<p>I’m sure it would be quite time consuming and if he really isn’t interested, he may be better off spending his time on something he feels is more interesting and relevant, such as a science fair project, robotics team, math competition, etc.</p>
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<p>No. One took AP Euro in lieu of as the second year of Global history was basically the non-AP equivalent of AP Euro at my HS. If they took first year of Global history, it would mainly cover non-European societies from what I recall.</p>
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<p>Regent exams were considered even by some Stuy teachers as “LCD/easy exams” and most students had no issues spending a few weeks before the exam going through review books and then acing them. </p>
<p>A few teachers in a subject said as much when I scored a 94 on a regents exam in a subject for which most of my HS grades were in the C-F range. Only in the last course with an “easy teacher” did I get an -A. </p>
<p>It’s one reason why several older HS alums including yours truly are stunned by the recent regents cheating scandal. Back then, if you needed to study/cheat for the regents, you were widely regarded as intellectually dim and some would wonder how you made it into the SHS.</p>
<p>2 of my children took AP Euro. One as a senior at an independent private h.s., and one as a sophomore in a public h.s. IB program. From what I could tell (and I did not get too involved in the nitty-gritty) AP Euro is much more suitable for seniors. Both my children got A’s in the class and 5’s on the exam, by the way. There’s just a lot of intellectual history covered in the course that I believe resonates better and is better comprehended by slightly more mature teens. Anyways, if it were my son, I wouldn’t hesitate to have him take the CP Honors version of the class UNLESS I knew that the teacher of the AP Euro class was some amazing inspirational person.</p>
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<p>This really depends on the individual HS student as many in their freshman/sophomore years or those who are younger than 13 may be more than ready to tackle intellectual history. Incidentally, I read a fair amount on history including intellectual history, politics, and current events from local library books and news media well before high school. Then again, most of those who attended my public magnet did the same. </p>
<p>I’ve also had college classmates who were tacking advanced college-level courses including history/politics at ages ranging from 14 and up. And you wouldn’t have known their ages unless they knew you well enough to trust you with that information and more importantly, understand that their age is not a license to make patronizing assumptions about their maturity and intellect.</p>
<p>^^ At my kids’ HS, AP Euro is a mix of sophs and seniors, as it’s not open to freshmen and juniors here take US History. The teacher addressed that mix and said that with few exceptions there is no appreciable difference in their outcomes, probably because they are self-selecting groups (i.e., the sophs who take it tend to be interested in history and to be mature students who are ready/willing to take on the heavy work load, which is well known in advance).</p>
<p>If he isn’t interested in history, then he is probably right in not taking it. He can focus on AP’s in subjects he is interested in. Again, using GPA issues for this kind of decision is not a good approach. Go by interest. Otherwise, he may be buried in work he hates which is certainly demoralizing.</p>
<p>My son is testing for AP European history. He did not apply for APUS. Is European history very hard? He is in an honors program that is US history based. Pls help us decide which is easier. Thx. </p>
<p>My D took a full slate of AP courses, including AP World in 9th grade, AP American in 10th and AP Euro as a senior- got 5s on all exams and As in the classes. She loved them, but then again, she is a history buff and didn’t have a tough time at all.
The usual thinking is that AP American is the toughest of the 3 exams.</p>
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<p>I haven’t the faintest idea what this means…Euro is (primarily) just a LOT of memorization. No different that APUSH and AP Art History in that regard.</p>
<p>Rigor depends a lot on the respective course teacher. (And that is usually indicative of the % of 5’s.)</p>
<p>AP Euro is an essential class in my opinion. My daughter found it surprisingly interesting–there are so many things that kids have heard about (the Crusades, black death, middle ages, etc.) that they have no context for, then they take AP Euro and it’s like a light bulb goes off and they understand the historical significance. I definitely recommend the class!</p>
<p>Sigh. My daughter was pretty sad that no one else in her AP history class had ever heard of the Crusades before. Even more reason to take the class, I suppose.</p>
<p>AP Euro is available to sophs at my kids’ HS too, it’s the only AP they are allowed to take as sophs. At the same schools, AP Gov is the super hard senior course. My kids have taken both and both require a lot of reading and memorizing/retaining facts. Gov had more papers and projects but that’s a teacher difference, I think. Lots of kids got low grades in Gov but high grades on the AP exam and the opposite was true of Euro. So a lot has to do with the teacher…</p>
<p>Isn’t there “Honors European History” or similar, that is, something in-between CP and AP? </p>
<p>I agree with multiplemom - it depends on your kid and the teacher. Most kids report it is a lot of reading and a lot of material. Some kids love history, so they don’t mind all the reading. My kids benefitted a lot by using the Barron’s and PR PRep book through the year as a means to learn what info needed to be retained and how it would be presented on an exam. They did many of the practice multiple choice questions during the year and they practiced the document based questions. Once you get the hang of it, the material seems less overwhelming.</p>