How to Choose AP Classes: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself
COVID-19 Series The Princeton Review
Hi, everyone.
I’m Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief at The Princeton Review.
As you think about your classes for this coming year and the future, you may be planning to
take an AP class or two—or more.
So how do you choose which ones to take?
There are 38 AP subjects, after all.
That’s a lot.
Let’s start with the most straightforward part first: Consider which courses are offered
at your school.
While there are ways to take AP courses and exams that aren’t offered by your school
(more about that in a moment), it’s definitely easier to take an AP class at the same school
you’re already at, with the same classmates you already know.
If you’re not sure which APs are offered at your school, arrange a chat with your counselor
or a teacher.
And if there aren’t any APs at your school...well, stay tuned—I’m going to cover that later
in this video.
Once you figure out your overall options, think about the prerequisites that may be
required for a particular class.
If you’re taking AP Calculus, for example, you’ll probably need to have taken algebra,
geometry, and pre-calculus.
If you’d like to take AP Biology, you may need to take a first-year bio class first.
If you’re not sure what prereqs a class requires, ask the instructor teaching the
AP course.
Note, my friends, that these prerequisites are imposed by your high school, not by the
College Board—the makers of the AP exams.
Even still, pay attention to the requirements.
In many cases, they’re in place to set you up for success in your AP courses.
Beyond prerequisites, think about the skills you’ll be drawing upon in those AP classes.
If you’re planning to take Microeconomics, you’ll want a solid math background.
Even if your school doesn’t require any particular prior coursework, you’ll want
to feel comfortable about your skills going into the class.
Once again, the AP teacher can let you know what classes would be helpful to take before
a given AP class—even if those classes aren’t required.
You’ll also want to weigh what you’re good at and what you enjoy.
Maybe you could take AP English Lit & Comp, but it would be a slog for you; whereas AP
Human Geography would challenge and inspire you.
Follow your strengths—and your passions, too.
Speaking of your strengths and passions: Make an effort to take AP courses (and exams) in
subjects you hope to pursue in college and in your future career.
Why?
A couple of reasons: First, if you say on your college app that you want to major in
physics—but you didn’t take the AP Physics course offered at your high school—you may
leave admission teams scratching their heads.
Second, taking college-level physics (or whatever subject you think you may want to pursue)
will help you confirm—or indeed, reconsider!—your interest in that subject for the long term.
Now, here’s that info I promised you at the beginning of the video: What do you do
if you find an AP course on College Board’s list of offerings, but it isn’t offered
at your school?
Well, folks, just because a course is not offered at your school (or perhaps you’re
homeschooled or in another non-traditional situation)—that doesn’t mean you can’t
take the course.
You just have some extra work ahead of you.
First, investigate what alternatives you have to taking the course at school.
You may be able to take the AP course online or at a local college.
Some students even self-study, though I’d recommend getting a teacher or another mentor
to help you out if you go that route.
In order to take the corresponding AP exam—which I also recommend doing—be sure to make the
necessary arrangements at the beginning of the school year.
If your school offers other AP exams, your AP coordinator should be able to get you set
up to take the test.
If you aren’t enrolled at a school that offers AP Exams, reach out to other nearby
high schools to see if they’ll let you sit for exams at their school.
This is a more challenging route, to be sure, but with the help of a teacher or counselor,
you should be able to access what you need.
We are always rooting for you.
I want to leave you with one final thought about your APs: they will test you, absolutely.
They will test you.
But you are testing them, too.
And they’re giving you information—not just about U.S. History or Psychology or Computer
Science—but about what you care about, what you’re interested in, what you’re willing
to work really hard to achieve.
Pay attention to that information.
Don’t take an AP course just because it’s offered unless you feel reasonably confident
you will do well in it and benefit from the experience.
It should be difficult, but not impossible.
It should be challenging, but also rewarding.
Leave us a comment and let us know which AP courses you’ll be taking this fall!
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