I’m a freshman in high school planning my tenth-grade year and I’m thinking about taking AP Psych and/or AP Statistics however I’m thinking of taking a different AP class. I’ve only taken Earth and Environmental Science so I am curious.
Should need a background in biology or chemistry to take AP Biology?
What types of colleges are you targeting?
It depends on your school’s course sequencing. At dd’s HS, you had to take honors bio before AP. Talk to your guidance counselor to ask about the pre-reqs.
My aim is for UNC Chapel Hill so I can eventually study pharmacy but I would like to go somewhere like Harvard.
Don’t take AP Biology without taking a biology course! There is so much material and memorization involved and you will be SO much better off if you take a biology course. It’s definitely possible, but you’re likely looking at an already rigorous schedule if your aiming for UNC Chapel Hill, so adding in AP Bio without a bio course would be extremely difficult.
If you are serious about UNC Chapel Hill, keep in mind that they evaluate the unweighted GPA, with a course load of five AP classes considered sufficiently rigorous: http://endeavors.unc.edu/more_ap_classes_may_not_be_better
Don’t worry about taking AP classes as a sophomore in STEM.
Take Honors Bio, Honors Chem, and Honors Physics or AP Physics 1 in HS if you took Earth Science in 9th grade.
Don’t worry about AP Stat…take Alg1, Geometry, Alg 2, Pre-Calc and Calc (getting as far as you can in that sequence)
Take honors bio and honors chem next year, along with whatever course in the math sequence is next. AP stats is an elective, keep it for Jr/Sr year as a complementary class.
AP psych sophomore year = why not?