Which AP Classes To Take

[c5212]

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To get guaranteed spots in classes for senior year, I need to make a decision soon on which AP classes to take soon. Our school operates on a 4x4 with AP classes taking 2/8 credits (one class S1, continued class S2) so taking all would only leave room for req'd Gov&Econ and one elective, probably Spanish 5 Honors

Which AP's would you reccomend, or should I take all?
How work intensive are these particular classes compared to each other?

~AP Statistics
~AP Language/Composition OR AP Literature/Composition
~AP Biology (How well does this prepare you for Bio classes in college?)

 

[Vicviper]

I'd say take AP Lit and AP Bio. AP Lit will kick your ass into shape if you've got weak writing skills, and it really went a long way towards helping me perfect my skills at writing BSsays, plus, the test really isn't that hard. Also, comparing Comp and Lit, in my experience, passing the AP Lit test with a 3/4 will do much more for you than getting a 3/4 in Comp - at a number of the schools I was looking at a 4 in Comp only counted for Freshman Comp, but a 4 in Lit counted for both Freshman Comp and Freshman Lit / Critical Thinking. Lit is also more interesting than comp, for obvious reasons, and they both have about the same work, at least at my school.


AP Bio is really dependent on the teacher, I had an amazing teacher who really inspired me with biology, and made the subject matter very interesting. It is a VERY good prep for lower division bio major classes, at my school we even used the same book that my into bio majors classes did (Campbell - which is the Bio Bible!). If you do well in AP Bio, you'll find that you really already know most of the material from your freshman (and likely sophmore) bio classes, but they add a small amount of detail that AP bio didn't have time to cover. And also, the test isn't particularly hard either.

AP Stats on the other hand, I dropped out of it after the first week and opted to take Anatomy (offered at my High School), and from the experience of my all of my friends who took it, they said it was a total pain in the ass, and tons and tons of busy work. I simply took actual college stats the summer I graduated high school, knocked it out in a month - college stats really isn't that hard, it's more or less the same material, but hardly any of the busy work.

Oh, and AP Gov is a total joke, I finished the test an hour and a half early, and managed to get a good nap in.

Good luck!

 

[xnfs93hy]

I'd say take AP Lit and AP Bio. AP Lit will kick your ass into shape if you've got weak writing skills, and it really went a long way towards helping me perfect my skills at writing BSsays, plus, the test really isn't that hard. Also, comparing Comp and Lit, in my experience, passing the AP Lit test with a 3/4 will do much more for you than getting a 3/4 in Comp - at a number of the schools I was looking at a 4 in Comp only counted for Freshman Comp, but a 4 in Lit counted for both Freshman Comp and Freshman Lit / Critical Thinking. Lit is also more interesting than comp, for obvious reasons, and they both have about the same work, at least at my school.


AP Bio is really dependent on the teacher, I had an amazing teacher who really inspired me with biology, and made the subject matter very interesting. It is a VERY good prep for lower division bio major classes, at my school we even used the same book that my into bio majors classes did (Campbell - which is the Bio Bible!). If you do well in AP Bio, you'll find that you really already know most of the material from your freshman (and likely sophmore) bio classes, but they add a small amount of detail that AP bio didn't have time to cover. And also, the test isn't particularly hard either.

AP Stats on the other hand, I dropped out of it after the first week and opted to take Anatomy (offered at my High School), and from the experience of my all of my friends who took it, they said it was a total pain in the ass, and tons and tons of busy work. I simply took actual college stats the summer I graduated high school, knocked it out in a month - college stats really isn't that hard, it's more or less the same material, but hardly any of the busy work.

Oh, and AP Gov is a total joke, I finished the test an hour and a half early, and managed to get a good nap in.

Good luck!

You're the man.

 

[CScull]

I'm taking AP Lit, and Stats this year and took Bio last. If it was me I'd take all three... Vicviper is right in saying that it's not very exciting, but it's one of the easiest AP exams there is (I think) and if you do your work it's an easy A.

If you were going to get rid of one though, I'd agree on dropping it... Lit and Bio are so much more fun, but then I love to right and I'm a biology nerd, so really if you think it's too much take what you think you'll enjoy.

 

[anishannayya]

Composition is easier than Lit, and it is usually taken in that order. If you have a high CR and Writing score on the SAT, then you'll find comp to be easy. I found composition easy, and lit seems easy so far. Stats is a lot of analytical work, and it isn't heavily math-based, but rather reasoning based. You'll spend most of your time analyzing graphs and other forms of data. I found stats boring, but easy. Bio is a lot of route memorization. It is probably the hardest AP test, but if you keep up with the work (I'd say 40 mins a day), the class is a breeze. Personally, I had a very difficult time in Calc AB & BC. It really varies for different people; for others english is impossible. All in all, it will be manageable to take these three classes at once. Believe me, I took five + two self-test last year and passed them all.

It really is about keeping up with the work. If you spend 25-40 mins per AP class + do all assignments well ahead of time, you'll be fine. However, don't expect to always be able to get an A in an AP class; sometimes you'll try your hardest and still not get an A. An example I have is Calc, I got a C, but got a 4 on AB, and a 3 on BC.

 

[indianjatt]

Ap Biology at my school s requires a lot of work. It's mostly self-study and what not, but I feel it will definitely prepare me for Introductory Biology courses in college. We actually use a college bio book, so I assume it will be of great help in college for me.

 

[Near]

Oh, and AP Gov is a total joke, I finished the test an hour and a half early, and managed to get a good nap in.

Good luck!

Seriously.

OP, this is biased, but I would go into statistics. Math is one of my weak-spots, and if I were you I would try to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

 

[thegymbum]

I took AP language comp and AP bio, but not stats. I'd say that, in terms of going into medicine, having the AP biology course might be useful, but the AP language comp probably won't make much of a difference. If you want the extra challenge, go for it, but if you'd rather have little bit of a break, I'd say skipping it won't hurt you.