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<p>Judging class difficulty by what the “average” student can or is willing to do is rather pointless.</p>
<p>^His point was that you don’t need to worry if the next guy has one more AP than you, that if you’re taking any you’re above the average student (not the average CC student… but the average student).</p>
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<p>wait really? only an hour of homework a night?</p>
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<p>and I’m suggesting that given the academic inclinations of the “average” student, it’s a pretty hollow accomplishment.</p>
<p>For me, it’s really based on the school, and the class. Some APs are unfairly easy at my school, while others are just hardcore omg, why would you ever take that. I don’t really like the idea of the number of APs making a schedule difficult, because it is somewhat arbitary in my case.</p>
<p>Wow, why do I come onto this website? Gah, this site makes me depressed:/ I’m with the OP on this one. From what I’ve been able to comprehend, I don’t think you need 5+ AP classes to get into good colleges, or even Ivy League schools. Obviously, if you don’t feel like your challenging yourself in normal classes, it would be logical to take AP classes, but ultimately, I don’t think one should take 5+ AP classes just for the sole purpose of college. I think that 3 or so AP classes is a fair amount, but I suppose it depends on what high school you go to, and exactly how challenged you want to be. I think that with a few ECs that you portray a significant amount of passion towards, good grades(maybe around 4.2 or so), good scores, and maybe a few awards, one could get into an Ivy league school. Obviously, the more and higher the better, but I wouldn’t kill myself with work for the sake of an extra 50 points on an SAT. Maybe I’m wrong in making this statement, but from reading chance threads and actual result threads, it doesn’t seem like you need perfect EVERYTHING to get into an Ivy league school. Therefore, all I can say or suggest, is do what you can handle. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Do something unique that makes you stand out as an applicant. If you just do what everyone else does you’ll just seem generic. If you get involved in something that you are passionate about, and portray that in your essays, you will be looked at more favorably. Definitely try to do well in school and on tests, those aspects are very important too, but don’t kill yourself trying to get a 4.8 when you could be more involved in activites and other things that portray a unique individual with a 4.6.</p>
<p>4 is challenging. 2 is good, which is what i’m at this semester.</p>
<p>It obviously depends…I have 5 this year and don’t spend more than 1 hr max on hw at home by trying to get it done fast and at school, etc (the classes aren’t super-ultra difficult, but not a joke either), while last year as a soph w/ 1 AP I think I can count the number of times where I actually did hw at home (read: 5). </p>
<p>I’d say on average , 3-4 is a good size that you can have a decently challenging curriculum and still be able to chill and have free time.</p>
<p>It depends on the school and the APs. I’m in IB, so I only have one AP (Euro, as my elective) and it’s ridiculously easy. The test, however, won’t be, since my teacher is AWFUL. Self-studying for that will suck. But for non-IBers in my school, I’d say 2 is light, 3-4 is moderate, 5+ is heavy.</p>