Are you looking to pursue studies in the health/medical area? Or engineering? The big difference is in the social studies class. Why are you considering the honors option instead of AP?
While I agree with @halcyonheather on the relative (perceived) rigor, I don’t think that means you necessarily need to take those two. Lots of kids never take AP Bio, yet get into great schools and never take another bio class. But if a kid writes in her application essay that curing Parkinson’s is her life long dream, skipping AP Bio seems like an unwise choice.
My Ds heard APUSH was lots of work too. The reality is- if taught correctly- it’s lots of writing and that is the best preparation for college of all. Our HS had grads return after their first semesters to praise the long writing assignments from that class.
I’m not a fan of Psych. If you are determined to take it either in high school or college it seems way less expensive to do it in high school. Can you wait until senior year?
If IT is of interest you should take that Engineering class. So your #2 option is the one I’d pick but consider substituting for Psych.
@Oregon2016 thank you for your response!
for AP Psychology, I could definitely fit that into my senior year schedule. I might consider substituting AP Psychology with AP Environmental instead.
I have heard AP Environmental overlaps a lot with the AP Biology content, so that can help a lot with the class.
I only have two elective slots (excluding my Language), one of which has to be Human Anatomy (which is mandatory to take for AP Biology), and the last slot is either STEM Engineering or AP Psych/Environmental.
I am leaning towards only taking 3 AP’s junior year, so if I choose the STEM option, I would choose APUSH to make it 3.
If I choose the AP Psych/APES option, I would choose US History HN since it already makes it 3 APS.
I would like to go towards the technological / business field (specifically : Information Technology). So APUSH would not really benefit me in terms of my future studies, but it would help fulfill my GE requirement @bopper
It’s really up to you! Whatever cradles your interests the most is probably the best option for you. These courses are going to impact your major in college (most likely) so its best to take the classes that you are most interested in. You’re going to be spending a lot of time in those subjects. Kudos on thinking ahead!