so, try to stick with that schedule.
If not, there are two possibilities: since this is your last year of Spanish you’re better off finishing with a bang and AP Spanish (which counts as reaching level 5 and is thus much better than Spanish 4 regular)… Which means dropping down to English regular when that’s a core class and you need to work on your writing as much as possible due to having application essays to write the summer after junior year…