Hey guys, I was wondering if my schedule for junior year is strong enough for top 10-20 schools or if I’m overloading myself. Just to get a sense for the high school I go to, my GC has told me we have sent <5 kids to Ivies in their career (>15 years).
AP Calc BC (first kid in years to take; teacher said he doesn’t remember everything on the test lol)
Honors English (top grades in class can take AP Lang exam)
AP Bio
AP US History
Chem (can’t take AP Chem until Sr. year)
Spanish 3
These APs align with my prospective career path (Oil + Gas IBD), so I was considering taking them online. If I do, I will be taking 2x more APs than offered in my grade:
AP US Gov
AP EnviroSci
AP Micro
AP Macro
How many of you guys have taken 8 APs in one year, and how long did you study each night? Luckily for me, the ones I plan on self studying are on the easier side. Would it be smarter for me to just take the classes offered at my school?
Sorry, I guess I need to clarify that. They’re only going to prepare the top grades in the class for the AP Lang exam, but anyone else is also allowed to take it.
During the year that your grades will count the most? And given that colleges will see the scores for those 7 exams?
f you do some research on this site you will find some good advice about APs. There is a great one about the law of diminishing returns – basically over 8 APs in high school raises the question whether any potential benefit actually outweighs the potential negatives, such as…
your junior year grades drop because you have too much work
you score poorly on exams
your teachers aren't prepared to teach to that level of difficulty
the material is just, well, hard (think sciences!)
you don't have time for ECs because you are taking so many APs
My opinion FOR MY KIDS (so take it with a grain of salt, everyone is different) is that 4 APs a year are ok for a disciplined student whose other courses will not demand huge amounts of time, and who can count on good teachers. If there is a doubt take 3 APs instead. Always look at the 4 year plan, not just junior year. An AP sophomore year is an advantage when possible. One self-study per year in a subject the student is genuinely interested in is great.
Thank you for the advice, you definitely bring up good points. I really liked the point about law of diminishing returns. My logic for taking so many APs junior year was to play catch up, as I did not find out about the option of self-studying as a freshman/sophomore until recently. However, if I were one of your disciplined kids, would you let me self-study 1 extra AP econ course on top of my junior year schedule if I were genuinely interested in it? I started the econ club at my school, read about it in my spare time, and am extremely passionate about the subject.
Your schedule is good, though I’m not sure about the studying for 4 APs on your own. That seems like overkill. I agree with the other post, your junior year grades might drop from too much work so only do it if you are sure that you can handle it. Junior year GPA and grades are pretty important. Also, how well does your school prepare you? I’m surprised that you’ll be the first kid in years to take Calc BC and less than 5 people have gone to ivies truthfully. I think this year alone in my school, I’ve seen a senior who will go to harvard, one who will go to upenn, and like 4 who will go to stanford, etc. If your school doesn’t prepare you well, then keep in mind it might be extra time for you to learn some of it on your own to be ready for the AP tests. Also, keep in mind extracurriculars.
I think you’d be okay self studying one Econ - would it appear on your transcript? Can you talk with your GC so that you get one class period to work on it online, and take it through your state’s virtual school (at no cost)?
I would recommend self-studying Macro and Micro. I took the class this year, and it seems like a very doable self-study subject. Both of those tests don’t have that much information (albeit it is still a decent amount) and it’s best to get those credits so you won’t have to take econ in college.
Don’t. You will die.
Take the 3 APs and maybe self study 1 or 2 if you feel you are handling the workload.
If you want to self study, forgo gov and enviro. Gov isn’t super necessary for the oil industry, and although enviro may be, the AP course is watered down and not anything like an enviro course in college. Lang would be good because it will get you out of the freshman English classes in college, and micro/macro is good too. Maybe you could do one this year and one senior year?
I took 3 APs and 3 honors classes this year(2 of which were more difficult than my AP classes) and it was horrible. Ultimately it’s your choice, but I’ll give you a fair warning: taking 8 APs won’t be fun.
Btw, what has your schedule been like in the past couple years? If you took a lot of AP/ honors and did fine, you *might be able to handle more than I could.
4 APs isn’t worth it. It sucks not coming from a school where a lot of people go to Ivies but 4 APs is overkill as other posters have said. Even if you got 5s on all of them (which is unlikely), schools would look at 8 APs and go “is this student just taking these to pad his application?”. That being said, it takes ambition to get into an Ivy from a school like yours which you clearly have. From your schedule, I’m going to guess you’re a pretty smart student so I’m not going to say “reduce the amount of APs”. I’ll just tell you what I would do in your situation.
Don’t take APES unless you have a background in it. Each student is different, but I’m confident it would take significantly longer to self-study than either Gov or Micro and Macro combined. My advice would be this: Self-study Micro and Macro this summer. APUSH and AP GOV overlap, so start studying for AP Gov after first semester during Christmas break. I recommend the Gov Princeton review combined with FRQ practices. If you follow the news, Gov is an easy 5. Good luck!
If you love econ and it’s not offered at your school, go ahead and self study it. Forget the rest. Much more important to do well in your actual classes and on those APs, and to be active in your school and community. No one expects 8 AP classes. Don’t underestimate how much work the BC, bio and APUSH will be, especially since it sounds like you go to a weaker school and may have to do a lot of prep on your own for the exams. Those 3 are some of the highest workload APs, and if it comes to a choice between doing well on them and the Econ, drop the econ.
I took 6 AP tests (5 AP classes) junior year, and 10 in all. Would not recommend, though honestly APUSH the test was easier than APUSH the class, and apparently the test this year was not that hard either. If you’re worried about grades, ask teachers if they give grade bumps for good AP scores. If you self study, I would second (third?) the suggestion to only do micro or macro, or even both if you really can handle it.
The only point of self studying AP classes is to get credit for college…not to get into college.
I agree with self-studying macro or micro…you usually can get credit for those in college.
Why are you not taking AP Lang/Lit instead of Honors?