Wondering if anyone has advice on AP science courses and ordering. My 2028 son chose to take AP Biology because he finds it quite interesting. However, he is second guessing his choice because he’s worried admissions committees will have expected him to take AP Physics his junior year (instead of his senior year as he had planned to do). Does anyone have any experience on this ordering issue? His chemistry teacher also suggested that AP Physics his junior year might look better to admissions because they would be able to see that he took all three sciences (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) before senior year. We’ve just told him he should take the course he’s interested in. Thoughts anyone?
It seriously makes zero difference.
The application asks for senior year courses, so admissions will see
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I agree with you. There should be no problem with your son taking AP Biology junior year and holding off AP Physics for senior year. Most colleges will usually see what courses the applicant is taking senior year, whether or not interim grades are included during an evaluation of an application. What should matter is that he finds biology “quite interesting” and not what people may think admissions committees are expecting to see.
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Agree. As long as the sequence of bio, chem, and physics are completed during HS it is fine. Doesn’t matter which year is AP Bio and which is physics.
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One consideration is which AP has the teacher with the better reputation. They’re both tough classes, in different ways. The huge challenge with AP Bio is the massive amount of material. The challenge with AP Physics (assuming he’s taking the highest level, which is Physics C and assumes some knowledge of Calculus), is that it requires a higher level of math, and can be more intellectually challenging. But if your son is very good with math, and does all the problem sets, Physics C might actually be easier for him than AP Bio.
The reason that I say take the class with the better teacher first is that he is more likely to do very well in the class with the better teacher, and this will look very good on his transcript, especially if he is applying early action or early decision. His grade from his first semester of senior year will only be considered by regular decision schools.
Another consideration is if he is taking Calc in 11th grade, he’ll be better positioned for Physics C for senior year. If it’s Physics 1 and 2, timing doesn’t matter, since they don’t require Calc.
It’s more common to take Physics C later (like senior year), because of calculus. So I definitely wouldn’t worry about admissions committees expecting AP physics in junior year. And also, different high schools have different sequencing.
For example at our HS, students take freshman physics, then sophomore chem or AP chem, then junior bio or AP bio, then senior year they choose from a menu of options and can take AP physics if desired. This is because at our HS, they feel that you can’t really understand chem without basic physics, and that you can’t really understand bio without some chem. And then AP physics is left until senior year because students aren’t allowed to take calculus at our HS before then.
But at other HS on the other hand, it seems faily common to take bio (and even AP bio) earlier in the sequence, because it’s seen as easier than chem and physics.
Therefore, admissions committees will have seen everything, and they also know that a lot of it is not really up to the STUDENT, but might just be the way that HS does it. So don’t worry about this aspect of it. I would just say to sequence the classes in the order that makes the most sense for the student’s learning.
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It used to matter because of which “Achievement” later “SAT 2” or “SAT Subject” test you might then be prepared for, and wanting that one at the end of 11th grade for applications. I do not think it matters anymore (since those tests are nonexistent now). However, if taking Physics second means that it could be “C” with calculus, that is better than taking Physics 1/2 and then Bio.
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Thanks!
He’d just be doing Physics 1 - he’s taking Calc AB his junior year and maybe BC his senior year.
Thinking about who the teachers are is something I hadn’t considered. He did very well in Biology GT with the teacher that would be teaching AP Biology. He and the teach clicked. So that’s something to consider as well, you are right. Thanks!
This is a good point - our high school does it differently still as another example. They do bio, then chemistry, the AP whatever for junior year, and AP whatever for senior year. But the school requires physics somewhere in there for graduation.
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I would take AP Biology in junior year and AP Physics C in senior year. Physics C is harder, but colleges know this, and that you challenged yourself can only help.
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I’m guessing a HS that requires you to take calc AB before BC won’t allow Physics C - if they even offer - as a first physics course
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AP Physics C doesn’t require calculus as a prerequisite typically though it’s usually recommended. Taking AP Calculus AB or BC concurrently with Physics C should suffice.
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I’m aware. But many high schools still set physics as a prereq for Physics C
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I agree his current plan is perfectly fine. I don’t think AOs care what order you take your natural sciences in, the only real “rules” (more strong recommendations) is to make sure you take a natural science each year, and each of Physics, Bio, and Chem at the HS level at least once, which by implication means one year is an “elective” year you can use for second year of any of those, or perhaps a different science elective if available.
But I completely agree your senior year is included in these “rules”. So in this case, I really doubt any AO would have a problem with taking a second year of Bio as a junior and then Physics as a senior. The point of wanting you to do HS Physics is it is typically assumed foundational knowledge for college classes. But as long as you have that foundation by the time you start college, then you are prepared. And I believe AOs see it like that as well.
In terms of which Physics to take, I don’t think you need to take Calc-based Physics as your first Physics in HS, particularly if that is not recommended by your high school. Of course some high schools may actually recommend that in certain circumstances, which is fine. But I don’t think AOs expect you to do something that your HS does not recommend, and I don’t recommend that either.
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My kid’s high school doesn’t even offer high school physics! They only offer Physics C, and usually, kids take it concurrently with Calc BC. Not to mention that they’re also taking all other AP classes, pretty much, that year. But that’s only the top 20% or so of the school.
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Many Physics C texts actually are designed to be done in conjunction with BC, the logic being that each helps the other. At my HS all those years ago my physics teacher disliked it was not calculus based because everylne did calculus alongside it.
The more likely reason AP physics C lists calculus only as a co-requisite is that is used to be rare for students to be on a higher math track than +1 (calculus in 12th grade). A student would have to be on the +2 math track (calculus in 11th grade) or higher in order to take physics after calculus while in high school.
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I note many colleges also have Physics with Calc sequences designed to be done concurrently with Calc 1 and 2, but this of course is really the same basic logic–many kids enter college not having done Calc yet and they don’t want to force them to wait to take Physics with Calc until they are sophomores, including because Physics with Calc is then a prereq for other things which are then a prereq for still other things . . . .
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However, it is common for colleges to list the prerequisite for physics 1 as calculus 1, so that a student who needs to take calculus 1 in first semester frosh year can take physics 1 along with calculus 2 in second semester frosh year, rather than waiting into soph year to start physics.
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