AP History for Faculty of Sciences

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm a grade 10 student, and I'm doing course selection for gr 11 right now.</p>

<p>I'm wondering whether I should bother taking AP History 12 if I plan on going into Sciences or Engineering. I would take it for sure if it was just one course but the problem is that there are 2 prereq gr 11 courses, Comparitive Civilizations and Social Studies. So that takes 2 instead of 1 block out of my time table next year when I could be doing other courses. So should I take the extra class so I can take AP Hist? I plan on applying to good universities (CMU, CalTech, MIT, Cornell etc.) where AP courses are highly regarded. Also, my school only offers AP courses in Physics, Calc, Hist, and English, and I'm taking the other 3.</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>BTW I get 95% in gr 10 socials.</p>

2

<p>I would take another science if I were you.</p>

3

<p>What I've found is a lot of colleges will let you skip the classes you have AP credit for- but many suggest that you only do this for classes outside your major. If you are lookin to use AP credits later on, it may be in your best interest to take the history in order to make pursuing your science/engineering major in college a bit easier as well as give you the opportunity to pursue more science courses in college. Of course, if history bores you to death- go with the science classes that will interest you instead.</p>

4

<p>I'm taking AP US History and I LOVE IT! But of course, that's just because I'm enamored with US History. If you enjoy it and are willing to work, take the course. Otherwise....</p>

5

<p>I don't know for sure ... what would you take in 11th grade if you didn't take the prerequisite courses? These things may more relevant to your future studies than an AP History course and so might mean more to potential colleges. But you haven't said.</p>

<p>You can always self-study for any AP test and take it. You may also get some help from the teacher of a non-AP class in doing this. For instance, my son's school didn't have AP Chemistry. But when he took chemistry, the teacher gave him some supplemental work he could do if he wanted, plus he went through a prep book on his own. He did pretty well on the exam.</p>

<p>You also might take some college courses during the summer. Another alternative is to do AP by distance learning, such as with Apex Learning. <a href="http://www.apexlearning.com/SUBJECTS/ap_subs.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.apexlearning.com/SUBJECTS/ap_subs.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In other words, you can beef up your college-level work tally while still taking what you would prefer in 11th grade.</p>