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Articles: Expert Advice
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AP Prerequisites
neonnn
Registered User Posts: 24 New Member
My school is very strict on AP Class prerequisites. For AP Biology, you need to have taken regular biology and regular chemistry already. The same goes to AP Chemistry. You need to have taken regular chemistry and regular biology prior. Unfortunately for me I took physics my freshmen year, so I can't take AP Biology and AP chemistry within my four years of high school because of these prerequisites. (unless I take summer school but that's crazy expensive)
And for AP Computer Science you need intro to com sci first.
You also need to have taken Calculus AB before going into BC.
Are colleges aware of these prerequisites schools have in placed for AP classes? Because I know people in other schools who can take AP Biology, Chemistry, Com Sci without any prerequisites. They can also skip to calculus BC instead of taking AB. Because I'm worried I might look "less hardworking" than those students. I feel like my school is undermining their students and putting us at a disadvantage with these prerequisites, than schools without strict prereq's.
Does it also look bad if I don't take AP Chemistry and AP biology in high school, if i want to major in biochemistry? Is it bad that I'll only be taking Calculus AB, not BC? It's not that I'm scared of these courses, I would love to take these ap classes but my school has a dumb policy with AP course prerequisites and it's really frustrating.
And for AP Computer Science you need intro to com sci first.
You also need to have taken Calculus AB before going into BC.
Are colleges aware of these prerequisites schools have in placed for AP classes? Because I know people in other schools who can take AP Biology, Chemistry, Com Sci without any prerequisites. They can also skip to calculus BC instead of taking AB. Because I'm worried I might look "less hardworking" than those students. I feel like my school is undermining their students and putting us at a disadvantage with these prerequisites, than schools without strict prereq's.
Does it also look bad if I don't take AP Chemistry and AP biology in high school, if i want to major in biochemistry? Is it bad that I'll only be taking Calculus AB, not BC? It's not that I'm scared of these courses, I would love to take these ap classes but my school has a dumb policy with AP course prerequisites and it's really frustrating.
This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: AP Prerequisites
Almost all school mandate bio and chemistry before
If you didn't take bio in middle school, you can take biology via a virtual school or summer school. Then sophomore year you take chemistry. Then you can take AP chemistry junior year and AP biology senior year.
Or, more common even among high achievers, take just one AP science, either chemistry or bio. If you want to major in biochemistry then I'd recommend taking AP chemistry.
As for calculus, some schools have calc ab- bc as a sequence (calc 1, calc 2) and other schools have an either/or situation. Colleges don't care whether you took a or bc anyway as long as, as a wannabe stem major, you took calculus.
Would you say that students who are able to take AP Biology without any prerequisites are at an advantage than students at other schools who normally have to take chemistry and biology prior? Are they more privileged towards college applications?
I'm just wondering because I see a lot of threads where people take both ap bio and ap chem in their high school years.
I think for AP Comp Sci you're required to take Honors Comp Sci 1, which is an intro to java programming course that a lot of people take for their technology credit anyway. There's no prereq for AP CompSci Principles, though, so a lot of freshmen are taking it. Pretty much everyone loves our comp sci teacher.
We have AP Physics 1 and 2 (not C - no one in our state teaches C) and Honors physics, but Honors is not a prereq for AP 1; AP 1 is logically a prereq for AP 2.