<p>I originally signed up to take AP English Lit, AP US Gov, AP Bio, and AP Physics B my senior year, but this year my school won't be offering AP Physics because not enough people signed up. So here's what my schedule for the year looks like:</p>
<p>AP Spanish Lang
AP Bio
AP US Gov
AP English Lit</p>
<p>I know that I can get an A in Spanish, but my teacher has never taught AP before so I'm worried about the exam. I have the option to switch out of AP Spanish and take AP Physics B independent study. I'd feel more confident about that exam and I know I could get good grades even though I wouldn't be formally taught.</p>
<p>So my question is, which would look better on my college apps? I would say that my interest in Spanish and physics is about equal, though I plan to study something more science-related in college.</p>
<p>I do have another option, which would be to take both and not take AP Bio. But the AP Bio teacher at my school is really experienced and I think that taking Spanish and physics might be too stressful. If this looks significantly better than my other options, I would definitely go for it anyway.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>If you are a non-native speaker and have a bad teacher for AP Spanish Lang, it will be hard to do well on the AP test. An overwhelming majority of the people that get 4's/5's on the test are native speakers, and it requires a lot of practice with the format of the test (oral presentation, simulated conversation, etc.) to do well. Plus, if you self-study AP Physics and do well, that would be very impressive in and of itself - it also fits what your primary interest is.</p>
<p>However, there is another side too (as you probably guessed :-P). I kind of had the same decision this year except at a higher level for both (AP Physics C vs. AP Spanish Lit), but I decided to go with AP Spanish Lit so that I wouldn't lose my language skills - a year without doing anything with a language you just learned/are beginning to master can really damage your proficiency. I felt that stopping now would be a waste of the years I spent learning the language, especially when I want to at least maintain conversational proficiency.</p>
<p>It's a tough decision. It's really just setting your priorities - HOW much do you want to maintain Spanish? Good luck!</p>
<p>(Keep in mind, also, that I am interested in science too, most likely Neuroscience/Biochemisty)</p>
<p>(I wish our school let us independent-study AP classes that they won't offer!)</p>
<p>GuitarRckr brings up a bunch of excellent points, so ditto to those comments, mainly.</p>
<p>For a non-native speaker, the exam is more "difficult" and overwhelming, true. The best advice I can think to give regarding that exam (and hopefully to help you consider classes for this coming year), is to PRACTICE. Repeatedly doing exercises in the formats found on the AP exam is more helpful than you can possibly imagine. Also... exposure to the language is key -- listen to Spanish radio, watch the news in Spanish, read a book in Spanish, watch a movie in Spanish, have a conversation in Spanish, etc. (you see where I'm going with this). Things that seemingly don't relate to class work can be more helpful than things you do in class.</p>
<p>I can't speak for physics via independent study, and AP Bio at my school is kind of a joke. Personally, I would choose Spanish, if only to preserve the knowledge of the language... I went 8 months between my Spanish III class and AP Spanish V (skipping our school's 4th level class), and I had lost a ridiculous amount of knowledge in the language.</p>
<p>I hope that this helped somewhat, and if you have any other questions about the Spanish exam, I'd be happy to try to help.</p>