Hey guys, I am currently in Gr.8 and heading to Gr.9 very shortly. This means I will be entering highschool in September. I am currently in the Gifted Program in our board. I have the privilege of choosing my highschool classes now. I decided that I would like to take part in some AP classes. I was thinking about AP Math and AP French (I'm the star student). My grades are approx 80% in math and 90% in French. I am considering other subjects. So my questions are...

Is AP really difficult? Generally, what are the best classes to take? And lastly, is calculus as hard as the media says it is?

Edited November 9, 201213 yr by Michael V.

Full disclosure: I'm a math/science kid who tends to do really well in school and on tests, so what's easy for me may not be easy for others. Also, I go to a math/science magnet, so the general opinions I hear tend to be skewed towards "the tests aren't that hard."

That said, I don't find APs to be that hard. There are only five possible scores, so you can definitely get stuff wrong and still do well. Also, they are curved, so the cutoff for good scores can be really low on some tests (I think you can get a 5 on the Calc BC with about 70%). So it doesn't really matter how hard the test is on an absolute scale; a really hard test will have a generous curve.

However, the test isn't the biggest thing to worry about. I'm not sure how it works at your school, but at mine, you can take an AP class and not take the test (and you can also self-study for an AP test without taking the class). AP classes can have a much higher workload (though it really depends on the teacher and the school), often cover a different curriculum (because the AP has a fixed curriculum, while the school doesn't), generally have more motivated students, sometimes have more motivated or better teachers (EXTREMELY school-dependent), and normally have a faster pace.

My advice would be to not particularly worry about the test, but to ask friends about the class itself. For example, at my high school, AP English Language is an awesome course, much better than the normal 11th grade English class (which it replaces). It's taught by some of the best English teachers in the school, and you learn a TON. However, AP English Literature (which we can take instead of the 12th grade class) is a terrible class, with insanely high workload and a bad teacher. So, at my school, many people take Lang, but very few take Lit. It has nothing to do with the AP itself; it's just about the class and the teacher.

Edited November 9, 201213 yr by cp702

Wow. Thanks for the advice. I definitely will.

Also, keep in mind, in the US at least, colleges like to see improvement. So, if you get like a ridiculous GPA first year, you will either need to maintain it or do better than it in the next three.

so like a 5.0 first year, 4.8 second, 4.3 third, and a 3.9 fourth might not look as good becuase it may seem you arent trying as much anymore where as a

3..5 first, 3.9 second, 4.3 third, 4.6 fourth may look a bit better because it shows maturity.

Dont get me wrong, having amazing grades/courses is good, just dont overwhelm yourself. After all, as a freshman myself, there is a lot to adjust to your first two months or so.

Just an FYI these classes (especially languages) will heavily depend on any future careers or lifestyle plans to move or frequently travel to certain locations. There is a heavy Mexican population seeping into the U.S. that is quickly establishing themselves as a major racial influence and possibly even giving our country a 2nd language of sorts. I took Spanish for that reason. French is more or less useless in this country the way I see it, unless you live in Louisiana or wish to travel to France or move to Canada. Spanish is spoken as a native language of many people in my current area, and several countries around the world.

And no, Calculus isn't that difficult in my opinion. And depending on how your school believes in teaching; you man end up in an easy Calculus class. By that I mean there were two different Calc teachers I dealt with in college. One of them taught a 'Calculator Math' class. It was 4 hours long on a Saturday, but the tests and general lessons were heavily influenced by graphing calculators. There was very little paperwork. Another class I took was on Monday's and Wednesdays, 2 hours per day. They were taught in a traditional manner. That being said, I scored better in the 2nd of the two classes, despite not having the help of a TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphic calculator. Your brain may work differently, though.

Edited November 10, 201213 yr by unr3al

Thank God! I thought I was falling into a black hole with this one. Thanks for the help you guys!