Chem over the summer? Answered
Hi everyone,
I'm a freshman and this summer I was planning on taking chemistry to prepare for AP Bio. At my school most of the people in AP Bio are sophomores who took chemistry freshman year. Currently I'm in regular bio, but my teacher is also the AP Bio teacher, our class is also kind of like Honors Bio, it's more in depth, and requires a little more work. So my plan was to take chemistry online during the summer to prepare, however my counselor said if I really wanted to, she might be able to waive the chem requirement for me. Also taking the class over the summer will cost $500. In addition to all of this, I'm also planning on doing 2 internships, while taking geometry online, so it might be a lot. What should I do?
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3 answers
Hey there @ny2nj!
I am a strong believer in taking summer classes to get credits out of the way/advance in things you are passionate about. It's a great way to take a required class to free up room in your schedule for other courses you'd rather take. If you feel like you can handle taking chemistry, geometry, and doing two internships over the summer, then do it! That being said, AP Biology is a difficult course, especially compared to standard biology. (I've never taken AP Biology, I'm only a freshman, but I've heard it's a very challenging class.) At my school, the only AP course sophomores can take is AP World History, and AP Biology isn't available to take until senior year. Really, it's up to you if you think you can handle all those summer plans and be able to do well in AP Biology next year. That being said, people who take classes over the summer to get ahead the following year often don't do as well as those who take classes because they are passionate about that subject. (Speaking from personal experience here lol.) If you want to take AP Biology next year because you want to get ahead in science, then I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want to study science/really enjoy biology, then go for it!
I'm sorry I couldn't provide you with a concrete answer, but I hope this helped anyway. Good luck!
If you think the workload over the summer might be too much, then there's no shame in taking your time. Chemistry sophomore year and then AP Bio in junior year is already faster than a lot of other high schoolers take their science classes. It is generally a good idea to take chemistry in high school, as if you're planning on going into a STEM major then colleges will want chemistry at some point, so I wouldn't recommend skipping chem just to take AP Bio. You probably also will want to have the necessary background, because AP Bio is a very hard class.
I would say that taking chemistry over the summer is not necessary, but you certainly could do it if you are passionate about taking AP Bio. As a freshman, doing two internships, geometry online, and simply planning on taking APs already puts you ahead of the curve. You will still be a top student if you do not take chemistry this summer. Hope this helps!
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