@saillakeerie Someone could be the next Shakespeare, but that doesn’t mean they should be taking 3 English classes. HS is that one time where you truly get to explore and find things you enjoy. OP might be successful w/ his schedule, IDK, but there’s no point in taking 3 science classes at the same time. In the long run, a music, art, study hall elective would be more beneficial to OP. Many Seniors I’ve met say they regret NOT taking a class because it wasn’t “rigorous”. A couple kids in my choir this year were mad that they didn’t join sooner! OP can fill their time up with a special project if they love science so much. Filling that space up w/ AP classes is a waste of their time and energy. People should be able to exist and function outside of school.
@MYOS1634 The OP lists two AP science classes not three. With block scheduling is not clear they would both be taken the same semester. I know several kids who pretty much breezed through physics and chemistry (and math and bio for that matter). No way they were doing 5-6 hours of homework per night. Others who struggled. I know kids who spend a ton of time on ECs and many who do not. Which is why I said it depends on the kid. And I reject the notion that there is one path which must be followed by all kids aiming high. I become skeptical when I hear people talking always/never. Especially when it comes to kids.
@Hamlon Again, the school has block scheduling so I suspect the OP won’t be taking 3 science classes at the same time. But there are some kids who love science. Its what they do for fun (that and typically math). And often they have ECs that are math/science based but also non-math/science based ECs (including choir, art, band, sports). I know kids who have taken 10+ AP classes. They didn’t do so for college app purposes. They did so because they wanted to take challenging classes. And they did well on them (and the AP exams as well). I disagree that was a waste of their time and energy. And they existed and functioned outside of school. Now that isn’t true for all kids. Which is why I said it depends on the kid.
Thanks for all your responses! I’ll definitely consider dropping an AP class, but idk if I can do that at this point…
This is honors chemistry, which is a perfectly normal class for a sophomore to take, not to mention the fact that the first 20% or so of the class will bore the OP to tears because they will be doing one unit conversion after another and I expect that a kid taking calculus as a sophomore won’t need a month or two to learn how to multiply fractions. My kid described her biggest problem in that class as staying awake. Maybe it’s taught differently at the OP’s school but I’m wondering if the students who think it’s so hard are nearly as good students as the OP.
And it’s APES which nearly everyone considers to be an “easy” AP class. I would be concerned about the Physics 1 simply because it’s a new class and that could be a bad situation, unless the teacher has previously taught Physics B with some competence. My guess is that a student who labels themselves “mathophile” and is taking calculus in sophomore year will not find the physics unduly hard. But I have heard the scores on the Physics AP tests were very low so I would have some concerns about this.
The calculus sequence is basically double blocked BC calculus which would only be a single class at many schools. With double the instructional time, it should not be that onerous. Our school is also on an 8 class system and also teaches an AB then BC sequence and my kids thought the work was significant but reasonably manageable. Both spent far more time on WHAP. I wouldn’t underestimate the time commitment of WHAP and for this reason it might make sense to put off one of the science APs until next year.
OP, you should think about whether you have a plan for continuing in math. If you have a plan, great, but if you don’t have many options, then I wouldn’t rule out putting off the BC until next year. Yes, you would have to review some AB material but I think students generally benefit more than they expect from going over material again. My kid has said that she was asked for help with some BC calculus by friends a year or two after she had completed it and she had to read over the material in the book to help them but she said she felt she understood it a lot better looking back over it than she did when she took the course.
With the block schedule, you should be fine with the AB fall semester /BC spring semester. AP Physics, Honors Chem and APES all in the same year sounds like an awful lot of science, and five APs in your sophomore year seems over the top. Are there any electives you can take?
And if it’s too late to change, why are you posting? You should save yourself the grief.
My school also does block, so I understand. If you are able to drop a class, I would maybe consider physics. It was a new class at my school as well, and the teacher… I didn’t learn much in that class. Then again, it seems as though you like & are good at math. (If you do drop a class, I wouldn’t take an art class because they can be more time consuming than an AP.)
My biggest piece of advice is to not lower your standards. Kids all around you might be talking about how they aced this test without studying or how they totally BSed that timed essay- don’t be tempted to take shortcuts. Keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s so hard to stop procrastinating once you’ve made it a habit.
Also, pick 1-3 ECs to focus on. It’s more about depth, not number, and you don’t want to stretch yourself too thin. Maybe try some summer prep to save yourself some time during the year? Just be careful with your schedule- burn out tends to hit around May, just in time for AP exams. Good luck!!
Honors chemistry and apes together would be fine, or apes and physics 1, but it’s the combination that has me worried. It seems over ambitious even for a mathematically gifted student.
However if OP can’t change his/her schedule now, s/he should ask what options exist for ‘dropping down’. Unlikely for calculus, and the AB->BC sequence makes sense, but is it possible to 'drop down a level’for physics or history? This way, if there’s a problem with your schedule , you have a solution.
Finally, I second the question about your options after you completed bc - doe your school offer further math, or would allow you to take classes at a community college?
@MYOS1634 I am planning on seeing if I can maybe take normal Physics instead of AP, or maybe whatever elective class is available. I’ll definitely take AP Physics at some point in high school, but I want to see how the teacher and the class is first before taking it. And yes, I will be able to take AP Stats junior year, and then Calculus III at a community college senior year (and that year, I’ll only be taking 7 classes, not 8, to make space/time for that class).
Also, I understand that taking physics, chem, and APES seems like a lot, but I will be taking Honors Chem 1st semester, and APEs 2nd semester (as Chem is a prereq for APES), so they won’t be taken at the same time.
@“Liesel Anne” thanks for all the tips. It’s true, it’s really easy to be tempted into taking shortcuts and not studying/preparing well, but I’ll try to keep on working hard.
If the physics teacher is any good, I wouldn’t be afraid of AP physics. I’m assuming it is physics1 which will have some overlap with the calculus you are doing. FWIW, my daughter completed BC in her sophomore year and didn’t get to physics until junior year. She said it would have been better to take physics together with calculus, which was also my opinion and experience. She found the non-calculus based physics to be very easy with her calculus background.
@mathyone I’ll look into not dropping AP Physics if it works well with AP Calc. I’m pretty sure the physics teacher is ok, but that’s just for regular phsyics which was the only kind of physics offered previously, not for AP. It might be difficult for the teacher to make that transition, which is why I’m worried for this class.
@mathyone Also, a quick follow-up question: Would you say that AP physics 1 is mostly math, and that’s why it correlates with Calc? In other words, will my math background help me extensively, or is math only a small part of completely understanding physics?
@Mathophile26, from what I have read, AP Physics 1 is more conceptual and less plug and chug, meaning you won’t have to memorize a billion equations and likely will have less math.
You could do AP calculus ab + AP physics one term, and bc+apes one term, take honors history ?
Thanks for your response, @IrrationalPepsi.
@MYOS1634, that’s kind of how my schedule will be:
1st Term (the classes I know for sure):
AP Calc AB
AP World/Honors English Integrated
Honors Chem
2nd Term (what I know for sure):
AP Calc BC
AP World/Honors English Integrated
APES
Spanish 2 and AP Physics 1 can be either term, so I’m not sure where those will go. Also, Honors History isn’t an option at my school, so I would probably have to take AP World…
Perhaps Spanish first semester and physics second, so that you’re closer to themay AP exam?
Yes, I’ll definitely try to get AP Physics second term.
How far are you planning to go in Spanish?
I’m wondering if it might night not make more sense to take Spanish 2 in the fall and Spanish 3 in the spring (instead of APES)? That would allow you to progress further in the language, without a full year gap between the fall of one year and the spring of the next. You could always take APES in your junior or senior year.
@LoveTheBard, I’ll consider that. I am planning on going all the way to either Spanish 4 or AP Spanish (depending on whether I can handle AP), so doubling up would be a good idea. I’ll see if I can change my schedule - maybe Spanish 3 will be available next year.
@LoveTheBard I just checked and my school seems to have limited spots available in Spanish 3. If I can get into that class, I definitely will. I’ll have to wait until we get our schedules in early August, though, because we can’t request class changes over the summer.
My kids haven’t taken AP physics 1, but 1 and 2 have replaced AP physics B as the non-calculus based AP physics. My daughter, who took AP Physics B after completing BC, said that there was some overlap and she felt that calculus was a little harder for her because she was the only student in the calculus class who wasn’t also taking physics. I think the overlap is largely in mechanics–motion problems that sort of thing. I also took physics for the first time after completing BC calculus and felt the presentation of some of the mechanics was rather strained to avoid using calculus, and that the problems were really quite simple if you already had calculus. There is definitely more to physics than just math and the math in an algebra-based physics class isn’t going to be hard, but advanced math students tend to find physics easier than most students do. My daughter thought the physics B material was really quite routine plug and chug (and far less difficult than the Physics C problems) and wished she had not been required to take honors physics prior to it. (Physics 1 and 2 has replaced the honors physics AP physics B sequence that many high schools were using). I don’t know whether the Physics 1 material is significantly more difficult than Physics B was, but I rather doubt it. Pedagogically, I do think it makes a lot of sense to take physics concurrently with calculus.
I do suspect the reason for the poor results on the AP physics 1 exam might have something to do with the fact that many schools, including ours, have done away with the honors physics class, and so students who would not have taken any AP physics in hs are now being forced into AP physics1. From the college board: “AP Physics 1 was a new AP course and exam this year, with nearly double the number of students who took AP Physics B last year.”