What is the perception of AP Computer Science and other APs

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

So my school seems to be somewhat abnormal in terms of how difficult various AP classes are, so I think I have a skewed perception of how the APs in my schedule will be judged in admissions. For example, AP US History and AP Lang (along with maybe Bio) are probably the hardest AP courses my school offers (both classes hardly ever award As) while Physics, Computer Science and other classes are supposedly much easier, so this gives an opportunity to use that to my advantage when choosing courses. I am going into junior year and I have managed to avoid taking AP Calc and APUSH which are both typically taken this year, while still taking an all AP workload. This is very important for me because I desperately need to raise my GPA due to a bad year last year.

My schedule this year is:
AP Lang
AP Physics C Mechanics
AP European History
AP Computer Science
German 4 Honors
AP Macroeconomics
AP Calc C (self study- online class from JHU - I took AB online during the summer)

I don’t know how most of these classes are actually perceived, so how does this schedule compare in perception with a typical hardest possible junior year schedule at my school (AP Calc BC, APUSH, AP Lang, AP Physics (or Bio), German 4 Honors, + 1 elective)? My school offers a ton of APs so it is pretty normal to take 4, or even occasionally 5, in junior year. By taking this schedule of more, but probably easier, APs, will it look like I was being lazy to avoid the most work intensive courses? Or will it look better because of the self study and taking less prescribed classes? Or are the APs I’m taking actually perceived as harder than the ones I would be taking otherwise?

2

This is in my school at least:
AP Lang - Medium
AP Physics C - Hard
AP Euro - Medium/Easy (most of the social studies APs in my school are pretty easy and this is the hardest one.
AP Comp Science - My school doesn’t offer this AP but I’ve heard from friends who have taken it that they consider it semi-difficult but very difficult if you have no prior experience with the subject.
AP Macro - In my school this is actually an easy AP though I’ve heard from people in other schools that it’s hard.
AP Calc C - Medium/Hard

3

Colleges don’t know (or care) how hard or easy a course is taught at various high schools. Below is the pass rate for the AP exams, if that helps you know what to expect when you take the actual exam, which is what really counts in the world of APs – your score at the end.

I’ve heard of people making an A in an “easy” AP class and making a 1 on the exam. Don’t let a teacher’s way of teaching fool you.

However, do what you need to do to get your GPA up, as that is very important. It won’t matter which set of AP courses you take, as long as you are taking a challenging curriculum and making good grades.

https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions

4

Aps can be core aps (calc, chem/physics/bio, foreign language, any history, English Lang and lit ), light (designed to be added to the schedule or as a gateway to ap: apes, psych, stats, hg), and everything else is a complementary app, strong academically but nit as important as a core ap.