<p>I am a sophomore right now, and I am planning to take 5 AP courses:
AP Calculus AB (in school)
AP Biology (self-study)
AP Macroeconomics (self-study)
AP Environmental Science (self-study)
AP Psychology (self-study)
Is this too much? I want to take as many as possible when I still have the time, since I will be super busy with SATs and more APs next year. And also, I have to self-study most of my AP courses because my school is super small and barely has any AP classes.
Also, I was talking to my junior friend, and when I mentioned that I was taking 5 APs, she said that taking APs were a waste of time and money, and so I shouldn't take so many. Is she right? Should I take out a few APs? Maybe Macroecon? (Would it be better to take Macro while taking Micro, too?)
Thank you~</p>
<p>Plenty of people take 6, especially here. Will you be able to motivate yourself to complete all of those exams?</p>
<p>Yes! I am a very devoted student who gets all As, and tries super hard in everything! </p>
<p>That’s a lot of AP’s for a sophomore. I suggest Human Geo instead of AP Bio. There’s no way you can self study bio and all of these. Also remember colleges offer CLEP exam credit for econ, so you can always take those exams later, even if you’re in college.</p>
<p>Otherwise you are fine, I’m self studying the same APs as you: Psych, Enviro, HG, and Lit.</p>
<p>what if I already took Biology 1 and Biology 2? They are not the actual AP class, but not exactly an honors class either. It’s just like one whole textbook used over 2 years</p>
<p>Let’s look at the little question first. You’ve had all year and at this point you have 10 weeks left for 4 classes. Do you feel you have the time and self-motivation to get through 4 self-study APs when you haven’t even gotten started yet? Since you’re in AB calculus you have some basis for comparison. Imagine you weren’t taking it, but if you think about focusing all your effort on that material for 2.5 weeks, would you be comfortable with it? True, some of those classes are easier than AB, but you are still taking about some serious cramming here.</p>
<p>OK, now the bigger picture. What are your actual interests? Are these AP classes supporting them, or do you just feel a need to rack up a list of AP scores? (In case it matters to you, our school <em>does</em> offer a lot of APs and I don’t know of any sophomore who took as many as 5 AP classes. Actually, my daughter took 2, and I think that was the most in her class). Are you aware that colleges will look at what your school offers and if it doesn’t have many AP’s they won’t expect you to take many? How do you think you will fare in college if you place out of something you spent 2.5 weeks cramming several years ago?</p>
<p>My suggestion: if you’re actually interested in biology and you already had two years of it and your school doesn’t offer an AP class, then make the most of the non-AP coursework you’ve already had and focus on that one. Forget about the rest. Bio is one of the harder ones, so if you look it over and decide you aren’t as well prepared as you thought you were, then maybe pick a different one. </p>
<p>^ try to avoid self studying APs that you’ll be majoring in college, unless you have very good mastery of the topic. It sounds like your Biology is advanced enough (you may find Bio easier than say econ which you have no exposure) so take it. But like I said, if you take Ap Bio, you won’t have time to adequately prep for the others. You have to narrow it down a little.</p>