<p>Hey guys, I had a quick question. Next year I’m planning on taking 4 APs (English Comp, Comp Sci, APUSH, and Bio) and 2 honors classes (French 4 and Physics). I’m planning on majoring in Biomedical Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. I just found out my school offers both AP Environmental Science and AP Human Geography online. I want to take one next year and one senior year. Seeing as these are both courses offered to freshmen in many schools, I’m thinking they would be pretty easy. Am I wrong to assume that? Also, given the course load I have next year, which would be easier on me? Thanks guys for all your help 
I’m hoping to join this discussion for the next 2 years </p>
<p>@bardinators
AP Human Geo is a complete joke. From what I’ve heard enviro is not that much harder</p>
<p>I was class of '15, but I’m having to take a year out, so I guess I’m with you now! Hello!</p>
<p>@WintersBerry Welcome! I’m new to the thread too. :)</p>
<p>@WintersBerry, @Bardinators, welcome!</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt - I don’t think it’s very accurate; most people prep more between the time of the PSAT and the SAT and the PSAT lacks the essay. But then again, maybe I’m just trying to validate my own score. :P</p>
<p>@Bardinators @WintersBerry Welcome to our humble thread. So, only a little over two more years left with all of you. I am almost sad.</p>
<p>@Apollo11 I studied and made intricate notecards (including sentences etc) for about 600 words over the summer and studied all of them every day or two. About a month before the test, I went to Barnes & Noble every weekend and worked on timed practice tests from the blue book, one test every saturday. I honestly was not expecting a good score from CR because I had bombed the vocab in one section but luckily that was the experimental section. </p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt I don’t think it’s very accurate. I jumped from a 208 PSAT to a 2270 SAT but I have a friend who scored a 228 on the PSAT but only a 2050 on the SAT. The difference in length is a big factor though, in my opinion. My PSAT was a week before my SAT, so I guess I could have mass studied some vocab in that week, but it’s not likely that my other section scores would have jumped so much.</p>
<p>@loltired - How did you choose the words to study? Did you use any particular word lists?</p>
<p>@observeraffect I had these SAT books from 2009 from when my sister took it, and I chose a random book (it was by Princeton Review) and it happened to have a “Hit Parade” of common vocab words so I made notecards for all of them. I also started a vocab section in Barron’s except I got to E and then it was the day of my test… I’ve heard Direct Hits is also really good, but whatever works for you!</p>
<p>Speaking of which, does anyone here have any recommendations for AP, SAT, or SAT II review books? I’m taking statistics and world history this year, but any insight would be awesome because I’m going to end up taking more junior and senior year anyway. Also, do you guys tend to have a preference for a certain review book company? I’ve only heard bad things about Kaplan and I’ve gotten mixed reviews about PR, but I’ve never tried either.</p>
<p>@catchinginfinity</p>
<p>AP Biology-Barron’s/Pearson’s
AP Calculus-Barron’s
SAT II Biology-Barron’s
SAT II Math IIC-Dr. Chung’s/Barron’s
SAT II Chemistry-Barron’s</p>
<p>took mock SAT…2120. I need to go up 80 points and I’ll be set. </p>
<p>So, I just signed up to take the AP World, AP Psych, and AP US Gov. tests. I don’t know how I should feel. I should really start studying seriously.</p>
<p>Psych is a joke, @animefan1998. Gov may be fairly difficult to self study. </p>
<p>I should really get started on this research project again…it’s less than twenty percent done, and I’d like to use it for ISEF next year.</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt I’ve heard that Gov was fairly easy. Even my AP World teacher, who’s also the political science/AP Gov teacher said that they don’t do a lot of reading…</p>
<p>Ugh. So I’m really upset today. My school’s new program of studies went up for next year, and pretty much everything has been changed. All the graduation requirements and everything. We have a new principal this year who came in and decided he wanted to change everything. We currently have a double block for science to do labs once every four days (we have a four day rotation), and I think it’s great because it gives us time to apply what we learn to labs. He wants to take away the double block for science and everyone said it was a bad idea. He sent out a biased survey, but the results were still 73% in favor of keeping the double block. So he claimed that there was ballet stuffing and that he needs to meet with teachers to decide what to do (which is bologna because the teachers already told him no and he slammed the door on them). The new program of studies switches the math classes for the class of 2017 (and it could possibly affect us too) from a sequence of Geometry, Algebra 2, PreCalc, Calc to a sequence of integrated common core standards that combine all of those classes together. This makes it very difficult to take these classes outside of school if you want to get a year ahead. The new system also prevents students placed in a CP class freshman year from moving up to honors and eventually to AP Calculus. My principal also got rid of the add/drop period at the beginning of the year, so if you’re stuck in an elective you don’t want, you cannot switch out and you must stay in. You also can no longer switch class levels if you feel a class is too hard or easy for you. This whole thing is a mess and I was wondering if anyone had to go through anything similar or if anyone’s school has implemented these common core math classes. I’m just in a really bad mood due to these changes as someone who’s very science minded and has just started to enjoy math with Algebra 2.</p>
<p>@Bardinators Are school switched to common core last year I think. We still have Algebra II this year, but it won’t be available next year. So now there’s just CC math, pre-calculus, AP Calculus, AP Stats, discrete math, AFM, and intro to college mathematics. That’s horrible that you can’t switch out electives though. </p>
<p>@Bardinators </p>
<p>My school has been trying to phase out the add/drop period for a while now, namely because all of the classes are typically already full. There are probably reasons for dropping the period.</p>
<p>How was the survey biased? </p>
<p>@catchinginfinity</p>
<p>I haven’t taken the exams yet, but Barron’s for AP Psych and AP World History: An Esential Coursebook are what I’m primarily using for those classes right now. Each is good at going chapter by chapter by what you will probably need for the class, in addition to the AP Exam. The Coursebook is very well written for what it covers, with it generally being pretty engaging.</p>
<p>@observeraffect
The survey was addressed to the entire community and not just parents of students at my school or students at my school. The problem is that an email was never sent out to these community members explaining to them what the proposed changes are. The survey had questions like, “should all classes have the same amount of time?”, ect. Many people who may not know about what he’s getting at with the question would answer yes because it sounds ideal. However, when you look at it from the context of dropping over 25% of total lab science time, it doesn’t sound so good, especially for classes like AP Biology and AP Chemistry who need to cover all of the material by May and the teachers are already having a tough time doing that as it is, not to mention that we start school in September, while many schools have a head start on the material for these classes and are better prepared for the AP exam. It’s not the fact that he proposed the idea that bothers me, it’s the fact that he says he’s not going to shove it down people’s throats but has been constantly rude to students who have brought up possible negative effects and pretty much said he doesn’t care about the community’s opinion because it doesn’t match up with his own. Everyone agrees that he seems very self-absorbed, and a lot of my teachers have spoken out against him as well. </p>