AP Classes by Rank

I am a high school sophomore who is dedicated to my academics and athletics. I have the ability to take numerous AP classes within the next couple years at my school. If you are willing, please rank these AP classes with the best of your ability from “EASIEST” to “MOST DIFFICULT”, or numerically ranked from least difficult to hardest. Any help at all would be extremely appreciated. I am looking to challenge myself, but not be too overwhelmed, as I have other obligations, as well, to other clubs and my two varsity sport teams.

-AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP Human Geography, AP Micro and Macro Economics, AP Physics 1, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP Statistics, AP US & Comparative Government and Politics, AP US History, and AP World History.

The difficulty is very teacher/school specific. As a general grouping, you could go with group 1: ES, HG, and Psychic. Group 2: Econ’s, Stats Group 3 : the rest. YMMV.

I agree with the above that much is teacher dependent, as well as a student’s strengths.

Psych, HG, Stats, ES are usually considered the easier APs.

My daughter thought AP euro and APUSH were harder than AP calc but that’s because she’s a stem focused kid.

Selecting courses just because they are AP is not advisable. Even top schools are not expecting more than 8 or so AP courses.

My kid would say, as far as the ones he took, with his score:
Most Difficult: AP Physics C E&M(3), AP Lit (5)
Hard: AP Physics C Mech(4), AP Calc BC(5), AP Chem(5), AP Bio (4)
Medium: APUSH(4), Macro/Micro Econ(4,3, self-study), Eng Lang (5)
Easy: Stats(5), Psychology (5), US Govt (4)

Here is my ranking in the reverse:

The hardest and/or most-time consuming (which depends, in part, on the school/teacher/student) are: Calc BC (if taught as a one-year course after pre-calc), Physics C E&M

A small step down to the next level: Physics C Mech, Bio, Chem

A small step down to the next level: Eng Lit, Eng Lang, USH, Spanish Lit

A small step down to the next level: World Hist, Euro Hist, Art Hist, Calc AB, Calc BC (if taught as a one-year class after Calc AB)

A HUGE leap down to the next level: everything else

I think you can’t discount student interest and time commitment when you’re ranking. Daughter has completed 4 APs, and is almost half way through 5 more. Already earned or currently has a A in all of them,
plus three 5s and one 4 on her tests. She said World History and Gov were most time consuming, She loved Lit and loves Lang this year. Psych was most interesting to her, and she felt it was on the easier side. Art History is very time consuming and requires copious memorization. Someone who doesn’t love art might hate it. She is not geared toward stem, so Physics is quite challenging when her interest is low. That being said, take the classes that interest you, or apply to your potential major.

OP - You really need to ask the upperclassmen at your school about the AP teachers. That’s the only way to know which classes may be harder/easier at your high school. At our school, the AP World History teacher was very demanding, and the class was a lot of work (but his students always did well on the AP exam). AP Environmental Science is usually considered an easy class, but at our school it was not due to a very good and enthusiastic teacher.

Among the “hard” ones, students may rank them differently, depending on their strengths. Some students will find calculus BC to be easier than English literature, while others will find English literature to be easier than calculus BC.

What makes an AP class “hard”? Some have very difficult subject matter AND are time consuming (have a lot of homework). I’d put AP Calculus BC in that category, along with AP Physics C. Others require a lot of time, but the subject matter isn’t that hard (APUSH), but it’s still a hard class because of the two hours of homework each night (in DD’s HS). Others depend on your abilities and interests (the AP CS classes are extremely time consuming, but whether or not you find them difficult depends on your skills and interests). In our school, AP Enviro Science, AP Seminar, and AP Human Geography are fluff classes.

Bottom line is that, with a few exceptions (like Calculus BC), each school is going to be different. Your best bet is to talk to the teachers of those classes, talk to your GC, and talk to some students who have taken the class before. Armed with that information, you can make a plan that challenges you, but gives you a decent chance at success.

Really depends on the kid and the teachers. For math whizzes, BC Calc isn’t going to be as hard as something which requires tons of reading. People in STEM often perceive that math and science are the most difficult subject but really any course can be, if given the right teacher and adding in a kid who has trouble in the subject area. I do, however, agree that the time commitment is a factor ( it’s not a factor for being difficult but it is a factor for kids who already have too much on their plates).
I would look at the College board ratings ( they rate how many people got which scores in each subject area) then factor in your own strengths. I looked at this once and was surprised that some of the esoteric languages had very low scores. Have you considered taking some of these classes online? Honestly, it seems like APs are a distraction to real, deep learning in subjects which students have an interest. Instead of following a passion, they are following a syllabus for a test which means little later in life. Just my opinion. I know students need them to get into the best schools but they don’t seem to serve the kids very well.

In terms of subject matter, it’s AP Physics C and AP Calc BC (if you haven’t taken Calc AB first). After that, it’s AP Chem and Bio. Once you get to APUSH, World, Eng Lang and Eng Lit, I think the level of difficulty is determined by the teacher and the strengths and weaknesses of the individual student.

The difficulty of an AP course in most subjects (getting a high AP score) and time required is aligned with the school districts preparation beginning in middle school. Ask current honors and AP students at your HS. For districts with robust math programs the weed out class is Algebra 2. Only those capable of a high AP score move on in the BC track. Those students would rank their Algebra 2 experience as more challenging and stressful than AP BC. AP Chemistry and any foreign language are similar.

With a lot of reading for history, biology and literature, are you a proficient critical reader? That will save you tons of homework and study time.

Everyone ranks AP physics E&M as difficult for good reason. Most enginneering and physics students take it again in college.

Depends on your interest and ability. Math brain, science v humanities.
One of my kids finds Bio easier than US History, another USH easier than Bio.

Score distributions can be misleading, since they are affected by selection effects. For example, calculus BC has a higher score distribution than calculus AB, even though BC is generally considered harder (at least if it is a one year course starting after precalculus). But that is due to BC generally getting stronger in math students.

It’s hard to grade AP courses by difficulty level. There are several variables, including student, teacher, curriculum etc. You can look at average AP scores on College Board’s website to get some idea but even that is not absolute as just because Calculus BC has a high number of test takers getting 4s & 5s, it doesn’t make it easy for everyone as only better able math students take that course, weaker ones move on after Algebra or Pre-Cal, others stop at Calculs AB.

AP Human Geo, APES and AP Psychology are commonly considered easier by many.

Here are the AP score distributions:
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions//

Highest percentage of 5 scores:

66.1 Chinese
48.0 Japanese
40.4 calculus BC
37.4 physics C E&M
30.2 physics C mechanics

Highest percentage of 1 scores:

30.8 physics 1
28.6 human geography
26.5 environmental science
25.5 US history
24.7 macroeconomics

Which IMO has zero correlation with course and/or test difficulty. Chinese and Japanese scores are skewed by heritage speakers and Calc BC and Physics C scores are skewed by the fact that the students are self-selecting these courses and are often the very high-performing STEM kids.

On the flip side, the high percentage of ones can possibly be attributed to the fact that some students are jumping on the AP bandwagon that should perhaps not be taking an AP class (or as many AP classes). APHG, where offered, is often a freshman/soph honors alternative. AP Physics 1 is partially the result that many schools eliminated honors physics.

That was the point, since the ones with lots of 5 scores are commonly seen as “hard”, while some of the commonly seen as “easy” ones have lots of 1 scores. (Or maybe there is some correlation going the opposite way from what people may expect.)

Like a lot of ratios, percentages that are tossed around on CC (such as admit rates, yields, etc.), these numbers by themselves aren’t meaningful without knowing precisely what’s in the denominators, and they can’t be compared with one another directly. The respective denominators are so different because of self-selection and other factors.

A course/test can be hard and one can still do well. I was one of those that listed E&M at the top of the hard (or at least time-consuming) list. I personally thought that the class was the most challenging class that I had in HS, although I did well in the class and on the exam. But as I said at the outset, hard/easy is subjective.