Seeking advice

[Vosem]

Yes, I know that the Internet isn't exactly the best place to ask for advice. But I'm so undecided, and my friends and family are split so evenly 50/50, that I thought I might consult Atlas Forum for a tiebreaker.

Because of budget cuts, during the next school year there will be a total of 7 periods, not 8, at my high school. I am undecided on whether I should take AP Calculus (AB) or AP Spanish (Lang) as my final class. (For the curious, in college I intend to major in some sort of Biology -- likely Biomedical Engineering -- and minor in Spanish). Here are the arguments for both:

AP Calculus -- I took Algebra I in 7th grade, something which required a great deal of effort to qualify for. I did quite well in that class and also in Honors Geometry the next year, but I got the bad luck of having two teachers about to retire in a row during the next two years -- 9th and 10th grade with Honors Algebra II and the Honors Pre-Calculus -- so my grades in both of those classes weren't as good. I chose to take a year off of "real math" my junior year (rather than taking AP Calculus, the logical next step), instead taking AP Statistics, which is associated with the Math Department but isn't really a math class. In AP Statistics I did quite well. AP Calculus is taught by Mrs. S, who I have never had a class with but who is supposed to be a very good teacher, both in the sense of explaining her topic well and of being a nice person generally. If I don't take AP Calculus, there's basically no way of preparing for the AP exam. I will almost certainly end up having to take some Calculus courses in college for my major/to graduate from college, so taking the AP exam would definitely be a big help.

AP Spanish -- I took Spanish I in 8th grade, getting generally good grades, and then Honors 2, 3, and 4, in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade. I've gotten consistently good grades, and I adore studying foreign language (concurrently I'm also taking Latin, which I have no intention of dropping whatsoever). However, over the past two years the class has been taught by Sra. B, a not-particularly-good teacher who is well-known among all students, even ones not taking Spanish, for her array of semi-random class rules that she very rigidly enforces (she strictly prohibits drinking water in class; she has encouraged the Assistant Principal to give out full-day detentions for students whose phones rung in class; and she's also known for very unevenly enforcing a very strict dress code for female students). Were I to take the class next year, I would have Sra. B again. Unlike with AP Calculus, there are several students who are not taking AP Spanish next year who intend to meet periodically to study Spanish and then take the AP exam at the end of the year who've invited me to join them, so I would still get some Spanish practice without the course, and I'd still take the AP exam at the conclusion of the year, though it would of course be inferior to actually taking the class.

Regardless of which choice I make, I'll almost certainly resume taking Calculus/Spanish my freshman year of college. Which choice do you think I should make?

[Vosem]

I took AP Calculus (AB) as a senior and didn't get credit for it at college because my score wasn't high enough. I was able to skip pre-calculus in college because I took a placement test on campus during orientation, though.

A friend of mine who took the AP Biology exam had the page containing the final two free-response questions stick together -- she figured it was intentional, those pages were blank, and ended up not doing them. She got a 3, when her grades predicted a 4. At the college she's attending (she's a senior this year) a 4 is needed to get credit

I didn't take an AP foreign language (I did four years of high school French, but we had no formal AP French program so most people who took the AP test didn't do very well on it and I didn't bother). My alma mater didn't allow us to count AP foreign language credits toward classes in that foreign language because they wanted us to take all our foreign language classes there. (You couldn't do them at a community college over the summer either and if you were transferring in from another institution, they wouldn't accept any foreign language work you did elsewhere.) I don't know how typical that is.

You can probably test out of a class or two regardless of whether or not you take the AP test and what you get on it. Your AP Spanish teacher sounds like a bit of a puta so I'd probably take calculus.

This is true -- we've actually taken practice OSU Spanish placement tests in class and I'd be able to start at Spanish 103 (ie, skipping the first two courses as of now). I think a 4 or 5 on the AP exam automatically gets you to some class even further ahead, but I'm not sure and it's not like I'm definitely going to OSU in any case.

Because of budget cuts, during the next school year there will be a total of 7 periods, not 8, at my high school.

Same as mine :/

I am undecided on whether I should take AP Calculus (AB) or AP Spanish (Lang) as my final class. (For the curious, in college I intend to major in some sort of Biology -- likely Biomedical Engineering -- and minor in Spanish). Here are the arguments for both:

Regardless of which choice I make, I'll almost certainly resume taking Calculus/Spanish my freshman year of college. Which choice do you think I should make?

You seem to have a strong grounding in Spanish already, and it seems that you need to take calculus more, since you will be majoring in biology. I think it would be better if you chose calculus and you have a support group in Spanish.

That's an argument I've heard a lot, and it does make a lot of sense. AP Calculus is what's 'in' the schedule right now, but our sign-up system is all online and I could go change it right now if I wanted to.  

Incidentally (and just out of curiosity, since you seem to have roughly the same plans as I do), what science courses have you taken in high school?

First off, you're lucky you had eight classes before. For me, I only have 7 (but really 6 because one is a study hall).

I've tried to have study halls throughout high school, but I've only had one irregularly and a lot of the time I've just used it to socialize instead of study anyway. I've never really noticed my grades being any better or worse when I have a study hall as opposed to not.

But I would say AP Calculus AB (right?) is the way to go. If you're going to major in any tech/engineering field or a science field, Calculus is a huge advantage to have early on. It sounds like you've taken a lot of Spanish anyway, and you can always continue it if you plan to go to a college.

Thanks -- I appreciate the advice.

Also, what's up with this Sra. B your describing? She sounds like an old teacher stuck in 2005. I remember when phones were strictly prohibited, now they're used openly all the time in class and teachers generally don't care. High School is so much more lax than anything before in my experience.

She's not particularly old (maybe 50-55 years old?), but she is kind of an insane person. One of the requirements of the 4 Honors course was to do some sort of 'cultural activity' outside of class -- one of the options being to visit a Latin American grocery store in the city of Cleveland, buy something, and show it to her as proof you went. One student bought a roll of toilet paper and brought it to class -- and she made him give everyone 4 squares and told us 'esto es su tarea'. In my experience the phone usage is a very teacher-specific thing and kind of depends on what's going on, but her reaction to it is remarkably over-the-top. I wouldn't say high school's necessarily more lax than middle school -- just different emphases are placed.