I’m currently a sophomore in highs school and taking Honors Spanish 4, Honors English, Honors Astronomy, AP Calc BC, AP Chem 1, and AP US History. Although last year was tough as I essentially took the same level classes as I am this year, this year seems even tougher since I can’t seem to do very well on the tests in AP Calc or AP Chem. I have an 84% in Calc because of AP Practice Problems (that we do at home and hand in for points) and have not done well on a single test or quiz (average about 80%), granted there has only been 2 tests and 2 quizzes. I am wondering if I should drop the class because my GPA will drop a lot (84% is considered 4.2 on a 5.3 scale). Since there are many intelligent people at my school (I can tell as I moved recently), it will be hard for me to compete with other students (some of which get 5.2 GPA and many of which get 4.9 or above). I am wondering if anybody thinks calc bc will get easier so I can get my grade up. Would it be more strategic to take AP Calc and get an A rather than keep a B in AP Calc BC?
Next is my AP Chem class. My teacher does not teach very well and grades very hard in addition to giving harder tests than the other ap chem teacher. I have an 84% in the class right now, mostly because of a lab that he decided to grade based off of accuracy instead of the actual lab which I got a 4/12 on, which dropped my grade 5%. My question is whether I should drop the class or just study harder. I already took about the minimum number of AP’s to be competitive in my grade, but will colleges care more about GPA or number of AP’s? I feel like GPA is more important but I’m still not sure whether colleges transfer the grades into their own GPA calculator.
Thank you for any help you can provide.
P.S. Sorry if this seems very long or confusing, but any help would be greatly appreciated!
What is the math track at your school? If you drop back to AP Calc (AB I assume), can you then take AP Calc BC junior year? Some high schools, such as my son’s only allow AB or BC. Others allow for both. Similar questions for AP Chem. What would you take instead (colleges like 4 years of science with 3 lab if looking at more competitive schools). If it were my child, I would ask them to think through the courses for junior and senior year, what classes interest him most, and go from there. Colleges like to see a rigorous course load and A’s, but it all depends on what types of schools you are aiming for. Some will recalculate a GPA according to their own formula. Others may only look at core classes. You can google the school and common data set to see what they find important (grades, test scores, etc.) Also sitting down with your guidance counselor may help. Good luck in your decision!
Since I am a sophomore, if I take AP Calc AB this year, I will have to take AP Calc BC junior year, and AP Stat or Multivariable calc senior year (you have to take calc bc to take multivariable). If I continue with BC this year, I will take AP stat and multivariable calculus the following years. This is one of the reasons I didn’t take AP Calc AB in the beginning of the year; I would have to take Calc 2 times, but I am now realizing that that might be better. The thing is if I take AB this year, how will I compete with the 30 or so sophomores taking Calc BC and the 7 sophomores who took it last year, as well as the many taking AP Calc BC next year?
AP Chem is not a one year course at my school;. It is a sequential 2-year course. This means that if I take AP Chem this year, I will need to take it next year or drop the class and take AP Environmental Science junior year (A MUCH easier class). This also means I will not do well on the AP Chem exam. I am leaning towards the side of keeping AP Chem because I could get my grade up through quizzes and labs, and I probably need to take it to keep myself competitive in my school.
Is courseload more important than GPA? What’s a good balance? As of now, I’m taking 3 out of 5 classes I could be taking in sophomore year and took the highest courseload last year. But I only received a 3.8 GPA unweighted last year, and I know that doesn’t seem very high for most top colleges, especially since other courseloads in other schools could be easier.
It’s frequently stated around these parts that top schools want to see biology, physics, and chemistry, at least one of which is at the AP level. If you’re looking at Harvard, you would probably want to take each of them at the AP level, so unless you feel like you are totally unable to keep your head above water in AP Chemistry (and I mean you aren’t pulling a B), you should keep it.
In response to your question about number of APs vs GPA, top schools want BOTH a lot of APs and a very strong GPA with as few non-A grades as possible. That being said, I would not feel comfortable taking a course I don’t believe I have a good chance of pulling at least a B in and definitely would not take more than one of these courses at once, since I allow myself some wiggle room of 1 B per semester. You appear to be earning at least B-level grades right now, but being in AP Chemistry myself, I believe that the concepts you are learning will only get more complex, so there likely will be a downtrend in your grades.
I don’t see a problem with dropping down to AP Calculus AB as a sophomore. You are still three years advanced in math, you can still take BC next year, and you will be able to get to MVC by senior year, so I don’t see what you are losing out on. At my HS, where a 4.3 weighted (on a 5.0 scale) doesn’t even earn you top 10%, the “best” math students take Algebra 2 Honors in 9th and AP Calculus AB in 11th, with almost none of them moving on to AP Calculus BC (which requires AB) in 12th.
You are only a sophomore and you are having some difficulty with college level classes. To be expected.
Colleges want to see biology, physics, and chemistry, at least one of which is at the AP level as mentioned.
Taking Honors Chem is perfectly normal as a sophomore. Taking calc AB even as a sophomore is very advanced.
I would drop to Honors Chem and Calc AB…doing Multiviariable as a Senior is still 2 years ahead of normal.
Take Calc AB. 1° it makes NO SENSE to jump into BC sophomore year only to take AP Stats (which is designed for students who can’t or don’t want to take calculus). 2° AB-> BC -> MV is actually a sequence that makes sense. 3° Calculus is sequential. If you’ve not taken level 1 (AB), it’s normal to struggle in level 2 (BC).
If AP Chem is a two year course, you should try and stick to it because APES is definitely not as rigorous as chemistry. Perhaps with more time due to being in Calc AB, you’ll be able to do better in AP Chem1?
Make sure you take Physics Honors or AP Physics 1 senior year.
I just realized that being a sophomore, you are probably taking AP Chemistry without having Honors first. Scratch what I said about needing AP Chemistry to go to Harvard (although it will probably help), that sounds like a grave mistake. In my AP Chemistry class, we expand on concepts learned in Honors rather than teach them; we are expected to have retained most, if not all, of the material we learned back then.
Kids who have had experience with AP science courses before AND Honors Chemistry have gotten failing grades well below 50 percent (some as low as 17%) on tests, just to put things into perspective.