High School Sr. Year Courseload

jiu-jitsu girl

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I am a jr in high school and am planning my schedule for next year. My plan for next year right now is this: WSCC English 12(high school and college credit), Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Honors U.S. History, Keyboarding, Marching Band, Concert Band, and Physics. I'm not sure about physics because I do not want to overload myself to where my GPA drops, but I feel like I need to take it for the academies. Any advice?
 
Do you have all these classes year long or do you have them by semester?
 
I'll have four of them first semester and four second semester. For sure pre-cal and marching band will be first semester and calculus and concert band will be second semester. Not positive when the others would be.
 
Take a science, definitely. If you shy away from science it will not prepare you for the science you must take and West Point AND it could hurt you in admissions.
 
Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead and take it. I'll just have to study extra hard. haha
 
Can you choose from AP U.S. History and AP Physics? My son has found AP Physics much more valuable than the regular Physics class he took. AP U.S. History is a ton of reading but that's okay.

Keep in mind that if you don't get in West Point, your AP classes can save you a lot of money at a traditional college. My oldest son goes to a top public university and we ended up with basically a free semester because he received so much credit from his AP classes and his high SAT verbal score.
 
Well as another perspective, here's my prospective senior year courseload..

- AP Calc B/C
- AP English Literature (We do the AP Composition one, in 11th grade. We do it backwards for some reason)
- AP European History
- AP Physics B
- Syracuse Spanish 201. (An actual Syracuse University course, offered at my school. 201 gets AP credit, 101 gets Honors credit, which I'm currently enrolled in)
- Honors Gov't/Economics
- Strength & Conditioning (A bit of a freebie class, I admit :rolleyes:. I'm taking it to have a bit of a daily break from my schedule, and to also do daily physical prep for WP during school hours..better time management!)

But just keep in mind that I'm more academically tuned than elsewhere. So that area tends to be a tad stronger than my physical and EC areas. (However I will have 3 Varsity Track seasons/letters, and a decent list of EC's which I started working on last year)
 
Well the thing that stinks is that I live in a small town in TN, so we aren't given the option to take AP classes :frown: We are offered Honors classes and a few dual enrollment classes. I take honors whenever possible and have taken Prob and Stats for dual credit and am taking English next year for dual credit, and i am planning to clep calculus also.
 
Well the thing that stinks is that I live in a small town in TN, so we aren't given the option to take AP classes :frown: We are offered Honors classes and a few dual enrollment classes. I take honors whenever possible and have taken Prob and Stats for dual credit and am taking English next year for dual credit, and i am planning to clep calculus also.

Your HS sends a school profile to the academy. Admissions will take into account what classes are offered at your school when determining your score. Just take the most challenging courses offered by your school that you can do well in.
 
Well as another perspective, here's my prospective senior year courseload..

- AP Calc B/C
- AP English Literature (We do the AP Composition one, in 11th grade. We do it backwards for some reason)
- AP European History
- AP Physics B
- Syracuse Spanish 201. (An actual Syracuse University course, offered at my school. 201 gets AP credit, 101 gets Honors credit, which I'm currently enrolled in)
- Honors Gov't/Economics
- Strength & Conditioning (A bit of a freebie class, I admit :rolleyes:. I'm taking it to have a bit of a daily break from my schedule, and to also do daily physical prep for WP during school hours..better time management!)

But just keep in mind that I'm more academically tuned than elsewhere. So that area tends to be a tad stronger than my physical and EC areas. (However I will have 3 Varsity Track seasons/letters, and a decent list of EC's which I started working on last year)

You should take AP Physics C instead of B if your school offers it. It may be a bit more challenging, but if you do well on the AP test you could possibly validate out of the required physics course at westpoint.
 
You should take AP Physics C instead of B if your school offers it. It may be a bit more challenging, but if you do well on the AP test you could possibly validate out of the required physics course at westpoint.

My school only offers AP Physics B, not C, so I can't do that. But I will have taken all the AP's my school offers, excluding AP Music Theory, AP Art History and AP Macro, by the end of my senior year.
 
How does West Point view early release? I swim 2 hours before school and 2 1/2 hours after school so it would be nice to have a little extra time to do homework.
 
Well as another perspective, here's my prospective senior year courseload..

- AP Calc B/C
- AP English Literature (We do the AP Composition one, in 11th grade. We do it backwards for some reason)
- AP European History
- AP Physics B
- Syracuse Spanish 201. (An actual Syracuse University course, offered at my school. 201 gets AP credit, 101 gets Honors credit, which I'm currently enrolled in)
- Honors Gov't/Economics
- Strength & Conditioning (A bit of a freebie class, I admit :rolleyes:. I'm taking it to have a bit of a daily break from my schedule, and to also do daily physical prep for WP during school hours..better time management!)

But just keep in mind that I'm more academically tuned than elsewhere. So that area tends to be a tad stronger than my physical and EC areas. (However I will have 3 Varsity Track seasons/letters, and a decent list of EC's which I started working on last year)

how are you able to take 8 courses when you are taking Calc BC and Physics B? I ask because at my school they take the spot of two courses.
 
Well at my school, those both count as one course. Physics B gets a double period every other day (for the lab period). The Honors Gov't/Eco are two separate half-year courses run back to back. I can fit all those into a 9 period day.
 
Hello All,

Here is my senior course load:

-AP Calculus AB
-AP Government
-AP English Literature
-Honors Physics
-Statistics
-Body Awareness

Is this good enough? I am also eligible for AP Spanish 4. Should I take that?
 
My senior year classes:
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus AB
AP English Literature
AP US Government
AP Physics B (wish I could take C, but it's two periods)
Chorus
JROTC

How does West Point view early release? I swim 2 hours before school and 2 1/2 hours after school so it would be nice to have a little extra time to do homework.

I'm sure if you make your commitment to swimming clear in your application and conversations/interviews with admissions officers it won't hurt you.
 
Hello All,

Here is my senior course load:

-AP Calculus AB
-AP Government
-AP English Literature
-Honors Physics
-Statistics
-Body Awareness

Is this good enough? I am also eligible for AP Spanish 4. Should I take that?

That is up to you, but make sure you make the right choice. Try to take the toughest classes, but do not take something you will do poorly in...thats my advice. I can take advanced spanish next year, but I prefer not to because Im not great at spanish, and I will be taking to difficult classes anyway (AP Physics, and AP Calculus BC
 
Body Awareness is a PE class essentially a hardcore workout.

Thanks Szpieg for your response to my question!
 
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