How Many APs Should I Take?

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[@sarahconnell6332]

I appreciate your take on this. AP Madness is a real thing. I’d love you to update this. Our school offers 20+ AP courses, with 6 available class periods per week (2 saved for lunch, PE, health, etc as required by school) and all are full year classes. Daughter has friends who have taken 4-6 AP classes per year. It’s insane. It doesn’t allow for growth in other areas. I understand academic rigor, but colleges will only accept so many APs for credit and that’s only if you get a 4-5 on the test. Many, if not most, colleges won’t give you credit for more than one semester’s worth of classes because it reduces their income. So all AP classes get you is access to even harder classes in college. Taking more than 6 is a waste of time and money and a source of undue stress. Colleges have reported that they’re seeing kids with an inability to socialize and interact in unstructured environments. Between the pandemic and this academic pressure kids aren’t just hanging out, relaxing, letting off steam. Every moment is a structured activity, often still coordinated by adults, that is intended to bolster their college application. College is a good goal, but it’s not the end goal. Growing up, having a fulfilling life that includes hobbies, friends, loving interpersonal relationships as well as a decent job should be the goal.

[@nabi5864]

For top tiers I noticed most applicants take around 8-10 AP courses ...and take at least 5 exams... Matter of fact I spoke to a Stanford PhD alumni who stated Stanford is more selective than Harvard ... Stanford Admissions Committee expects applicants to be rigoresly challenge themselves by taking as many APs as long as they're going to take HS courses , otherwise take the relevant dual or College courses relevant to major

[@user-nr4vl5yt9h]

5:26 helpful advice. here I was thinking the more the better.

[@rileyso111]

2 sophomore year, 3 junior year, 4 senior year -> 9 total

[@ThePumpkinSlasher]

Took AP World as a freshman, sophomore i took AP Euro and AP Seminar, Junior is AP Calc AB, APUSH, AP Research, AP Computer Science A, AP English Lang, then as a senior: AP Statistics, AP Lit, AP BIO, and AP US GAP

[@productiveinsomniactaterto8612]

I'm in my sophomore year of high school and I have three AP Classes: AP Calc BC, AP Stats, and AP World(and so far they're really easy). I'm taking Chem H this year tho and I have the choice to do AP Chem or AP Physics 1 for my science class next year. The thing is, I want to skip AP Physics 1 and go straight into AP Physics C and be done with the whole thing. The problem is that means I have to self-study, and I don't know if I should because that would take away a lot of my time from the other classes I'm taking, and I heard of this John Hopkins 12-week program that'll help you learn the material. But I don't have any background in Physics and the program costs $1600, which is nothing to sneeze at. So I'm just worried if it's even worth spending that much time and money, and risking the grades of my other courses when I might not even pass the final exam. Is AP Physics really that hard to grasp?

[@ThinquePrep]

AP Physics C should actually be easier to grasp if you already are taking AP Calc BC. And arguably the AP Physics 1 exam is much more difficult than the AP Physics C exam. I personally would be find with have you skip AP Physics 1 -- most schools don't even offer credit for APP1 anyways.

[@hellohi-mj8ho]

Bc in sophomore jesus christ

[@sirbuttertown6455]

@@hellohi-mj8ho some schools don't offer ab, and only bc. so they are forced to go from precalc straight to bc if they wanna take a calculus course.

[@DifferMeme]

I did self study both mechanics and e&m. I had foundation I physics(5 in APP1) but actually never studied both till last month. Feel prepared, and I think gonna ace it. APPCs exams are easy, calculus part are either just simple kindergarten derivatives integrals or understanding applied principles, nothing like actual phy 2 course in college. I hope you took it and passed since you wrote a year ago.

[@abufarsakh9919]

I took 2 AP classes my freshman year: APES and APHG I took 1 in my sophomore year which was AP GOV I am planning to take 4 in my junior year which would be AP Bio, AP Psych, AP Lang, and APUSH. I don’t know yet about my senior year but prolly 4 APs as well

[@emilysalinas1382]

How is it going in Ap bio?

[@abufarsakh9919]

@@emilysalinas1382 it’s going good, the only difficult things are respiration and photosynthesis imo

[@zKavv]

@@abufarsakh9919I agree, but add transduction in there

[@Calisthenics_Warrior]

​@@abufarsakh9919 isn't Ap Gov only available in 12 grade

[@abufarsakh9919]

@@Calisthenics_Warrior where I am it’s required for all 10th graders

[@annanguyen4560]

What I’m doing is this: 1 -> 3 -> 4 -> 4 Freshmen were forced to only take APHG.

[@anonnnnnnnnnnnn]

I'm doing 0 -> 1 -> 4 -> 4 because my school didn't offer any freshman AP classes... New York moment

[@harrypambianchi1893]

I took 1 AP freshman year, but I plan on taking five for my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I don’t do it for the AP title or the status, it’s just that I find normal and honors courses really boring and I am a huge nerd. Exemplifying my academia is something I love and I get that from AP classes. My question is, however, even with this course load and it not adding much, if I take 16 APs, but I’m still a part of all the clubs I have been a part of and even add more, does that show commitment as a student?

[@Pe1ayo]

My List (Some of the later ones are guesses) Freshman: AP Human Geography, AP Environmental Science, AP Precalculus (Exam only for precalc) Sophomore: AP Chem, AP European History, AP Calc BC Junior: AP Physics C, APUSH, AP Statistics Senior: AP Biology, AP Gov, AP Spanish, AP Psych There's a few more I might throw in there, and I might take a few more exam only things

[@ayo3014]

What should i take junior year. I’m in sophomore year taking all regular but my freshman year I took all honors and ap world. I wanna get back to that junior year.

[@inayakhalid5393]

take two aps, depending on what career u want to go into, you should do aps in that subject

[@paulabamm2386]

I want to take AP precalc, AP Art History, AP Physics 1, AP Lang, and auto-teach myself AP French this junior year.

[@Pe1ayo]

AP Precalc is just algebra 2/trig

[@may-vz2kv]

I’m taking ap world in 8th grade and my test is Wednesday Iol

[@OscarRivera-ef7gt]

I'm Currently taking AP Spanish Literature, do you recommend to take AP Spanish Language next year or would it be unnecessary?

[@ThinquePrep]

Spanish Lit is actually harder than Spanish Language. Is there something else you can’t take instead? I personally think it would be unnecessary.

[@Calisthenics_Warrior]

For your last name I see that you speak Spanish or have a background of Spanish culture, Ap Spanish literature is easy for native Spanish speakers

[@danielllorens8866]

I took AP Spanish Lang freshman year and am now taking AP Span Lit sophomore year. I’m fluent in Spanish. For someone like me, Lang was a joke. I easily got a 5 with the only preparation being knowing how the test was going to be. Lit on the other hand has been much harder for me. If you do good in Lit you are guaranteed to get a 5 and do good in Lang. Your situation is weird because people usually go from Lang to Lit. But I would tell you that if Spanish or world languages is a core subject for you that next year. Then the highest level class you can take is Spanish Lang and I highly recommend you take it for an easy 5 and a good grade

[@Emmett989]

0>1 (ap gov)>4 (ap lang apush ap psych ap studio art 2d) and idk for my senior year yet bc I’m a sophomore

[@sachinletchumanan4858]

how does a 5 on an ap exam which is self-studied compare to a 5 on an ap exam which the class is taken?

[@jehugz]

I don’t know really but I’d be more impressed if you got a 5 by self study rather than class taken because it shows you can manage the work load and be responsible enough to pace yourself throughout the year and prepare for the exam. While the teacher in a class taken is responsible for this.

[@morninglatte6284]

5:30 I’m taking 6 APs this year tho, is that bad??? Should I not do that?? I got 4 APs by the school (ap environmental science, ap us history, ap microeconomics, and ap English language), but since I really live Japanese I decided to self study ap Japanese and since I’m kinda interested in physics I wanted to take ap physics 1 to make sure it’s something I’d like to do in the future. But now I don’t know, is that bad??

[@ThinquePrep]

self-studying APs doesn't count from the admissions perspective. You can definitely take the classes, but you will likely not get credit from the college-side for AP Physics 1 since it is algebra-based.

[@morninglatte6284]

@@ThinquePrep which ap do you recommend taking instead of ap physics 1? (I’ve already taken ap psych, geo,world history, computer science p, and ap Spanish Lang)

[@ThinquePrep]

@@morninglatte6284 4 APs is already a lot. If you truly have extra time, commit that to helping out a club or organization!

[@morninglatte6284]

@@ThinquePrep ok 👍

[@user-hy8ey6vz2x]

I plan to take Ap us history, Ap Chem,Ap Lang and Ap calc ab next year for my junior year. Do you think this is manageable to get all A’s in?

[@dhskshdksh]

it probably depends on what other classes youre taking and how good your current grades are, since thats usually a reflection of your time management skills. if youre taking honors classes now and you’re doing really well and you don’t feel too stressed, you’ll probably be fine

[@jonathanzacharia]

Hi I’m currently registering for freshman year and I want to know if I should take AP human geo

[@luiscaballero8792]

@@jonathanzacharia yes it’s a good intro to APs

[@zanmar6764]

I took Algebra 1 in Freshman.I plan to take Geometry and Honors Algebra 2 and Trig in sophomore year.My counselor is advising against taking two math classes in the same year.I have taken tuitions for Geometry over the last 6 months and I am almost done with Geometry.What is your advice? I am doing this so I could takeAP calculus AB by senior year.

[@ThinquePrep]

I personally see no problem with that because the maths are complementary! I get why your counselor would discourage you, but if you can put in the hard work, it’ll definitely pay off

[@juliancamiloromeropenagos2814]

I did this, and I highly advice you take these 2 your sophomore year if you couldn’t your freshman. I would start thinking about dual enrollments and APs too. I could’ve taken something like AP physics and ap stats my junior year but I didn’t have space for stats because of my dual enrollment. But I would highly suggest going for AP physics 1 your junior year if you believe your major in college will be more math and science based

[@aundrybsk4330]

Damn i am taking 4 ap its brutal

[@checkmate716]

1 -> 1 -> 3 -> 3 (probably)

[@clipchampion7594]

2->4->7-->7

[@studded8054]

1 freshman 1 sophomore 4 junior

[@VoGnos]

I took apush and ap bio in tenth which was dumb

[@hypershadow4643]

Hey, I am a current freshman in SoCal and I am planning on taking 2-3 APs next year please lmk if I should, my schedule would be… AP Biology (Chem over this summer) AP European History (main Sph yr AP) AP Comp Sci Princ (For fun Ig) Hn Precalc Hn English II Hn Spanish II Hn Academic Decathlon Religion II What do you think???

[@ThinquePrep]

Looks good, but how do you fit in 8 classes? If you want to keep that work load I suggest trying to use your summer to get ahead.

[@gerardtyson2274]

2 to 3 per year seems like a good idea

[@juliancamiloromeropenagos2814]

Bro im taking 6 this year 😭😭😭

[@gerardtyson2274]

@@juliancamiloromeropenagos2814 Good luck, bud

[@JashXD]

I’m only taking 1 AP class this year and i’m a freshman. However, i’m planning to add an AP class every year until my total AP classes is 10.

[@TheGamingDemonPleaseSub]

I took 3 AP’s Freshman year and currently taking 5 AP’s Sophomore year. I think I went out of order