How many AP classes should I be taking?Answered
I am currently a freshman in high school and I am not taking any AP classes. I am trying to get into an Ivy league school, is taking no AP classes right now a good idea
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5 answers
First off it's probably too late to take an AP class at this point in your freshman year, so don't stress it. I'll tell you, I didn't take any APs freshman year and only took 1 my sophomore year, but worked my way up in junior and senior year and now I've taken the most APs out of anyone in my class. Don't stress out about not taking APs freshman year, you'll have plenty of opportunities to make it up later on and still be competitive enough to apply to ivies.
My school didn't offer APs freshman year, and I think that worked out well, cause you get to understand how to keep grades up, and really DO high school, but yeah, after freshman year, depending on the amount offered, I would try to take all the "Core Class" AP courses you can get your hands on, (5-6), and a similar amount of non-core AP Classes for a total of 9-12 ideally, if you're shooting for an Ivy. Do understand however that weighted GPA isn't that large of a factor, if it gets in the way of participating in good extracurriculars, so you want to keep a good balance.
I spread my AP classes out, remember AP doesn't always balance out a horrible GPA. Colleges would prefer someone in 2 AP's with a 4.0 rather than someone in 6 with a 3.3. Do research on AP's you're going to take, and prepare a little during the summer. I'd reccomend 9 AP's, that's usually a good goal. Make sure to spread out your workload, and do not leave it all for senior year. Good luck in your future applications! Be sure to RESEARCH AP's before you sign up, I'm in AP Seminar right now and people who didn't do their research are really struggling.
Do a little research on what your school offers and go ahead and plan how many you would like to take so you are not cramming senior year. If you want to go ivy, I would recommend taking the most rigorous schedule your school allows.
I would recommend taking at least one AP class freshman year because you will continue to be in AP later on. That just makes your life easier.
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Freshman year is a great year for knocking out required courses for graduation. It's completely fine to not take any APs freshman year. Ideally, you should pace yourself and limit the number of APs you take every year. 3 for sophomore year and 5 each for junior and senior year is going to feel much better than 8 junior year and 5 senior year.