How many APs is too many?

Hello😊

Here's my take on this. Am personally also from an international school in Singapore, typically one of the best in IB and so I'll best advice you since I know the pressure and stress you are going through.

First of all, take no offense please, but doing 10 APs on senior year is ridiculous. Unless you have the capacity of getting 5's on all of them to show the genius in you, I don't really think this is a smart move.

Secondly, I want you to have a clear concept of why you are taking APs. APs are supposed to show subjects that you are strong at, care for but mostly important, highly interested in, its more about "quality over quantity". A student taking 5-8 APs for over four years with all 4's and 5's and has taken on specific subjects that show his interest to take extended programs that will challenge him/her beyond regular classes is more likely to get into a good uni compared to one taking 10-15+ that don't really show what they are interested in. The first student seems more focused, know what they love and ready to take up challenges and has outshown their best performance while the second seems not knowing what they are really interested, and I'm sorry to say this but for some unis, you might come across as "desperate" and this is not so attractive and will definitely not work so good with you.

The third thing is, I think you are forgetting that apart from APs, you have your regular classes, am assuming you are about to join junior high school this August and maybe you are doing IB or Cambridge A levels. If you are going for IB, don't do this to yourself, perhaps you don't know how rigorous the IB diploma is and that's why you are taking all that, but it will really suck off your time well, and with all those APs, you might not have enough time to strengthen your extracurricular, leadership roles, community services, and SATs etc, plus you need to rest as well before you get into depression, if you are taking 4 HLs and 2SLs to show how you challenged yourself, plus all those APs without a proper order, then its more likely not to work well with you at the end. Same applies if you are doing 4 or 5 Cambridge A levels lessons and all those, IB and A levels are already challenging on their own, atleast for your own goodness and your mental health, don't do this to yourself.

Instead, here's my take. Firstly, congratulations if you had started taking APs in Freshman year, most people on a worldwide scale, snap into this in junior and some in sophomore, so this already shows that you started challenging yourself earlier. However, I'll best advice you that seeing when you took only three APs so far and couldn't maintain a 5 in all( mind you colleges and even we know that computer science principles is quite easy to get a 5 in, so as impressive as it can look, it already screams that more work needs to be done). And now you are doing junior high with more APs, you really have to be assured that you can give it all a balance.

Final thoughts: Kindly take subjects you are truly interested in and that will showcase what you are strong at. If you want to major in Computer science, you know that you have to be strong in Physics, Maths and Computer science itself. So along with your freshman and sophomore APs that already show your Maths and computer science interest. Take atleast 3-5 APs this year, and not more than 3APs for senior year in subjects you are really interested in, get those perfect 5's and you should be well. Maybe you could do Physics C:Mechanics, Calculus BC since it's a stronger version of AB, Computer science A, if you are doing a business or started a non profit and its seen in your activity then that's when taking Macro/micro economics could also fit and maybe if you are doing Chemistry in high school then do AP Chem. For senior year, you could do Physics C: Electricity and magnetism, if you did macroeconomics then you could do microeconomics or even economics and one maybe psychology or a language AP or AP research/seminar to outshow your curiosity and research skills. The important thing is to best select subjects you genuinely enjoy and can perform best preferably set a goal of getting a 5 on all of them, also get a good 40+ on IB as the minimum for Harvard and the like is 38, or get AAAAA on A-levels Cambridge and strengthen other necessary things like sports, music, arts, leadership activities, community services, maybe start a really impactful research or anything significant that will show more on your interests and you should be in a good position. If you still feel like that won't be enough, maybe enrol for Honors courses or dual enrollment on again, subjects that really show your interests like Physics and Chemistry honors or a dual enrollment of similar Math or Physics or whatever you really love and want to pursue, but they should be well related and tailored to show your interests and you should be good. Remember, it's more of "quality over quanitity" and so, kindly take fewer that really show your interest and that you can actually handle, be really strong in IB or A-levels, depending on what you are doing, and do a great research on what you love, engage in extra curriculars fully, get a 1560+ SAT score if you want to be really impressive, and the essays....start brainstorming now so you know what to write next year time like this. If you still feel that after all that, you still want more, please do an Honors or dual enrollment of similar subjects, or maybe get an internship on the field you like, I think that will be more than enough to make you a good candidate. If they don't select you, its really their loss or its just really not meant to be. But take what you can handle and know that your mental health is so much as important and depression is the last thing you'd want right now. Stay focused, do what you really love, fully excel in it, and you will be dear.

All the very best!

So far, I've taken 6 APs, with four 5s. Look, it's just not possible to take 10 exams in one year. If you really think you can do it, go ahead. But I wouldn't take more than like 6 in one year. Go for quality over quantity, it's much nicer to show off a few 5s than a lot of 3s.

"Too much" is really dependent on your capabilities and your other time commitments. It's not uncommon for people I'm around to take 18-23 APs throughout high school, and I myself took >20 and got all 5s. APs weren't all that difficult for me and I was able to finish up schoolwork in a reasonable amount of time and have a lot of time for other things.

But this definitely isn't the case for everyone, so I'd just recommend starting with a few and figuring out how you'd like to balance things. There is no magic number for college acceptances, etc.

Hey there @SilverDragon!

I think the list you have for this year seems pretty solid, but taking seven AP courses in one year seems like a lot to me. Unless you self-studied some, would you even have time in your school schedule to complete that much coursework? (I'm genuinely asking, I'm not sure what your school is like, but at mine, we only have seven possible classes, and one is required to be an elective or a study hall.) Taking more than 15 APs is a little much, and juggling so many AP classes may lead to lower scores. Six AP classes in one year seems like the absolute maximum to me, so maybe you could self-study one in your senior year instead of taking it in school? Just a thought, though.