Should I skip out on AP Bio?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>My eleventh and twelfth grade schedules (the only years where I really get any flexibility) are as follows; however, I'm wondering whether I should skip out on AP Bio or put it as an alternative class for Journalism (which I really hope I'll get into next year, but it mainly depends on how I do on the interview--this year I botched it). I don't want to go into anything biology-related, although I'm probably going to go into physics, CS, or math. I really want to take AP Physics C senior year, but I don't have the space in my schedule.</p>

<p>Are there any other classes (besides the reqs. and Colorguard, because there are no other seventh periods) that you think I could switch out? Is AP Bio really necessary? Will AP Physics C kill me if I'm taking it with AP Chem, Multivar, and AP Lit?</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Honors English 11 (UC weighted; junior year req.)
US History (not taking AP course; junior year req.)
Journalism (school newspaper) OR AP Statistics (I may take Statistics at the community college)
AP Calculus B/C
AP Physics 1
AP Computer Science
Colorguard</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP English Literature (senior year req.)
AP Government/AP Macroeconomics (senior year req.)
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
Journalism OR AP Physics C
Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra (dual enrollment)
Colorguard (maybe; if my parents let me, since it'll just count as elective credit once I've fulfilled my PE requirements and it's very, very time consuming)</p>

2

<p>Bump!
By the way, I’ve already heard taking AP Bio and AP Chem is a killer combination, so with AP Physics C, would it murder me? For example, this was my cousin’s schedule from last year (she goes to the same school as me), and she said it was pretty difficult. I go to a very, very competitive large public school.</p>

<p>Honors Precalculus (the normal Junior year honors course)
Honors English 11
US History
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
Leadership II</p>

<p>She was also a class officer (which is why she had to take Leadership II), but basically, I’m not sure if it’s possible to handle that schedule. My school is super-intense and gets really, really competitive junior and senior year. AP Physics C is supposed to be a very hard class at our school, but I don’t know many people who have taken it, so I can’t say for sure. A lot of people just take the AP test after taking AP Physics B and Calculus.</p>

<p>Math probably won’t be a problem for me at all, since it’s my strong suit; my sister said Linear Algebra is pretty easy (but then again, she took it in college).</p>

3

<p>Looks strange not to be taking a foreign language. 4 years of language recommended at some colleges, 3 years at many more. With strong Calc background, at least Physics C will be easier for you than most.</p>

4

<p>I’ll have taken 3 years next year (we can take languages in junior high; however, I only got into one in eighth grade). I don’t care for any of the languages offered at my school, so I’m just going to stick with 3 years total.</p>

5

<p>I might self-study Latin and take the AP test or the SAT II (it’s really the only foreign language I want to learn), but that’s if I can find a good textbook. I’m not very good at Spanish (the foreign language I’m taking right now) anyways, and our school’s language department (except for Japanese) is really bad.</p>

6

<p>

IMO, yes.</p>

7

<p>What if I took AP Physics C instead of AP Bio?</p>

8

<p>AP Physics C + AP Chem + AP Lit will be challenging, but doable. Only you know if you are up to the challenge.</p>

9

<p>Okay. I don’t have a 4.0 GPA right now anyways, so it’s okay if I get a B or two in the classes since they’re senior year. I just need to keep my sophomore and junior year grades up so I have a high GPA for the UCs and Stanford (Stanford is practically impossible to get into, but a girl can dream, right?)
What about Honors English (our English department is incredibly hard, by the way), AP Calc B/C, APCS, and AP Physics 1?</p>

10

<p>Thats completely doable.</p>

11

<p>As long as you don’t get a C. Stanford is a crapshoot for everyone.</p>

<p>Your junior schedule, I think, is fine.</p>

12

<p>Okay. I’m just a little afraid because I’ve heard a lot of hype about my school and I’ll be doing lots of ECs (none of which I’m willing to drop because I love them to death).</p>

<p>Colorguard takes up 2 1/2 hours after school 3 days a week (school ends at ~3:00, Colorguard ends between 5:30 and 6), so that’s also a little worrying. But other people have managed it, so I think I can too.</p>

<p>Now back to the original question–should I drop AP Bio in favor of AP Physics C if I’m planning on going into Physics?</p>

13

<p>

Yes, you’ll die with 3 AP sciences.</p>

14

<p>@skieurope I mean if I get into Journalism (that means I can only take 2 AP sciences in a year).</p>

15

<p>I took all 6 of the Science AP courses in a semester.</p>

<p>It’s not too bad, if you have a solid background.</p>

<p>However, I may be able to shed some light on the difficulty of each individual course.</p>

<p>How is your ACT? More importantly, ACT science?
The AP Biology test used to be almost completely memorization, however now it is much more like the ACT science portion - you need to be able to deduce from given information. The class is similar.
If you are good at ACT science, then AP Bio should come off as incredibly easy.</p>

<p>AP Chemistry, however, is different. With the changes made last year, it has become a little bit tougher (most of the kids in my class got a 3). If you have a good background in chemistry (like, A/A- in Honors Chem) or if you REALLY like chemistry then you will be fine with the test and the class.</p>

<p>Now. For the fun part. Physics C. C Mech is an easy self study if you know basic Physics B (or Physics 1 in your case), and it is an even easier class if you have some prior knowledge in physics and calc.</p>

<p>Physics C EM is the real issue. If you are only taking Physics 1 in junior, then you will probably not be adequately prepared for the Physics C EM test or class. Also, self studying Physics C EM is difficult too.</p>

<p>I recommend you take AP Physics 2 junior year, or at least study some Electricity and Magnetism at a higher level if you plan to pursue Physics C EM in senior year.</p>

<p><a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-physics-1-and-2-course-and-exam-description.pdf”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-physics-1-and-2-course-and-exam-description.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Check out page 49 for a syllabus of your course. </p>

<p>Aside from that, it all looks fine. When I made my schedule, I recklessly abandoned all logic and registered for every single AP course my school offered except for studio art. Even then, it was not too bad. Trust me, unless you go to a magnet school that grades on a bell curve, AP courses are not as tough as they are made out to be.</p>

16

<p>A bit more advice.</p>

<p>I have no idea how difficult AP Lit is at your school…</p>

<p>But at my school AP Lit is considered to be, by far, the toughest course offered (Apparently It’s around 3x tougher (more hw and tests) than the second toughest course, AP European History)…
I have heard horror stories from some of the seniors I know who have taken it.</p>

<p>However, it may be different at your school.
Talk to some seniors who are taking/have taken AP Lit at your school, and use that to gauge the difficulty.</p>

17

<p>I’m about 90% sure my school won’t be offering Physics 2, only Physics 1; and for us, Physics 1 is a prereq for Physics 2. Our AP Physics C course focuses more on Mechanics, anyways. (I quote from our school’s Wikia: Mr. G has said that he will focus mostly on mechanics and get his students ready for the Physics C: Mechanics test and devote less time to Electricity and Magnetism. In his own words, he aims to prepare you to get a 5 on the Mechanics test and to pass the E&M test.)</p>

<p>My ACT science actually happens to be one of my worst sections xD But then, I’ve always ended up with the worst science teacher (seventh grade, I was stuck with a horrible science teacher who only taught one period of honors–yay). Hopefully I’ll get the (marginally) better science teacher this year.</p>

<p>At my school, we have teachers who only give one or two As total in all 5 of their classes, while others don’t give any at all, which is mainly why I’m worried. We have an extraordinary array of teachers who have decided that their students’ ruination is their mission.</p>

<p>For us, AP Lit isn’t too bad; our English department is hard as a general thing, though. AP Lit was really hard back when my sister attended my school and only one teacher taught it. The main courses to watch out for are APUSH (this is where our horror stories come from), APES (the teacher is good but incredibly, incredibly hard), and AP Chem (the class curve with extra credit for tutoring was an 85 a few years ago). Our school only started offering Physics C two years ago, so I don’t know about the difficulty levels for that course; however, I expect that it is .</p>

18

<p>Oh, I found out that our AP Physics 1 course will be AP Physics 1 with a few AP Physics 2 topics added to it to bridge the gap between it and AP Physics C. Our school may be over-competitive, but it’s also broke (school district logic: let’s give the low-performing schools all the resources and give none to the high-performing ones! and we’ll give the okay schools all of the specialized classes, while giving the high-performing ones no course selection! if I went to one of the other schools in my district, I wouldn’t be having this problem–they allow their students to take AP Bio in lieu of Chemistry sophomore year).</p>

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<p>Me personally, I took AP Bio with AP: US History, Chemistry, Statistics, and English plus Pre-Cal and Physics. Now people will say people can only take that if they’re really smart. No actually you have to be REALLY motivated. And my experience is that most CCers on here are really motivated. I got all A this year with that schedule and my first two years of high school I had B’s and :frowning: :frowning: C’s. Granted I didn’t have colorgaurd which lasted 2+ hours. I only had football for an hour and a half and I still thought the year was tough. IMO I wouldn’t take Biology unless you are really interested in it. I was, but Biology has killer memorization. Ugh especially Ecology. Hope this helps :slight_smile: </p>

20

<p>Ecology and genetics are the only parts of Bio I find interesting xD I’m not going to take APUSH because 1) my sister took it and it took up all her time so now my parents won’t let me, and 2) it’s famed for being way too hard and the teacher sucks.</p>

<p>I might just move Bio to junior year and self-study CS (although I won’t take the AP test, I’ve started learning several programming languages on my own) so I can take Physics C.</p>