@ llpitch - MIT is awesome! I'm really having a blast here with so many talented people that love science. College is also just really different from high school - no more busywork and just a lot of taking the classes that you like, rather than the classes that you are forced to take. My mornings have also shifted from 7 AM to 10-noon now. =p But, since this is MIT, I'm also having my share of sleepless nights doing psets...well, that isn't so fun. =p
@galoisien - AP economics, chemistry, and statistics all do not employ calculus. Chemistry doesn't use calculus at all - the most you would have to know is probably just Algebra 2, actually. You have to learn a few more formulas and things for Stats though. As for economics, the math is even more limited. AP Economics is very theory-based, rather than calculation-based.
If you self-study or take college courses during your senior year, you can just make a note of that when colleges ask you for your senior courseload or mention it in the additional information box on college applications. And yes, taking college courses is generally the equivalent of AP courses - and in many cases, actually better than AP courses because some college courses (depends on where you take it) go into much greater detail.
@p-izzle: World History is most definitely self-study-able. The course is very factually based, so just make sure that you get a very good review book (like Barrons) and maybe some more supplementary material (you can consider getting a copy of Zeigler's (sp?) textbook - Traditions and Encounters. That book reads like a storybook and makes history very effortless - though you probably won't get through all of it unless you are very motivated - it's about 1200 pages long). I actually just used Barron's APWH and Kaplan's SAT 2 WH and managed 5 and 800, respectively. I used Zeigler's book for some casual reading =p
@teaspoon - AP Econ, like I said, is very conceptual. If you decide to use existing coursenotes, make sure they cover the AP content in enough depth (but then again, AP Econ material isn't that "deep" either). You can still consider getting a
PR book and doing the practice tests in the back - I think it's pretty accurate. Do not just rely on
PR for the review/notes though, I heard that it was adequate but I found
PR is actually quite lacking in some areas...
AP Stats is doable if you know everything in Barron's AP Stat book. Pay attention to the concept of "null hypothesis" - it tripped me up on the exam.
AP Lang is the hardest AP exam to get a 5 in (something like 7% of students who take it gets 5s, compared to 30% in exams like Physics C), so I guess a lot of it just depends on your English ability. Get some old exams and do a lot of practice - I don't think this is a course that you can necessarily go out and buy a book and say you're done with the study. Get peer review for your essays too, if you wnat to do this yourself.
SAT 2 Chinese is definitely easier. AP Chinese would actually be a bit challenging for someone without a solid background in the language. You can get by around 60% of SAT 2 Chinese just knowing pinyin and listening, but you have to read characters for the remaining part of the exam - which is actually fine, because the SAT 2 Chinese characters are quite easy. I don't exactly know how "illiterate" you are, but if you don't know at least 200-300 characters, I'd say you'll be very hard pressed to get a high 700 on the Chinese exam - remember the Chinese exam has a really bad curve because of the number of native speakers taking it (unless you are quite good at educated guessing, which worked for some of my friends that didn't know how to read that many characters).
As for AP, you really need fluency in quite a bit of basic and intermediate characters and the ability to compose short essays/stories in characters (they don't accept pinyin). The characters on AP are way more extensive than it is in SAT 2. I thought the SAT 2 was really really easy (I finished the reading portion in around 3-5 minutes - but I'm a native speaker), but I thought the AP actually required some thought in the composition part (on the other hand, finished the reading section on AP in 12 minutes (we were given an hour)). BUT then again, the curve was ridiculous this year (80% of test-takers got 5s), so I don't exactly know what's up with SAT 2 and AP Chinese for non-native speakers.
Self-study is regarded definitely as a personal initiative in your academics especially if you come from a school that does not offer that many AP courses. If you can commit through a personal program of self-studying (and end up with good scores too - 4s and 5s), then it would make a mark to college admission officers reading your application. Exactly how much of an impact you'll make I do not know, but I know that they are always looking for personal initiative and the people who are willing to go "the extra mile." Self-studying definitely does not hold as much weight as taking the class in the cases when the course is also offered at the school the student is at. Unless the student has a lot of scheduling conflicts or the school is imposing an AP limit on the student, self-studying to get the 5, rather than the A in the class, might actually be regarded as laziness. I think self-studying benefited me just because my school offered a meager 5 AP courses, while I was still able to graduate with 14 exams - I think that demonstrates an initiative on my part to do the things that my school wasn't able to provide.
If your school already offers a lot of AP classes, don't take the easy way out and decide to self-study just because a 5 will look better than your grade in the class. Like I said, college admission officers have data into the type of school that you come from, and the fact that you are self studying 5 AP exams that have parallel courses in the school might come off as a little bit sketchy. You'll be better off just taking as many AP classes as you can at school (and supplementing with self-study if you still have time after your AP classes).
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