<p>My senior year I will be taking 5 AP courses: AP Lit, AP Econ&Gov, AP Stats, AP Environ Science, and AP French, along with my electives Psychology and Journalism (maybe). Is it worth it to take that many AP's my senior year? I've heard that it's better to take 2 or 3 at the most and just concentrate on maintaining straight A's. However, I also heard that a rigorous courseload your senior year looks really good on college apps. It's not that I can't handle the AP's, I've taken pretty much every AP offered for my soph and junior year. Should I risk the few B's I might get from taking that many hard courses, or switch to regular CP classes with only 2 or 3 AP's (better chance of getting straight A's senior yr). And if I do get rid of some AP courses, which ones? If it helps, I'm planning to major in either marketing/business or communications/ media (still haven't made up my mind). I know I'll definitely be taking AP French because I really love learning the language.</p>
<p>I once went to a seminar hosted by Columbia University. The rep there said that it’s better to get a B in an AP course than an A in a non-AP course.</p>
<p>On another note, the difficulty of your courseload really depends on your teachers. My AP Gov teacher was a joke, but another AP Gov teacher that my friends had was very work-intensive and difficult.</p>
<p>I took AP Environmental Science on FLVS. The material is easy and a lot of it is common sense. The FLVS course was very work-intensive, though. A lot of dumb busywork.</p>
<p>My AP Lit teacher didn’t kill us with essays, thankfully, but others with a different teacher may not be so lucky.</p>
<p>I took AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics online via FLVS as well. Very poorly structured, but the material isn’t difficult.</p>
<p>AP Statistics will be a lot of math.</p>
<p>AP French can be difficult, depending on your finesse in language and your teacher.</p>
<p>Another perk of taking lots of AP is that if you pass, you can get TONS of college credit. You know what that means - less money to spend and less time being wasted on bs general education classes.</p>
<p>Why not take AP Psychology? It’s a really fun and interesting class. At my school, it is reserved for seniors only because it is so popular.</p>
<p>Thanks tryandsucceed! I’ve decided to stick with the rigorous courseload. I think I’ll be able to get A’s in AP Lit because I’ve heard we don’t write nearly as many essays as we had to in AP Lang (which was A LOT). I also think I can get A’s in AP Gov because there’s no DBQs, there wasn’t even a summer assignment, and I’m already familiar with the teacher and he assured me that his class isn’t as hard as APUSH (which I loved and got A’s in). As for AP Stats, this is the first AP math class I’m taking and I heard it’s mostly projects. I’ve never been that great at math, but I’m willing to take it anyway and try my hardest to get A’s. AP Environ is a new AP course at my school and is supposed to be the “easier” AP science compared to bio, physics, or chem. My French 3 class junior yr was shared with AP French since AP French only had like 5 students. So I actually had the advantage of seeing firsthand how hard the class is and what their assignments were and everything. Although it did seem hard, I feel like I could definitely handle and enjoy it. I would take AP Pyschology but it’s not offered in my school!</p>
<p>@newyorkcitylivin:</p>
<p>I’m happy to help a fellow student! You remind me of myself in high school. I will tell you a story.</p>
<p>The second semester of my sophomore year, I was picking classes for my junior year. I picked AP Language & Comp, AP U.S. History, AP Physics, and AP Calculus AB. I also took Spanish IV Honors, as well as two publication staff classes for my major (communications) because I held editor positions on both: yearbook and newsmagazine. That summer before I was a junior, I took 3 APs on FLVS: Envi Sci, Macro, and Micro. I would have finished if I had kept up an incredibly busy workload. I, however, wanted to relax a little since I knew junior year was going to be tough. So I didn’t finish the APs that summer. Bad decision.</p>
<p>Can I tell you what a bad idea it is to be taking 4 APs in school with a foreign language, being editors for two publications, taking 3 APs on FLVS, and trying to attend swim practice at the same time? Holy crap, worst high school experience of my life. I do blame myself for not finishing the 3 FLVS APs over the summer; I think I would have been able to handle my junior course load otherwise. My school had just replaced the AP Physics teacher with a mumbling, disorganized chemistry teacher because the original AP Physics teacher had gotten pregnant and was on leave. The AP Calculus AB teacher was extremely difficult. Gave the hardest tests you could imagine. APUSH was just a heavy workload, and writing so much in AP Lang & Comp sucked. And of course between the work-intensive bs busywork of the 3 FLVS APs, two publication staffs, Spanish, and swimming, I was a sinking ship.</p>
<p>I ended up dropping out of AP Physics and AP Calculus AB, and withdrawing from AP Microeconomics. I also only took one semester of AP Envi Sci, but still passed the exam in May. I resumed AP Micro my senior year.</p>
<p>But my point is that too much of something can hurt you if you are not appropriately prepared. I had taken many APs beforehand, and thought I could handle it. Unfortunately, I made some bad decisions and drowned in too much work. I think that first semester of my junior year changed me, in a way. I felt different inside from that point on. I relaxed a little, maybe because being a workaholic sucked and I grew a little fatigued of school.</p>
<p>Just be careful of how much you have to do besides your AP classes, newyorkcitylivin. It will be a lot of work, but it isn’t impossible if you apply yourself and plan appropriately.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that senior year becomes very busy with the college admissions process. My fellow classmates and I were very surprised to learn that senior year just may be more difficult and busy than the notorious junior year. Do not discredit senioritis: it is real.</p>
<p>On another note…</p>
<p>I assume you live in NY? Any idea what you want to major in for college? Any idea what universities you’d like to attend? Any plans for graduate school?</p>
<p>tryandsucceed:</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your story! That’s what I’m afraid of, not being able to handle it all. However, senior year is my last year so I feel like I NEED to resume a heavy courseload through the end. Only one year left, might as well give it my all! Your junior year seemed extremely tough though, I definitely wouldn’t be able to handle that. The only AP’s I took that year were AP Lang, APUSH, and AP Studio Art. No math AP’s were offered for that year, and the only AP science offered that year was AP Bio, which was considered the hardest course at my school at the time. Thankfully, I was able to manage junior year quite easier than I thought (have a huge upward trend in grades since freshman year, too). I never really thought about college or anything until the end of sophomore year. I didn’t even know about SAT’s until early junior year. I see people on here who have plans for college and they’re only freshmen. It makes me want to go back and do stuff much differently because I messed up freshman and soph year. Those were obviously the easiest years too, so it frustrates me to know I could’ve easily gotten a better GPA if I didn’t slack off. My current GPA is 3.68 UW and 4.04 W. At the end of soph year I was like in the top 30%, but I’m now in the top 9%, so hopefully colleges note that upward trend! </p>
<p>I’m also torn between picking a major for college. I was set on communications/media for awhile now, but realized I showed no interest/experience in that. I was never in Journalism (idk if being in it senior year will even help) or Yearbook or any internships. My mom also said it’s hard to have a good communications/media career unless I have connections. So now I’m thinking about majoring in marketing/business.</p>
<p>And yeah I have a feeling senior year will definitely be harder than junior year. 3 AP’s, Track and Field, Mock Trial, and a few other various clubs made up my junior yr. But senior yr will be 5 AP’s, Cross Country, Track and Field, Mock Trial, the few various clubs, as well as retaking SAT and taking ACT for the first time, college apps, and I am also trying to find a job. I’m pretty much going to be stressed to the max until college admission letters come out, after that the senioritis will definitely kick in. </p>
<p>I actually don’t live in NY, I wish haha. I live in California. My parents want me to mainly look at UC’s, my top one being UCSB. The list of schools I’ve compiled so far are UCSB, UCI, UCR, UCD, SDSU, CSULB, and Pepperdine (maybe). As for out of state, I was in love with the idea of going to NYU and living in the city (thus my username), however that school doesn’t seem reachable anymore, so I’m really interested in Syracuse. Plus, SU has a great communications department. It’s a private school though, so I’m afraid my parents won’t be able to afford tuition and everything. Penn State is another school I’m interested in. </p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, what college do you attend?</p>
<p>I’m concerned my son might be overloaded too, though he has no sports and minimal extracurriculars. </p>
<p>Computer Science AP - never taken a computer class before, wants to explore and see if interested in subject
Statistics AP-had a 5 on AP calc last year so wants to try something different<br>
Physics C Mechanical AP-
U.S. Government AP- had an 4 on AP US history last year
Literature & Composition AP- had an 5 on AP composition last year</p>
<p>He had 3 AP classes last year and is a strong test taker, but gets stressed over homework. I think the first part of year is going to be tough too because he still has to work on college essays. He’s considering engineering or business.</p>
<p>What do you drop? How much can A’s really matter anyway when college applications are sent beginning November 1?
SAT 720 math, 730 Reading</p>
<p>flmama, I think he should go for it and take all those AP’s. I didn’t drop any AP’s for senior year and just got my schedule - 2 AP’s fall term and 3 AP’s spring term. I do both cross country (fall) and track and field (spring) as well as being heavily involved in various clubs so hopefully I can handle it all! And you’re right, A’s won’t matter too much especially during spring semester as long as you can at least maintain a B average. As for college essays, now would be a great time to start!</p>
<p>I’m taking 5 AP classes this year and it should really help with college work and preparing myself.</p>
<p>I’m taking 7. Suuuuicidal.</p>