I took AP World History last year, and I got a four on the exam and ended the school year with an A-. Although the class was fairly easy, I do not know if I should take four or five AP courses my junior year. I do not want my grades to go down, but I want colleges to look at me and see my potential. The AP’s I’m currently enrolled in are…
AP English Language and Comp.
AP Psychology
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry
…If I were to take a fifth AP course, it would be AP Computer Science Principles. Last year, I struggled with Pre-Calculus ending with a B-, so I know that Calculus AB will take a lot out of me, but I was wondering if I should just keep these classes or just add on AP CSP?
Psychology and CS principles are not generally considered to be among the more difficult AP courses. Chemistry is often the highest workload, due to the lab.
Does your school offer honors Calculus?
“but I want colleges to look at me and see my potential” - I don’t think many schools would look down on 4 AP courses as a Junior as slacking. Succeeding at 4 is better than struggling with 5.
Just reading between the lines: A- in AP World, which is typically one of the first APs taken, and a B- in precalc tells me pushing to a harder schedule probably isn’t wise.
What would you be taking instead of CSP if you don’t take it? it is one of the easier AP courses, so it’s not like piling on Physics C.
It depends on the context of your school. Some teachers are good at making difficult classes easy and vice versa. I would look into that and ask around to see if these teachers are known to be easy. Ex. pre-calc at my school is much harder than AP Calculus.
You should probably consult your guidance counselor and the AP CSP teacher, perhaps some students who have taken it at your school last year. DD’s AP CSP teacher was excellent, but there was a lot of homework and projects, and a volunteer tutor available one morning a week to help students find that missing semicolon in their code. Other kids on these boards seemed to have a very different experience, less work, and teachers seemingly not entirely familiar with the material. It is worth trying to figure out which one you’re going to be dealing with before you make your final decision.