<p>hey guys,
I just wanted to hear from anyone who has taken/knows a bit about AP Euro..
How hard of a course is it, and is it really that interesting?
I'm interested in taking it in my junior year; i can't take it earlier b/c of school requirements. and if I were to take AP Euro, how many more APs would you be able to handle concurrently?
Thanks!!</p>
<p>bump10char</p>
<p>I’ve taken it. The difficulty of the course really depends on the teacher. I took it as a sophomore, so my study habits weren’t as disciplined as they are now. My teacher gave us reading assignments and we took notes in class while she lectured with a powerpoint. We had a test on every chapter and our mid-term and final exam were full-blown mock AP exams. I made an A in the class and a 5 on the exam. Just be willing to commit. How many other APs you take will depend on the amount of reading the AP Euro teacher at your school is known for. Hours of reading (like I had) will definitely limit your time for other APs that may ALSO call for you to do a lot of reading (for example, an AP English class would be killer). </p>
<p>Hope I helped some!</p>
<p>I self-studied for it two years ago. What ^ he said is accurate; anticipate some heavy reading on things you may not be interested in.
(Luckily, you write 1 “DBQ”, then you must write 2 other “FRQ’s”. You pick each out of a group of 3, so you have good options if you didn’t cover one area very well, like I did with everything involving women’s history/campaigns/etc. I wasn’t sexist, I just wasn’t interested enough in the things that only women did in the renascence and the like…)</p>
<p>Have you taken any other history AP’s? Describing the differences would be easier.</p>
<p>I am in the class now as a senior. I love it. It’s my favorite class and I highly recommend it to anyone else who is interested in history. I have an amazing teacher, so that definitely adds to it.</p>
<p>That said, it’s also my hardest class. The tests are brutal. There are huge amounts of reading to be done for each chapter and you have to be able to take good notes during class. You go fast through it - you have to go fast if you want to get through everything. I had B- for both first and second term and a C on the midterm. I currently have an A- for this term because I’ve been working my butt off on it by spending a couple of hours a day twice a week reading the book.</p>
<p>I take four APs and I don’t find it difficult but Euro is easily the hardest one and if I had another difficult AP (for instance, calculus) I would probably not have much spare time on my hands.</p>
<p>I took it as a sophomore. It was a great class because it taught me all the basic European theories that affect economics, government, etc . . </p>
<p>But there is a lot of reading. At least in my class, we read many philosophers, and you have to be ready for that. You will also need to learn about many countries for the test, and it can get confusing. There is a lot of memorizing. Still, I’m not much of a history person, and I found it interesting enough.</p>
<p>If you do take it, keep on top of your stuff. Don’t get behind - there’s only so much history you can cram, and this class does cover a lot. For the test, I highly recommend Princeton Review. </p>
<p>This class isn’t that hard. In my school, its an intro AP for sophomores to take before other AP/IB classes. You just have to be prepared for all the history it covers, and the reading/writing that involves.</p>
<p>I took AP Euro as a sophomore as well. It was my first AP history, so I didn’t do fantastically. It’s actually the lowest grade on my transcript. But, a lot of the problems were with my teacher. He gave us powerpoints and a ton of document analysis (which is unnecessary in excess) and failed to actually communicate most of the information effectively. The textbook is hard to get through at times, but AP histories seem to have that in common. If I had taken the class this year (as a senior), I would’ve done significantly better. It’s not an extraordinarily difficult class, it’s just that there are so many factors that can either make or break the experience.</p>
<p>By the way, I did manage to get a 5 on the exam after studying intensively for the 2 weeks prior to the test. It just shows you that anything can happen.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone! I can’t decide on taking AP Euro or APUSH. Which do you think is more interesting? easier? I’ve had a lot of people tell me that APUSH is easier, but I’m a bit more interested in AP Euro-- I just don’t want it crashing my GPA…</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you the US History AP credit is almost always much more useful than the Euro AP credit. Most places requires 2 semesters of US History in college, while euro isn’t typically that useful as an AP credit. (of course, this may depend on your major too)</p>
<p>Well, I’m a history freak, so I like them both. Taking AP Euro before APUSH actually helped me. Whenever my APUSH teacher would bring up something that was happening in Europe at the time in order to better frame what was going to happen in the U.S., I knew exactly what he was talking about. AP Euro was just more interesting to me because I had never been out of the country, and therefore had more interest in the “unknown” and why things are the way they are today. A lot of times you’ll find that AP Euro and APUSH overlap. But OtherWindow is right about the credit thing, so APUSH wins there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!</p>
<p>Would you say APUSH is one of the harder APs? How many other APs could you take concurrently?</p>
<p>APUSH to me wasn’t too hard. Euro was definitely more work. A lot more reading and memorizing leaders was very difficult. If you already have a basic idea of US history, that’ll help immensely and make that class easier. But I have to say Euro helped me for US, especially with essay writing because the teacher I had for US was a joke.</p>
<p>I took Euro in 10th grade. I enjoyed it, but it was a quite a transition, going from regular to AP (my first AP nonetheless). But the material is pretty good and once you get the hang of it, the essays are no so bad either with the exception of the DBQs. Personally, I liked APUSH more, so it was easier for me. Still, I know many people who think just the opposite. I actually had the same teacher for both classes. So, if you are interested in Euro, you should take it. Good luck!</p>