I would like to know more about AP human geography. My school doesn’t offer this course so if I’m going to take the test, I need to self-study.</p>
Is AP HG a hard test? What topics does it cover? For those of you who already took the test, how many hours did you spend studying for this test?
I would appreciate it if you could also recommend me some good prep books for this test.</p>
<p>It has been my experience from looking at college admissions policies that many give no credit at all for Human Geography. I would look into the colleges you are considering and determine if they give any credit for that class. It is one of the easiest AP’s to take.</p>
<p>^ that and its a pretty big waste of time and money besides the fact that it has AP infront of it.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t do it unless u have free time that would be wasted otherwise</p>
<p>I took the class as a senior (wanted all APs, but didn’t want them to all be ridiculously hard) and had a very good teacher. I did almost no studying out of class besides cramming on the morning of the test. Despite the fact that I was unable to identify the Netherlands on a map of Europe (whoops!), I got a 5 (which I’ll get 3 college credits for), as did about half my class. The other half had a few 4s and a few 3s and a few who didn’t take it. I think one girl got a 2, but she was a freshman and shouldn’t have been in the class.
However, 30% of people who took the exam got 1s, which is the highest rate among non-STEM classes and the 4th highest overall. I’ve seen lots of people on the interwebs saying they thought it was easy and that they did well, but ended up failing. I guess my point is that if you do self-study, make sure you test yourself with released exams and all previous essays and be wary of how confident you are.</p>
<p>Which prep books did you use for studying for the test?</p>
<p>I took the class as a sophomore and used Barron’s review guide to study for the AP exam. I really liked the Barron’s book because it definitely covered everything, I got a 5. I agree with the previous poster about being over-confident. Since the class was so easy, everyone blew off studying and got 2s and 3s. In my opinion the course was very interesting, but don’t expect college credit (many don’t accept it).</p>
<p>@janedoeski</p>
<p>Thanks for your recommendation. I agree that people tend to be over-confident when studying for this test.</p>
<p>What about the REA book for APHG? It seems to get good reviews on amazon and some people say it is better than Barron’s :/</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> AP Human Geography w/ CD-ROM (Advanced Placement (AP) Test Preparation) (9780738606316): Dr. Christian Sawyer, Advanced Placement: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Geography-CD-ROM-Advanced-Placement-Preparation/dp/0738606316/ref=pd_sim_b_9]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Geography-CD-ROM-Advanced-Placement-Preparation/dp/0738606316/ref=pd_sim_b_9)</p>
<p>So far I haven’t seen a review of the REA book for APHG. Hopefully someone who has used this book will be able to answer our question.</p>
<p>Here’s a practice exam:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.guilford.k12.ct.us/sites/powersj/documents/APHumanGeoPracticeExam2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.guilford.k12.ct.us/sites/powersj/documents/APHumanGeoPracticeExam2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>My daughter used the REA review book primarily and scored a “5” as a 9th grader.</p>
<p>Here’s the 2008-2009 HGAP course description – it contains some sample M/C questions:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ncge.org/files/documents/APHG_2011CourseDescription.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncge.org/files/documents/APHG_2011CourseDescription.pdf</a></p>
<p>@AttorneyMother</p>
<p>Thank you so much!!</p>
<p>If the colleges you’re looking into offer credits for a passed APHG test, then take it. APHG was my first AP class and test. I took it as a freshman and scored a 5.
I’d definitely get a review book like PR, Barrons, etc. Read through it and take note of the things you’re not remembering. Also look for previous tests and sample test questions on the Internet. TAKE AT LEAST ONE FULL PRACTICE TEST BEFORE TEST DAY UNDER TIMED CONDITIONS. Some review books have easier practice tests than the one you may encounter on test day, so make sure to keep that in mind.
Oh, and don’t try to just memorize laundry lists of information. Many questions on the MC section will ask you to APPLY what you know to get an answer; there will seldom be those simple definition-type questions. That being said, you still have to know your stuff.
I’d say start in January at the latest, but it’s best to start early and take your time. I began studying in late March because I took the class, and I started at 30 minutes a day then gradually increased my studying time to 1->2->2.5 hours when test day was close. I didn’t cram the day before, though.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you. APHG is fun to study for and not a hard test. :)</p>
<p>emotionprelude,</p>
<p>You are most welcome!</p>
<p>Here’s something that we’ve found helpful as well as my daughter works her way through her AP classes. Here’s the scoring worksheet:</p>
<p><a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board;
<p>You’ll note that it is a forgiving curve.</p>
<p>Previous HGAP FRQ’s:</p>
<p>[AP:</a> Human Geography](<a href=“AP Human Geography Exam – AP Students | College Board”>AP Human Geography Exam – AP Students | College Board)</p>
<p>@oFg5x3o
Thank you so much for your advice!</p>
<p>@AttorenyMother
Thank you so much for your links!! :D</p>
<p>I am a Chinese student. And when I was in Grade11 I learned APHG by myself and got a five. But I have to say that I love geography. I always spend a lot of time reading maps and learning many events or sites from wikipedia. So I just use one month read the textbook, about 100minutes everyday. And two days before the exam, I started to do the pastpapres which were released on AP website.
I never wrote essays before the exam, never! But I am a person with a lot of words, and 2012 APHG really touched some of my familiar topics. So I write very well.
I strongly recommend Barron APHG. It is a wonderful book. It covers all the main topics and has some concise glossaries.
But what makes APHG a little bit hard is the subject always needs you to know some important events or sites that are not introduced in the textbooks, such as Berlin Wall, Siberia railway, the architecture of Islam…
So you need to do some research</p>
<p>I’m seeing this post too late.
Thank you @sizp0610!</p>
This exam is quite easy if you are solid on all the concepts in the Rubenstein textbook. The FRQ is very easy because you don’t have to write an essay. You can just answer the question and move on. Use a Kaplan Book to practice the test format. I got a five and I studied 1 hr beginning three weeks before the exam.