Help!!! I am a sophomore and we are scheduling for junior year. I take all honors, and I have been recommended for all AP classes (minus the exception of Spanish, because you have to take Honors Spanish 3 before moving on to AP). Here is what my course load would look like if I were to take all the classes I have been recommended for:
AP Calculus AB (kinda iffy on this, might switch to Honors Calc)
AP Psychology (definitely taking this at some point in my high school career)
AP English Language (A STAPLE. I am not your typical Asian; I am stronger in the humanities-based subjects and I wouldn’t mind the outside reading)
APUSH (like I said, I like humanities-based subjects)
AP Bio (not my favorite subject, but I heard it was the easiest science course my school offers)
and lastly… AP Spanish. I am planning to skip Honors Spanish 3 in the summer.
I am extremely iffy on taking AP Spanish my junior year. I really want to get language out of the way because I am hoping to take other AP classes my senior year and I don’t want a stupid language class to get in the way of that (sorry, @Spanish). The thing is, I feel like 6 APs would be kind of an overload, and if I were to take AP Spanish, I don’t think I could drop it, which means that I would probably have to drop one of my other AP classes listed above. PLEASE, give me your opinions!!!
Another thing I should add is that I am HORRIBLE at time management, and I do many extracurriculars, such as volunteering, playing piano, tennis, chorus, and musical.
You still got senior year to think about. If you don’t have anything too big planned for that then you can always spread your APs to senior year as well. I wouldn’t take AP bio if you already know you don’t like the subject. The reason why people think Bio is the “easiest” science out of Bio, Chem, and Physics is ‘probably’ because you do little to none math involved compared to the other two.
I am planning to take a lot of APs senior year too. I’m planning to take Euro, Econ, Stats, Physics 1&2, English Lit, and possibly Music Theory, which is why I’m trying to get these APs out of the way.
6 AP’s are crazy any year. Especially Junior, since you will mainly focus on studying for the PSAT and SAT. I would highely not suggest taking AP Spanish, because I’ve heard its extremely hard unless your a native speaker. I would suggest maximum 4 junior year. Given that you already have a lot of commitments, it seems hard to me to believe that you will be able to maintain good grades in your classes along with good scores on your standardized testing
6 APs is a crushing workload that will not necessarily help in college admissions
“Recommended” is subjective.
Just because that you can handle those classes doesn’t mean you should take them all together
Plan out what your senior year would look like if you take all 6 APs as a junior.
Are the two year’s balanced. Do you have ECs?
As a current junior, I would advise no more than 4. But I know people who have taken 5 in their senior year and absolutely regretted it. If you are bad with time management, shoot for the low end of the spectrum. Depends on you…
Apparently your AP Bio is way different from mine because mine is the hardest science at my school. I am taking three and I do not feel like I am under a lot of stress except in Bio (the others being Lit and Calc BC). I have thus taken four of the six APs that you are planning (AB, Lang, APUSH, Bio). They ARE hard but rewarding in the college admission process and just overall in life.
I advise Calc AB (math is important, and it’s not too hard imo), Lang (not much studying), Psych (since it means a lot to you), and Bio (very interesting class (says the future biomedical engineer)). APUSH is very content-driven and can be a lot of work, and it would benefit you to take the Honors Spanish next year. Good luck, man!
I’m taking 6 as a junior as well, so good luck to us both! I would suggest taking Spanish III instead of skipping ahead to AP Spanish. Unless you’re super confident with the material and are able to dedicate yourself to practicing daily throughout the summer, I think you’ll be at a disadvantage, which could be reflected when you take the AP exam in May. It also seems like the one you’re most iffy about. 5 APs is plenty, and you still have your senior year to think about.
6AP’s is too many. Limit yourself to 4.
(Teachers, when they recommend you, only mean in their subject, they don’t mean you to add every AP you’ve recommended for.)
Suggestions
JUNIOR YEAR
AP Calculus AB => take Honors Calc, it’s okay
AP Psychology KEEP
AP English Language KEEP
APUSH KEEP
AP Bio => check that it’s indeed “easy”. It’d be your 4th AP so I think if you’ve been recommended for it, you could handle it.
and lastly… AP Spanish. => do not skip ahead. In addition, it’s important to do well in your AP class if you want to have a humanities/social science major and it’d help balance out your schedule. So, Spanish 3H or 4H.
SENIOR YEAR
AP Stats
AP English Lit
AP Spanish
AP Euro
AP Econ
Honors Physics
That would be a very rigorous schedule for a senior interested in the humanities and social sciences.
I’m in AP Bio as a sophomore right now. Idk about your teacher but I find that most of the time consumption goes towards taking notes. As I said, your teacher might not place much emphasis on notes, but if they don’t, I don’t think AP Bio would take up too much time for you. To that end, you could either keep it for junior year because it would mitigate the rest of the course load, or you could save it for senior year as an “easy” course to take then.