Hello! I’d like you guys to consider 2 course load options for my senior year (I’m currently a rising junior though and the schedule for this upcoming year is set and shown below). Any feedback, especially personal experience, is appreciated.
Junior*
Study Hall/ Study Hall
Weights/ TOK
AP CALC/ AP CALC
Spanish IV/ Spanish IV
Symphony/ Symphony
AP Bio/ AP Bio
APLAC/ APLAC
AP Psych/ AP Psych
These classes are in no particular order and the slashes represent my courses for each semester.
Senior Year Option 1
Study Hall/ Study Hall
TOK/Study Hall
AP Stats/ AP Stats
AP Music Theory/ AP Music Theory
Symphony/ Symphony
IB Anat & Phys/ IB Anat & Phys
AP LIT/AP LIT
IB Psych/ IB Psych
Senior Year Option 2
Study Hall/ Study Hall
TOK/ Study Hall
AP Stats/ AP Stats
AP Spanish/ AP Spanish
Symphony/ Symphony
IB Anat & Phys/ IB Anat & Phys
AP LIT/ AP LIT
AP Physics/ AP Physics
One course load, I feel, is harder than the other. Both, I’d be excited to take. I am hesitant about taking AP Physics at all because the teachers at my school are great people, but not the best educators. At my school a 3 is like a 4, 4 like a 5, and I’ve only known 2 people in both the current junior and senior class who ever got 5’s. I also have MANY extra curriculars, so as much as I’m interested in Physics, I’m not sure if it’s wise to take. If it helps, my intended major is Communication Sciences and Disorders/ Speech- Language Pathology. I’d like to minor in Spanish, hence the AP Spanish. Once again, any feedback is appreciated!
Why not take Psych and Spanish if you want that major and that minor? Also, only 5% of people get 5s on the AP Physics 1 exam. It’s probably not just your school’s teachers.
@ski_racer
You’re right, it’s probably not just my school’s teachers. Psych + Spanish is something I’d like to do, but it doesn’t fulfill the requirements for me to get the IB Diploma. The 2 options I provided were the best ones I could think of to fulfill all the requirements for SL, HL, and Group 1-6 stuff.
I know many people go on to do great things without it, but at my school I got a lot of negative feedback for even saying I was going to go into the program and have sort of become, along with a few other people, the school’s IB advocate. I feel if I backed out of the program, I’d be a phony for advocating so hard for it and then deciding not to do it. I’d also disappoint my school’s IB counselor and IB teachers whom I’ve really grown to like and considering for my rec letters.
You want to take Math, Science, English at a high level is possible. That would be my first priority.
You only have 5 core classes…I would definitely take option 2.
@bopper
“You want to take Math, Science, English at a high level is possible.” I agree and that’s what I’m doing with my Math and English. Science is a little trickier for me though because I’m taking bio to the highest level by taking Anat and Phys after AP Bio and I’ve already taken chemistry to the highest level available at my school. However, doing all that would leave me without room to touch Physics, which isn’t really all that important to my intended major (subject to change of course). So maybe the question I should’ve asked is- Do you think it is more important for me to get a taste of all the sciences by going with option 2 or is it more important to go with the course load most consistent with my intended major by choosing option 1?
@ski_racer
Yeah that’s a good point. Spanish is pretty easy for me and I just wanted to capitalize on it as much as I could. You can answer the new question above too if you want. If not, don’t worry about it.
I’ll answer, but take it with a grain of salt because I’m not sure I’m qualified. AP classes are meant to be college-level, and as such, I don’t think someone can’t fault you for not taking an AP Physics class. Plenty of kids at my school don’t take physics at all, and the vast majority of them end up at schools where they are happy. I’d also like to add that I’m not taking AP Bio (although a bio class does show up on my transcript for complicated reasons) because AP Environmental was much more interesting to me. It sounds like you’re in a similar situation, since you want to major in CSD, so I’d just take Anatomy.
@ski_racer My biggest hang-up was being penalized for not taking AP Physics, so that’s nice to hear. Thank you!
Also can you tell me if that most recent post I made was just deleted? I can’t see it anymore and don’t want the other user to think I just skipped them.
If you really want to minor in Spanish, a good AP score will give you credit at many universities. (My score completely fulfilled my language requirement). Also, if you skip a year of Spanish without finding any way to keep up with it (not just Duolingo), it will be harder to come back to. If the minor isn’t really important to you, or you don’t mind having to start over in some ways, you can completely disregard this part of the comment
Also, if you really want that IB diploma (full disclosure: I know nothing about IB), then go for it. But please don’t do it for fear of seeming like a phony and/or disappointing your teachers. Your teachers are there do help you develop as a student and find what is interesting to you. You are not doing them any favors by not taking the classes that you really want to take. And as for the phony thing, I think you can see on your own why that’s a bad reason.
