AP US History vs. AP World History vs. AP European History?

Ok, let me try to explain my situation here (I think it’s pretty confusing, so I’m sorry in advance if I’m not super clear.) I go to a small private school that does not offer any AP classes. However, senior year, I wanted to take a couple AP classes online. I want to take a history one, but I cannot decide between US History, World History, or European History. At my regular school, I take OIB History (OIB stands for Option International Baccalaureate, so it’s IB level history.) Originally, I was thinking of doing AP European History since it sounds interesting, people say it’s looked highly upon by college admissions directors, and a high grade on the exam is accepted for college credit at most schools. However, OIB History covers mostly European history, with maybe a little contemporary/21st century world history thrown in. Thus, I was leaning towards AP US History. I’m just a little conflicted because, honestly, all three courses sound interesting, and I would be fine taking either one, but I’m worried it would be redundant to take OIB History and AP European History at the same time.

However, now that I think about it, taking both courses at the same time could possibly be to my advantage, as there’s a chance some of the material would overlap… On the other hand, though, I found a good, inexpensive place to take AP US History online, but so far I haven’t found a reliable site to take AP European History :frowning:

Please help! I’m sorry again if it’s a so confusing…

AP World History was more work for me and the material was harder to retain. AP US History, on the other hand, was much easier because the time frames was reduced greatly. I didn’t take AP Euro so I can’t comment on that but I would say go with USH. Its the easiest out of all 3 history AP courses.

@4nia4ever Ok, thank you! I will keep that in mind :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t take AP World bc it’s accepted for credit at fewer colleges than the other 2, I chose to take AP Euro over AP World sophomore year for this reason. I also took APUSH junior year and honestly I would recommend taking APUSH instead of Euro or World. I enjoyed Euro way more than US because the material was more interesting but it was so much material that I felt overwhelmed when I was studying for the AP exam. As previously said, APUSH covers one country and a smaller time frame but it’s consequently more in depth than Euro or World. I feel like there are more study materials for APUSH as well, even though the test format just changed this year. On that note, the AP Euro test is changing for those taking it in May 2016 while the World is changing in 2017 I believe. I’m not sure how different the new Euro test will be, but that means fewer accurate practice tests which may not even be a big deal depending on how you study. I haven’t taken AP World, but between the other two, APUSH is the way to go :slight_smile:

@katiaxo Thank you for answering! I think I am leaning towards AP US History.

Yes, to solidify your decision, I say APUSH as well. It’s often worth 2 classes, it’s required by many state colleges because of the U.S. social studies college requirement thing, and it has pretty easy FRQ’s to master as well as source-based multiple choice questions. So it shouldn’t be too bad.

APUSH is really valuable in terms of if you’re looking ahead for credit in college, but I found the material of AP Euro to be more interesting and engaging than APUSH. However, given one class to choose from, I definitely agree with the three who’ve answered before me. I just took the recently revamped test and I think it’s a lot more manageable than any of the other tests, with a stimulus-based MC section, four relatively easy SAQs, and an LEQ and DBQ to boot.

@jpchem @IBscholar Thanks for answering! Ya, I think I’m going to go with US History.