Hello, I am a freshman in high school. I am having a dilemma on whether I should do AP chem or bio. I have taken these courses first semester:
Honors Bio: B
Honors English: A
Integrated Math I Honors: B
PE: B
Spanish: A
AVID: A
I am doing well this year and will probably get straight a’s with a B in PE. I am going to take regular chemistry during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. Will I be more prepared for AP bio or chem?
Btw, I will also be taking AP comp sci pri and AP euro.
My personal recommendation is that you focus on doing very well in your classes, and do not focus on jumping ahead into AP classes.
The B in Physical Education does not concern me much. I have known a lot of very smart people. Some of them were good at sports, but most were not.
The B’s in Honors Biology and in Integrated Math 1 makes me wonder why you would want to take AP classes. AP classes will be more difficult than honors classes.
I watched one daughter take AP European History and have called it “the most difficult A- that I have ever witnessed”. This includes the A- that I got as a graduate student at Stanford (which IMHO was not as difficult as AP Euro). AP Euro will include a very large amount of reading.
IMHO three AP classes are too many for your sophomore year of high school.
The reason I want to take AP classes is that I am planning on applying to T20 schools.
Those grades were my first semester; I had no study skills whatsoever. I am interested in science and computer science. My grades as of right now for the second semester(it’s only quarter 2 right now) are A in Honors Bio A in English honors B in math honors and an A in everything else:)
Which subject interests you more? I ask because whichever course you take sophomore year will be foundational for the next course in the sequence should you decide to take it.
For example, my daughter really loved bio and took AP BIo sophomore year then AP Bio 2 and IB Biochemistry as a senior. She took IB Chem junior year. I second the recommendation to take physics too.
I would discuss with your teachers / counselors - would they even recommend AP for you given your grades?
And discuss with them - which they feel between the two would be more appropriate.
You need to build a schedule that is right for you - to stretch but that’s attainable. Struggling in AP won’t help you.
You can apply wherever you want - regardless of the classes you take. Whether you get in or not one can say, and rigor alone may or may not be why you do or don’t. But taking a class and struggling won’t benefit you at all.
I will talk to my counselor about this. Thank you for your advice!
And for what it’s worth: these grades were first semester; I have to submit course selections to my counselor by March 31. As of now, my grades are straight A’s except for PE.
My daughter is currently taking AP bio. She was glad to have a strong chem background going in as it is necessary for understanding a lot of the molecular biology materials. If those are your choices I’d probably opt for AP Chem first and then AP Bio.
AP Chem is one of the most difficult APs there is (with AP Physics C) and is considered a 2nd level chem class after Chem Honors. I would not take it as a sophomore, especially not after a necessarily lighter-than-honors summer class that will also be compressed. In addition, AP bio supposes Chemistry so it’ll renforce the subject till you take AP Chemistry.
I assume your schedule only has 6 periods, so if you take Chemistry over the summer you should take AP Bio Sophomore Year alongside Integrated Math II Honors, English Honors, Spanish2 or 3, AP Euro, and AVID.
Will Integrated Math III allow you to take Calculus senior year?
Can PE be taken over the summer (ask)?
For Top 20 (or Top 40 national University+Top 25 national LACs) something like this would be your schedule, give or take :
Junior year would likely be AP English Lang, US History Honors, Integrated Math III Honors, AP Physics 1, Spanish 3 or 4, AP CS Principles.
Senior year could include Calculus (Honors, AB, or BC), AP Chemistry, AP CS A, Senior English Honors, Gov/Econ or other social science Honors, and Art.
I agree. I like the idea of chem before bio since bio involves some chem, but I would not recommend jumping into AP Chem without having taken regular or honors chem 1st.
If you intend to major in Bio and took AP Bio in sophomore year, would that then mean you would have 2 years (i.e. Jr. and Sr. years) with no Bio before jumping into first year Bio at college? If so, I would not recommend that.
High school teacher here. I teach both regular and AP classes. The biggest difference I see between the successful AP students and the struggling ones is not their prior knowledge but rather their executive skills - time management, self-regulation, organizing, prioritizing, planning, etc.