I am currently a freshman and am preparing for my sophomore year of high school. From your own experiences with these AP classes or others, do you think I'm ready to take: AP Computer Science Principles, AP World History: Modern, and AP Environmental Science all in one year?
Context:
- incoming sophomore
- currently only taking two honors classes: English and biology
- my grades in all classes normally range from a 96.5-100% (this is in remote, not sure how this will vary if I were to go in person)
- I'm always on top of my assignments and am also at the same time doing an internship outside of high school, which takes about two hours a week.
- I do enjoy science, and somewhat enjoy history
Please be honest if you think I'm ready for these classes. I'm a little bit worried so it would be nice to have some feedback. Thank you!
Hey! For one I think your selection of classes is impressive as a sophomore! While I can’t vouch for AP CompSci I can talk about the others.
In my personal experience, both AP Environmental Science and AP world history are pretty easy classes. I’m not a big history person, but AP World was one of my favorite history classes. The teacher defenitely played a part in that. As for AP environmental science, (I took that class in my junior year alongside AP Chem and AP Physics) it was the science class that gave me the least trouble out of all of them.
I would say with your internship and all those AP classes, be careful to monitor your mental health. Doing a lot of things at once can be draining and debilitating, so be prepared to take care of yourself first.
ALSO, I know you mentioned that you stay on top of hw assignments and what not, (and that’s incredibly admirable!) but make sure you really focus and keep up with each class’ workload. Hw varies for school districts but the curriculum is mostly the same.
All that being said, I encourage you to go for it and see how you like each class. Sometimes good old fashioned encouragement can go a long way so I’m rooting for you!! Enjoy your classes alongside your high school experience and make sure to take care of yourself!
(If someone wants to talk about CompSci go for it... our school didn’t really offer that course)
- Dee
Hey @amallios!
It's great that you're being mindful of your readiness when considering to take on more AP courses and it looks like you've already gotten some good insight and encouragement from your peers on this! I just wanted to chime in and share an additional resource that may help in your decision making, hope it helps!
https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-choose-which-ap-courses-and-exams-to-take/
Hey! In my own experience, AP World History is a fairly easy class, you just have to really pay attention and actually take notes, which by the sounds of your list, you seem to be able to do a lot. I have no doubt in my mind that you would be able to do it!
To keep this community safe and supportive:
I can also vouch for taking APES! I think AP Environmental Science (APES) is an engaging but relatively easier AP course, which would be great since your course-load is very heavy for a sophomore. Based on your study habits, I definitely think you could manage your course-load but I would worry a little bit that it might be at the expense of your mental health. In the long run, I don't think it would matter to colleges as much if you only took 2 AP courses instead of 3 as a sophomore :)