Having a gap year between high school chemistry or physics and college chemistry or physics is common, so having a gap year between high school chemistry and AP chemistry should not be an unusual concern.
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Organic chem and biochem that only require HS bio and chem as prerequisites is probably not as advanced as you think
Having a year gap between HS chem and AP chem is very, very, very common.
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@ucbalumnus and @skieurope Thank you for that! The dept chair made it seem like not taking AP Chem immediately after chem was not good.
Do not worry about the gaps in sciences. That is very common. My D took H chem as a sophomore and then AP chem as a senior. It was fine. At my Dâs HS the advanced electives in chemistry werenât offered until senior year. She did take a semester of o chem as a senior and found it very basic.
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How many classes can students in the high school take each day? In ours there are 7 class periods, only 6 are allowed to be core courses (math, sci, english, FL, history), and a very large group, maybe 1/3 of the graduating class takes 6 core courses in 10th, 11th or both. The âtopâ kids take two sciences or two maths these years because this path has the most rigor. Even non-stem kids who end up at the very top schools usually have at least one of these years with a second science or a second math, the other year with a second history or FL.
Within the group that completes 6 core courses 10th and 11th, Chem in 9th and 10th is the most difficult but seems to work. The âstandardâ for the whole school is regular or honors chem in 9th, then a small group (5-10 kids) from the honors chem sections go straight AP chem in 10th. Others take APchem later in 12th after more science/math background is accumulated, or merely to spread it out. There are no APs in 9th so taking AP chem in 10th means it is the first AP the student takesâvery hard for some.
All AP sciences require the honors/prereq full year, making doubling up necessary.
9th: Hon Chem + 4 other core
10th: AP chem, HonPhys(AP-1), +4 other cores (math has to be the highest track, honors precal, or ApCal for the occasional kid on their own path)
11th: APPhysC, HonBio, +4 other core,
12th: APBio, 4 other core(one is a req social studies), +could take another core
The above gets in all three APs plus all the other cores maxed.
FWIW my DD23 is at Upenn and is a getting a degree in chemistry as well as a degree in engineering and having chem in 9 and 10 then none for 2 years was not a problem.
Other option that still gets the highest physics and Chem:
9th Hon chem + 4 cores
10th: APchem, Hon Bio, 4 other cores (math has to be precal the highest âtrackâ)
11th: Honphys(AP-1), 4 other cores, 6th core such as a 2nd APhistory or FL
12th: APPhysC, 4 cores plus could take a 6th core
D21 did this and had two histories 11th and 12th as the 6th cores, as that is her interest area, but still wanted the challenge of the APchem and physC.
Another more common option is the following, because it does not launch into AP chem as the first AP class in 10th, and because it is available to the students who take Precal in 11th rather than 10th, which is the track many more students are on. Notably this leads to the same courses in the end as option 2.
9th HonChem + 4 cores
10th: HonBio + 4 cores +6th core as non-stem AP
11th: Honphys(Ap-1), +4 cores +AP bio or non-stemAP
12th AP physC + APChem +4 cores
@Myoo in my experience it can help for you to look at the examples in the schoolâs curriculum guide or ask the school what is typical, then have your student talk to teachers in 9th and get their recommendations for placement for 10th. Teachers usually know which students will be most likely to have success in different paths.
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Yes, students in 6 period high schools may have trouble getting 4 years of each of 5 core academics plus a year of art plus other requirements like health and PE plus space for any electives (academic or otherwise). Students in 7 period high schools are more able to get all of that in with space for additional electives.
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There are 7 periods. Many kids end up dropping performing arts to cram in more AP classes, and he wants to be sure he can fit things in while still taking orchestra all 4 years if he wants to. It seems doable, just have to make sure he is also leaving space for some of the other random state-required courses. Less than 7 periods seems like it would be impossible to arrange.
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Hopefully he can find the right balance! Mine both did orchestra all four years as the 7th spot, plus all the rigor, but it is not for everyone.
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I think thatâs a reasonable option. My S23 found that many engineering schools / majors would award useful credit for the Mechanics exam (that is, it would allow him to pass out of a freshman physics course required for engineers and move on to the next course), but wouldnât give anything useful for the E&M exam (just elective credit units).
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