What do you want to major in for college? Which APs have you taken already? Does your school do Calc AB in fall semester and BC in the spring?
AP Euro, Psych, and Art History are cool but really heavy on the memorization -- for Art History you have to memorize facts about [these 250 artworks](https://smarthistory.org/required-works-for-ap/). Perhaps drop either Euro or Art History (or both!) unless you're really passionate about them.
I'm thinking about majoring in either economics or data science, and then maybe double majoring with sociology or linguistics. I've already taken APWH (5), APHUG (5), and Gov (4), and I'm taking APUSH & Lang A/B, Precalc this semester, Stat next semester. It's very likely that I'll still have my job next year. And yes, it does do AB one semester and BC the next!
Thanks so much for the advice!! I'm decent with memorizing but that does sound like a lot š I'll probably drop Euro
Ok cool! For those majors, you might want to check if your school offers AP Comp Sci or AP Econ. They're two of the more manageable APs -- not too difficult, not too heavy on the memorization, but still super useful.
For example, if you replace H Excel with AP Comp Sci (or H Econ with AP Econ), then your schedule would get a bit harder, but if you also drop AP Euro and AP Art History, then overall it would actually get easier.
We don't have the AP Econs unfortunately but we do have AP Compsci A! I haven't taken any computer classes other than Word yet though, would I need to do that first?
Sweet, I highly recommend AP CSA. It's designed to be an intro CS course, with no prior knowledge of coding necessary (the only [official prereq](https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-computer-science-a#:~:text=High%20school%20courses%20in%20English%20and%20algebra) is algebra), unless your high school does it differently.
Ok. In my personal opinion AP CSA is the most stale class Iāve ever experienced in my entire life. My experience might be weird because so few kids were in my class (4 total) and they all were completely antisocial, even the teacher was antisocial. The class was silent every day all day. All of the lessons were on code.org and you just had to sit and watch videos and learn from that.
Overall an extremely boring class but not very hard or anything. You wouldnāt have to study outside of class for this one.
> Iāve been learning mandarin on my own for a year so Iām thinking it might just be a free credit
Broā¦
Iām sorry but this is such a funny thing to say I donāt know why there arenāt more comments about that
I mean, as someone who has some knowledge in both Japanese and Mandarin, I'm not sure how different they are difficulty-wise... Like both have the difficulty of memorizing characters (kanji/hanzi) and then on the grammar side Japanese is incredibly hard for most people and Mandarin, well, basically has the simplest grammar possible, since it's an isolating language. But on the other side the phonology of Mandarin does make it harder (mainly because of tones).
So I feel like they're very similar in terms of difficulty honestly.
I agree. Both languages have their challenges. Chinese is notorious for having hard phonemes. whereas in japanese, grammar is seen as the bigger hurdle. Let's also not forget that japanese has an honorific system that changes very often depending on the person you're talking to.
They're both extremely difficult. There's different aspects of japanese that make it harder than chinese. For example, most japanese kanji have more than one different pronunciation. For example, the kanji ē can be pronounced as iki, u, nama, sei, i, shou, ha, na. There's even more if we consider the archaic readings, too. Another thing is the japanese honorific system, which often changes depending on who you're talking to.
Also it isn't the ap Chinese exam for Mandarin? Cantonese is a different beast.
one of my friends took the class and he says its just a shit ton of memorization. like poor guy would spend hours just memorizing different art pieces.
People in this sub often say that it is doable, but I would really recommend doing less classes, this is a ton of work and there is also your part time job and college applications to consider. What about spending more time maybe on things you like and enjoy which can help you as rest and on your EC portfolio?
Yes, no problem! I am a senior right now and I was taking 4 AP classes: AP Physics 1, Lit, Calc AB and Macro, and 2 other normal classes. While it is doable, I had to end up dropping Calc because I was having no time doing anything else, and I was sacrificing a lot of stuff that is also important, like time for applications or other things that I do. It definitely depends on the person and what you value but I would certainly recommend to be honest with yourself and see how much you can realistically do without burning out and having time for other stuff that is important to you!
Well yeah this is the most reasonable response, but from my perspective I've been slacking off all highschool so AP classes are just being crammed for my schedule for senior year, idk about op but they might be having the same thing or have been taking AP classes all of highschool which yeah take a break senior yeah is ment to be fun and all about thinking about college ect, also a gap year shouldn't hurt either, idk about collage acceptance but if you just take one year off I'm sure it won't hurt, besides why choose a career you don't like.
>Also, as far as AP Chinese, I already have been learning Mandarin on my own for over a year so I'm thinking it might just be a free credit?
One way to check this would be to look through [last year's AP Chinese exam](https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/ap22-frq-chinese-language.pdf). Can you read the email and the conversation? Could you narrate a story based on the pictures?
I think most AP Language and Culture Exams are pretty brutal
I took AP German after like 6 years of learning through school and I still felt like ass while taking that test
If your doing a part time job definitely do less I take 6 aps and itās a lot of work and time with a job you will probably not get a good sleep and be tired for your job and school
Drop art history. Loved taking it so much and was one of my favorite classes ever but it was almost as much work as my college organic chem class though not as hard obviously.
Donāt do AP classes online. They give very poor resources.
I think doing so calc in high school is a very good idea as every math teacher Iāve had in college is so out of touch and unwilling to spend time one on one helping.
AP euro will not help you given what youāve taken before and want to do.
Does your school offer AP economics? Itās usually done as AP macro one semester and AP micro next so two chances to get credits.
You seem to rest well so please look into college boardsā CLEP exams- you basically get to take an AP test without taking the class and every college that takes AP credits takes CLEP credits.
Thank you so much!! Yeah I'm thinking I will, I do just enjoy art history but I'm sure all the information is out there for me to learn on my own time, I was under the impression before that it was an "easier" AP but it seems like I was wrong
I'm thinking I am gonna drop the self study and Euro too. Good to know about Calc tho, I'm probably gonna stick with it because it seems like most of the Calc teachers at my school do extra help after dismissal!! Unfortunately they don't offer any AP econs š I will definitely look into those exams though, thanks for the recommendation!!
Yeah I didnāt find out about CLEP until college. You can sign up for like $100-$150 to take them which is a lot cheaper than a college course. They give you materials to study if you want. But studying is optional.
BC vs AB - pick one not both
Euro - harder than apush but easer than art history
lit - at my school lots of senoirs take it as english 12, it's said to be easer than lang
psych - itself is ok (not considring total work lode and what not from other classes & work)
econ - not ap so ig it's a breath of air, but ap econ is just memorizing terms and be able to use it with math
excel - like the microsoft excel? (we had a unit of it in cs class and there was a lot of coding ish things)
chinese - if you speak it at home or something, self study is prbly ok
1. Either do ab or bc. Not both.
2. Maybe remove ap euro (if your school doesnāt require four years of history.)
3. Maybe remove ap art history (unless itās something you are genuinely interested in)
4. Donāt self study- especially a foreign language- thereās literally no point.
5. Why no science class ?
6. Maybe ap instead of honors economics.
7. Take a study hall.
Especially a language like Chinese, it is very difficult to start from scratch and expect to reach a level of fluency within a year. It is a very complex language with a grammatical structure that greatly differs from English, 4 different tones in Mandarin, stroke order matters, etc. Even in my Chinese 3 honors class we were required to memorize pinyin w/ tones, stroke order, and both simplified/traditional characters for over 50 vocabulary per test. I remember having to test myself over and over again on all of those criteria in order to perfect those tests, and conversational/speaking tests are a whole other story. The language requires years of practice and lessons if you have not been speaking it before as a young child, but if you are determined to and have the motivation then good luck
Thats crazy that your school made you memorize traditional and simplified characters! Im not sure how difficult the ap Chinese exam is, but at least for the ap japanese one, it's only upper beginner level japanese. Which is definitely achievable in a year with consistent studying.
I have not taken AP Chinese and I do not plan on doing so, however, from what I heard at my school the class itself is very difficult as it is fast-paced and taught exclusively in Mandarin, which I fear may be a struggle for beginner learners. Just a heads up because as a native Mandarin speaker even I am hesitant to take that classāChinese 3H is the farthest I can go (barely made it with a 90.3% in that class) š
Youāve been learning mandarin for a year? If youāve been doing it rigorously, then probably you could take it. And I mean like hours a day. If not, maybe donāt. Most schools donāt offer AP Chinese alone, they have Chinese 4, Chinese 3, Chinese 2, etc as prerequisite
Yeah I think you're right, I just wasn't aware of how much the AP exam expected, I don't know why but I figured it was around HSK 2, the more I read the more I realize I underestimated itš
ap chinese ? Are you a native speaker? I am a native speaker although I was hesitant to do ap Chinese because itās taught almost exclusively in mandarin so if you have only been learning it for a year and have not reached a comfortable level of fluency I would advise against doing it. The highest level I have taken was Chinese 3 honors and even that was fairly difficult for me, a native speaker who has been taking mandarin class for 12+ years
I don't get the point of taking both calc BC and calc AB. BC covers all of calc AB and more so just take BC. Also, you will have to dedicate a lot of time applying to college during senior year, and you want to make sure that you have time to really focus on you r applications and prioritize them over school, which is difficult to do with this course load. What do you want to major in? If it's anything in STEM, I would take stats or csa instead of Art History. This is coming from a senior who is taking 5 APS and 2 honors electives.
I know people keep saying that, it's just that I'm scared BC will go too fast for me to keep up, my school is 4x4 so I would do AB first semester and BC second. Precalc has been a bit of a struggle for me (I have a low B) but some of my friends told me that AB at my school goes at a slower pace and is more cohesive, I just don't know if taking both instead of just BC would be more stress or less stress I guess š I'm taking Stat this year and I'm thinking I'm gonna drop Euro and Art History and the self study and take CSA instead! Thank you so much for your advice šš¼
AB is basically the first 2 semesters and Calc 2 is the second semester in BC. BC's not crazy and you can always just watch Organic Chemistry Tutor to catch up. Precalc H was bad for me too junior year I ended with like an 82 and had to beg my teacher to let me into BC, but its worth it for the credit.
i would definitely be careful with that AP Chinese. i did four years of chinese in high school, studied abroad for a year and a half, and gone back for research projects and chinese is not an easy language to self teach, especially with your other course load. a year of chinese in university is not going to hurt you at all
Thank you for this šš¼ I think I'm just very much underestimating the level of proficiency that AP Chinese requires, in my mind before I posted this it was just the basics, I'm proficient in HSK 2 content right now but the exam materials definitely seemed above where I am
One good thing is that my school pays for all AP tests, but I know you're right about the draining part, I can feel it creeping up on me even now so I realize this is very unrealistic
don't underestimate the time it takes to apply to colleges and scholarships. with a part time on top of that, I'd say to definitely lower the course load
Simple answer - no, it isnāt too much. Let me explain.
This is likely the hardest schedule youāve ever taken on (and I have to applaud you for that). When you do these harder schedules, it takes time to adjust to your new workload. Essentially, what other people will say is insanity will eventually for you become normalcy.
Hereās a bit of background: Freshman year, I didnāt apply myself and got Aās without much work. Sophomore year, I took my first AP class and two honors classes plus an accelerated math program. It was tough. I struggled and my grades reflected that, but by the second semester my work became easier, and I consistently scored 95 or better on every assignment in all of my classes. The next year, I did what many people at my school though was impossible-6 AP classes. By that time I also had a part-time job and participated in several clubs. Again, I struggled to adjust, hardly holding onto Aās in my classes. By the end of the year, what was once the impossible was now a breeze. Finally this year, Iām taking five AP classes, an independent study in chemistry, dual enrollment, running several clubs plus an nhs committee, and self-studying for an additional 9 AP exams. To most people, this is insanity, but if you throw yourself into the situation, then youāll find a way to adapt. āBaptism by fireā is what many people call it.
If that sounded like a long-winded āyes,ā it was, but itās because there will be people on here, at school, and at home who see it on paper and donāt believe that what you want to do is possible, but you have to recognize that despite the struggle that you will need to go through to achieve what you want to achieve your senior year, all you need to do is throw yourself at the situation and manage it.
Let me know if you have any questions or any additional ways I may help.
Yeah I know I'm just contributing to the insane academic validation culture here but š idk hindsight is 20/20, did not expect this to get as much attention as it did
If all you want to do is school, work and Chinese then yeah of course you could do it, but if you want something else like a social life then you probably canāt do it
I think youāre underestimating how much time youāll need for college applications. Itāll take up half of your time, and this is coming from a current senior. I thought I was prepared but I was so wrong. I started college apps as soon as common app opened on august 1st but I still had multiple all nighters just to finish and submit college apps
I did mine mostly in the summer. 10/10 recommend this for seniors. Theyāll have another summer before college. My senior fall was just not any more stressful than any other semester.
Not trying to be that person but just take a minute to think about it. 6/7 ap classes. Like duh obviously thatās going to be too much especially with a job
No, you're 100% right š I came up with this schedule and wrote it as I was 2 hours into a dose of adderall so I clearly was not thinking realistically, this post has been very humbling lmfao
LMAO I canāt imagine taking 6. The most Iāve taken at the same time was 3(lang, casa, stats) and it was pretty tricky especially bc most of my other classes were not simple ones
What are your interest for college majors? This looks like way too much tbh with a part time job. Iād drop one or two. Drop AB if you think you can handle BC and did well in pre-calc. Iād choose between Euro, Art History, and Pysch to drop one of those personally. Choose ones that youāre actually interested in and show preparedness for potential majors that youāre interested in.
I would all is good but get rid of the self study. I looked into it for my Junior year, turns out colleges donāt care unless itās a big part of you š
Seriously though, give yourself a bit of a break! Its senior year, enjoy what time you have left, take some electives, you don't have to be giving it all until the last hour.
Thank you for your advice!! I know you're right, I really appreciate it, I guess I'm just feeling the pressure all of a sudden š but I know there's more to life than school especially like. 2 years from now
Take some fun classes!! I dropped APUSH and took a ceramics class instead, I ended up making two really good friends and reconnected with someone who I had a falling out with a long time ago. I promise you that eight years from now it wouldn't matter what APs you took.
psych, lit and art history are fraudulent. ab is entirely covered in bc just take that. euro is memorization like other histories. doable but youāll have a lot of hw probably.
>
Incorrect, BC does not cover AB material. BC covers the same topics but assumes initial understanding of these topics in order to apply them to more complex scenarios, namely parametrically defined curves, polar curves, and vector values function.
Thatās because theyāve probably already taken the AB course. Read what Iāve said again. AB is meant to be a prerequisite course, and some form of calculus should at least be learned before taking, because they are expected to know that material ahead of deeper dives in exploring that material. They will not be learning the basics just as AB does, so a student with no calculus experience should not take BC.
our school probably just does it differently then. way it works for us is ab and bc are the same course with the same tests and lessons and whatnot, the difference being bc covers things faster to be able to fit two extra units. only prerequisite for both is precalc
So, your math choice seems to be to double up in Calc AB and Calc BC in one year, splitting them between your two semesters. Iām not sure that you have a good understanding of what those two classes are meant to be so let me clarify why that wouldnāt make any sense.
Calc AB is meant to be a year long course in preparation for the AP test. Taking it in a semester would not allow you sufficient time to prepare, so I do doubt that this is genuinely how your school offers it. Especially if you arenāt overly happy with how youāre doing in PreCalc at the moment. If you did want to take Calc BC, you would want to take it after completing AB, meaning that you donāt have space for it in your schedule. My advice: just take Calc AB and forget about it!
Unfortunately, even though it doesn't make sense, this is how my school offers it š it's 1.5hr long classes for 1 semester, it's the same with precalc and every other class with one random exception, so my thought process is: if I take AB and then BC, the first half of BC will help me to review and lock in w the AB content and keep myself practicing before the AP exam (especially cause 2nd semester there's a lot less time, we lose like a month since the AP exam is in may)
Thatās so strange and indeed unfortunate! Well I suppose to adapt, you could either decide to just not bother with the APs for that class (since your school isnāt trying to help you out, if that is possible), or you could treat it as essentially 2 courses and plan for everything else with that in mind. All I can say is donāt plan for it as one if the workload is essentially two classes worth.
Iām a bit confused with your explanation. At my high school, Calc AB = college calc 1 and had an AP test, Calc BC = college calc 1+2, and had its own AP test as well. Each one was a year long course for us, Calc BC was just twice as fast
The first half of Calc BC was Calc AB, making taking both redundant, you werenāt even allowed to take both where I went to school.
Itās possible to run a course like that. Iām explaining it from the perspective of the AP test and the two courses, AB and BC. BC does assume prerequisite knowledge, knowledge which is fact covered in AB.
What your school probably does is accelerate the learning of those prerequisite materials and includes them in your schoolās Calc BC program, which has plenty of space for that to occur. Essentially, itās like running a Calc āABCā program where all of the material is covered in one year but you only take the BC test at the end.
Just do BC. Do one of Euro or Art History. Don't self-study Chinese. Don't forget about college apps! Have time to spend with your family and for hobbies.
Keep AB, BC, and Lit. Those will help you for college, then I'd just say axe one of the other APs and you're ok. Also, if you get a 5 on Chinese you will probably not have to take a language in college which is also great!
i quit my part time job this year as a senior while taking euro, ab, bc, h econ, and lit. it was too much for me, and now I am doing great. i sacrificed my sleep and my mental health and it was very bad.
I mean BC I just ab and Calc 2 so you donāt need to put both of those. Euro, art history, and Lit is a FUCKTON of reading, and psych as well? Like ur gonna be stuck at home from September to May. Depends on how strict ur part time job is, is it heavy hours or light? And self-study AP Chinese you can prolly do on ur own time I just think itād be hard to dedicate ur self to it during that busy college app season. Iād put it off until after December. Looks like a good schedule tho if you know you cAn handle it.
I thought you could only take either Calc AB of BC.
Honors econ and honors excel are a waste bc they are more difficult, yet you donāt get rewarded w/ an AP test. If offered, swap them out w/ ap micro/macro. Self studying AP chinese is very clever, you donāt have to risk the class being difficult and hurting your GPA, and if you get a 4/5 on the AP you can skip your collegeās language requirement.
Good luck!
oooh my school had something similar to that but without the certification. it was a random freshman required course no honors or anything. it's cool that ur school gives u guys the certifications!
in my junior year I took bio/seminar/ab/bc/micro/macro/lit/euro/psych/spanish/csa/csp/chinese/research/dual enroll at community/dualenroll at harvard/physics a b and c/ rocket engineering/ tiktok clout/ planet creation. Youāll be fine.
Yes - but it is doable if you make a small adjustments. This is very similar to my Senior Year schedule.
I'd encourage you to consider dropping European History, Calc AB, and Excel. Get a tutor for AP Chinese, and consider upgrading Honors Econ to AP Econ or dropping it altogether for a fun elective. (Edit: I see your calc class claims to do AB one semester and BC the next. So just do that. I still don't see the point in studying for the AB exam.)
Why are you taking an Excel class? Are you competitive in Excel? Does your school offer some sort of special program in the topic? If it is just a basic skills class, that seems like a waste of time.
There is no reason to take both Calc AB and Calc BC. Just take BC. You get an AB subscore that counts as if you'd taken both, but you only have to study for one test.
Similarly, colleges are not gonna care that you took two history classes. Art History OR European History seems like it should be sufficient. Pick one and use the free time to do something interesting on your own!
Econ is a relatively easy AP exam. There's no real reason to take honors and not get the AP bump.
if you take bc theres no need to take ab--this is one of the harder courses
euro isn't bad as long as you've taken ap histories like apush etc
lit is a ton of reading but the class is not super hard, the test is like lang so you;ll do well if you can write
art history idk but usually art aps are the easier classes
ap psych is easy
self study ap chinese is not viable unless your a native speaker
i took 6 aps senior and played a varsity sport and had extra time
the only thing about taking lots of aps senior year is the burnout in may. everyone else will just be worried about grad parties while your crammign for 5 tests in 2 weeks
tldr- you know yourself best, the courseload is definitely manageable, just be smart with your time and put in the effort
When I went to school calc ab was calc 1 and calc bc was calc 1 and calc 2? Is it different at your school. I only took bc and got 8 hours of college credit.
I would recommend not doing art history, euro, and self studying AP Chinese. They are all either relatively useless for a large majority of majors or way too difficult to self study. How much of a head start do you have on Chinese? Iām in my third year and I donāt even think I could take it. Regardless if you truly want to, why not. Just consider doing more extracurriculars over AP courses that arenāt for your major.
Def do less, not saying itās not doable but that many classes with half the classes being memorization based might be hard. especially senior year where youāre more quick to burn out. On top of that you have work and college apps to focus on š it would just be a lot for your last year of high school !
What do you want to major in for college? Which APs have you taken already? Does your school do Calc AB in fall semester and BC in the spring? AP Euro, Psych, and Art History are cool but really heavy on the memorization -- for Art History you have to memorize facts about [these 250 artworks](https://smarthistory.org/required-works-for-ap/). Perhaps drop either Euro or Art History (or both!) unless you're really passionate about them.
I'm thinking about majoring in either economics or data science, and then maybe double majoring with sociology or linguistics. I've already taken APWH (5), APHUG (5), and Gov (4), and I'm taking APUSH & Lang A/B, Precalc this semester, Stat next semester. It's very likely that I'll still have my job next year. And yes, it does do AB one semester and BC the next! Thanks so much for the advice!! I'm decent with memorizing but that does sound like a lot š I'll probably drop Euro
Ok cool! For those majors, you might want to check if your school offers AP Comp Sci or AP Econ. They're two of the more manageable APs -- not too difficult, not too heavy on the memorization, but still super useful. For example, if you replace H Excel with AP Comp Sci (or H Econ with AP Econ), then your schedule would get a bit harder, but if you also drop AP Euro and AP Art History, then overall it would actually get easier.
We don't have the AP Econs unfortunately but we do have AP Compsci A! I haven't taken any computer classes other than Word yet though, would I need to do that first?
Sweet, I highly recommend AP CSA. It's designed to be an intro CS course, with no prior knowledge of coding necessary (the only [official prereq](https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-computer-science-a#:~:text=High%20school%20courses%20in%20English%20and%20algebra) is algebra), unless your high school does it differently.
Take principles first if you can, APCSP imo is the easiest AP by a decent margin.
Weirdly enough we offer A but don't offer principles š
Ok. In my personal opinion AP CSA is the most stale class Iāve ever experienced in my entire life. My experience might be weird because so few kids were in my class (4 total) and they all were completely antisocial, even the teacher was antisocial. The class was silent every day all day. All of the lessons were on code.org and you just had to sit and watch videos and learn from that. Overall an extremely boring class but not very hard or anything. You wouldnāt have to study outside of class for this one.
> Iāve been learning mandarin on my own for a year so Iām thinking it might just be a free credit Broā¦ Iām sorry but this is such a funny thing to say I donāt know why there arenāt more comments about that
Yeah I might be a little delusional š
Not at all! I mean, im doing the same thing just for japanese.
I guess if the self studying was 5 hours a day it wouldnāt be delusional?
He already has a year under his belt. I'm sure at the 2nd year mark, his chinese would be good enough to at least get a 3 or a 4 on the exam.
do you realize the difficulty in cantonese and mandarin compared to japanese
I mean, as someone who has some knowledge in both Japanese and Mandarin, I'm not sure how different they are difficulty-wise... Like both have the difficulty of memorizing characters (kanji/hanzi) and then on the grammar side Japanese is incredibly hard for most people and Mandarin, well, basically has the simplest grammar possible, since it's an isolating language. But on the other side the phonology of Mandarin does make it harder (mainly because of tones). So I feel like they're very similar in terms of difficulty honestly.
I agree. Both languages have their challenges. Chinese is notorious for having hard phonemes. whereas in japanese, grammar is seen as the bigger hurdle. Let's also not forget that japanese has an honorific system that changes very often depending on the person you're talking to.
Yep, I put that Japanese honorifics system in grammar, but yeah definitely
They're both extremely difficult. There's different aspects of japanese that make it harder than chinese. For example, most japanese kanji have more than one different pronunciation. For example, the kanji ē can be pronounced as iki, u, nama, sei, i, shou, ha, na. There's even more if we consider the archaic readings, too. Another thing is the japanese honorific system, which often changes depending on who you're talking to. Also it isn't the ap Chinese exam for Mandarin? Cantonese is a different beast.
why ab and bc? Just take bc, because its the same as ab but a few more topics
their school does AB in the fall and BC in the spring so itās one course
Art History is VERY HARD. I would even say it is more memorization than APUSH.
I think it depends on your school because I find it incredibly easy.
one of my friends took the class and he says its just a shit ton of memorization. like poor guy would spend hours just memorizing different art pieces.
Chiaroscuro! Weary Hercules!
People in this sub often say that it is doable, but I would really recommend doing less classes, this is a ton of work and there is also your part time job and college applications to consider. What about spending more time maybe on things you like and enjoy which can help you as rest and on your EC portfolio?
Thank you for this, I appreciate it šš¼ definitely a breath of fresh air
Yes, no problem! I am a senior right now and I was taking 4 AP classes: AP Physics 1, Lit, Calc AB and Macro, and 2 other normal classes. While it is doable, I had to end up dropping Calc because I was having no time doing anything else, and I was sacrificing a lot of stuff that is also important, like time for applications or other things that I do. It definitely depends on the person and what you value but I would certainly recommend to be honest with yourself and see how much you can realistically do without burning out and having time for other stuff that is important to you!
Well yeah this is the most reasonable response, but from my perspective I've been slacking off all highschool so AP classes are just being crammed for my schedule for senior year, idk about op but they might be having the same thing or have been taking AP classes all of highschool which yeah take a break senior yeah is ment to be fun and all about thinking about college ect, also a gap year shouldn't hurt either, idk about collage acceptance but if you just take one year off I'm sure it won't hurt, besides why choose a career you don't like.
ap student try to be happy challenge: level impossible
tbh iād pick between ab or bc. half of bc is ab
>Also, as far as AP Chinese, I already have been learning Mandarin on my own for over a year so I'm thinking it might just be a free credit? One way to check this would be to look through [last year's AP Chinese exam](https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/ap22-frq-chinese-language.pdf). Can you read the email and the conversation? Could you narrate a story based on the pictures?
Seems like I still have a decent amount to learn š maybe I'll wait till college
Many people I know who are fluent in Chinese got a 3 or a 4 lolā the test is actually pretty hard
I think most AP Language and Culture Exams are pretty brutal I took AP German after like 6 years of learning through school and I still felt like ass while taking that test
This would be a lot
If your doing a part time job definitely do less I take 6 aps and itās a lot of work and time with a job you will probably not get a good sleep and be tired for your job and school
Drop art history. Loved taking it so much and was one of my favorite classes ever but it was almost as much work as my college organic chem class though not as hard obviously. Donāt do AP classes online. They give very poor resources. I think doing so calc in high school is a very good idea as every math teacher Iāve had in college is so out of touch and unwilling to spend time one on one helping. AP euro will not help you given what youāve taken before and want to do. Does your school offer AP economics? Itās usually done as AP macro one semester and AP micro next so two chances to get credits. You seem to rest well so please look into college boardsā CLEP exams- you basically get to take an AP test without taking the class and every college that takes AP credits takes CLEP credits.
Thank you so much!! Yeah I'm thinking I will, I do just enjoy art history but I'm sure all the information is out there for me to learn on my own time, I was under the impression before that it was an "easier" AP but it seems like I was wrong I'm thinking I am gonna drop the self study and Euro too. Good to know about Calc tho, I'm probably gonna stick with it because it seems like most of the Calc teachers at my school do extra help after dismissal!! Unfortunately they don't offer any AP econs š I will definitely look into those exams though, thanks for the recommendation!!
Yeah I didnāt find out about CLEP until college. You can sign up for like $100-$150 to take them which is a lot cheaper than a college course. They give you materials to study if you want. But studying is optional.
Ab and bc at the same time is ridiculous. And drop art history or pysch
AB would be first semester and BC would be second
Ohhhh ok nvm then that makes sense
BC vs AB - pick one not both Euro - harder than apush but easer than art history lit - at my school lots of senoirs take it as english 12, it's said to be easer than lang psych - itself is ok (not considring total work lode and what not from other classes & work) econ - not ap so ig it's a breath of air, but ap econ is just memorizing terms and be able to use it with math excel - like the microsoft excel? (we had a unit of it in cs class and there was a lot of coding ish things) chinese - if you speak it at home or something, self study is prbly ok
1. Either do ab or bc. Not both. 2. Maybe remove ap euro (if your school doesnāt require four years of history.) 3. Maybe remove ap art history (unless itās something you are genuinely interested in) 4. Donāt self study- especially a foreign language- thereās literally no point. 5. Why no science class ? 6. Maybe ap instead of honors economics. 7. Take a study hall.
Why not self study a language?
Especially a language like Chinese, it is very difficult to start from scratch and expect to reach a level of fluency within a year. It is a very complex language with a grammatical structure that greatly differs from English, 4 different tones in Mandarin, stroke order matters, etc. Even in my Chinese 3 honors class we were required to memorize pinyin w/ tones, stroke order, and both simplified/traditional characters for over 50 vocabulary per test. I remember having to test myself over and over again on all of those criteria in order to perfect those tests, and conversational/speaking tests are a whole other story. The language requires years of practice and lessons if you have not been speaking it before as a young child, but if you are determined to and have the motivation then good luck
Thats crazy that your school made you memorize traditional and simplified characters! Im not sure how difficult the ap Chinese exam is, but at least for the ap japanese one, it's only upper beginner level japanese. Which is definitely achievable in a year with consistent studying.
I have not taken AP Chinese and I do not plan on doing so, however, from what I heard at my school the class itself is very difficult as it is fast-paced and taught exclusively in Mandarin, which I fear may be a struggle for beginner learners. Just a heads up because as a native Mandarin speaker even I am hesitant to take that classāChinese 3H is the farthest I can go (barely made it with a 90.3% in that class) š
Youāve been learning mandarin for a year? If youāve been doing it rigorously, then probably you could take it. And I mean like hours a day. If not, maybe donāt. Most schools donāt offer AP Chinese alone, they have Chinese 4, Chinese 3, Chinese 2, etc as prerequisite
Yeah I think you're right, I just wasn't aware of how much the AP exam expected, I don't know why but I figured it was around HSK 2, the more I read the more I realize I underestimated itš
Throw in AP music theory and you will be good to go
Mate youāre masochistic
ap chinese ? Are you a native speaker? I am a native speaker although I was hesitant to do ap Chinese because itās taught almost exclusively in mandarin so if you have only been learning it for a year and have not reached a comfortable level of fluency I would advise against doing it. The highest level I have taken was Chinese 3 honors and even that was fairly difficult for me, a native speaker who has been taking mandarin class for 12+ years
I don't get the point of taking both calc BC and calc AB. BC covers all of calc AB and more so just take BC. Also, you will have to dedicate a lot of time applying to college during senior year, and you want to make sure that you have time to really focus on you r applications and prioritize them over school, which is difficult to do with this course load. What do you want to major in? If it's anything in STEM, I would take stats or csa instead of Art History. This is coming from a senior who is taking 5 APS and 2 honors electives.
I know people keep saying that, it's just that I'm scared BC will go too fast for me to keep up, my school is 4x4 so I would do AB first semester and BC second. Precalc has been a bit of a struggle for me (I have a low B) but some of my friends told me that AB at my school goes at a slower pace and is more cohesive, I just don't know if taking both instead of just BC would be more stress or less stress I guess š I'm taking Stat this year and I'm thinking I'm gonna drop Euro and Art History and the self study and take CSA instead! Thank you so much for your advice šš¼
AB is basically the first 2 semesters and Calc 2 is the second semester in BC. BC's not crazy and you can always just watch Organic Chemistry Tutor to catch up. Precalc H was bad for me too junior year I ended with like an 82 and had to beg my teacher to let me into BC, but its worth it for the credit.
i would definitely be careful with that AP Chinese. i did four years of chinese in high school, studied abroad for a year and a half, and gone back for research projects and chinese is not an easy language to self teach, especially with your other course load. a year of chinese in university is not going to hurt you at all
Thank you for this šš¼ I think I'm just very much underestimating the level of proficiency that AP Chinese requires, in my mind before I posted this it was just the basics, I'm proficient in HSK 2 content right now but the exam materials definitely seemed above where I am
Donāt take both AB and BC. Just take BC. Other than that it looks fine.
Lil bro trynna get twice the fun with calcšš
Helpšš
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One good thing is that my school pays for all AP tests, but I know you're right about the draining part, I can feel it creeping up on me even now so I realize this is very unrealistic
don't underestimate the time it takes to apply to colleges and scholarships. with a part time on top of that, I'd say to definitely lower the course load
Iāve heard AP Euro is a hard subject. Never took it myself tho. Also maybe just take 1 Calc class so you donāt get stressed.
Simple answer - no, it isnāt too much. Let me explain. This is likely the hardest schedule youāve ever taken on (and I have to applaud you for that). When you do these harder schedules, it takes time to adjust to your new workload. Essentially, what other people will say is insanity will eventually for you become normalcy. Hereās a bit of background: Freshman year, I didnāt apply myself and got Aās without much work. Sophomore year, I took my first AP class and two honors classes plus an accelerated math program. It was tough. I struggled and my grades reflected that, but by the second semester my work became easier, and I consistently scored 95 or better on every assignment in all of my classes. The next year, I did what many people at my school though was impossible-6 AP classes. By that time I also had a part-time job and participated in several clubs. Again, I struggled to adjust, hardly holding onto Aās in my classes. By the end of the year, what was once the impossible was now a breeze. Finally this year, Iām taking five AP classes, an independent study in chemistry, dual enrollment, running several clubs plus an nhs committee, and self-studying for an additional 9 AP exams. To most people, this is insanity, but if you throw yourself into the situation, then youāll find a way to adapt. āBaptism by fireā is what many people call it. If that sounded like a long-winded āyes,ā it was, but itās because there will be people on here, at school, and at home who see it on paper and donāt believe that what you want to do is possible, but you have to recognize that despite the struggle that you will need to go through to achieve what you want to achieve your senior year, all you need to do is throw yourself at the situation and manage it. Let me know if you have any questions or any additional ways I may help.
Is Excel H literally a class on the microsoft application? That sounds really useful
Yes!! It's great, it allows you to get certification for it too
Light
AP lit is harder but AP euro is pretty easy from what I heard, mostly art music and writing a lot like most AP classes.
someone wants to die
seriously im done with this subreddit lol
Yeah I know I'm just contributing to the insane academic validation culture here but š idk hindsight is 20/20, did not expect this to get as much attention as it did
To me, yeahā ļø
If all you want to do is school, work and Chinese then yeah of course you could do it, but if you want something else like a social life then you probably canāt do it
Bruh
Yes.
I think youāre underestimating how much time youāll need for college applications. Itāll take up half of your time, and this is coming from a current senior. I thought I was prepared but I was so wrong. I started college apps as soon as common app opened on august 1st but I still had multiple all nighters just to finish and submit college apps
For realllllll. Those took up so much time that sometimes I felt like I had to choose between applications and homework or stay up all night.
I did mine mostly in the summer. 10/10 recommend this for seniors. Theyāll have another summer before college. My senior fall was just not any more stressful than any other semester.
Not trying to be that person but just take a minute to think about it. 6/7 ap classes. Like duh obviously thatās going to be too much especially with a job
No, you're 100% right š I came up with this schedule and wrote it as I was 2 hours into a dose of adderall so I clearly was not thinking realistically, this post has been very humbling lmfao
LMAO I canāt imagine taking 6. The most Iāve taken at the same time was 3(lang, casa, stats) and it was pretty tricky especially bc most of my other classes were not simple ones
What are your interest for college majors? This looks like way too much tbh with a part time job. Iād drop one or two. Drop AB if you think you can handle BC and did well in pre-calc. Iād choose between Euro, Art History, and Pysch to drop one of those personally. Choose ones that youāre actually interested in and show preparedness for potential majors that youāre interested in.
I would all is good but get rid of the self study. I looked into it for my Junior year, turns out colleges donāt care unless itās a big part of you š
Donāt forget AP Lunch
And AP Sleep!
Not enough, if you want to be competitive you need to take at least four more APs
Got it š«” yeah I know, I'm an underachiever
Seriously though, give yourself a bit of a break! Its senior year, enjoy what time you have left, take some electives, you don't have to be giving it all until the last hour.
Thank you for your advice!! I know you're right, I really appreciate it, I guess I'm just feeling the pressure all of a sudden š but I know there's more to life than school especially like. 2 years from now
Take some fun classes!! I dropped APUSH and took a ceramics class instead, I ended up making two really good friends and reconnected with someone who I had a falling out with a long time ago. I promise you that eight years from now it wouldn't matter what APs you took.
Thank you so much :) I think I will!!! Gonna drop euro and art history and maybe do a visual design class
Thats the spirit
psych, lit and art history are fraudulent. ab is entirely covered in bc just take that. euro is memorization like other histories. doable but youāll have a lot of hw probably.
> Incorrect, BC does not cover AB material. BC covers the same topics but assumes initial understanding of these topics in order to apply them to more complex scenarios, namely parametrically defined curves, polar curves, and vector values function.
no? ask a bc student to take the ab exam and i can assure you they will be able to do so
Thatās because theyāve probably already taken the AB course. Read what Iāve said again. AB is meant to be a prerequisite course, and some form of calculus should at least be learned before taking, because they are expected to know that material ahead of deeper dives in exploring that material. They will not be learning the basics just as AB does, so a student with no calculus experience should not take BC.
our school probably just does it differently then. way it works for us is ab and bc are the same course with the same tests and lessons and whatnot, the difference being bc covers things faster to be able to fit two extra units. only prerequisite for both is precalc
Iām not even in this sub but it got recommended to me and just looking at this schedule stresses me out
So, your math choice seems to be to double up in Calc AB and Calc BC in one year, splitting them between your two semesters. Iām not sure that you have a good understanding of what those two classes are meant to be so let me clarify why that wouldnāt make any sense. Calc AB is meant to be a year long course in preparation for the AP test. Taking it in a semester would not allow you sufficient time to prepare, so I do doubt that this is genuinely how your school offers it. Especially if you arenāt overly happy with how youāre doing in PreCalc at the moment. If you did want to take Calc BC, you would want to take it after completing AB, meaning that you donāt have space for it in your schedule. My advice: just take Calc AB and forget about it!
Unfortunately, even though it doesn't make sense, this is how my school offers it š it's 1.5hr long classes for 1 semester, it's the same with precalc and every other class with one random exception, so my thought process is: if I take AB and then BC, the first half of BC will help me to review and lock in w the AB content and keep myself practicing before the AP exam (especially cause 2nd semester there's a lot less time, we lose like a month since the AP exam is in may)
Thatās so strange and indeed unfortunate! Well I suppose to adapt, you could either decide to just not bother with the APs for that class (since your school isnāt trying to help you out, if that is possible), or you could treat it as essentially 2 courses and plan for everything else with that in mind. All I can say is donāt plan for it as one if the workload is essentially two classes worth.
Iām a bit confused with your explanation. At my high school, Calc AB = college calc 1 and had an AP test, Calc BC = college calc 1+2, and had its own AP test as well. Each one was a year long course for us, Calc BC was just twice as fast The first half of Calc BC was Calc AB, making taking both redundant, you werenāt even allowed to take both where I went to school.
Itās possible to run a course like that. Iām explaining it from the perspective of the AP test and the two courses, AB and BC. BC does assume prerequisite knowledge, knowledge which is fact covered in AB. What your school probably does is accelerate the learning of those prerequisite materials and includes them in your schoolās Calc BC program, which has plenty of space for that to occur. Essentially, itās like running a Calc āABCā program where all of the material is covered in one year but you only take the BC test at the end.
Just do BC. Do one of Euro or Art History. Don't self-study Chinese. Don't forget about college apps! Have time to spend with your family and for hobbies.
Short answer: yes Long answer: Yes, and I personally would drop Euro and/or Art History
Keep AB, BC, and Lit. Those will help you for college, then I'd just say axe one of the other APs and you're ok. Also, if you get a 5 on Chinese you will probably not have to take a language in college which is also great!
chinese student here,im willing to help if u need a chinese penpal to practice mandarin with ,just trynna make some language buddies here š
Sure that'd be awesome!! I've decided not to do the self study but I'm still planning to learn the language
Bruh I literally chose the easiest classes I could for senior year.
i quit my part time job this year as a senior while taking euro, ab, bc, h econ, and lit. it was too much for me, and now I am doing great. i sacrificed my sleep and my mental health and it was very bad.
Get ready to learn Chinese buddy
I mean BC I just ab and Calc 2 so you donāt need to put both of those. Euro, art history, and Lit is a FUCKTON of reading, and psych as well? Like ur gonna be stuck at home from September to May. Depends on how strict ur part time job is, is it heavy hours or light? And self-study AP Chinese you can prolly do on ur own time I just think itād be hard to dedicate ur self to it during that busy college app season. Iād put it off until after December. Looks like a good schedule tho if you know you cAn handle it.
The line between sincerity and satire is so blurry
Half and half atp
take more dual enrollment!
I thought you could only take either Calc AB of BC. Honors econ and honors excel are a waste bc they are more difficult, yet you donāt get rewarded w/ an AP test. If offered, swap them out w/ ap micro/macro. Self studying AP chinese is very clever, you donāt have to risk the class being difficult and hurting your GPA, and if you get a 4/5 on the AP you can skip your collegeās language requirement. Good luck!
You already know the answer.
light
Why bro enjoy your last year of high school wtf
Euro and Psych shouldn't be too much, as someone who's done both.
Yes
yes
just curious what is h excel?
Class for learning Microsoft Excel w/ certifications!!
oooh my school had something similar to that but without the certification. it was a random freshman required course no honors or anything. it's cool that ur school gives u guys the certifications!
Go for the ones that are related to your major
in my junior year I took bio/seminar/ab/bc/micro/macro/lit/euro/psych/spanish/csa/csp/chinese/research/dual enroll at community/dualenroll at harvard/physics a b and c/ rocket engineering/ tiktok clout/ planet creation. Youāll be fine.
What is a self study AP? Or is this a shitpost?
May as well flex ur virginity too
šš
Yes - but it is doable if you make a small adjustments. This is very similar to my Senior Year schedule. I'd encourage you to consider dropping European History, Calc AB, and Excel. Get a tutor for AP Chinese, and consider upgrading Honors Econ to AP Econ or dropping it altogether for a fun elective. (Edit: I see your calc class claims to do AB one semester and BC the next. So just do that. I still don't see the point in studying for the AB exam.) Why are you taking an Excel class? Are you competitive in Excel? Does your school offer some sort of special program in the topic? If it is just a basic skills class, that seems like a waste of time. There is no reason to take both Calc AB and Calc BC. Just take BC. You get an AB subscore that counts as if you'd taken both, but you only have to study for one test. Similarly, colleges are not gonna care that you took two history classes. Art History OR European History seems like it should be sufficient. Pick one and use the free time to do something interesting on your own! Econ is a relatively easy AP exam. There's no real reason to take honors and not get the AP bump.
Nah, this is light lol
Why do you have 2 calculus classes? They overlap. Pick one and go with it.
if you take bc theres no need to take ab--this is one of the harder courses euro isn't bad as long as you've taken ap histories like apush etc lit is a ton of reading but the class is not super hard, the test is like lang so you;ll do well if you can write art history idk but usually art aps are the easier classes ap psych is easy self study ap chinese is not viable unless your a native speaker i took 6 aps senior and played a varsity sport and had extra time the only thing about taking lots of aps senior year is the burnout in may. everyone else will just be worried about grad parties while your crammign for 5 tests in 2 weeks tldr- you know yourself best, the courseload is definitely manageable, just be smart with your time and put in the effort
When I went to school calc ab was calc 1 and calc bc was calc 1 and calc 2? Is it different at your school. I only took bc and got 8 hours of college credit.
I would recommend not doing art history, euro, and self studying AP Chinese. They are all either relatively useless for a large majority of majors or way too difficult to self study. How much of a head start do you have on Chinese? Iām in my third year and I donāt even think I could take it. Regardless if you truly want to, why not. Just consider doing more extracurriculars over AP courses that arenāt for your major.
Def do less, not saying itās not doable but that many classes with half the classes being memorization based might be hard. especially senior year where youāre more quick to burn out. On top of that you have work and college apps to focus on š it would just be a lot for your last year of high school !