Maybe this will help: My son took 6 APs (4 math/science, 2 humanities) and IB Spanish in junior year and felt overwhelmed (by the humanities load). He spoke to his guidance counselor and found out it’s not mandatory to take the AP tests at the end. So instead of dropping a class, he decided not to take the test for AP Lang. The thought alone made him more comfortable and breezed through the year. He didn’t self-report AP Lang or this year’s AP Engl on Common App, but they still show up on the transcript as most rigorous classes, I guess?!? With the stress of applications behind, he decided he’s taking the Engl test this year. He is also taking AP Psych (as a second humanities out of the 6 APs this year) and he hates it, but not much to choose from what’s left in the last year.