Senior course help?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

I apologize in advance because I know there’s a bunch of these already, but that it’s that time of year again to choose classes and it’s imperative I make the right decisions. Especially since I know Seniors cannot make changes to schedules later (at least at my school you cannot). However, these are the courses I know I am taking for sure:

•AP Calc AB (School just added BC to the lists this year, but will not have enough prospective students to fill a class until 2018)
•AP Physics 2
•AP Literature
•AP Government/Macroeconomics
•Jazz singers 7-8 & (Most advanced) & also with Chamber Choir since now we share a class…
•Track & Field

My last slot is for foreign language. I will be taking my 4th year of Spanish, however, I am not sure whether to take the AP Spanish Language class or normal Spanish 7-8. It’s not so much about pasing the AP exam because if i don’t feel comfortable, I just won’t take it but I’m worried about my grade. I’m in the running for valedictorian and I’m afraid of not being able to get an A in the class. (Trivial, I know.) The only part that frightens me is the speaking portion, reading and writing is not an issue I don’t think. ANYWAY, is there anything I can do to prepare for the AP version of the class? Tips and tricks for non-native speakers or will taking the normal version suffice just as well? If it means anything, I plan to apply to top schools like Stanford (lol), Columbia (even more lol), USC, UC’s, Howard etc. and perhaps major in an engineering/business hybrid or economics or something in that realm. Anyway, any advice on the subject? Can this decision make a difference in my chances at any of the above mentioned schools?

2

Odd that your school would have students strong enough to fill 2 AP physics classes but not Calc BC. And yes, the thing about Valedictorian is trivial. Isn’t it based on your grades through junior year anyway?

3

It really does not matter. The difference between taking 4 AP classes and 5 on the college admissions process is negligible.

FWIW, IMO, this is a total waste of time. If it happens, fine; if it doesn’t, no big deal. The day after graduation, only the valedictorian and his/her parents will know/care who the val was. :slight_smile:

Watch news and telenovelas on the web if you don’t have on your cable/satellite system. Good luck.

4

@lostaccount It’s only 18 seniors in AP Physics 2 right now at my school and will be around the same next year as far as I know. We only have one Physics teacher across all levels. There’s 2 Calculus teachers, one teaches up to Honors and the other all the way up to AB, until next year maybe. My school will make AB a prereq. for BC, so the few sophomores I know in Honors Calc this year won’t be able to take it until their Senior year unless they all did AB over summer. There’s an entire other story explaining why an experimental group of sophomores are in Pre-Calc instead of Int. Algebra, but I won’t bore you. And no, at my school, valedictorians are selected from those who have maintained a 4.0 UW GPA through all 8 semesters. (There are multiple.)

5

@skieurope Thank you for the advice! I just didn’t want one measley language class to be the deciding factor in any admissions, haha.