Is it too heavy or standard?
AP Spanish
AP ES
AP Calculus
AP Mcro/AP Micro
AP English
APWH
Fine Arts Elective Honors
By no stretch of the imagination, even by College Confidential standards, is this a “standard” schedule. As to whether it’s too heavy, only the student (and perhaps the GC/parents) can be the judge of that. It will certainly be time-consuming.
Seems a bit heavy to me. In our district, AP classes are VERY homework heavy in addition to being difficult. Our son will take AP Calc BC, AP English Lang, AP Physics, AP Studio Art, and French 4 Honors when he’s a junior. He’ll have to bow out of APUSH and take regular American History. That one additional AP would push his schedule from incredibly difficult to impossible.
Well, the hs students on here are always asking, “Are X APs too many to handle” and there’s no way to answer that. It depends on the student’s ability and work habits, and on their time commitments outside of school, and on how much work the teachers of those courses at that school assign. I think it’s a heavy load but not unmanageable for a good honors student who is willing work hard and efficiently. But you really should talk to students at your own school for feedback on how hard it will be. I would watch out for the fine arts class–studio art at our school can be more time consuming than another AP class.
Honestly, this isn’t standard by any means, but its difficulty ranges because you’re being vague with class names. Are you taking AP Brit Lit or AP Eng Lang? Is it AP Spanish Lang or AP Spanish Lit? Is it Calc AB or Calc BC? I know Econ, APES, and WHAP are all relatively easy tests, but I don’t know about the classes in your case.
Sorry about not being clear, its AP English Lang, AP Spanish Lang and Calculus BC. Their classes are work heavy. Student is hard working and good test taker but would need serious time management as he does music off campus. Econ is one semester each.
Bump
I’d switch either AP Econ or AP WH for their honors equivalent. It seems a bit much and may cut into the student’s sleep hours.
^^I agree w/ that. The class itself might be easy for you, but required readings will be your downfall eventually. Use the extra time to relax. You do NOT want to crash Junior year from ever increasing homework and/or lack of sleep.
This student is swapping AP Econ(A&B) with AP Art History as district only allow AP Econ to seniors. I’m still skeptic about this schedule. Too work heavy and no strong science this year. He is done with honors Bio & honors Chem and taking physics 1&2 in summer school but won’t have any AP science credit at the time of college application, just AP ES.
APES is a science credit. Despite what you may perceive from reading posts on CC, the vast majority of students who take the high powered AP sciences (bio/chem/physics C) are seniors. There are no bonus points given by the college admissions team for taking them as a junior.
worryhurry411 and ALL high schoolers- THERE IS NO NEED TO CRAM A BUNCH OF APS INTO A STUDENTS JR YEAR! IT WILL NOT IMPRESS COLLEGES!
Doing so is to guarantee STRESS, not enough sleep and a declining GPA, which is what colleges DO care MORE about !
Colleges DONT care WHEN you take an AP, and DONT give extra " brownie points" for taking more than 6-8 AP classes IN TOTAL during high school!
2-3 AP’s during JR year and 3-4 AP’s during Sr year is PLENTY!!
BTW, AP physics 1 OR AP Physics 2, will count. No need to take both. Use the summer for something worthwhile - the top schools that ask about summer activities want to see something else than classes: family trip, planning something with friends, creative project, anything fun, non competitive, either unusual, or, on the contrary, 'classical ’ American life.
So you’re concerned that the student’s course load is too heavy, and now he swaps one AP (in social science) for another (in Arts). At the risk of being overly frank, this schedule looks to me like it was put together by an AP junkie. (IRL, I use another phrase, but its use on CC is questionable). As @menloparkmom says, more AP’s is not better. No college believes that the one with the most AP wins; it’s not an arms race. [Here](http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/prepare.html) is what Stanford says on the subject.
On a related note, if the student is really into art/architecture, AP Art History can be a breeze. If the student has little interest in the subject, and is simply taking the class because it’s an AP, it can be a living nightmare.
He is doing it for Val/Sal spot. I told him that these courses may be easy yet this many APs can be too much to handle. He is confident that he can manage.
He is working with a band during summer to organize a concert for homeless teens.
He is also going on a 2 week trip to Portugal with his family.
Most kids are doing SAT prep so instead he is taking Physics course during that time.
If he’s doing it for his own personal satisfaction, that’s fine. (Although I personally find the lack of sleep this will entail troubling). If he’s vying for any scholarships that only go to val/sal, also fine. If he’s doing it to impress colleges, they won’t be.
I am not sure whether this has been posted already, I could not find this information but maybe I missed it, but:
What is his experience with AP classes his freshman and sophomore year? Which courses has he already taken?
So far many mostly honors classes (including Chem, pre-cal & Bio) and 3 AP courses. Earned >95 in every class and 5 on AP taken in freshman year, still waiting on sophomore APs.
Thanks for that information, were the 3 taken in the same year?