AP Bio, AP Physics C and AP Calc BC at the same time??? Please help with schedule

[Anonymous]

I'm posting this on the college board because many of you have had kids who've been in these classes! Thank you in advance.

My daughter attends a rigorous private. They don't allow any APs until 11th grade.
Unlike other privates, they've kept APs in the sciences.

She's a math/science kid. She's one of a handful of kids (10 in the grade?) who is in honors pre-calc this year and doing very well.
Her science track was physics in 9th grade and chemistry in 10th. She's received (or is receiving) high As in both.

Is it reasonable to double up on AP bio and AP physics C next year as well as take Calc BC?
Then senior year she would take Linear algebra and probably AP Chem.

IS this insane? Doable?
Is AP bio a lot of work?
Is it a bad idea to take physics C at the same time as calculus?


Thank you so much for any thoughts!

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the kid.

DD did AP Bio & AP Physics C (EM&M) in 12th grade. So if their AP Physics C is only Mechanics (since they take AP BC as a corequisite) I would say it is doable. But again, it depends on the kid.

Has you kid a knack for those subjects?
Did she take AP Calc AB?
Did she take AP/Honor Physics 1?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm posting this on the college board because many of you have had kids who've been in these classes! Thank you in advance.

My daughter attends a rigorous private. They don't allow any APs until 11th grade.
Unlike other privates, they've kept APs in the sciences.

She's a math/science kid. She's one of a handful of kids (10 in the grade?) who is in honors pre-calc this year and doing very well.
Her science track was physics in 9th grade and chemistry in 10th. She's received (or is receiving) high As in both.

Is it reasonable to double up on AP bio and AP physics C next year as well as take Calc BC?
Then senior year she would take Linear algebra and probably AP Chem.

IS this insane? Doable?
Is AP bio a lot of work?
Is it a bad idea to take physics C at the same time as calculus?


Thank you so much for any thoughts!

I think that it’s important to find out what the specific teachers teaching the classes are like.

It’s hard to get AP-certified teachers, and two of my son’s AP teachers were lazy bags of fertilizer who didn’t do any teaching. Your daughter needs to accept the idea that she might need to get tutoring and/or self study if a teacher is terrible.

Assuming that your daughter could survive at UMd., academically, if it let her in, she’ll probably be fine. But she might end up with a lower GPA and less time for spectacular activities. So, she might be aiming herself more at a UMd or equivalent honors program than at an Ivy, if that’s a big deal. But, if she really does what she loves, how she wants to do it, maybe that will maximize the odds that she’s at a college that’s right for her.

[Anonymous]

Agree that it totally depends on the kid. Given that things seem to be going easy for her so far in math and science, and assuming it's not affecting her mental health negatively, I'd say why not? Many top kids are capable of handling this kind of load.

[Anonymous]

One more agreeing that it depends on the kid.

One of mine couldn't have done that, another would be fine with that schedule. They are both happy in college now

[Anonymous]

If she finds calculus and physics very intuitive, it’s not a problem to double up at all. My kid seems to just “get” them and can do well without spending a crazy amount of time on the classes.

Bio is a lot of work and memorization. I almost think it might be the most work of the 3 classes, if she finds math easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm posting this on the college board because many of you have had kids who've been in these classes! Thank you in advance.

My daughter attends a rigorous private. They don't allow any APs until 11th grade.
Unlike other privates, they've kept APs in the sciences.

She's a math/science kid. She's one of a handful of kids (10 in the grade?) who is in honors pre-calc this year and doing very well.
Her science track was physics in 9th grade and chemistry in 10th. She's received (or is receiving) high As in both.

Is it reasonable to double up on AP bio and AP physics C next year as well as take Calc BC?
Then senior year she would take Linear algebra and probably AP Chem.

IS this insane? Doable?
Is AP bio a lot of work?
Is it a bad idea to take physics C at the same time as calculus?


Thank you so much for any thoughts!

I notice that she hasn't done regular Bio yet. Why not do that in 11th grade instead of directly jumping into AP? Some TJ kids take the Honors BIO class in 9th grade and sit for the AP exam. Maybe she can do it too.

Doubling up on AP Physics C and BC Calc is routinely done at TJ so if your kid is TJ material (but is at a Private with excellent teachers) she should go for it.

[Anonymous]

My kid did AP Bio without a previous high school class, along with 4 other AP classes. It’s a lot of memorization but not a problem for him. If your daughter has a good memory then AP Bio should be fine.

[Anonymous]

I'm almost certain my daughter went to the same school that yours is at. She did this exact combination in 11th grade. We sort of encouraged her to drop AP Physics C and just stick with AP BC Calc and AP Bio, but she thought she could handle it. It was fine, although she later said she wished she would have just taken regular Bio. She really wanted to take both Bio and Physics because she was unsure at the time whether she wanted to pursue medicine or engineering. It turns out AP Physics C was her favorite class ever, and she is now an engineering major in college.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thx so much! My kid seems to find physics and math intuitive. She received a 99% in her 9th grade physics class and is getting an A in what is a challenging Honors pre calculus class. She has the kind of math brain that is able to puzzle "live" on a test. She hits a snag and just thinks anything out. She also does math team where they just puzzle out more complex problems.

That said, she's no math prodigy or anything to that degree and she has an active social life. Also, the humanities classes at her school are no joke. They are the equivalent of AP courses and she needs to take them as well.

Argh. I'm not sure what she should do. She wants to take AP Bio and Calculus BC but she LOVED physics. She was really good at it. I know she can take it senior year but I think her skill and interest in it sets her apart from other students.

If she's at all thinking of being a physics major in college is it important for her to take physics C by junior year (vs. senior?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm almost certain my daughter went to the same school that yours is at. She did this exact combination in 11th grade. We sort of encouraged her to drop AP Physics C and just stick with AP BC Calc and AP Bio, but she thought she could handle it. It was fine, although she later said she wished she would have just taken regular Bio. She really wanted to take both Bio and Physics because she was unsure at the time whether she wanted to pursue medicine or engineering. It turns out AP Physics C was her favorite class ever, and she is now an engineering major in college.

is your daughter at NCS? OP here.

[Anonymous]

PP again. I should mention that my daughter had to get special permission from the school to take these three APs, so your daughter should start asking about whether this would be an option for her.

[Anonymous]

You would definitely need special permission for this at NCS and I think you would have to drop language or another class (I might be wrong) to make it work. There is a demanding junior year history paper that would hit right around the same time as when APs occur I think. I don't know when you plan for your DD to take the SAT/ACT but that could also be a factor. I would have her not take AP Bio and take that or AP Chem senior year.

[Anonymous]

graduating with more than 4 years of math or science is totally unnecessary. Taking AP Bio and Physics in 1 year doesn't gain you anything. Save AP Bio for Sr. Year.

[Anonymous]

My kids found AP BIO easy. Took it Junior year with Honors Chem.

They had Honors Bio the year before.

But, they both have really good memorization skills. And, I was a Bio major--so there's that. But, the older one much prefers history and liberal arts.