schedule for junior year in highschool

Anyone who has experience with taking a million AP classes want to enlighten me on what it was like? Was the experience only full of pressure? I'm nervous.

These are the classes I want to take next year
AP Psychology, AP Statistics, Honors Precalculus & Trigonometry, AP United States History, AP American Literature, AP Chinese, AP Chemistry.

Is it larger that a college load? Because people who do this at my school frequently pull all nighters. But people in college around me don't seem to do it as much. If college is harder than this kind of load why does everybody stress about AP classes so much if your going to have to do it anyways? I'm confused.

In college most people only take 5-6 classes at a time and you only have class for 3 hours a week per class (so either 3 one hour classes or two hour and a half classes). That means most people end up having only two or three classes a day. Less time in class means more time to study. I've found college professors also tend to give out fewer assignments, although they're worth more.

I've only ever taken 3 AP Classes at once when I was in high school. (But my school was on block scheduling at that time and the AP classes available paled in comparison to the choices you have.) It sounds like you have seven class periods arranged in some way. If I were you, I would only do what was realistically possible. If you believe you can handle all those classes, go for it, but if you don't, I would only keep the classes I'm most interested in and/or would have a chance at passing the AP Exam for.

Originally Posted by Angelic Gardevoir

I've only ever taken 3 AP Classes at once when I was in high school. (But my school was on block scheduling at that time and the AP classes available paled in comparison to the choices you have.) It sounds like you have seven class periods arranged in some way. If I were you, I would only do what was realistically possible. If you believe you can handle all those classes, go for it, but if you don't, I would only keep the classes I'm most interested in and/or would have a chance at passing the AP Exam for.

I wish we had block schedule. I don't know if I can handle it and my point in asking is to gain knowledge as to whether I'm being realistic with myself. The bigger problem is with work ethic *sweating*

I did this for my final year of high school, and had a few concurrent courses at the local community college to achieve extra credits I needed. It was not easy, but it's not necessarily larger than a college load. Remember, AP courses are taught over a full year, not a single semester like at college, and that can make a difference - perhaps also in the depth of learning achieved, if you are a diligent student.

I had been doing AP courses since 8th grade (yes, they bussed me to high school to take an AP course before I ever officially matriculated). So at that point I was used to the workload enough to handle it. I had little time to do anything outside of classes, which made me enjoy my free-time activities (reading, D&D, computer games) even more - and I was doing it for a reason that motivated me especially, which was being able to leave high school early.

In the end, while it was stressful, I learned a lot that year and wouldn't take it back.

Final note: The community college courses were easier than the AP ones.

Thats a giant load of AP classes and junior year is usually the hardest year of high school. A lot of people in my school take a ton of AP classes too, but I've never heard of anyone taking 6 all in one year.
I consider myself good at absorbing material in school and I got into a good college. I took only 2 AP classes my senior year and out of all my other classes, those were by far the hardest and most time-consuming (far more tests/quizzes, homework). I can see myself passing out from exhaustion if I had to take 6 AP classes.

Personally, I think taking 6 AP classes in one year is unrealistic and you're putting far more work on your shoulders in your junior year of high school than when you do in college. There are other things that you need to focus your attention on if you're worrying about getting into a good college such as SAT/ACT scores, extracurriculars, volunteer work, college essay, etc. On a side note, all nighters are also really bad for your health and not getting enough sleep will damage your brain. If you think those AP classes are going to consume your junior year, I wouldn't recommend taking that many.

As for experience, I've only gotten nervous during AP exams. They're worse than finals.

Originally Posted by LilyAskar

I wish we had block schedule. I don't know if I can handle it and my point in asking is to gain knowledge as to whether I'm being realistic with myself. The bigger problem is with work ethic *sweating*

You're the only one that can answer that question. You know yourself better than a bunch of random online people. ...Though I would ask some of the people from your school who you know have done this to find out how they pulled it off. Quality and workload of AP classes differ from school to school. (My AP U.S. History class was a complete joke, for instance. And I was forced to take it because AP English was paired with it in the same block. It was a weird scheduling thing...) This will help you tell whether or not you are capable of it. Also, I would take @FillInTheBlank 's post into consideration. (And she's right-AP Exams are quite difficult. 3 is considered passing on a scale of 5. How this will translate to college credit depends on the college/university you will go to. I was lucky enough that the ones I managed to pass are simply on my transcript as pass/fail classes.)

Originally Posted by Angelic Gardevoir

Exams are quite difficult. 3 is considered passing on a scale of 5. How this will translate to college credit depends on the college/university you will go to. I was lucky enough that the ones I managed to pass are simply on my transcript as pass/fail classes.)

@LilyAskar
Since AP exams are difficult, if you do decide to take AP classes for your junior year try to become as familiar with the AP exam material as you can before taking the test. The classes in my school often made us do AP problems from the tests of previous years for homework to get us used to solving/writing in the free response sections of the exam. If the AP class you signed up for turns out to be a joke, the least you could do is try to snag a good exam score so you can get the credit from the AP class transferred to your college.
Practicing AP problems for Calculus AB has profoundly helped my in the exam. I knew what to expect out of the questions and doing the free response felt almost like an automatic process.

In case you don't know, plenty of helpful test material to practice off of is found here: AP Central - Exam Information

Thanks for everyones responses so far. I'll add some details now. All the students at my school who would think of taking a load like this or similar is a competitive bastard who would stare at you and not give you any help if you asked too much concerning this because they don't want you to succeed and you probably make them nervous... I don't know how to explain it but basically interested to give you help in general. I go to a pretty strange school indeed. What do you guys think if I took classes to prestudy everything? My parents said they are going to send me to those that will give a run through of all of them.

OK, here we go.
AP Psychology- I just want to learn that ^^
AP Statistics- Known as a pretty easy AP in my school and I'm good at math
Honors Precalc- I'm good at math.
AP Chem- Known as the monster AP, and easily the most difficult science AP along with AP Physics. I have to take a science though. I hate Bio (so no AP Bio) and I'm scared of dissecting = no Anatomy. I think people say it's harder than it is....
AP Lit- This year I've taken a huge interest in writing and my teachers say I'm a great writer naturally, as in, I have very sophisticated ideas. (sorry so boastful!) Apparently I just need more practice organizing and phrasing ideas and I'll get more than enough practice in Lit. This is a huge step up from writing being my worst subject last year. Apparently, Lit provides a lot of practice for the SAT too as well, people say it feels easy after this class and I feel compelled to take it too.
AP Chinese- I speak Chinese fluently...LOL
AP United States History- I don't know why I'm taking this. I have mixed feelings that I'm not describing here because it's gonna sound even MORE stupid than the above.

In the long run, I don't know which ones I want anyways and how realistic this is also depends largely on what teachers you get as well.... I just need to make sure I'm not out of mind. I have 3 honors now, but I pull straight A's with little study (you could say none) and just doing my homework. This is provided that I pay attention in class. I just need to make sure I'm not gonna die..... I'm sooooo scared. Flatlander your probably a genius that's why you can talk calmly about it!

It's best to load up on them if you can, if you think you can handle it. I don't remember high school too well, but AP Stat was cake IIRC. I got a 5 and I don't think that score was anywhere near commensurate with my statistical ability at the time. Bring em on