Sophmore Schedule Classes

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello, I am debating a topic on whether or not I should take Honors Earth Science or APES.

I am debating which one to take because I want to probably major in environmental science.

Here is my schedule:

Schedule:
Honors Pre-Calculus/Trig.
AP Statistics
Chemistry 1 and 2
Honors Earth Science or APES
Honors U.S. History
Honors English
Band

So, if I want to major in Environmental Science, is it best to take APES junior year, or sophmore year?

Or should I take Honors Earth Science sophmore year to prepare for APES?

2

How does your school differentiate the two? Typically, an honors course in a subject is a pre-requisite to the AP version of the course.

I don’t think taking an AP course in any specific year is “better”.

Side note - Two math, two science, and no language course? Many/most colleges require/prefer 2, 3 or even 4 years of a language.

3

So at my school, honors classes have a lower multiplier on your gpa than AP. And nothing at my school is a prerequisite for APES.

And I took two languages last year, but she doesn’t offer a third nor fourth year.

4

What kind of colleges are your thinking about?

5

All of the colleges i’m looking require 2 or more

6

Well, the “or more” is problematic as you have been told every time you’ve asked the same question in the past. Ignoring the issue will not make it go away. Nor should you expect different answers.

7

All I wanted to know is which one I should take. I’ll figure out the language course later at some point.

8

Be sure that you take one year of bio, chem, and physics and then AP in one of those three. At my D’s school, earth science is in middle school and APES is considered the easiest of the science courses. I can see where you’d want to fit in APES for your intended major but not at the expense of bio, chem, and physics.

I would also encourage you to think now about how you’ll get in your 3rd year of foreign language. That isn’t a subject you want a gap.

9

Then what you really need to do is ask for suggestions on a 4 year plan. One grade at a time is meaningless. Saying “I’ll figure it out later” is like saying “I’ll apply to colleges and figure out if I can afford them later.” It does not work that way.

Regardless, and without knowing your schools standard science progression, I’m in agreement that you need to knock out bio/chem/physics before worrying about science APs - even easy science APs.

10

I agree that a tentative 4 year plan will make more sense. Fit in all the school requirements (incuding things you may need like gym and health), fill in with the remaining classes typically needed for college admissions which may be more than what your high school needs. For instance you may only need 3 years of math for high school graduation but 4 for college admissions. Look at several different colleges you possibly considering from state schools to top schools to get an idea of requirements.

For instance STEM majors typically need biology, chemistry, and physics but the high school may just say 3 lab science classes. Keep in mind since schools have more than enough qualified applicants skipping a recommended course may be enough to keep you from being accepted since it can be an easy way to weed people out. After that you can figure out how many free elective spaces are left and how you want to fill those.