A 7th grader doesn’t really know what “being an engineer” means. She could have completely different interests in a year or two. Don’t pressure her into all these high powered classes unless she wants them.
FWIW, my current senior (granted, she is homeschooled) did nothing-special physics (9), nothing-special chemistry (10), AP Biology, and is now doing AP Comp Sci (which many schools don’t even consider a science.) She is quite advanced in math (through DE Calc 3 by end of junior year), but just doing AP Stats now. I did have her do the SAT subject tests for chem and physics, and the AP exam for bio, and her scores were fine (730/740/5). She’s been accepted to many schools, including Princeton and Ga Tech. I guess it remains to be seen how she will do in college engineering courses, but I suspect it will be fine.
My thought? If your kiddo wants a particularly high-powered science sequence, go for it! But don’t force her into it, thinking it’s the only way for her to be successful in college. She will benefit from a strong foundation in the humanities (engineers need to know how to write well too) and extracurricular experiences that she enjoys and stretch her as person.
One thing I learn, is that you have to be flexible. You can make all the plans you like, but scheduling conflicts and all sorts of other things may interfere, or other opportunities may open up. Taking Chemistry in the summer was never part of our plans for our son, but was suggested by his GC. He got recommended for a Saturday science program by his physics teacher who might not have noticed him if he hadn’t been put in regular instead of honors physics. He lucked into many of the opportunities he had. Some of the most impressive things on his resume literally fell into his lap.
@mathyone “Some Engineering programs require chemistry or physics SAT2.”
To me, that just makes sense. If you are applying to engineering, you should take the math2, and either Physics or Chemistry.
Apparently, part of the issue that the OP faces is that the physics offerings are either an apparently lower level integrated physics and chemistry course, or a two year AP sequence, meaning that there is no solid one year high school physics course offered.
My D18 is taking a science sequence very similar to OP’s D. To answer the question of “why?”, it’s because she loves science. Her schedule looks like this (she’s currently a sophomore)
9th: Honors Biology 1
Honors chemistry 1
10th: Honors chemistry 2
AP Chemistry
11th: AP Physics 1
Anatomy & Physiology
12th: either AP Physics C or
Honors Biology 2 and AP Biology
She’s not a huge biology fan, and thinks she wants to be a physics major in college. If she changes her mind, she may do AP bio instead during her senior year. We both felt that doubling up on honors bio and honors Chem freshman year made a lot of sense. It allows her to take AP Chem, AP physics and AP bio without doubling up on science AP classes. She does have room in her schedule to take both AP bio and physics her senior year, but I don’t see her doing that.
Other than taking AP Chem as a sophomore, which is a little unusual at her school, her class progression is pretty typical.
^^Is she really taking two classes on the same subject at the same time this year?
Is she finding a lot of repetition there?
Her school is on a block schedule. She had Honors Chem 2 in the fall, and has AP Chem now, in the spring. Last year was honors bio in fall, honors Chem 1 in the spring.
As far as repetition, no, but she does feel well prepared in chemistry. At her school Chem 1 and 2 are both pre-requisites for AP. Same with bio 1 & 2. Not sure how other schools do it.
S16 plans to major in Physics, and loves all things science. Our district does not offer “honors” for Biology, Chemistry, or Physics, but offers a “lower level” version of the classes with no labs.
Freshman year: Biology, Astronomy (a semester long elective in our district)
Sophomore year: Chemistry
Junior year: Physics
Senior year: AP Chemistry, AP Physics 2 (and also AP Calc AB)
This is the same kid who used all of his “extra” elective space for all of the available Project Lead the Way courses - by choice. He’ll have a STEM specialty diploma when it’s all said and done. It’s lots of science and lots of engineering, but it’s what interests him, and is giving him a good footing for success in his chosen field.
Yes, go by what interests the student. If they end up taking AP chem in 10th grade (would not recommend), then don’t skip intro chem class in college because after two years of physics they might forget too much chem and not be prepared for college level.
But not everyone enjoys physics, my D took 6 science classes in high school, but only one physics class.
I don’t think taking AP Physics C as a first physics class is very unreasonable, assuming that calculus was already taken. After all, calculus was originally developed to explain ideas in physics. My experience matched in part that of @Coldsummer123. I didn’t take AP Physics 1, but a lot of concepts I had seen in physics that were very confusing became very clear once I saw how they could be written using integrals and derivatives. And for those who look carefully, there is a very small amount of overlap between AP Calculus and AP Physics C Mechanics.
Our school district requires AP Physics I and Calc AB or BC concurrent for AP Physics C. No way around that at this time.
I am just playing around with a schedule at this time and trying to see how it will work.
My kid does not like ANY thing with humanities. She likes anime, anything Japanese, learning to code and comic con. Chemistry has been her favorite science in middle school so far. In 6th grade (last year) she had the highest GPA of the year for math, science and computer class for all of 6th grade.
I will try not to push.
Also I want to reiterate, that the chemistry and physics courses in high school will not be used for AP credit. The only AP credit sought beside humanities, will be BC calc.
Students who are allowed to skip courses in college with AP credit may want to do the following to determine whether they should skip.
- If the course that may be skipped is not a prerequisite for more advanced courses, skip it.
- If the student will take more advanced courses that the course that may be skipped is a prerequisite, the student can try the old final exams for the course that may be skipped in order to check his/her knowledge compared to the college's expectations.
Yoir kid is what…13 or 14? Kids interests change over time.
Your kid can be a successful engineering student, if that is the end major, without all,of,this planned course leveraging.
For what it’s worth, my daughter had an honors physics class and she refused to go near the Physics SAT2. She felt very unprepared for that and said there were many topics her class didn’t study and she didn’t have time to learn on her own. The good old days weren’t always as good as we remember.
I don’t see a problem with a motivated and talented STEMy kid doubling up on honors bio and chem, as long as it’s what the kid wants to do and not what the parent is dictating. Make sure the alternatives are discussed and the kid has a real choice.
Even my (older) kid felt he had to study for the physics SAT after taking a look at the content. He’d had a general physics course as a freshman and was in Physics C as a junior. He had nor problem with it, but math and physics are his strengths. My younger kid (definitely not going into engineering) took the Bio SAT. It’s okay to think ahead a little, but you also need to be flexible. Who knew that the College Board would throw a wrench in the works and make Physics a two year sequence? My kids were generally pretty good about letting us know what they wanted to take. We didn’t veto their choices often.
My kid did the physics first sequence. They took both physics C then honors and AP chem then AP Bio. When it came to taking the SAT2(which they realized they needed for college admissions) they took math 2 and Bio since it was the most recent in time. They didn’t feel comfortable taking the physics or the chem sat2. The first time they got about 680 on the bio. The second time they got 730 on bio and were done. They have said they would never take a bio or chem class in college. This semester they might try a physics class much to my surprise. I never thought that would happen.
They took physics C as freshmen with no prior physics? I wouldn’t recommend that.
AP Physics C is manageable as a first time physics course with some teachers. The calc isn’t especially difficult in mechanics. Your child should speak to the physics C teacher and ask if students have taken it without physics experience before. AP Physics I followed by AP Physics C might be repetitious.