<p>My school is the only high school in the district that doesn't offer AP classes. Our school only offer IB classes, which I sure will take. But I've heard IB doesn't emphasis on STEM. I goal is in top STEM college. Since I'm only in 9th grade, I'm wondering if I should self study and take some AP classes on my own( other schools in our school district allow me to sit for the tests). Will this help me in applying my dream college? What if I don't do well, do I have a choice not to report score to colleges? </p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions,</p>
<p>--Glasses</p>
<p>It probably would not help much in admission, but it may help you to get better placement or transfer credits. Check the AP/IB policy of the schools you are interested in to see.</p>
<p>If you take the IB classes for certain subjects, you’d might as well take the AP exams as well.</p>
<p>It depends on the courses available to you through your IB program. IB Math HL is probably more in-depth than any of the AP math classes. If IB Math HL isn’t offered at your school, though, I would strongly recommend taking AP Calc BC, and if you can, taking math beyond calculus. Self-studying may be very difficult, but assuming it doesn’t take too much time, it’s well worth it. I’m a STEM major at HYPS who took IB Math SL and layered AP Stat and Calc AB on top of that, and I think it would have helped me enormously to have taken more math before college.</p>
<p>I think if you’re taking SL classes, it’s better to take the AP test because most colleges don’t accept SL scores. I’m taking IB Math SL 2 this year, so I’m planning on taking the AP Calc AB test in May.</p>