Too heaby load for Sr. year?

Marian
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:18:10 +0000

There are “easy” APs and “hard” APs.

“Easy” APs are those that are taught over a full high school year but represent one semester’s worth of college work.

“Hard” APs are those that are taught over a full high school year but represent one semester’s worth of college work.



5 AP path: AP Eng., AP Stat, AP Env Sci (required), AP Gov, AP Japanese (No physics in HS career)

6 AP path: Same above + AP Physics C



Assuming that all the APs you mention are taught over a full academic year, I don’t think the first schedule is too demanding because AP Stat, AP Environmental Science, and AP Gov (assuming you mean American Government only, not American plus Comparative taught in one year) are all “easy” APs that are equivalent to a single semester of college work. Moreover, someone who has taken AP Bio and AP Chem will find a great deal of repetition in AP Environmental Science.

Unless the workload in AP Japanese is overwhelming (something I know nothing about), I think that the first path is fine, but I would urge the student to take high school physics in addition, if AP Physics C is not taken. A high school curriculum isn’t really complete without physics, but it need not be at the AP level, especially if the student has no interest in physics.