<p>Im a freshman right now, a sophmore next year. I was debating between AP BIO which is REAAALLLYYY HARRD( I heard that a lot of people gets D's, F's and that I would die if I took that class) and AP World. All the people I know are going to take world. At first I was leaning toward bio. But now I'm not sure which one to take. I am scared of getting a bad grade and not passing the ap exam. Which one should I take?</p>
<p>You should take the course that interests you the most.</p>
<p>Not sure how you can take AP Bio as a sophomore. I had to take Chemistry and Anat/Physiology prior to taking it, so I was a senior. Depends if the sciences are what you want to study. I would wait and take Anatomy and Physiology (honors if possible) then take AP Bio. I’m taking it now and it’s difficult but not impossible.</p>
<p>AP Bio is the easiest of the AP core sciences, but if it’s your first bio class and/or you haven’t had chemistry yet, it’s going to be really, really tough. I just asked D how she thought it was easy, yet so many kids find it hard. She replied that it helped to have a really, really good Intro Bio teacher, and that a lot of her friends who didn’t have that really struggle. I can’t imagine taking either AP Bio or Chem as your first class in those subjects.</p>
<p>Can you only take them next year? It would probably be better to take AP World as a 10th grader along with a science class to “Build you up” for AP Bio. Maybe a Chem 1 class or something like that. Then take AP Bio as an 11th grader. </p>
<p>I’m taking honors bio right now. So far I’ve only seen 10th graders take it. I don’t know if you can take it later than that. If I take bio than I’ll have to take physics. Which one would be better for me? Because I asked some people they said I should take world since its easier but I asked this one person, she said that I should push myself to new limits and challenges myself yet still interesting to me but if I couldn’t handle all the work then just take the easy one.</p>
<p>If you are hoping for admissions to the most highly selective tier of universities, you are going to be expected to take the most rigorous course schedule typically offered at your school and to do well in them. Did the kids at your school obtaining places at your dream colleges take AP Bio as a sophomore? If you don’t know then ask your guidance counselor. If the top tier kids in your school graduate with AP Bio/AP Chem/ AP Physics/ BC Calculus then you are not going to have success skipping those for AP Environmental Science and AB Calculus unless you have some other amazing skill that causes your recruitment. This is very school specific so you will get better information from your guidance counselor than on CC. Bottom line is you want your school to say you did well in the most rigorous program available to you.</p>
<p>Also there is a tremendous variety in how different high schools sequence their course. At our school as a 10th grader you pretty much take regular Bio, Honors Bio or AP bio - you don’t take Honors Bio and then AP Bio later. My son is taking AP Bio right now as a 10th grader and finds it challenging but not impossible. He is also taking AP US History at the same time (which is also challenging but not impossible). Why can’t you try both AP Bio and AP World and drop back a level after 1 semester if one or the other course is simply too much?</p>