Planning for your next year’s classes? Unsure of which 11th grade classes to pick?
Here are some of my top recommendations aside from the regular, mandatory classes.
These elective classes are great for anyone and if you are interested, you can learn more about them with your school.
If your school does not have these classes, you can consider talking with the office or attending council meetings to provide your opinions.
Some classes fit each person’s personality or needs for their future path, so don’t be afraid to try them out!
Plus, there are no right or wrong classes to take because any class is a great experience and a chance to learn something different.
11th Grade Classes That You Should Take
Budgeting/Finance
If your school has the option for a budgeting or finance class, take it!
It’s super beneficial to learn about budgeting or taking care of your money early on.
Some of the topics that may be covered are: how to use credit cards, what loans are, how to manage your money, different stock options, and retirement plans.
I highly, highly recommend any budgeting or finance class for anyone.
If you have no idea what class to take, then a budgeting or finance class is the way to go.
It will help you learn more about interests, rates, and options.
Once again, I highly recommend a financial course since you will be handling some of the largest funds in your upcoming years-college.
There will be scholarships, loans, and bills thrown at you, so it’s better to be prepared now than be sorry later.
It’s always a smart idea to learn how to budget and work with a set amount of money.
Establish good spending habits now, so you can plan for the future.
You don’t want to splurge or overspend excessively that you have tons of credit card debt at the end of the day.
Take advantage of your 11th grade classes and opt for classes that enrich you.
I’m vouching for taking a financial class, so this section is longer than my other sections.
If there is one at your school, take it!
And if there isn’t, you can do dual enrollment at a community college while you are in high school.
OR…you can do an online class about financial knowledge.
College Math
I recommend taking a college math class if your school has the option.
If not, you can also consider dual enrollment at a nearby community college.
Taking college-level math early allows you to get general education requirements out of the way.
You don’t have to stress your freshman year of college on completing calculus and have room for other classes.
If your major is math heavy, that’s even more incentive for you to take math early.
This way you can advance to other math classes and don’t have to fight your way with other freshmen who need those classes.
Huge win-win if picking priority classes is a hassle for you and you want to focus on your major more.
If you are at crossroads between taking statistics or calculus, consider which one you may need for your future major.
I took calculus and it satisfies a lot of the college requirements.
However, if you are in economics, data analytics, or the like, taking statistics might be a better option for you.
Learn about the different career paths and what courses you may need more.
Art
I did ceramics all four years of my high school career as a club activity and I have loved every minute of it.
If you find that you like art or any art-related clubs, you can try exploring options for a class.
Art can come in many forms from drawing to painting to crafts to ceramic to sculpting to photography and much much more.
Explore what you are interested in and don’t be afraid to pursue that route.
Oftentimes, that is what makes you stand out more apart from your peers is if you find something that you are interested in and explore it.
I recommend asking students who have previously taken the art classes that you are interested in to get a feel of the workload, requirements, and things to do.
If it sounds like something you are interested in, then you should try it out.
Language
If you have been taking Spanish or French as a requirement, you can keep on pursuing it until you have mastered the language.
You can either keep on taking the AP class or go into more advanced levels of the language.
There are also options for getting a certificate or getting a professional degree in a language.
If you like learning about a language, this is a great route to consider.
It will also make you look special since you are going further than is required whereas most students will usually stop after they have fulfilled the basic language requirements.
Besides it never hurts to be fluent or conversational worthy in another language.
You can also practice the language with locals or people who speak that language in several places at your college.
Check out the study abroad centers, language exchange programs, and more for practice.
Interested in more 11th grade tips and hacks? Check out Best 11th Grade School Supplies That You Need for a Successful Year.
AP Classes
If your school offers AP or IB classes, take advantage of them!
Most colleges recognize the AP credit if you take the class AND score a 3 or better on the exam.
However, check with the colleges that you are interested in applying to for AP class credit that they accept.
Don’t stack up your AP credits only to find out that the college you are applying to does not take AP credit.
If you want to beef up your GPA, AP classes are also a great way to do that.
Check out past AP exams and questions to get a feel of what the test will be like moving forward.
Try to time yourself and sit down with a practice exam to take.
Review your test and practice any concepts or questions that you missed.
Simulate the testing environment so it will be easy for you once you take the AP exam.
The more practice and simulated environment that you go through, the calmer you will be once the real exam rolls around.
Coding
In today’s day and age, coding is a very hot skill.
It is highly marketable in your career and great to have on your resume.
If your school has any coding classes like computer science, python, or java, then you should consider taking them.
It is never a bad idea to be familiar with some coding.
You might even use it in your future career too.
Even if your school doesn’t offer any coding classes, you can start exploring by watching YouTube videos, reading articles, and trying some exercises.
There are a ton of resources out there that you can follow and learn about.
You can also try practicing with one coding problem a day after you get the basics down.
Download a coding app for conceptual practice or just go online and search for questions with solutions to coding problems.
After you solve it, check your answer to the solution and see if you approached it similarly or differently.
Interested in more high school posts? Check out How to Study Last Minute and Still Ace Your Test.
Website Building
This is similar to coding classes, but more heavily towards building websites.
If you are interested in learning about HTML or CSS, styling options, or methods to make a website, then this is a great class.
There are a ton of people who hire others to build a website for them, so if you know how to build a website, then it’s a lucrative skill.
Many bloggers need their websites styled a different way or formatted specifically and you can help with the skills you acquire.
You never know, you might transform those skills into a part-time or full-time job in the future.
And treat any skill you learn as a possible part-time or full-time job should push you to consider it more valuably.
It’s also a great idea to set up your own website as a portfolio or job seeker page to look for jobs.
This way you can send the link to recruiters or job boards to showcase any of the work or experiences that you have accumulated or done.
Psychology
I might be biased since I took psychology in high school, but I’d say it’s a solid class to take.
You get to learn so many interesting things about people, experiments, and stories.
I never dozed off in a single psychology class, (not saying I doze off in other classes) because everything was so interesting.
There are also methods to learn how to study more effectively, how our brains work, and how we develop from children to adults.
Once you get the concepts and pay attention to the background stories, psychology is super fun to explore.
I think psychology is a class that is beneficial to anyone because you can learn more about how others feel, think, and act the way they are.
Elective Course That You Are Interested In
If you see an elective that catches your eye, explore it!
Don’t just skip over it if you are unsure what the class is about.
And don’t leave it behind if your friends aren’t taking that class.
This is about you and your interests.
Pursue the things that make you want to be curious about it.
If something attracts your attention enough that pushes you to make that step to dig in deeper, then you have chosen the right class.
You want to be propelled to learn more about the subject and not be satisfied until you learn something, anything out of it.
Having a class that you are passionate about makes your school year so much more different and unique.
And since you are picking 11th grade classes, you should have a general idea of what you are interested in from your freshman and sophomore years.
Indecisive about which 11th grade classes to take?
List out a few of the classes that you are interested in taking if you are still on the fence about which classes to pick.
You can then ask the counselor or your peers who have taken the class previously or roll a die.
It’s not the end of the world if you pick a random class that has nothing to do with your interests.
Trying something out that you have never interacted with before can give you a glimpse of new perspectives.
You never know, maybe you will enjoy that class a lot.
Don’t stress about picking your 11th grade classes because at the end of the day, what matters the most is how you approach that class.
Are you taking the initiative to learn?
How prepared or ready are you?
Are you proactive and willing to adapt to new environments?
If you found anything on this list that you think was helpful, maybe do a deep dive into that category.
Learn more about the material and sign up for it.
I have two classes that I’m debating between…which should I pick?
If you are at crossroads between two classes, weigh the pros and cons.
Can you take both of them at the same time?
Will they be offered another time?
Which one will provide you with more benefits and learning opportunities?
Think about which class will be more fun or enjoyable for you to do.
If it’s becoming a big issue for you, consider flipping a coin to eliminate the stress.
No matter what class you pick, you won’t be wrong.
You will be taking a stab at more knowledge and information.
Even if you pick one over the other, you can always self-teach yourself the other class.
Or, take one class this year and another the next year so you don’t have to debate on which class to take.
