I’m surprised that AP language has a light work load. That was a course that had a ton of work at my D’s school.
CS is not going to make a dent in workload. I again would say push off either chem or physics until senior year.
I agree that it is extremely school dependent. Calc BC that follows AB is really not bad at my kid school. You’re basically covering a semester of college information in a year. English Lang isn’t too bad either and CS Principles has essentially zero homework. AP Chem is a lot of work at my kids school. We don’t have Physics C, but from the neighboring school, it makes a huge difference if it’s just covering Mechanical or also e/m for the year - the former is a more typical AP pace, while the latter is truly a college pace and a lot of work.
Also, her schedule does not appear to have any Social Science course. Did she take AP US History or World History ?
I don’t think BC Calc will be too difficult if she’s already had AB. That isn’t possible in our school, so BC is generally considered a hard course. That said, no one takes two lab sciences in our school because you need to take labs every other day. Both AP Chem and AP Physics may be a lot of work. The amount of work in AP Language is very much teacher dependent. Interesting to look at the AP French exam - it’s so watered down compared to what I took back in 1973 which involved reading fat novels. How much history has she taken.
She took Honors World History last year and just finished an online US History class over the summer. She plans to take an AP course in the social sciences area her senior year (mostly likely Economics). The AP Physics is only the Mechanics section; she will take E/M senior year. She is definitely not the only one signed up for both AP Chem and Physics in her school. My guess is there are probably another 10 kids doing the same.
OK, that’s a bit more manageable.
My D21 is taking 7 APs this Junior year (English, Capstone, French, Latin, Chemistry, Biology and Calculus B/C). CS1 is her only non AP class. It really depends on the student. My kiddo is very academically driven and Salutatorian of her very competitive HS. She was actually worried that it would be seen as not hard enough!! I think your kid will be fine, since she seems like a hard worker too. Good luck!
Thanks! Good luck to your daughter as well!
I think it’s interesting how common the no two sciences refrain is here. It’s so, so common at my kids’ school. There are 100 or so in the IB program, and probably 80 take two sciences to HL instead of the art strand. Biology and Chemistry is the most common, but there are a fair number of Chemistry and Physics as well. From a work load perspective my daughter thought it was much, much easier than taking a second social studies - where the writing load can be excessive.
Again, depends upon how the school structures, but IB HL is usually a 2 year sequence, whereas AP covers the similar material in one year, except in the case of the OP’s DD who clarified that DD’s AP Physics C is spread over 2 years.
Taking 2 AP Sciences in the same year, depends on whether it is Bio+Chem (ok) or Chem+Phy 1 (ok) but quite challenging for Chem + Phy C (combined Mech/EM)
It doesn’t mean it is impossible, as many students at our school take 6+ AP as Jr/Sr.
For a STEM student, 2 Sciences is easier than Lang + SS, with heavy writing reqs.
While IB HL is two years @skieurope - at my kids school the first year is often combined with AP. So in my daughter’s Chemistry class last year (year 1 of 2) there were some kids taking the Chemistry AP exam at the end of the first year if they aren’t in the IB program. The same is true for economics - my daughter did fine on the AP exams after just taking Economics SL. While most colleges seem to only give credit for HL exams, I think in reality (at least in my kids’ school) the SL is pretty equivalent to the AP and HL goes further.
Depends on the subject, but like you said (and I said earlier), it depends on the school.
Most students at my kid’s high school take at least 4 and up to 8.
My S20 took 6 APs his junior year. I wouldn’t recommend it. It ate into his EC’s and sports. Kids need outlets that don’t involve academics.
It also ate up SAT prep time for the spring. Tests are around the May SAT and the kids are burnt out for the June SAT test.
The above posters are correct about sciences. Chem and physics were the main time eaters. Labs are a pain. He ended up with a 3 on the chem test which is not what he wanted or expected.
@Jcsood It sound like you S is a PG child, in which case most advice for “normally” bright or even “normally” gifted really doesn’t work for him.
Kids like that often do not have fun in HS, unless there is a group of other PG kids with which they can interact. Furthermore, his idea of “fun” may be different than yours… In general, if he is taking AP classes and getting As in them, and getting 5s in the AP tests, you should just let him finish HS at his pace, and then look for colleges which know how to deal with PG kids who graduated at 15-16.
PS. Is your kid a Davidson YS?
“For a STEM student, 2 Sciences is easier than Lang + SS, with heavy writing reqs.”
So I haven’t seen what colleges OP is considering but the more selective schools, even if they’re STEM focused will think students have not challenged themselves if they skip a class like APUSH, even if it’s for a science AP. If you’re taking all these APs for interest, fine, but if it’s to show rigor, not having APUSH will raise flags. Even for a place like MIT, it will be the second class they look for in the transcript, after AP Calc.
Given that the Calc course only covers one semester’s worth of college material and ditto for the physics course, this schedule sounds more reasonable. It’s true at our school as well that APUSH is taken by everyone aiming at very selective colleges even if they are STEM kids. OTOH both my kids got away without taking any AP English courses.
Yikes!!! the parents who advocate against a student taking the appropriate HS classes. Definitely appropriate for some students, even if not good for the vast majority. Definitely good to take multiple AP science classes. These can be easier than classes requiring a lot of writing for STEM-gifted students (and don’t forget there are students equally good at both humanities and sciences).
OP- kudos to your D for choosing the best she can get from her HS. Likely her previous HS classes have been preparing her for these in how the HS runs things. Plus- not all AP courses are equally rigorous. Most of these classes build on previous knowledge- the HS AP teachers know their students’ background.
What is “tough” for one student can be a breeze for another. With her advanced math skills both chemistry and physics should be no problem, except where no calculus is involved to make logical associations.
Why does no one question taking more than one humanities and/or social science class? Sciences are easy for some of us. Regular versions can be so boring and slow paced or can be just as much work.
Let her be with her academic peers (or as close to her level as exist at her HS) as much of the time as possible.
With all of that said- she has two HS years to do all that is offered. Are there classes to round out her education she could be taking as a junior that she wouldn’t otherwise get exposed to? How about some outside her comfort zone. What about the arts- music and art? What will her senior schedule look like? Will she, as some gifted students do, be taking college level classes outside of the HS? She should really consider getting 2 years of a (second?) foreign language as well.
Looking back at my own pre-AP HS days. The worst class was senior regular government semester. In it because of schedule difficulties with so many single time classes I was stuck with regular students. Yuck.
Son is gifted. Fortunately his HS had no rules about numbers and grades for AP classes. He did not need to spend that much time on them and still got top AP exam grades- showing he learned the material (kudos to his teachers for presenting that material). His cousin in a different state was a more diligent student but an A did not translate into a 5 due to what must have been the teaching. A set of twins’ mother reported her D would do A++ work and her son A- work for the same A on the report card. The D did senior year at the top tier flagship (but regular, not honors). One size does not fit all bright/gifted/top students.