<p>I haven't talked to D about it, but it dawns on me that the courses available (logically) for her to take in sr. year are all APs, except for orchestra. She has an option of taking 5 APs + Orchestra or 6 APs + Orchestra. </p>
<p>5 AP path: AP Eng., AP Stat, AP Env Sci (required), AP Gov, AP Japanese (No physics in HS career)</p>
<p>6 AP path: Same above + AP Physics C</p>
<p>She could take honors physics in the second option but it will be a let down for her since she took AP Chem in 10th grade and AP Bio this year. Another possibility is to downgrade AP English to an honor course in either option. Considering the college application process, among other things, I think 5 APs or 6 APs is overkilled. On the other hand, AP English is such an important course to skip! How did your sr. students handle it? Thanks!</p>
<p>My d is signed up for 5 AP’s plus chorus/art and one regents class for Sr. year. I agree with you hillbillie, I think it is too much work given the college apps etc., but I can’t convince her to drop down a level in her one course (Economics). At this point in time I think I need to let her make this decision on her own. The following year I will have absolutely NO input into her course selection, so I need to trust that she knows what she can handle, and if it is too much that she will change it.</p>
<p>At D’s HS, AP Sciences are 2 credits each, right now (she’s a senior) she’s taking AP Eng, AP Gov, AP Physics, AP Chem and Multivariable Calculus. It’s equaled her courseload from last year which we thought was rough but she’s handling it fine and even though the app process was long hours and reduced sleep and some weeks when the coursework gets heavy it’s many late nights but I think it’s a great college prep for her in terms of knowing her limits and making it work She wants to go into engineering so I think it will help since she sees how much harder she is working for some things. She has classmates taking slightly reduced loads who are breezing through everything but these are the types of kids who have always been able to breeze by and I imagine they’ll get a different reality check once they hit college.</p>
<p>If she’s up for the challenge, and realizes it will be a challenge, let her go for it I think it can be a chance to stretch yourself while you do still have the safety net of home.</p>
<p>I know there are kids out there taking this many AP’s but it seems like a heavy load. There is so much stress during senior yr. I think they need to leave themselves a little time for fun and doing EC’s so they don’t feel totally burned out with a burdensome academic load. </p>
<p>Is your D the kind who stresses a lot or breezes through?</p>
<p>S1 took 7 AP’s total…3 in his senior yr. After taking AP Eng. junior year, he opted for Honors Eng. senior year because the teacher who was widely known to be the best Eng. teacher in the school taught Honors, not AP. He also took a couple of electives that were not even honors (gasp!) just because he had always wanted to take them and really liked the teachers. It didn’t hurt him a bit. Still graduated in the top ten in his class,got a full-ride to college and really enjoyed his senior yr.
S1 was one of those “breeze through it” kids. It didn’t hurt him in college, graduated last May (magna cum laude).</p>
<p>Every kid is different. What is perfect for some is heavy for others. If 5 AP’s is truly what she wants then it’s her decison.</p>
<p>I guess I’d leave it up to her. Junior year is the heavy one at ds’s school. He had six APs, including BC Cal double-blocked with more math, and it was difficult. This year, he had six in the fall (much easier classes) and four in the spring. This spring has been a cakewalk compared to last year.</p>
<p>One thing that helped him this year is that he was applying for a major scholarship that required working early on apps. He had a couple of essays basically done by the time school started. Maybe she can work on some of this over the summer so that the fall isn’t so harried?</p>
<p>It all depends on your school, but AP Statistics, AP Environmental Science, and AP Government are not particularly difficult AP classes. They may be more demanding at your school, but in general, they have nothing on the rigor of a well-taught AP English class or any type of AP science class. For someone who is consistently working on the AP level, AP Stats, AP EnviSci, and AP Gov would be like “regular” classes.</p>
<p>AP work load varies a lot from school to school, so you may want to ask the question of current parents of seniors at your daughter’s school–or guidance. My daughter took five APs last year at a prep school that requires special permission to take more than three. It was not pretty. She looked at her English teacher early in the year and told her that she could drive herself crazy trying to earn an A or do very little and get a B and that she was shooting for the B (a first for DD). My daughter also said that if she had to do it over again she would take a fun English elective rather than the AP because she did not get any college credit for it. Her university gives six credits for a five on either AP English but not both. It will not be easy convincing your daughter to take the lower level classes, unless there is an elective that she would really like to take.</p>
<p>I agree with applicannot about the difficulty of the AP classes selected, but I did not want to make that post. Difficulty does vary so much.</p>
<p>I agree that she needs to take physics. Most competitive colleges want to see the “holy trinity” of biology, chemistry, physics. What does she need AP Government for? I would sub in physics for that.</p>
<p>It really depends on the kid and on how the course is taught at the school. Mine took AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc BC (there was no separate AB), AP Spanish, AP French Lit, and the school’s AP English equivalent course senior year, and also was a 3-season athlete and pursued a fairly demanding music EC. He didn’t have a problem, and got 5s on most of the exams. </p>
<p>I agree that physics is very desirable for general educational reasons as well as for elite admissions.</p>
<p>“Easy” APs are those that are taught over a full high school year but represent one semester’s worth of college work.</p>
<p>“Hard” APs are those that are taught over a full high school year but represent one semester’s worth of college work.</p>
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<p>Assuming that all the APs you mention are taught over a full academic year, I don’t think the first schedule is too demanding because AP Stat, AP Environmental Science, and AP Gov (assuming you mean American Government only, not American plus Comparative taught in one year) are all “easy” APs that are equivalent to a single semester of college work. Moreover, someone who has taken AP Bio and AP Chem will find a great deal of repetition in AP Environmental Science.</p>
<p>Unless the workload in AP Japanese is overwhelming (something I know nothing about), I think that the first path is fine, but I would urge the student to take high school physics in addition, if AP Physics C is not taken. A high school curriculum isn’t really complete without physics, but it need not be at the AP level, especially if the student has no interest in physics.</p>
<p>I agree that physics is important to have, but wouldn’t take it at the AP level. There’s enough rigor there! Why is Enviro Sci required?? That’s bizarre. Don’t drop AP English, unless it’s for a better teacher.</p>
<p>Has your child studied Japanese before? Is it spoken in your home? AP Japanese can be tough. If your child needs that year of a foreign language in order to graduate, then may be worth pursuing. If not…you may wish to replace the AP Japanese for AP Physics. And, the AP Stats–has your child completed AP Cal BC? If they haven’t, they may want to take that AP class instead.</p>
<p>With the exception of AP Japanese and Physics C, all of those APs are rather easy APs (if that’s English language, not lit). They are all only 1 semester of college work, and probably wouldn’t even be a particularly hard semester. Infact, in my high school AP gov was only 1 semester. If she’s handled AP Bio, that class alone is probably the same amount of work as all of AP Environ Sci, Stats, and Gov combined.</p>
<p>If she hasn’t taken AP Calc, she shouldn’t be taking AP Physics C. Personally, I think a general physics course should be taken before Physics C in any event. It will give you a better overview of the subject. </p>
<p>Neither of my kids took AP English as seniors - in fact they didn’t take honors English as seniors either (though they’d taken honors English the other years). According to them the teacher of honors English made it even more demanding than the AP course. Instead they took English electives and enjoyed them thoroughly. Older son got into Harvard and Carnegie Mellon. Younger son got into Chicago EA, the American University honors program (with a big merit award) and is waiting to hear from the rest. </p>
<p>My kids both found AP Bio time consuming but not difficult. My younger son is finding AP Physics C (having already had a physics course) quite challenging. He’s working hard for a B. (Older son thought all physics was a breeze.)</p>
<p>has she already taken Japanese 4? My daughters HS does not offer Japanese 4, she went straight from Japanese 3 to AP Japanese, and has found it a killer.</p>
<p>I am in total agreement that every student should be exposed to Physics. It was the one requirement I had of my daughter during high school. I used to always say that ‘everything has to do with physics’ - driving, taking that basketball shot, etc. Halfway through honors physics now (no AP physics in our school district) and she agrees wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I’ll try to respond to all in this one message.</p>
<p>D is done with Spanish this year, having completed both AP Spanish Lang and AP Spanish Lit. She doesn’t have to take AP Japanese but it’s her passion. No idea why, since she’s a math and science kid and the only Japanese word we speak at home is sushi :)</p>
<p>I doubt the value of AP Stat, but it is the only math course left for her and she has to take it. She’ll have AP Calc BC and Multivariate Calc done but, by school requirement, students have to have a math course every year. Another weird requirement along with AP Env. Science!</p>
<p>I agree with everyone about physics. We’ll think it over.</p>
<p>Another over-achiever. You sure she doesn’t already have an account here?</p>
<p>If she’s finished Calc 1-3, that should make Physics C significantly easier than it would otherwise be (if for instance she were taking it at the same time as BC). Especially if she’s a math and science person, she should be able to handle Physics C without a problem, and if it were I would tell her to drop English down to Honors or Regular or whatever instead of skipping Physics C.</p>
<p>As long as it’s not a ridicuous load, it should be up to the student whether to take the 6th AP or not. My kids survived AP Physics and AP Bio with 5-6 other APs in senior year, so it is doable. They wanted to show schools that they had taken the hardest courseload offered. However, I think your daughter won’t be lacking in this requirement. Your school has some great offerings!</p>
<p>AP Physics is tough without taking the Intro Physics course. My oldest son’s first girlfriend was the only one allowed to do this at our HS - and she got the only B of her HS career. On the other hand, she did pair up with a very nice tutor (my son!) and went to MIT, so it worked out well for her. </p>
<p>If your daughter does opt for the harder courseload, make it your mission to get her organized about college applications. She can do a lot over the summer, but she will need time. If she has many EC’s in summer and fall, a lighter courseload may be the only way she won’t stress out completely. Sometimes it’s the high-achieving kids who have always done their best who hit the wall in senior year - you won’t know until it happens.</p>