I’m currently a sophomore in high school, planning my schedule for junior year. I can either take AP Human Geography(1 semester) as well as my school’s leadership course (1 semester, requires application), or I can take AP Bio (year-long at my school). I know the AP credits will affect my gpa weighting the same, but which do you think is the smarter option?
Note: I will be taking APUSH, AP Lang, AP Environmental, Honors Spanish IV, Honors Precalc, and Art I as well as running cross-country and participating in multiple clubs.
Overall, AP Biology is more impressive than AP Human Geography, but it depends on if you are more of a STEM person or want to major in humanities. However, AP Biology is not an easy class, you will definetly need to make sure you are doing the sufficient reading and homework every night because it is a lot of memorization (Taking AP Bio as a junior right now, also depends if you took bio before, I didn’t).
However, if you are really passionate about the leadership course and think it would be a good fit for you, go for it. It’s really up to your interest and your priorities. AP Human Geography is considered to be a pretty easy class though, so if you’re looking for rigor, might not be the best choice unless you’re really interested in it.
The smarter option is what interests you most. If you’re curious about the material in Human Geo and want to do the leadership course, go for it. (And take the AP exam for whichever you choose.) The point of high school is not simply to create credentials for getting into college. You can explain your choices (or they will be obvious) as they relate to what you’ve learned in high school and what you want to do in college.
DS took APHG his sophomore year, and that was the only textbook of his that I ever sat down to read. It’s very topical stuff!
AP Biology would look better on your transcript, but I think the leadership course and AP Human Geography would be better for you based on your course load. Unless you’re better at biology.
AP Bio and AP Environmental Science make an interesting combination. There is definitely some overlap that lessens the workload for each individual class. I would recommend AP Bio if you like ecology enough to study it in 2 classes and think you can manage the rigor.
AP Biology is more impressive, but AP Geo will be easier. Personally, after taking both, AP Bio is one of my LEAST favorite classes and pretty confusing. I would take APHG out of these choices, but if you are looking for a harder AP you could take Bio, or something else
I’ve taken neither of those classes; however, if I were in your position I would choose AP Bio because biology seems more interesting than human geography. In my opinion, the class you are more interested in is the one you will find more exciting and the one you are more likely to succeed in. If you can’t decide still and both interest you, it depends on the reputation of the course at your school. Obviously AP Bio is known to be much harder than AP HG, but if one is known to have an outcome of low AP test scores, tons of busy work, bad teacher, etc., go with the other one!