I will be taking seven AP classes this coming year. For those of you who have taken these classes, can you tell me about your experience with them and how much homework you got?
AP Calculus AB
AP European History
AP Environmental Science
AP gov/macroeconomics
AP Spanish
AP Art History
AP Psychology (online)
For AP psych, i have a free period to work on the class.
yikes…
well at my school environmental science is “easy compared to others”
I’ve taken euro, and it is VERY homework heavy, at least for my school. regarded as the class with most homework
for ap spanish you have to pretty good at the language and it will be fine
psychology was a breeze, and the ap exam was pretty easy
but why so many ap classes??
A lot of it is because i like the subject (e.g ap art history, ap psychology), requirements for the program i am in (e.g ap euro), and because it is the class that follows (e.g cal, enviro)
Calc AB: easy probably. Took bc and got an a in the class no problem.
Euro: heard there is a lot of essay writing at my school atleast
Enviro: one of the easiest ap tests I’ve heard
Ap gov: easy
Ap Psych: super easy. Just memorize vocab and basic concepts.
You will be fine but you might hate your life at some point. I took 5 and got straight a’s but when it came to the ap tests I did horrible on some and even blew off one. Just make sure you are mentally and emotionally stable. I was super depressed all year and just crammed to get by on tests. Bottom line: the classes are not the hard part. It is the ap tests and your sanity. 
Are you familiar with AP econ and Ap Physics 1? I’m thinking about taking them along with AP psych. Will the combination be overwhelming?
totally agree with bluecatch,
cramming for the ap tests and feeling bad because you know you did bad is definitely the worst part
getting an a should be feasible
Oh ok. I think I’ll be fine in terms of cramming as i dont have any other obligations besides school. What worries me is my grades.
In response to neem 9797, i cant say as i haven’t taken those classes. However, i do think it depends on your other classes and your interest in the subject. If you have a bunch of other ap classes, then it might be overwhelming. However, if not, I think it would be manageable.
What do you mean by “any other obligation beside school”? Don’t you have ECs where you’re a leader?
Keep in mind that top colleges only want 4-8 APs TOTAL, so 7 in a year is definitely overkill.
What’s your grade in Precalc Honors?
Will you be a junior or a senior?
How many APs did you take this year, and which ones?
I’d choose between AP Euro AND AP Gov/Macro and not take both, and I’d drop APES (or check the drop policy at your school so that you can drop APES without penalty if/when you realize 7 AP classes a year is just insane.)
I do have ecs but i meant i dont have obligations in terms of work, etc. i cant drop apes because i have no other science classes to take. I cant drop Ap Euro because its a requirement for the program i am in. If anything, ill drop ap us gov/macro.
SURPRISE: Ill be a sophmore (ikr).
*the reason why i chose so many ap classes is because i am the best of my class (i dont mean to sound arrogant, but i know you might think i have a mental illness if i decide to take 7 AP class and am a mediocre student). I dedicate ALL of my time to school (this year i took like 8 online classes with my free time). I took one AP (AP world history). I think i am finally coming to my senses. Ill drop ap us gov/macro or just take it online. Ill do my best to have free periods or just take some online.
Rather than spending all your time on classes, find a research project and get involved in it. At first you’ll just do scut work but if you show yourself reliable, there’ll be more opportunities to get involved.
What about learning a new foreign language? Take the class at community college if you want something fast-paced - you’ll cover two years of HS content in 4 months. Taking 4 semesters will take you to AP level, so after 2 years of college language classes you could attempt the AP test.
If you are that advanced that you don’t have other sciences beside APES, look into dual enrollment (also called Running Start, PSEO…) You take 1-2 community college classes in the morning (4 max, per week), High School classes in the afternoon + clubs/activities to continue with leadership (a 15 or 16 year old can’t be club leaders in a college wher emost people are 20-23, 
but colleges still expect leadership and commitment, so you have to balance HS and college.)
Taking 7 AP classes makes no sense. It’s cool you love to learn, but it sounds like your HS doesn’t meet your needs, so go talk to your GC and see if you can be dual enrolled at a CC, starting this summer (2 classes tops per summer session, and DO include other activities, from knitting to posting on your youtube vlog to playing beach volleyball because “I studied” is NOT an acceptable answer to the “what did you do the last 2 summers” that some highly selective colleges have for prompt.)
Lots of people have told me about dual enrollment. The thing about dual enrollment is that the schools im looking into (e.g harvard) dont accept dual enrollment. But as for sitting for ap tests, i will consider that. I will look into the research project thing. As for summer, I’ll definitely do other things. Your advice has been extremely helpful. As for APES, the other options are AP chem, ap physics, and ap bio. I plan on leaving those till later.
From personal experience that was a very bad choice and I was extremely overworked- all of those classes go fast and expect at least a couple hours of outside work. Maybe cut down a couple!
Dual Enrollment isn’t for credit purpose, it’s for admission purpose: you show initiative, intellectual curiosity, and ability. Since these classes go much faster, they show you can handle college paced classes. Finally, the best predictor of college success is (surprise!!) success in college classes. And since this matters a lot to most colleges… Dual Enrollment and AP are the way to go for you.
BTW, it’s the same for AP and DE: highly selective colleges don’t grant credit for them and only use them to see if you challenged yourself academically. AP is the basic standard PRE Harvard, so first year classes are above that level.
In addition, exhausting HS classes and NOT looking for more challenges will look bad so definitely start thinking about it.
Make sure you have 4 years each of English, Math, Foreign Language, History/Social Science, Science + “fun” classes that give you a profile or make you stand out.
*= sequential subjects where highest level reached counts for “years”, so that if you reach Calculus or AP Language before senior year you’re still considered to have reached the correct number of years. However, for highly selective colleges, students are expected to look for classes at a higher level, typically in a university setting (CC or 4-year), especially if they exhausted their HS classes junior or sophomore year.
Note that admission to any Top 25 National University or LAC requires significant awards (ie., preferably national or international -level) and research would really help. Since you’re good with classes, focus on that.
Well, as @MYOS1634 said, you need to worry about getting in first. FWIW, Harvard does not grant AP credit unless you accept Advanced Standing, which few students do. Harvard also give no AP credit, even with Advanced Standing for APES or Gov’t, so unless you have a love for those subjects, I fail to see the value-added in taking them.
This is going to guide me for the rest of high school. Thank you so much!
Couple of questions:
Does Harvard exempt you from introductory classes if you took an AP class?
What are the pros and cons of advanced standing?
Where do you rank AP Art History in terms of difficulty?
Where do other Ivy League schools stand in terms of AP policies?
It depends. If the class is not in your major (called a concentration at Harvard), usually yes. If the class is in your major, they will sometimes have an honors course available. So as an example, physics majors with a 5 on both parts of the AP Physics C exam will still generally take Physics 15a/15b or 16/15b at Harvard.
Honestly, if you manage to be among the select few that get in, why would you want to rush out? If you get accepted, I’ll give you my pros and cons. I, however, have no intention of leaving before 4 years.
That’s personal to each student. For me, it was a piece of cake. However, if you don’t know Monet from Manet, you will have a tough hill to climb.
Easily found through google. Dartmouth gives no credit. The others give credit for some tests with various restrictions.
As I said above, Harvard considers AP classes or Dual Enrollment classes “par for the course”, ie., the norm, the basic high school preparation for college. Their introductory classes are ABOVE AP level, so you don’t get credit. All students are expected to have 4-8 APs or the equivalent in Dual Enrollment. There may be some exceptions for Calc BC (skips one level of Calculus, typically), Physics C, and AP Foreign Language (helps with placement). Most Top 25 universities/LACs have the same policy.
In addition, some graduate schools, most especially med schools, don’t accept AP credit as a substitute for their entrance requirements and want you to take 2 semesters of English even if you have AP Lang, so you’d skip one freshman class and take an upper-level one.
Public universities where AP classes really represent the equivalent of their first-year classes are more generous with AP credit because only a small percentage of their students have those and thus AP level can’t be taken for granted as a pre-requisite.
No one who gets into Harvard (except for true prodigies who completed Calc BC in the 7th grade - no, this is not an exageration) takes “advanced standing” because college is not all about great classes - in part, it is, but mostly it’s about everything else: your peers, networking, growing, being inspired to become something more, taking risks, seeing the world differently; at top 25 universities and LACs, it comes from being surrounded who’ve been chosen, not because they’re the best from their high school or in their region, but the best in the country (and, for internationals, in the world) and having all the resources you care to take advantage of. You need all 4 years to be competitive compared to your classmates, plus, you really don’t want to leave if you’re doing things right.
The only “pro” I can think of is that you pay one less year if you’re full pay, but Harvard has such generous FA policies that if you’re full pay, it means your parents can afford it (not without belt-tightening probably but still, 97% of the American population qualifies for FA at Harvard.) So, compared to the very real downsides, it’d be shortsighted.
There are three categories of AP:
-“core” APs: English Language and English Lit, Foreign Language, Calculus (AB or BC, no difference for admissions), AP History (any of the three, no difference for admissions), AP Physics, Chemistry, Biology. Those typically require 45mn-1h of homework a day.
- Core electives: Gov, Econ, CS, Art History, Music Theory…
- Ap “lite”: those are good completement courses, or courses to ease you into the rigor of AP classes: Psych, Environmental Science, Human Geography, and Statistics.
All AP classes except for BC and Physics C cover roughly 4 months of college material (2h30-3h/week) in 9 to 10 months, 5 class periods. So while the content and rigor are college-level, they’re not college-paced.
Dual-enrollment classes may or may not have the same rigor, but they’re all college-paced. It means you can accelerate, taking the equivalent of 2 high school (year-long) units over the course of one year.