honors physics or AP bio?

[synapsefire]

Hi I am debating whether I should take Honors Physics or AP bio for my junior year. Is taking physics more important? (also honors Physics gets the same credit for AP)

edit: Also for my senior yr, which is better to take, Honors Physiology or AP psychology?

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[DrYoda]

Do whichever you're most interested in.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Take Honors Physics, most four year colleges like to see that. Senior year take AP bio in place of your science. AP Psych is easy so you might want to take the other honors class. Its up to you though if you want to take AP Psych go right ahead.

 

[StIGMA]

AP Bio was the most important and influential course I took in high school.

This was partly because my teacher was a life science PhD. Nevertheless, you bust you rump in this course, get a 5 on the AP exam, and go headfirst into some upper level college bio your sophomore year or so. If you like life science, this is awesome. If you could care less about bio, do the normal college route. I absolutely loved taking upper level courses as a sophomor/junior with the seniors. Made me want to work harder.

I agree with the above poster of taking AP bio your senior year and taking physics now.

 

[niblet]

I took AP Physics my junior year last year, and I'm currently taking AP Bio as a senior. I'd recommend this route (echoing what everyone else is saying).

 

[Narmerguy]

Undergraduate universities like to see students who take the most rigorous courses available to them. This generally means AP > Honors > Regular.

That said, take something you can handle as well. If you don't feel comfortable taking AP Bio or AP Psychology or whatever course it may be, don't sacrafice your grade just so you can say you've taken the class.

In most instances I would recommend taking the AP class over the honors class because of this.

 

[URHere]

I think which class you should take really depends on what you want to do with that information in the future.

If you plan on taking much in the way of math, physics, or engineering courses in college, that Honors Physics course could help you out immensely - the material will be taught more slowly and thoroughly than it would be in a college class geared to engineers or physics majors. If you don't plan on taking any additional physics aside from your general science requirements, I would skip it - the material will all be repeated and you may very well be bored out of your mind. Also, if the physics course is calculus based, it is a huge help while learning calculus. If not, I would advise against taking it - in my opinion, non calculus based physics is a waste of time.

If you plan on taking more in the way of biological science in college, then AP Bio will probably be more helpful to you. At many schools, introductory Bio even uses the same text book at AP Bio (this happened in my case). You will go into much more detail in college science courses and the prep will be more of a useful boost than a tedious review.

As far as everything else is concerned, the AP will probably only look marginally better to whoever is reviewing your application. However, if your school uses a weighted grading system, the AP class will boost your GPA more than the Honors course (at most schools, honors courses are out of a 4.5 and AP are out of a 5.0).

 

[pressmom]

I'd look more at the quality of instruction. Talk to upperclass people and see which class has the better instructor. AP only helps if it is taught well. My AP bio instructor was really not up on his stuff, so I didn't get a lot out of it. I ended up getting more out of AP physics than AP bio mainly because of the instructor, but YMMV. As far as senior year, I'd think physiology would be more helpful, but if you're trying to shorten your college road, I'd go all AP.

 

[synapsefire]

Thank you all for your response.

I kind of don't want to take AP Bio because of the way the teacher at my school teaches. I had her for Honors Bio freshman year and it was extremely hard to understand her (she had a tough accent, wrong grammar too), so I'm iffy about taking AP bio.
So I'm probably going to take H Physics...and I still need advice whether I should take AP psych or H Physiology.

 

[ylrebmik]

Thank you all for your response.

I kind of don't want to take AP Bio because of the way the teacher at my school teaches. I had her for Honors Bio freshman year and it was extremely hard to understand her (she had a tough accent, wrong grammar too), so I'm iffy about taking AP bio.
So I'm probably going to take H Physics...and I still need advice whether I should take AP psych or H Physiology.

well you don't have to decide that for a few more months but I think everyone has the same advice... do what you want... colleges might like AP more than honors but it is totally up to you.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Thank you all for your response.

I kind of don't want to take AP Bio because of the way the teacher at my school teaches. I had her for Honors Bio freshman year and it was extremely hard to understand her (she had a tough accent, wrong grammar too), so I'm iffy about taking AP bio.
So I'm probably going to take H Physics...and I still need advice whether I should take AP psych or H Physiology.

I know exactly how you are feeling, there is nothing worse than a bad teacher. I still think you should take it though. There is no other teacher in the school who teacher AP Bio?

Honors physics is absolutely fine. AP Psych, even though it is one of the easiest AP's, it is a great class and like others have said, an AP class will look a bit better than an honors class.

Again, its your call. If you want to take Physics and are iffy about AP Bio, DON'T TAKE IT. If you reallllly want to take Physiology Hon. then TAKE IT.

 

[135892]

Honestly, take what you want!! If you stay pre-med, you'll have to take these courses at some point anyway in college, so for right now just take what you will enjoy. I took AP/IB bio in high school, and I actually learned a lot, and it turned out to be real useful when I got to college. I mean I was even able to understand a lot of the stuff that was going on in a research lab that I worked at, through my high school bio class.

 

[Kateb4]

So, just something to keep in mind. If you are planning on using AP credit to satisfy undergraduate course requirements, such as a BIO or PHYS class, most schools I know will not accept these as fulfilling their pre-requisites for med school. This isn't necessarily a problem, but just something to keep in mind. Most med schools will require 2 semesters of BIO w. lab, 2 sem of PHYS w/lab, 2 sem inorganic and 2 sem organic all w/ lab, some schools require calc, some want biochem, etc. So, if you're going to be a BIO major, then go ahead and take the AP credit, you will have plenty of other classes that will fulfill your requirements, likewise with the other sujects. However, if you are not interested in taking more than the required sciences, then make sure that you are getting them in college and not with AP credit.

I audited AP Bio my senior year of HS because I didn't really need the credit hours or the stress of maintaining an A in that class, but I wanted to learn the info (we had a great teacher/tough program). So, when I went to undergrad that class was an easy A, and that's where it matters.

Good luck all!

 

[angelcool1236]

It all depends my school is werid in which Sophomore year you take Bio, Junior Chem, and Senior Physics. And you can choose AP, honors or regents based on grades and teacher recommendation. It all depends on what you want to do b/c you will most likely end up taking it again in college. I plan on doing that. Im taking AP Physics and Intro Into College Calc even though i know Im going to take it again. So i say base it on what your intrested in and the instructor. Physics(from what i've seen) is more math based and Bio is alot more memorization. honestly I'd say you might want to wait a bit for physics becase it requires alot of math but I had the displeasure of Math A and Math B( each were 1 and a half year courses that put Trig, Geomentory, and Algebra in1) it was stupid and didnt work na dthey finaly descided to revert back.