I have been a silent reader of this forum for last 2 years. Now, my daughter will be a sophomore next year. Currently (9th grade) and I need an advice from these wonderful people out here.
My daughter is a straight A+ student in 9th grade. She loves History and Biology and she is a very good writer.
Currently in (9th grade) she is taking following classes:
English Honors
Biology Honors
Spanish Honors
World History 2 Honors
Algebra II Honors
Orchestra
ECs: Cross country and track & field, couple of clubs at high school and senior dance student at local dance school.
She’s planning on taking in Sophomore year:
English H2
Chemistry Honors
AP Biology
Spanish H2
US History Honors
Geometry Honors (She can skip this since she had 2 yrs of Geometry before and can give an exam to skip it but then she has to take Pre-cal instead, which she does not want to do in Sophomore year)
AP Statistic
She will drop Orchestra in 10th and take some electives etc to fulfill requirements.
Do you think with 2 AP course at Sophomore year she will be overwhelmed? It is her choice entirely but she is a little confused and looking for advice from me but I am clueless.
I do not think that she will be overwhelmed; I am taking more APs as a sophomore and I am fine. Keep in the back of your head that stabdardized test preparation and extra curriculars are important as well, so she will need to have time outside of school to work on these.
If she is a straight A+ kind of student, I expect your daughter can do this if she is good at time management and willing to work hard. AP bio is usually a lot of work but AP stats is not usually considered that hard. My kids took/are taking 2 and 3 APs sophomore year. The one with 3 is working extremely hard but she’s got 8 academic classes and a very busy EC schedule.
I would question repeating geometry if she already did that in middle school.
Another thing to look at is what kind of schedule students like her typically take at your school. AP classes and workload can vary substantially from school to school.
I thought that it’s not recommended to take AP Bio before regular/honors chemistry because AP bio contains some chemistry? That’s what I’ve read on the boards here.
Aside from that, I don’t think the classes themselves are overwhelming sounding (my daughter’s selection for 10th grade next year is fairly similar in difficulty) assuming those ec’s aren’t super time consuming. Many of the dance students in my area put incredible amounts of time into it. Yours may be different though.
Yes, actually chemistry is a good idea before AP bio. Not sure about concurrently. I would talk to the bio and chem teachers about how well this has worked for other students. I think our school requires chem.
I would save AP bio for junior year, when she’s completed Chemistry. If she’s very good at math&science, she could take Honors Physics or AP Physics 1. It’d be tough alongside Honors Chem though.
If she took Precalculus Sophomore year, would she take Calc AB junior year then Calc BC senior year?
If not, and she’d be stuck with Calc Junior year and no math senior year, then she’s right not to accelerate.
If there are two levels of calculus and she feels she can handle it, then there’s no problem trying.
AP stats is an “AP lite”, it would be a good choice for sophomore.
Does your school offer AP Human Geography? It’s an “easy” AP but a good introduction to the rigor of Humanities AP classes.
Have to disagree, I don’t think it’s a problem to finish math as a junior. It opens up the schedule for other interests if she is not interested or able to pursue any more math.
She could take Orchestra this year, AP bio next year, and without AP bio, tackle the precalculus. She’s had two years of geometry already! Repeating it will be a waste of her time and just boring. Our hs has almost 100 sophomores in precalculus every year. It’s not something she should be afraid of.
I wouldn’t pick AP human geography just to take an AP class. Pick something that interests her. My sophomore is in AP psych.
Just my opinion on Orchestra: if your daughter enjoys orchestra, she should continue to take it. Especially if it’s an easy A. It will be an added boost to her GPA, and colleges like to see consistency/dedication. For me, I also see orchestra as a bit of a break from all my academic classes.
I just wanted to add that you should check with the GC about taking AP classes as a sophomore. Schools differ, but in our school the “required” grade limits are really required for some AP classes and just guidelines for others. So if she is interested in an AP elective, that might be possible even if it’s listed as just for upperclassmen at your high school.
(assuming your daughter wants to go to a selective school)
In my opinion, no one should be an “A+” student. (or at least very few people)
if your daughter’s an A+ student currently, then she should be taking harder courses to challenge herself. I’ve never met an A+ student before who’s taken the hardest courses. I’ve met extremely intelligent and passionate individuals, but i would not say they are A+ in all subjects. The best student (I’m not saying most intelligent) I’ve ever met took AP Gov and Bio, Spanish 5(without native or immersion: by skipping, which is common in my school), h pre-calc, among other fairly difficult classes as a sophomore. He maintained high A’s (97%+) in all subjects. He was also involved in clubs and played 2 varsity sports.
this is a non-magnet/charter public school student.
While this is not the most impressive course load i’ve ever seen by far, combined with ECs, it is indeed heavy.
i would not say he’s a “genius”, but he does posses exceptional worth ethic. “Importantly”, he also has a full social life.
on the subject of pre-calculus, she should really take it as a sophomore. Humanities people should take it as sophomores to establish a strong foundation in high school. Also, being two grades above in math allows you to take an easier route of AB calc junior year and bc calc senior year. If she wants to go into STEM, she should definitely take pre-calc so she can take multivariable (at a cc if your school does not offer)
on the subject of AP bio, as a history-English-humanities-in-general-lover myself, i thought sophomore AP bio (with h chem, no bio experience) was great. I engaged in a year long romance with Campell. honestly, that textbook is fantastic. If your daughter reads the first four chapters, she’ll know all the chem she needs to know.
it should be noted that i took a non-“lite” AP in freshman year. Also that i kind of failed middle school biology. Also, I’m kind of crazy.
“if your daughter’s an A+ student currently, then she should be taking harder courses to challenge herself.” True, but this is often not an option for most kids until the sophomore or junior year of high school. Freshman classes are usually significantly easier but most of the core classes can’t be skipped. My kid was easily getting 99+'s as a freshman but now that she’s in some more difficult and AP classes, grades are a little lower. She’s also beginning to understand the concept of good enough.
