<p>I searched around on this forum and around the net, but I couldn’t really find the right answer I was looking for. So I might as well ask it myself:</p>
<p>What are the best number of AP classes to take Jr. and even Sr. years?</p>
<p>It’s CC, so we’re obviously looking forward to at least a top 25 college admission. I was thinking around 4 to 5 (an English, a history, a science, a math/another science or history course depending on your interest/potential major). I would think a math would be optional since some students (like myself) are on a road to take a pre-calc course jr. year followed by AP Calc AB.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Any past experience with this stuff? Not just for admission, but just walking out of school with that feeling of ‘I learned something’ as well.</p>
<p>I’m taking 4 in Junior year and 5 Senior Year
If you can handle it, you should take as many as you can; colleges in the top rankings want you to take full advantage of your opportunities</p>
<p>Yeah, I was planning on my Jr./Sr. year schedules looking somewhat like that. I guess the general consensus is the more the merrier with AP’s. Anyone else willing to share experiences? Perhaps about others’ AP loads and college acceptances (not that college is the only reason why we go to school).</p>
<p>It depends on your school, AP classes vary significantly from school to school. Some schools will let anyone take several APs. In my high school, we had a well defined honors track that led to APs and this was only available to a small percentage of students, most of whom had been on this track since freshman year. We started taking AP classes Junior year because the honors classes in freshman and sophomore year were the prerequisites that led into the AP classes. Even in Junior year most people who took APs only took one or two (English and U.S. history was the standard combination), only a few people took three or four. As for myself I took Calc BC, U.S. History, and English Language Junior year, then Physics C, Chemistry, English Lit, Spanish, and European History, in my senior year. I received 5s on all of the tests except for Spanish on which I received a 4. So to answer your question about college, at the time I applied, I had not taken as many APs per se as other applicants at other schools, but I had taken the most challenging course load (without overloading) at my school. I was accepted to my first choice (where I now attend), Penn, early as well as Michigan.</p>
<p>Not to disappoint you, but if your teachers teach to the test (which a lot of teachers do), AP classes are not that special or fulfilling. For this reason, I would take the normal number of academic classes that people usually take at your school and choose the APs that interest you. Don’t try to fit in another class just because it’s an AP. I know a lot of kids at my school would try to do summer school and take more courses so they could fit in three AP sciences by the time they graduated. However, you will learn quickly in college that unless you had an exceptional teacher in high school, the corresponding subject areas require much higher level of thinking.</p>
<p>Hey Poeme, thanks for your detailed thread, and congrats for getting into UPenn. You make some good points, especially about teachers teaching to the test (which I already evaluated in before deciding my current schedule). </p>
<p>Someone was telling me that it’s not how many APs you take, but how well you take advantage of the APs offered in your school. But still, this basically entails taking numerous AP classes. I’m going for around 4-5 myself:
AP English (death), APUSH, AP Bio/Env. Science, AP Gov, and pushing for one more, which would probably just be AP Macro or AP Stats.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, though, the answer will depend on you and your school. I would think a good number would be ~4, but I stopped AP after sophomore year to do full time dual enrollment, so what do I know?</p>
<p>Edit: Daaamn, beat to the joke because I actually typed a real response. What does that teach me?</p>
<p>Most kids in the area high school take the maximum of 3 each year, basically because their school is on a block schedule and that is really all that will fit in their schedule. Saying this, make sure the AP classes you are taking are worth it. My first son had his English AP classes and his Calculus BC classes accepted at his university. Even though he got a 5 in AP Physics, he had to take it over as a college freshman (and then only got a B+ in it.) The advice I have heard is don’t take any AP classes that relate to your chosen major because (1) the college may not accept the course(s) as they are the stepping stone for your major and (2) you never know if the AP topics covered 100% of what is covered in the actual college course which might cause you to be confused/fall behind in the next course up. For my second son, he is basically taking the courses like Government AP, Psychology AP, English AP in hs which might count at college as finished liberal art/required courses, but which won’t affect his expected major.</p>
<p>I read the title of this thread and seriously thought you meant a literal “Prime” number, like 2,3,5,7,11,etc. haha.
It’s good to take AP exams in your desired field though, because it helps show interest, and helps give you a foundation in the subject, regardless of if you need to retake the courses upon entrance to college, I would think.
My personal goal was to hit at least 8 total before Senior year, to have the AP National Scholar. I would think as long as you have a decent number under your belt, like at least 4, by then will show your commitment to your studies, and should look great!</p>
<p>i would say for junior year take as few ap <em>classes</em> and as many <em>exams</em> as you can, and do the reverse for senior year. ap classes are often needlessly hard when the exams themselves can, in most cases, be prepared for with a month or two of intensive study. take as few in school as you can while still being competitive (i.e. so your counselor will still check off “most rigorous courseload”), and self-study others that you’re interested in. on the flip side, for senior year, you really won’t want to take exams in may unless you’re getting credit from your college. so enroll in as many ap classes as you can so that - at risk of oversimplification - it looks good on your transcript.</p>
<p>I had to reread this before I got this hahaha</p>
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<p>Yeah, I’m kind of in a very similar situation. Most kids in my school take an AP science and history (APUSH), and some take AP English. I’m trying to basically get ahead with like 4-5 by making my schedule an overkill.</p>
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<p>I’m kind of in a dilemma with this, the AP course for which my potential college major is taught by a less than adequate teacher, and a course that I still like, but isn’t exactly what I want to go into is taught by a great teacher. At this point, I’m probably sticking with taking the latter course.
And it’s my personal goal to get the NAPS award before Senior year for apps haha.</p>
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<p>I see what you’re getting at with this, but no offense, it seems like a fruitless idea.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys, anyone else care to contribute?</p>
<p>My high school uses a block schedule (4 90-minute periods each day). That means you cannot have more than 4 AP classes at a time. For that reason, I cannot actually fit in more than 4 AP classes b/c they all overlap during the 3rd quarter of the year.</p>
<p>I am taking 4 AP classes this year, and 3 next year (in addition to taking Calc II at a local college; my high school doesn’t offer BC). I figured I’d allow myself a full year of German my senior year, which means I have to cut an AP class.</p>
<p>In any case, I’ve gotten around this limitation by self-studying. A couple this year, a couple next year, and I’ll have a good 12-13 APs by the end of high school.</p>