Switching up to AP...worth it?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi, I'm in a tricky situation with classes right now, I was hoping for some advice?</p>

<p>I'm in all honors/ap classes except for Latin, my foreign language: I've taken regular since freshman year.
I wanted to go into the honors track, but my parents wouldn't allow me (they were afraid I'd be overwhelmed in all honors). In retrospect, I definitely could have handled it. But I did regular. I did very well in the class, though, and I don't really regret taking regular because I had an awesome teacher, probably one of the best in my high school career.
At the end of freshmen year I had to option of moving up to honors but I decided to stick with regular so I could have the same teacher (I had heard not so great things about the honors teacher).</p>

<p>So then comes junior year, and I start reading all about colleges and the competition to get into top schools, and I'm questioning my decision...everything I've read has told me that taking this most challenging course load is SO IMPORTANT! That makes me a bit nervous. Does taking one regular class really hurt you that much?</p>

<p>I once again have the option of moving up for next year (senior year). My parents, once again, don't want me to because they dont want me to have all AP classes for senior year. I, too, am a bit worried about how much work it would take over the summer to catch up- they are so far ahead of us and do everything differently, it would be so confusing. I only know one person that has tried to move up, and they ended up dropping back down to regular after a week because the transition was so huge.
I'm also going to be very busy this summer, with summer school and family visits and volunteer work and getting ready for college stuff in general. I'm not sure its worth the added stress.</p>

<p>So thats my question, I hope the background makes sense...what do you think? Should I try to move up, or will it not make much of a difference having been in regular for 3 years? Should I stick in regular?
Thanks</p>

<p>(oh, and if it makes a difference, the summer class I'm doing is a college level course in a foreign language, Japanese, which is the language I intend to study in college)</p>

2

<p>If it were me I would stick to regular. After three years it may be hard to suddenly switch to the AP format. Also you say all your other classes are APs, so taking one regular shouldn’t hurt much.</p>

3

<p>Honestly, if your schedule is the most rigorous except one class, it is essentially still the most rigorous. Plus in the grand scheme of things language classes aren’t as major as English and Math classes.</p>

<p>If it is as big of a transition as you say, it may not be worth the higher level.</p>

<p>But you should talk to</p>

<ol>
<li>Your current Latin teacher</li>
<li>The AP Latin teacher</li>
<li>Your counselor</li>
<li>Your parents</li>
</ol>

<p>before consulting anyone on here, because generally people on this board don’t have good advice about anything.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for your perspectives :slight_smile: I’ll talk to the AP teacher, I think</p>

5

<p>You can take the AP test w/o taking AP Latin.</p>

6

<p>I’m not sure if we’ve covered the correct material for that…</p>