I’m taking AP Biology, AP US History, and AP Language Composition for AP classes next school year. In addition to this, I’m also taking Trig hnrs, Precalc hnrs, and Span hnrs. I read somewhere that the average IQ of an AP student is 115+. If this is the case, then I think my G.P.A will be plummeting this school year. I’m the son of two high school dropouts and I doubt that I have an IQ of 115+. I passed all 6 of my honors classes last school year with A+ averages but I’m worried that the jump from honors to AP will be beyond my intellectual ability.
Your thinking is all screwed up. Instead of projecting success or failure based upon your own past results and study habits, you invent reasons for failure. You invent yourself a lower IQ. You disregard the effect of consistent steady work habits and past success. Way to mentally sabotage yourself, congrats, extra points for creativity.
If you are concerned with the workload, drop or lower one class. Both your APs take a lot of writing. Why trig and precalc? I am not familiar with taking both, I though the precalc contains trig, but this is not something I know that much about. Taking 2 math at once seems unnecessary.
My school requires trig as a prerequisite for precalculus. And taking two is necessary in order for me to take an ap math my senior year. My school puts many strange prerequisite requirements for the few ap courses that it offers.
If trig is a prerequisite for pre calc you could be setting yourself up for trouble. You will not have all of the background or skills you need for the precalc class. I would drop the pre calc and take it senior year unless you are going into engineering. Even then look into taking precalc during the summer before senior year. You could survive without an AP math class.
As for IQ the top two students in my daughter’s high school class at graduation both had IQs that were too low to qualify them for the gifted program. But they worked harder than my daughter and the other gifted students. My daughter for example concentrated more on extra curricular activities that interested her.
IQ has already been proven as a score that does not reflect a human’s full range of ability. In other words, don’t worry about it, OP. Your work ethic and eagerness to learn will be just as important, if not more. Give yourself some credit, honors classes are not easy either! Also, I’ve never heard of that 115 IQ stat for AP students; are you sure that’s accurate? To my knowledge most high schools don’t even test for IQ either (at least mine didn’t).
Are you decent at reading and writing? How is your memorization ability? If you’re decent at both of those, APUSH and Lang shouldn’t be too bad with some studying and prep.
You’re looking for excuses, I say.
I was in your situation: son of two people who never made it pass middle school. That didn’t stop me from taking on the most rigorous schedules I could fit. That shouldn’t stop you either.
Especially if you passed all your honors classes with high marks.
Neither one of my parents graduated from high school. My mother could not read. My grandfather was an illegal immigrant. I still worked my butt off and earned a Ph.D. That means you can achieve any goal too. Just work hard. That’s all it takes. I’m not smart. Just worked really hard !!!