Hello,
I am a student from a VERY competitive high school in the bay area. I wanted to take these classes junior year but people tell me its to much however some people in my class take 6 AP!!
Not to mention…I will be taking Spanish 4Honors as well as Computer Programming/Java.
People tell me I am crazy to take this course load however I am only average in my class and people are taking even harder courses.
By the way, my current schedule as a 10th grader follows: gpa 4.0
Chemistry Honors
Pre-Calc
World History/World Lit
Choir
Spanish 3
It depends on your abilities and it depends on the colleges you are targeting. Some kids can handle 4-6 AP’s, while others struggle with 1. If you are targeting a very competitive college, and many of your classmates are applying as well, your schedule will be compared to theirs. So 3 AP’s in that case may not be competitive. But you haven’t given us enough info to judge.
Your prospective junior schedule is pretty typical for strong, competitive applicants that are two years advanced in math and wish to take APs in all core areas. In fact, I’ve seen AP English and another AP elective in addition to what you plan to take. With that being said, it will definitely be a major step up in rigor from sophomore year (only 1 designated honors class from what I’ve seen, although Pre-Calculus in my state is only offered at the honors level), so you will have to work a lot harder to maintain satisfactory grades than you have in your standard/honors classes. Junior year is very important, so make it count.
What grade are you getting in precalculus? (Is that regular or honors? What type of math students tend to take calc AB at your school?)
How are you doing in chemistry?
You’re not competing with the kids taking 6aps. You’re competing with the kids who will have 3-6 AP’s by graduation.
I don’t think it’s too much, especially if you go to a really competitive high school in the Bay Area. I’m a current sophomore and am taking AP European History, AP CS Principles, and honors classes for Chinese 3, Algebra II, Chemistry, and World Lit.
Next year, I’m planning to take at least five AP courses, which would include most of the following: AP Seminar, AP Lang, AP USH, AP Physics 1, AP Chemistry, AP Chinese, and more.
I’m also actively involved in a number of clubs, and go to a somewhat competitive high school in the Midwest.
The people who say that “you’re crazy” if you’re going to take those AP classes are only right if you are not capable of doing all those AP classes or if you are in many extracurriculars and are stretching yourself too thinly.