<p>I hope to study philosophy and minor in history aka I'm not pursuing a career in the science field.</p>
<p>However, I am interested in Chemistry and Physics, so I'm going to take those two AP's in junior and senior year respectively. But I have no, absolutely NONE, interest in biology. However I may end up finding it interesting, as I tend to do when I actually start learning it, but if I were to actually take the class, I'd have to take it while I'm taking AP Chem (and other AP's*), and I'm not quite sure if I could handle that with my EC's (I come home late every day of the week).</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore this year, and I'm self-studying AP Psychology and taking the exam because my school doesn't offer the AP course, and I'm also taking AP US (class and exam), and I took AP World History last year and got a five.</p>
<p>I have, as many people here are, "high aspirations," but I'm not a fan of the whole "GOTTA GET INTO IVY = 20 AP'S" deal.</p>
<p>*FYI: Junior year, I'll be taking AP Chem, AP Govt., and possibly AP Stat.
Senior year, it'll be AP Lit or Lang, AP Physics, AP Calc, and AP Econ.
(I'm not sure because I'm moving this summer. EEK.)</p>
<p>Basically what I’m saying is, is AP Bio that important? Is it going to cripple your chances significantly or at all if you don’t take it? Or could you skip it if you’re going to take two science AP’s anyway and you’re not interested in science?</p>
<p>Because I was going to skip it and just take Chem and Physics, but then this one senior that I know told me everyone that’s applying to “super-competitive” schools have taken AP Bio, and he strongly encouraged me.</p>
<p>It’s skippable, but be totally sure you don’t intend to be a premed/scientist/engineer. In any of those cases, you benefit dramatically by taking it now.</p>
<p>Thank you!
Any other answer?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend it. The class is pretty terrible if you don’t care for bio. Unless you’re doing something directly bio related, there’s really no reason to suffer through all that memorization.</p>
<p>If it’s double blocked, it’d be a nice way to boost your GPA though. If you have high aspirations, it IS important to take a rigorous course load and come out with a high rank. Taking just AP Chem and AP Govt your junior year would be pretty weak for top-tier schools (in my opinion)- personally I’d definitely pick up Stats and maybe another AP as well. For other APs, I recommend AP Lang because it’s really common for Juniors, though you maybe have some other English class to get out of the way first… another one to think about is AP Euro, given your interest in history.</p>
<p>Unfortunate you school doesn’t offer Psych. It’s an amusing course. Self-studying APs does pretty much nothing for you in terms of admission- what colleges want to see is APs on your transcript. Your AP exam scores don’t even get officially reported with your application, because admissions officers don’t really care what scores you got. Maybe your next school will offer it… Something to look into before self-studying and taking the exam…</p>
<p>OP your question and similar questions are best answered by identifying some likely colleges to which you’ll apply 18 months from now. Then check their admissions web site, and look at their recommended high school curriculum.</p>
<p>As an example I’ll pick one such very selective college, Yale College.</p>
<p>Look at their web site, and in particular at:</p>
<p>[Advice</a> on Selecting High School Courses | Yale College Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses]Advice”>Advice on Selecting High School Courses | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>The bottom line for Yale College is:</p>
<p>“Generally speaking, you should try to take courses each year in English, science, math, the social sciences, and foreign language.”</p>
<p>Science typically means “lab science”. So for Yale, if you take 1 lab science course each year, you are doing very well. Foreign language typically means 4 years of the “same” foreign language.</p>
<p>The second criteria is course rigor. What very selective colleges are looking for is that you’ve taken the most rigorous core courses (i.e. English, science, math, the history/social sciences, and foreign language) available at your school, and that you’ve done very well in them.</p>
<p>You’ll find that some of the very selective colleges have specific recommendations within the core curriculum. For example Penn Wharton would like for you to take calculus, and Penn Engineering would like for you to take physics and calculus.</p>
<p>I took AP Bio last year (freshmen year), along with two other APs (Stat/World). I also had swim practice daily and did not get home until 6:30 ish, plus shower then dinner, which meant i started homework at around 7:30 at the earliest. From my perspective, which I’m assuming is vaguely similar to yours… I’d say it’s totally manageable. I think it really will depend on the teacher in terms of work. If you know who your bio teacher will be, talk to him/her and ask about the workload to figure out if it’s doable for you. </p>
<p>The AP test was pretty easy (I got a five 
). In terms of the subject, I absolutely loved biology. Except the section on ecology. Overall, the concepts weren’t extremely complex, but it is a TON of memorization. Concepts aren’t extremely heavily applied because there’s just SO MUCH to cover. However, the test is focused heavily on concepts and isn’t like chem or physics which have a focus on calculations. </p>
<p>Hope that helped :)</p>
<p>“But I have no, absolutely NONE, interest in biology.”</p>
<p>You have answered your own question. If you don’t stop now, when in your life will you stop doing things you hate/have no interest in, for some “higher” reason? </p>
<p>“Man I hate my job but it brings in 80K so I have to hang in there.”</p>
<p>You have one life; pursue your interests; have a rewarding life!</p>
<p>My 2 cents - worth about as much.</p>
<p>taking it now, to keep it simple: very challenging, tonssss of work, but looks good on aps</p>