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@liv.luv.life
60 answers, 105 votes
 • 2 years ago •
Admissions Advice

Should I take AP Chemistry and AP Calculus AB together? Or separately?
Answered

I plan on being a doctor. I'm trying to decide what classes I should take next year. I know that I'm going to take APUSH, JROTC, and Spanish Honors II, but I don't know about my other classes. One of the classes I'm deciding over is AP Calc or AP Chem. I heard somewhere that colleges prefer AP Calc, but my sister told me that I should take AP Chem. I also heard that senior year classes aren't taken into that much account so if I want to show my interest in healthcare, I have to take AP Chem in junior year. I then thought I could take it together, but I'm scared that I won't do well on the AP exams if I have two hard classes to study for. This leads me to whether or not AP Chem and AP Calc are difficult or not and if I should take them together. My friend is taking AP Calc AB, AP Chem, AP Lang, APUSH all together and I wondered if I could do the same. I don't think Chem Honors is hard, so is AP Chem any different? Is AP Calc AB that hard? Has anybody done that and gotten 5's on them both?

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Accepted Answer
@AlexanderOddo
expert
956 answers, 642 votes
 • 2 years ago

I would recommend taking both classes at the same time. Junior year is your time to shine in terms of academic rigor, and taking the most rigorous classes you can will be a boost to your application so long as you can maintain an unweighted GPA above 3.7/4.0. Your AP exam scores will not a large factor in your admissions decision - they are only really considered in the event that you want to transfer AP credit.

With that said, I would prioritize AP Chem over AP Calc if you decide to choose one. AP Chem is an important class to take to demonstrate your interest in medicine. Hope this helps!

2
[🎤 AUTHOR]@liv.luv.life2 years ago

Should I also take another AP class with them? I'm going to take AP Lang with them both, but should I also take APUSH?

@AlexanderOddo
expert
2 years ago

I think that you should take another AP if you can. Colleges like to see that applicants maximize rigor in their schedules. If a school only offers honors, for example, they will want to see the applicant take all honors classes. Students who have many APs available should shoot to take 4-5 each year in 11th and 12th grades. APUSH is a good choice because it teaches useful analysis and writing skills that can apply to any field.

[🎤 AUTHOR]@liv.luv.life2 years ago [edited]

My school offers 11, but there are some APs that I can't take. AP's like AP Music Theory and AP Drawing. Is 11 AP classes considered a lot? Would it be alright if I take 3 in junior year and 3 in senior year? Or should I do 4 in junior year?

@AlexanderOddo
expert
2 years ago

11 AP classes is not the full AP curriculum, so it can be considered to be a mid-sized selection. I think that taking 4 APs as a junior and 3 as a senior would be a competitive amount of rigor.

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