I’m currently a Sophomore with a strong interest in history, however have a larger interest in engineering. I’ve been working on a course pathway with a focus on engineering, and haven’t taken an AP history class yet.
Next year I’m planning to take a DE College U.S. History class, however want to take a double history class. I’m deciding between AP European History & AP World History: Modern. (I’m taking Honors World History/Geography II this year.)
What is the preferred class among people, especially as a secondary history elective?
Why? As a potential engineering major, 2 history courses is probably not the best schedule.
Save the AP for senior year.
I have referred to AP European History as the most difficult A- that I have ever witnessed (although at this point I am trying to remember whether it was an A- or a B-). I do not think that if you are focused on engineering that I would recommend taking two difficult history classes at the same time.
The daughter who took AP Euro recently said that her current classes in a DVM program are just as difficult, but that she is better prepared being quite a bit older. This is faint praise for the ease of taking AP history classes.
I do find history interesting. However, as a potential engineering major I would recommend that you stick to one, and take your math classes very seriously.
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Choose your APs based upon your interests, and the reputation of the teacher at your high school for the subject. Ask the upperclassmen who are the best teachers for APs, and compile your list from that. Assuming that both Euro and World have great teachers, I’d say take Euro, because knowledge of European history is part of becoming a well-educated person. Plus it’s like Game of Thrones - when taught well, it’s fascinating.
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There aren’t any other engineering/CS courses I can take in Junior year. I have a passion for history, and its always come easy for me to comprehend & understand. That’s the main reason I want to take dual history classes, but I get where you’re coming from.
So if there aren’t any other CS/engineering courses available, what do you suggest I take?
This is my proposed schedule for Junior year:
Math: Pre-Calculus (no honors available)
Science: AP Physics I
Social Studies: DE College U.S. History
English: DE College Composition 11
World Lang: N/A (currently taking Honors Spanish IV in Sophomore year; Junior year would be AP Spanish Lang)
Elective #1: AP Computer Science A (currently taking APCSP in Sophomore year)
Elective #2: AP Euro or AP World: Modern
Elective #3: Aerospace Technology I
Elective #4: Technical Drawing and Design I (0.5) & Study Hall (0.5)
There aren’t many other engineering courses available for me to take without running out of classes to take for Senior year, and I don’t really wanna be the person who only takes 3 classes in Senior year cause I did all my classes Junior year.
Would it be better to take AP Spanish Lang rather than a 2nd history class? Currently in Spanish 4 & my teacher recommends it.
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Is 9 courses the norm?
Personally, I would take AP Spanish and save the AP history for senior year.
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What other math classes are available? Math is very important for engineering and computer science. However, math is something where it is more important to do very well in each class rather than to jump ahead.
How many classes do students typically take at the same time? 9 seem like a lot. I do not think that I ever took that many classes at the same time.
No, we have 8 periods. I just included World Language so I could let people know that I did take a foreign language (sometimes I see people ask “what about a foreign language?”, so I just thought to get that out of the way lol).
If I did AP Spanish Lang, I would just do that instead of a 2nd history course. I’ll take your thoughts into consideration, thanks!
The track I’m on has me taking Pre-Calculus next year (my school doesn’t have honors), and then AP Calculus BC in my Senior year. I’m also considering taking Probability & Statistics for a 2nd math class in my Senior year. But other than that, we don’t really have math electives so called.
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If you do well on the Spanish AP exam it could help you avoid the language requirement that still applies at some schools even for engineering majors.
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I get the impression that most colleges want to see AT LEAST 3 years of a common language, I would definitely take AP Spanish over some of the other options.
I think AP Euro is considered more rigorous than World, so that is something to consider.
At our school kids on a similar track will often take AP Chem along AP Physics 1, followed by AP Physics C Sr. year.
The kids I know took either Comp Sci A or Principles. Is it common to take both?
I’ve decided to simply go with AP Spanish Lang over dual history classes simply because of the feedback I’ve received here, scheduling conflicts, and the skillset of being bilingual.
I am not enjoying plain honors Chemistry this year, 'nor doing very well in it (I have A’s but do not understand the content to the fullest extent).
I really only took APCSP this year because I needed to have Algebra II as a prereq for APCSA for my school so I took it as a filler class until I finished Algebra II.
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I think you made a good decision. Perhaps you can take AP Euro senior year. My son is a big history person and he took AP World, USH and Euro. He’s now in college studying engineering. I completely get the desire to take more history classes and senior year will afford that chance. Good luck.
I agree that this sounds like a good decision.
Just as an aside, for people who are interested in history, there is a very interesting series on Youtube called “Fall of Civilizations”. I am many hours into it and have enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course seeing civilization after civilization collapse does give a person a sense of “what we have today is not guaranteed to hold together forever”.