Hey guys, I have a question. APUSH is a “prerequisite” to AP U.S. Govt and Politics at my school, but I’m pretty sure I can score myself into the class. I would then be taking APUSH and AP U.S. Govt and Politics together. Does anyone think that you need APUSH to do well in AP U.S. Govt and Politics? I really want to take it instead of Econ because I am not a fan of the teacher. Thank you.
At my school, students who do really well in Honors US History junior year are allowed to take AP US Government and AP Macroeconomics senior year, and they seem to be doing well despite not having taken APUSH.
Also, being a senior currently enrolled in AP US Government, there is definitely a lot of overlap between AP Gov and my previous US History class (which wasn’t AP, but rather dual enrollment), but I don’t feel as if the course expects you to have in-depth knowledge of US history going in. So, I don’t feel APUSH is totally necessary to be successful in AP Government, but feel free to still take it (although taking them at the same time might result in a good amount of homework).
Does APUSH help? Absolutely. Is it required to succeed? Absolutely not. Be prepared to spend more time on certain assignments, but you should be fine.
In our school, there is no honors history track, just regular for everyone in 9th grade and then regular or AP after that. One of my sons is dyslexic. He tried APUSH but couldn’t read fast enough, so he dropped it. After getting a 99 on the USH regents, he took AP US Govt. He got an A in the class and a 3 on the AP exam, which got him a gen ed credit. The general consensus is that Gov’t is an easier course than APUSH.
@Waterborne While i have not taken ap us gov, I have a friend who took it his sophomore year and is taking apush now his junior year. The course is recommended for 11th/12th graders as you take apush in 11th grade at my school. Without apush my friend struggled and barely squeaked a 3 on the exam while apush students had a much easier time. I was going to do the same thing and the ap gov teacher advised me against it. I have other friends who took us gov w/o apush and had some but not a lot of trouble but it was their only ap so they had a lot of time to put into it. Concurrently works well.
I don’t think you need APUSH before AP Gov. At our school, many students take them concurrently.
@Bookgal1 I think that depends on their study skills regarding reading, not whether they take APUSH or not.
@Waterborne I scored a 700 on the PSAT reading without practice, I don’t know if that means anything though.
Then if you can research and find good resources to supplement your learning when you need it, you will be fine.
@Waterborne Thanks! I actually heard back from my GC and she said I just need to get a recommendation from my AP Euro teacher and the AP Gov teacher.