<p>I would think it would be better to only take the classes that really interest you rather than take so many purely to please college admissions. Taking more than two AP classes a year is too much. Being in straight AP isn't worth it, so why do students take it? Covering that much material in a year solely to pass an exam is preposterous. It would be better to take an actual college course.</p>
<p>Yes, because everyone thinks like you do.</p>
<p>My son overdid it with AP classes. He took 14. This is not necessary.</p>
<p>I would say 5 or 6 is sufficient.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it is better to get an A in regular Calculus than a B or a C in AP Calculus.</p>
<p>I would confine my AP activity to subjects you are good at.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t want to see many B’s and C’s on your transcript, even if they are AP.</p>
<p>Because APs are fun</p>
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<p>Did it ever occur to you that some of those kids took all of their APs because they DID like them all? Yes, believe it or not it is possible to like every AP you take. Or maybe regular classes and even honors were too easy, so they wanted a challenge.</p>
<p>This is probably the wrong place to ask. Most people here are not average students, and can easily manage what you would consider a large amount of AP classes.</p>
<p>I agree with floridadad. My son took withstood a lot of peer pressure and switched from the Honors/AP track to the regular math track after the first semester in 10th grade. He’s great in English and took all the humanities Honors/AP courses offered at our hs. Got into Cal (L&S) without a single AP math or science. Many of his friends with comparable gpa & test scores (some had higher scores in both areas) did not get in. Definitely take what you’re good at and can get an A in.</p>
<p>“I would think it would be better to only take the classes that really interest you”</p>
<p>Because regular classes are oh-so-fascinating. Especially when the teacher writes the answers on the board before the test.
In life, you sometimes have to do things you don’t want to do in order to achieve some desired aim. For some people, taking challenging classes is one of those things. Obviously intelligence varies and some people can handle many AP classes while some can’t handle any. Presumably someone who can survive at a top college should be able to handle more than 2 a year.</p>
<p>Problems with taking actual college classes:
- They might not be weighted. Class rank goes down.
- Inconvenient to drive to school, then to the college, then back, etc.
- Not worth as many high school credits. Where I go to school you have to take two college classes to get one credit because the college classes are fewer hours than the high school classes and credit is determined by hours alone.
- Don’t look as good to colleges because they aren’t standardized.</p>
<p>“I would think it would be better to only take the classes that really interest you”
Well if it was up to me I would be taking all electives. But I want a future. I’m taking three AP this year. That 3 times more than I did junior year. I didn’t had another science so I figure let go for AP Chemistry. I been in honor English so I’ll continue in AP Lang. Govt and politics is required so why not just up it and do AP govt and politics.</p>
<p>For me it have nothing to do with pleasing college admissions. AP Chemistry I am taking as a preparation for college chem.</p>
<p>Taking them purely for college admissions.</p>
<p>Taking more than 2 APs is not difficult at all to most of us on here so anything lower would probably be too easy and not challenging. (By the way, most classes we have to take in high school are not interesting no matter if its Honors, AP or whatever) Getting into a top school is very important to some people, for several reasons, and taking AP classes is what you have to do. And, having a chance to get college credit beforehand is definitely worth it, especially when you know you’re perfectly capable of doing it. It’s all about the person. For some people, taking just 2 APs is extremely hard and they can’t handle it, for others taking 4+ APs is an easy task. I’m taking 3 this year, took 4 my junior year and I have no problem. If you can handle it, there’s no reason not to take the classes.</p>
<p>i understand you may think that people may be overdoing it, but it’s true–some people actually want and enjoy tkaing AP classes. Some people just want that challenge of taking a lot and you learn from it too. Yeah, you may be overdoing it, but hey at least you tried and you learned something out of it.</p>
<p>I know personally for myself, I would only be able to handle 3 APs, but there’s nothing wrong with people who are able to handle more.</p>
<p>This is probably going to make me sound like a snob but I take AP classes to avoid the stupid/ annoying kids in gen edu. Classes who don’t even care about school and are just there for either social reasons or because they have no other choice. Also I hate how simple things have to be explained multiple times in regular classes and they’re so slow paced.</p>
<p>Lol just a warning, but almost no one on this site is going to agree with you. So sorry in advance that you’ll probably get a lot of snippy comments.</p>
<p>I agree, it’s crazy for people to take 10 AP classes and miss out on life while they sit around doing homework all day because they think it will impress adcoms. But, for some people, that doesn’t actually sound so miserable to them as it does to most of us. They’re some people who genuinely enjoy studying and learning and that IS fun for them and they enjoy it. I think that’s the difference. Drowning yourself in too much work that you can’t handle, and taking a course load you can handle, which just happens to include a lot of APs.</p>
<p>I think it can depend on the school, teachers, and specific AP too. For example, you could be in AP Psych, AP Enviromental Studies, and AP Human Geography, which combined probably aren’t as hard as just AP Chem or just AP Calc.</p>
<p>@California I’m partial to that ideology. I just can’t stand it when the teachers punish “bad kids” by punishing the whole class or when the teachers have to repeat stuffs over and over again.</p>
<p>@CaliforniaRooted
I completely agree with you on this point and I do not think it is snobby. A student learns best when he or she is in a challenging environment and surrounded by similar peers. </p>
<p>Even though taking numerous AP classes is challenging, I actually genuinely like all my classes. I do not feel forced to take AP classes. I take them because I like the environment, challenges, and peers who also have the same passion for learning. I will have taken 12 APs by graduation, but I enjoyed all of them and I did have done very well in my AP classes. I feel that many people believe wrongly that smart students study all the time and never have fun, but I am loving high school. </p>
<p>AnimeGirl, if you don’t want to take multiple APs, then that is perfectly fine. Every person has a different preference towards their course rigor. Do whatever makes you happy.</p>
<p>I just love learning. Plus the two AP courses I’m in now (US History plus Language & Composition) are both subjects I really enjoy and love. I’m having a blast conducting deep study into topics that fascinate me.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with taking multiple AP classes if you can handle them.
All of the AP classes that I’ve taken are all ones that I took out of genuine interest, although I’ve taken many.</p>
<p>I can take 12 AP courses with each and every one of them meeting a unique GE requirement that the others in those 12 cannot fulfill, leaving me with 3 non-math/science courses for college. I would’ve had to take some random course in college anyways :P</p>
<p>California State University Sacramento AP credit policy :P</p>
<p>Well next year I’m taking 3 APs. Two of them I’m genuinely interested (AP Bio and Psych). The other one (AP Lang and Comp) I’m just taking because I don’t want to take the alternative which is Honors World Literature (ewww). My point is people take multiple AP classes because: a. they are interested in them b. the alternative is too remedial c. they want to impress colleges.</p>