I am a freshman in highschool currently, and am taking the following honors/ap classes:
Honors geometry/pre-calc
Honors biology
Honors english 9
AP Human Geography
My next year classes will be these:
Honors Chemistry
Honors AlgII/pre-calc
Honors English 10
AP Computer science
AP Physics
AP Gov
I am very worried about the amount of time this will take up, and if the homework/studying load difference will be a shock to me. Right now, I don’t find my schedule very difficult, but I am still concerned whether I will be able to handle next years schedule.
What do you recommend? Will there be a huge difference in homework?
I don’t think you’ll have an issue with that schedule. Of course, you will need to work harder and put in more hours, but you shouldn’t be too stressed out especially since you already have experience taking an AP class. It depends on the school, but AP Comp Sci in general isn’t the most difficult AP class and neither is AP Gov. Check with the people at your school who have already taken those classes to make sure. Ultimately, I say go for it.
I’d be more worried about how unbalanced it is: 2 math, 2 science, and no foreign language?
I’d also warn you that the AP Physics 1 exam results from last year were abysmal, for a number of reasons that have been discussed elsewhere on this forum; 63% of the test takers failed the exam. So while the class may or may not be difficult at your school, if you expect to take the exam, you’re probably need to do a lot of prep on your own.
In response to skieurope: I am taking Spanish 3, I just didn’t include it in the list because I was only mentioning the honors and ap classes I was taking. Sorry about that. I am trying to hyperfocus on the sciences because I am aiming to be an engineer in college. Thank you for the response, I will definitely to a lot of preparation for physics over the summer as recommended by my couselor.
What do you think the chance is that I can pull straight a’s? I am aiming to be one in the top of the class, and am concerned as to whether I will be able to keep good grades the whole year.
currently my grade average is a 96%. Do you think this will be impacted with a more difficult workload? Mine specifically?
Thanks in advance!
My grade average didn’t change much between freshman and sophomore year even though I have a much more rigorous courseload this year. It’s more about how motivated you are to maintain your grades. If you really want to be in the top of the class, you’ll be willing to put in more hours to maintain straight A’s. So no, your grade average probably won’t be impacted significantly as long as you stay dedicated.
Why are you taking 2 AP math and 2 science courses in sophomore year? It seems highly excessive, even for a STEM-oriented student interested in engineering. But if you truly have a passion for all three AP classes, then by all means take them if you are willing to spend much more time on homework and studying. If you have time-consuming extracurriculars, such as band/orchestra, sports, or dance, then I would caution you on taking 3 APs this early in your high school career.
Just note that at my school, Honors Algebra II is a prerequisite for AP Computer Science Principles or A, and Honors Chemistry is a prerequisite for AP Physics 1. In addition, AP Gov is a senior course…Seems rather weird that your school would allow you to take these courses, but oh well.
With computer science, I understand that algebra 2 should be a pre requisite, but I have had extensive experience programming before which makes it a much easier class for me.
With ap gov, yes, at my school it is offered as a sophomore year class
And with ap physics, that is a class that I pushed to get into that I didn’t necessarily have too. I have already done the summer assignments and will prepare ahead of time so it doesn’t hit me like a brick wall when I start.
What is the ap math classes you are referring too? Computer science? I am taking one honors math class, and no ap math classes. With science, I am taking one ap science and one honors. Not two of each.
Thanks for your time!
Can anyone who has had a similar course load especially as early in high school as me let me know how much time you had to do things besides homework and studying? On top of these classes, I am also highly involved with robotics just to give you an idea.
Thanks so much!
You really need to talk to kids at your own school about this. Schools vary and schedules vary. I see so many kids posting on here about taking X AP classes and is that too hard? Well, that depends on how much work they are at your school, what kind of schedule your school has (our school has 8 classes, some have only 6), how good a student you personally are, and how much time your EC’s and other activities take.
If you want an answer though, AP Gov is not regarded as a hard AP, AP Physics 1 should not be that hard despite the abysmal AP results, and AP CS is probably quite time consuming. Overall, I think it will be fine.
Thanks for clarifying. That makes more sense.
I agree with @mathyone ; you need to ask students at your school. The workload varies according to the teacher. IME, as indicated above, AP Gov is generally not a huge time commitment. APCS I never took, but from friends who did, they said that it is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Overall, the schedule looks like you could still have time to do things outside of academics
Ok, I can talk to some teachers and students at school about it. Thank you for your time.