I’m a junior in high school. Currently, I am taking 4 AP Classes
APUSH
AP Lang
AP Physics (1+2)
Before junior year I have taken 4 AP courses (I will put my AP Score in parenthesis).
Freshman Year:
AP Environmental Science (4)
AP Human Geography (5)
Sophomore Year:
AP Bio (4)
AP World (5)
I was thinking of taking a few more APs senior year.
AP Stat
AP Calc BC
AP Psych
AP Econ
I was also thinking about taking AP Spanish. However, I don’t know if it will be too challenging or not. I was considering replacing one of my APs with AP Spanish or just taking AP Spanish as a 5th AP. Any suggestions?
Are you near fluent in Spanish and/or can spend a ridiculous amount of time on the class? Go ahead.
If not, don’t take it. It is a brutal class.
An AP language class is considerably different from AP Biology, for example, You practically don’t have to know any biology before taking the class to do well in AP Biology (3-5). However, AP Spanish is usually conducted SOLELY in Spanish, and you have to learn culture on top of the Spanish language, so unless you are willing to get a B or a C on your first semester, don’t take it unless you’re proficient in the language already. Unlike the other APs, Spanish requires you to know an extensive amount of Spanish before taking the class to succeed without spending hours upon hours of studying vocabulary and practicing.
Plus, the writing/reading aspect of AP Spanish isn’t terribly difficult; it is the listening and speaking. Given that Spanish speakers talk a a relatively fast pace (and all of them have different accents), listening is a lot of work. In addition, you will be required to talk for minutes without a lot of preparation time, so you should be able to think quickly even before taking the class.
In my opinion, the amount of work in any AP class is heavily dependent upon the teacher. Of course, you should have done well in your earlier Spanish classes, and have that material more or less down pat.
Regardless, the answer to your question depends upon the level of colleges you are targeting, and if those colleges have a foreign language requirement for graduation. The more you do in HS, the fewer classes, if any, you’d need to do in college. If @Muufeen thinks that AP Spanish is difficult with a teacher who speaks only in Spanish (as well s/he should) and that you have to learn to understand people with different accents, that would only be that much more intensive in college when you’re trying to cram the material into one semester.
Similar to what @skieurope said, the amount of work assigned in /any/ class, AP or otherwise, is highly dependent on the teacher you have.
In AP Spanish last year, as a non-native speaker (along with the rest of my class), I didn’t find the course to be particularly brutal. I also don’t consider myself near fluent nor did I spend a ridiculous amount of time on the class. I thought my teacher assigned a fair amount of homework per night, although sometimes I was a bit overwhelmed with work on some days (partially due to a stacked schedule…)
Another thing to consider is how much experience you have in Spanish. I took AP Spanish as a Spanish level 4 course and this year I’m taking AP Spanish Literature (which is in my opinion so much harder than AP Spanish Language). I found that AP Spanish put pretty much equal emphasis on speaking/writing/reading/listening aspects of the language, and little of the class was devoted to grammar or vocabulary. Rather, I found the class was much like a review for the AP exam, just a review that lasted a whole year.
Ultimately, a lot of what could affect your decision to take AP Spanish depends of things that neither I nor other posters on the forum know about the course at your school and your strengths. If you’ll easily be able to handle your senior year planned courseload and feel you can handle another class (in addition to college applications), plus you feel confident in your Spanish abilities, I’d say go for it! But if you feel like another course would be a bit too much, I’d stay away from AP Spanish.
do you genuinely enjoy the spanish language? are you willing to put in the time it takes to read, write, listen, and speak (all in Spanish)? can you analyze difficult passages and are you good at learning vocabulary?
it’s a harder class, even for me (and I’ve spoken Spanish since elementary school). If you’re willing to put in the work, however, it’s considerably easier. in other words, don’t take it just to pad your AP class list.
@theboywhodied don’t take ap Spanish because it will look good on a transcript! I do not know if it does, that is not why I took it. Unless youre good at Spanish and like being immersed in the language.
@theboywhodied Don’t take a class because you think it’ll look good on your transcript. Take it because you /want/ to. It would likely look just as good as any other honors/AP course.
“Amazing” might be a bit over the top. Regardless, as others have said, don’t take a class, or pick an EC, based upon what some might perceive as “looking good.” Take it because you want to become better at Spanish. Or don’t take it because you want to pursue another avenue. As long as you have the recommended # of years of language study, a college won’t really care which avenue you pursue.
Uh, in my personal opinion, I’m that kind of person that believes every person in the world should know more than one language, be culturally diverse, etc. so this is what I think:
If you’ve taken Spanish 1, 2, 3 (and maybe 4), ONLY should you consider it. You should talk to you Spanish teacher that you had last year, and ask him or her if he or she thinks you’ll do good in that caliber of class.
I’m taking AP Spanish and it’s an absolute joke, FOR ME. For others, it isn’t so easy. I’m already getting 5’s on the essays, 10/11 or 11/11 on the multiple choices, and 100% in the class. BUT, I’ve had much more experience with the language than others.
Spanish is my third language. The only reason why I’m fluent-ish is due to several factors. For example, I do a host student program that hosts kids from Central America two times a year, which I’ve participated in for multiple years. I also went to the Dominican on a class trip and practiced/volunteered with locals. Actually, this past summer, I did a student exchange to Spain for two months. In result, I personally would categorize myself as fluent (as well as my Spanish teacher himself). THAT is why I get good scores on my tests and whatnot.
However, if you don’t feel confident in your abilities, still go ahead. Taking more than two years of any language is absolutely fantastic. AP would be a great option as well, but if you’re going to take an AP language just because it’ll look better, then I am absolutely appalled and in total disgust of that decision. On the other hand, if you TRULY want to take Spanish, because you TRULY want to improve your Spanish, then go for it. I totally support you. Don’t overwhelm yourself though. Taking 4 AP Classes your senior year is plenty, I promise. Don’t stress yourself!
“forum” should be “foro”.