I am currently already signed up to take AP Computer Science Principles sophomore year along with Language/Literature Honors 2, which I have heard is the hardest class of the year. I want to try to take as many APs as I can that fit my interests and will not make me too overwhelmed. I am wondering if I should take AP World History too, but older students have told me that the class itself is not too hard except for the fact that you have to write a lot of essays and the combination with Lang/Lit Honors 2 may be challenging. Any thoughts or past experiences on this? Thanks.
What’s the normal AP history progression at your school?
There are many schools where sophomores take AP World. If other sophomores have done it AND you are a strong writer (A currently in Honors English 9) then I don’t see why not.
Does your school offer AP Human Geo? It would be a gentler introduction to AP methodology.
AP World is the standard Honors-track history class for Sophomores at our HS. 80% of students who took Honors US History as Freshman take APWH as Sophomores - so probably 30%+ of the class. So if you’re an honors track student with an interest in history, it seems like a good choice.
It’s typically the first AP course anyone at our school takes, so it’s on the easier side of AP courses.
What is the “standard” honors-track history/social studies course ar your school?
@allyphoe @RichInPitt For social studies classes, my school only offers AP World History starting sophomore year and AP US History starting junior year.
@MYOS1634 Thank you, and yes I have just finished taking Honors English 9 this year. Sadly my school does not offer many APs- only AP World History and AP Computer Science Principles sophomore year, but I think I will add AP World History to my schedule and hopefully I can manage well!
You should be able to do APWH and APcsp if there are typically offered to sophomores. Or will AP CSP also be available to you as a junior?
@MYOS1634 Yes AP Computer Sci Principles will be available for junior and senior year too
Then apWH Sophomore year, and APcsp either sophomore or junior year will be good 
Make sure not to neglect the other core subjects (English, Foreign Language, Math, Science).
PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE!! I am an honors/ ap student just coming out of my sophomore year. I took AP world this past school year. At my school it is the most content and work heavy AP. The course is very demanding and tedious although the college board did just cut out a bit chunk of the course, which will make it much easier. In l opinion I loved the course and had an amazing teacher and finished with an A. Many kids in my class with no interest in the class that we’re just taking it to take it struggled a lot. If you find interest in the course take it, as it will definitely prepare you for future more rigorous AP’s. Although, if you are not it’s definitely not worth the stress.
The work is definitely a lot. I CANNOT stress how hard it can be. However, I managed to get A’s every quarter from doing all the work and submitting it on time. People would literally fail because they didn’t feel like doing the work. If it’s any help, College Board is removing the earliest history of the world this coming year (I forget how much specifically).
In case anyone else was curious, I looked up the course change noted above. AP World History used to cover 10,000 years of human history - Paleolithic Era to present. The new course - AP World History: Modern, covers 1200 CE to present. A future course is in discussion: AP World History: Ancient, but certainly not this year.
I suspect the last 8% of those 10k years contains a much larger share of the material, but this change will certainly affect the nature of the course and exam.
And all of the study guides that are now obsolete…
OP, we have no idea what possible colleges you’d like or even just what tier. You can look at a few of them, see what their admissions page recommends for course distribution. It’s going to be a min 2 years of core history. The more competitive colleges want 3-4. (After you get the basic classes, then you can expand to econ, govt. etc.) I can’t name a college that includes any CS class in its recommendations.
Don’t make your decisions based on another student at another hs. You want your own best prep, all around.
“I want to try to take as many APs as I can that fit my interests.” You don’t need as many as possible. Rather, the right mix of AP in cores and those related to your possible major. There’s no tip for taking the most AP of anyone. If you’re interested in the CS class, fine. But not at the expense of the right balance.