Hey everybody, I’m about to enter my junior year of high school this year. I’m a little intimidated by my AP courses, and how likely I am to pass them in conjunction with my other courses. My AP experience isn’t very broad: I took AP Human Geography as a freshman and passed with a 4 (I didn’t put too much work into that class at all,) and I took AP World History last year, and I’m pretty sure I passed, as I studied my butt off and did fairly well in the class itself. I’ve also been an all-honors student up until this point, passing with A’s and the occasional B (one exception is a C I carried almost all year in Algebra 2 Honors this year. I’ve dropped down to College Prep Pre-Cal for next year so I can assure myself an A… math isn’t my strongpoint.)
I’m really worried that I’ve overloaded myself for this upcoming year. My courses are as follows:
CP Pre-Cal
Chemistry Honors
Astronomy
AP US History
AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP Language and Composition
I’ve been told that psych is a breeze, so I’m not too concerned about that, but I’m concerned about the other three. I decided to take AP Bio because I’ve planned on going the biology route pretty much since the first science class I ever took, and I thoroughly enjoyed biology honors my sophomore year. US History is more of a couse that I took because I’d like to accumulate as many AP credits as I can, and I took AP Lang because I took english 3 honors my sophomore year, and I’d rather step up into the AP curriculum than down into the “average” curriculum.
I’m not in any clubs or after school activities, so grades and testing are really my sole priorities at this time.
Any advice on the classes above would be helpful, specifically the AP courses. Thanks for your help!
I’ve taken Psychology and US History. US History takes a lot of time but Psych is easy, at least at my school
I think you’ll be fine. I’m taking similar courses (Honors Chem, AP English, APUSH, PreCalc) I think when you take more than 2 APs, time management and prioritizing academics is crucial. If you do that, you should be fine and have time to study for tests (SAT, ACT etc)
I think you’ll be just fine! Your courseload seems very doable because most of those aren’t like the really heavy, difficult APs.
As the OP stated, Ap Psych is one of the easier AP classes, also this past year I took AP English Lang and it was a breeze for me. The class teaches you A LOT about writing essays too, which is a very helpful life skill. Overall I think that you should be fine, especially with astronomy in the mix. That class is more or less a slacker class; you will have little to no homework in astronomy. This is a link to my schedule for my Junior year, as I am a rising Junior too: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1783758-too-many-aps-p1.html
Both of my friends from AP Bio said it was memorization heavy; through my personal experience I can say the same with AP Psych and APUSH. Can’t say anything about AP Lang because my school doesn’t offer it.
Psych is literally just memorizing a ton of vocab words, very little thinking or actual psych knowledge is required if you know the vocab well. Also, English Language has basically no vocab or topics to learn. It is all about writing good essays, and doing analysis-based multiple choice tests.
Psych, as you said, is a notoriously easy AP. Biology makes sense for the route you’re going in, and Language I think is one of the most useful - although you’ll likely be writing a LOT of papers.
Because you’re not doing anything after school, I think US History would be a feasible option. However, colleges really like to see kids who are involved outside of the classroom. And in general, I just don’t think it’s healthy to dedicate your life to studying. Joining one couldn’t hurt. I know people who take all AP’s and are involved with sports or theatre, so you very well might be able to do both.
One thing that concerns me is that you say you’re not involved in any after school activities or clubs. Well, colleges want more than just someone who takes a bunch of AP classes; they want well-rounded individuals who do things outside of only academics. Your schedule is doable, but if you sacrifice one AP class to do some regular volunteering or start a club or whatever, it will be more valuable to you.
@dragonfly26 @virsha24 I am working on volunteering at some local shelters and maybe doing an internship or two eventually, so it’s not like i have NOTHING going on. It’s been kind of stressful for me the past two years but I’ve pretty much got the hang of it, so I’m taking on some volunteering opportunities and maybe an internship. Do I NEED to join any clubs? I’m technically a part of Beta Club, but I’m not too involved with it. No other clubs in school really interest me, so I’ve kind of indulged in my hobbies outside of school. Thanks for everything. (:
Sounds like you’re doing alright. Internships are definitely a good idea, but hard to find as a high schooler so I wouldn’t count on anything. It’s up to you, but I think it might be a good idea to either get more involved with Beta or try something new - probably a more relaxed club that isn’t a huge commitment for you. But then again, since you’re doing other hobbies, depending on what those are and how dedicated you are to them, you might be fine as is. It’s ultimately your call.
I forgot you were a junior, so you could consider putting on AP off until next year, if you think you’ll have room in your schedule. Again, the rigor of AP’s varies from school to school, and your own stress tolerance is different than any other student’s. Up to you to decide if you can take it. Your school will typically let you drop one within the first few weeks if you think it’s too much for you.