AP classes are more popular than ever. This makes sense, since AP classes offer a wide range of benefits, from preparing students for the rigors of college to giving students a chance to earn college credits. However, your student likely won’t be able to take all the AP classes offered. Whether because their school offers a high number of classes or because they want to be attentive to their course load, they’ll have to choose. Here, we’ll break down some considerations to help your student choose the right AP classes for them.
Assessing Your Academic Arsenal: Strengths and Challenges
What are your student’s strengths and weaknesses? The important thing is that they be honest with themselves. AP classes come with a significantly faster pace and higher expectations. If your student is encountering challenges in a non-AP class, then the AP class for that subject may not be the best fit for them. If they are excelling in their non-AP class, or even if they are encountering one or two challenges that they are overcoming, AP classes are more likely to provide much-needed benefits.
It’s impossible to say whether a student should or should not take an AP class based solely on their grades, but the following are some questions to consider. For a related non-AP class:
- Did your student encounter difficulties with the material?
- If your student encountered difficulties, did your student overcome them relatively independently and quickly? Or did the difficulties prove to be a real roadblock?
- Does your student enjoy a challenge, generally speaking?
- How much time are they spending on the material? Are they moving quickly compared to the class average, such that a faster pace would be good for them?
- Are they relatively independent when it comes to problem-solving and learning?
Balancing Act: Managing Your AP Workload
A related question is what your student’s workload will look like. Is the subject they’re considering something that has taken them a lot of time (regardless of difficulty), or will it be less of a drain on their time and energy? Certain subjects tend to take more time than others. Many AP classes have closely related non-AP prerequisites. AP Calculus has pre-calculus; AP English Literature follows a whole sequence of English classes; AP US and World History build on earlier non-AP variants. But certain classes, like AP Chemistry and AP Physics, may be in less familiar territory for your student, depending on their specific curriculum. Take into account classes that may have a steeper learning curve, like these.
Similarly important to consider are the other demands on your student’s time such as extracurricular activities, volunteering, work, or other college preparation such as ACT/SAT tutoring, touring universities, or writing their college admissions essay and completing their applications. For example, if your student plays a demanding spring sport, it might be good to consider loading more of their AP classes in the fall semesters.
Passion Projects: Aligning AP Classes with Personal Interests
This one almost goes without saying: what are your student’s interests? Many schools offer far more AP options than could possibly fit in a student’s schedule, so they will have to narrow down their options. Picking classes that genuinely interest them, in subjects about which they’re enthusiastic and curious to learn more, will help prevent burnout. Plus, if they care about the subject, they’re vastly more likely to put in the work to get a score that will be acceptable for credit at the schools they want to attend.
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Charting Your Course: AP Classes and Future Aspirations
In addition to looking back at past performance, your student should also keep in mind their future college plans. What do they want to study? What do they want to come into college with a stronger background in? What careers do they have in mind?
If your student wants to study something in the humanities, then focusing on classes in that discipline, like AP English Literature, AP US/European/World History, or AP Art History are more likely to be good choices for them. In these courses, they’ll learn writing and research skills that are necessary for college success. If your student is more interested in social sciences, then AP Statistics, AP Macroeconomics, and the various history options are good choices. For students in the natural sciences or lab sciences, AP Chemistry, Biology, Calculus, and Statistics are options that will reliably provide your student with a good experimental and quantitative foundation.
Importantly, many of the skills within these groups are transferrable—experience with chemistry will help if your student wants to pursue a biology major, which typically requires organic chemistry, for example.
Credit Where Credit’s Due: Understanding College AP Policies
Your student may want to consider the AP credit policies of the colleges they are applying to. Some colleges only award credit for AP test scores of 4 or 5 (remember that AP exams are scored on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best score). If your student wants to go to a university with a stringent policy, they may not want to take an AP class that they aren’t sure they will at least get a 4 in. This is particularly important if your student needs to decide between several otherwise equivalent classes.
It can be a challenge to choose the right AP classes, but with a little bit of forethought and introspection, your student can set themselves up for success.
