Should I Self-Study AP Senior Year?

<p>Is it worth it? Prospective electrical engineering and computer science major</p>

<p>I've taken the following AP courses already or going to take
5 Physics B
5 Physics C Mechanics took without any knowledge of calc =D
4 Physics C Electricity took without any knowledge of calc =D
5 US History
3 English Composition
4 Environmental
English Literature
Chemistry
US Government
Calculus BC</p>

<p>So I can do the following
Biology
Statistics
Computer Science
Psychology</p>

<p>Im thinking of Biology and psychology (which Im going to take a into class on).</p>

<p>Self-study would not show in your transcript and cannot show course rigorous. The only reason would be getting credit for college. So self study only make sense if you can really get credit from it. Most school has a limit on the number of credits from AP or which classes you can claim credit. Anyway, you should know which school you will go by the time you register for the test.</p>

<p>Biology is a hard self-study because of the format change. The prep books haven’t really caught up yet, and there are no tests from previous years to go off of.
Those other 3 should be pretty easy, as long as you have some previous programming experience for comp sci. But there isn’t much point as a senior.</p>

<p>Don’t self study if you plan to go to a college that won’t accept the AP credits. If you have a serious interest in one of the subjects, I guess it wouldn’t be too bad to take it. (I love government, and I found the AP gov test really fun. I even drew a cute picture of Ruth Bader Ginsburg after I finished the multiple choice.) I mean, if you really like it and the test is fun and your college won’t take the credits, take it if you don’t mind blowing $89 for a fun couple of hours.</p>

<p>Regarding biology, I’d advocate against doing so. No one really knew what to expect of the new test, test prep book companies included. There aren’t really any good prep books and just reading Campbell’s Biology won’t suffice. A lot of people who were confident and got great scores on other tests got 3s, which probably won’t be the score you want. (Of course, you may be different, and I’m just speaking in general terms.) Bio is even more of a problem considering that there aren’t a lot of FRQs to practice from.</p>

<p>I can’t speak about stats or CS, but I will affirm that psych can be easily self studied. It’s basic rote memorization and basic scientific processes. </p>

<p>Bottom line: don’t self study anything unless your college will give credit for it or if you have a strong interest in the subject.</p>

<p>thank you so much for such a thorough response. i guess ill just study psychology at the end of the year when I know if my college accepts the credit or not.</p>

<p>If you self study psych, get Barron’s and memorize it. Easiest AP ever.</p>