<p>Are AP classes really that difficult? i hear stories of endless homework piles every night with no sleep until 3 in the morning. Can you please share some personal thoughts about AP classes if you had taken them before? how was it in terms of homework load and tests? Were the APs ridiculously harder than your regular subjects? and, please rate the difficulty between a regular course and an ap course on a scale of 1-10. like regular global is a 4 while AP world is an 8 or something</p>
<p>The difficulty of an AP course depends on several factors; mainly the class in question and teacher.You should really ask upperclassmen at your school as they would have a better understanding of the relative difficulty of your school’s AP classes. </p>
<p>I would definitely ask students at your school. For example, my Biology Honors class was about a 5 however the AP Biology class was definitely a 9. It was such a huge leap and is regarded as THE hardest class at our school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, World History Honors was about a 3 with AP European History and AP World History being about 5s.</p>
<p>Keep in mind this is just my school so ask students at yours. It depends. If you’re better at history/English then those APs will be easier than the science or math APs at your school.</p>
<p>From what I know, you don’t have to be super-smart or talented to do well in AP, but you gotta be hardworking, persistent and constantly keep track of your notes and homework. Just like the two people before me responded, it would be really helpful to go talk to the seniors currently taking APs at your school.</p>
<p>I am in AP US History and, at least for me, the course requires a lot of dedication and focus. Simply not doing homework for a couple days can significantly damage you in the long run because the class, although is a full year course, moves quick and covers a wide range of material.
HOWEVER, if you are a person who can stay focused and get things down without distractions, classes like AP US History will not be what some students call “terror and sleepless nights”.
Even if you don’t like history, like I felt at the beginning of the year, you can still be successful as long as you are hardworking and persistent as @above said.</p>
<p>Also, I never took AP WORLD or AP EURO, but I have heard that there are pretty noticeable level gaps between those courses. </p>
<p>It really depends, I am taking 5 next year lol. I go to the 20th best high school in NY so I kind of have to do this to be competitive. It really varies. This year I am taking APUSH, I personally am really good at history, I have a hard teacher but I still think it is easy, I get A+s. The difference between AP Bio and Honors bio would probably be a 8 to 7 respectively due to my awesome science skills. For AP Calc next year, I hate math and I am ok at it so I will probably find it very hard. HW is a lot, but managable, I do it and I dont even get home untill 6 oclock most days. If you are dedicated ot doing well, you can get As, It is all about work ethic and intelligence.</p>
<p>All AP’s are not equal difficulty, and the teachers can make or break the class. If they pile on busywork that doesn’t teach the concepts or prepare for the exam, they are wasting everyone’s time. However, only the students at your school can provide info on that.</p>
<p>Some AP’s are intrinsically more time consuming than others. From my experience:</p>
<p>The hardest and/or most-time consuming, IMO, are Calc BC (if taught as a one-year course after pre-calc), Physics C E&M</p>
<p>A small step down to the next level: Physics C Mech, Bio, Chem</p>
<p>A small step down to the next level: Eng Lit, Eng Lang, USH, Spanish Lit</p>
<p>A small step down to the next level: World Hist, Euro Hist, Art Hist, Calc AB, Calc BC (if taught as a one-year class after Calc AB)</p>
<p>A huge leap down to the next level: everything else</p>
<p>BC is definitely not difficult if taught after AB, you can score a 5 on the BC with very little knowledge of BC whatsoever as long as the AB questions are done well. </p>
<p>Like everybody is saying… it depends on your school, the teacher, and most importantly what AP class it is. For example at my school AP Human Geography is offered to freshman because it is probably the easiest AP out there. Also AP Psych is offered to sophomores and all the other APs are only upperclassman. Asking people who have taken the class or asking the teacher(s) that teach the specific class your considering is the most helpful because they have gone through it. For me I have taken AP Calc AB and Microeconomics this year (junior) and Human Geography freshman year (none sophomore year)…
Human Geo was probably like a 2 or 3, easier than my freshman honors english… Microeconomics probably like a 5 or 6 because you need to read the chapters to understand… Calc AB probably like a 5 or 6 also. Obviously this all depends your strengths also, as math and business are mine those classes are a lot easier for me than to others in my class. Also FYI I’m a Junior and next year I’m planning on taking 5 APs because I handled taking 2 APs and a CLEP Accounting class pretty well this year. Im taking Calc BC, Macroeconomics, Physics 1, Psychology, and Statistics.</p>
<p>Overall from what I’ve heard at my school in order of difficulty
- AP Chemistry and Physics B (which is now split into 1 and 2 starting next year) are the hardest in the school</p>
<ul>
<li><p>AP Calc AB, AP US History, AP Biology, Both AP English classes, and Statistics are all pretty hard</p></li>
<li><p>AP Calc BC is easy for the people in it because they did fine in AB anyway and are all good at math so its hard to gauge how hard it is.</p></li>
<li><p>AP Government and Politics, AP European History, and both economics (Micro and Macro) are average difficulty… but I only know 1 person whose taken Macro but its known as a little harder than Micro.</p></li>
<li><p>AP Human Geography and AP Psychology are both very easy! Take them if you can! Out of a little over 400 people in my school taking AP tests… 320ish are taking one of those two and I think AP psych has over 200 itself.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>-Any others i don’t know anything about at all or aren’t at my school (Like AP Music Theory is at my school but I know nothing about it and I honestly don’t know how that is an AP class)</p>
<p>Hope this rant helps!</p>
<p>
For a potential music major, music theory is a foundation course, and deserves to be an AP offering more so than say Human Geography.</p>
<p>wait i can’t take physics b next year??? why did they cancel the option of taking ap physics b? if they allow you to only take ap physcs 1, then wouldn’t that only cover 1 semester of physics B, and only cover half the material on the SAT II physics exam?? </p>
<p>i’m concerend becauase i’m planning to take SAT II physics, without ap physics B, i won’t feel prepared enough to take the exam if i just self study the other half othe material on my own… </p>
<p>so in that case, would it be better to just take regular physics so i have a more general view of all the topics?</p>
<p>@BklynTechSternie, Collegeboard now has AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 to replace the AP Physics B program.
<a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/2013advances/Physics_FAQs_June2013.pdf”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/2013advances/Physics_FAQs_June2013.pdf</a></p>
<p>I am taking AP Physics 2 next year. :)</p>
<p>but how about SAT II physics? will it cover the same old material in physics B? or will CB change it so there’s an SAT II for ap physics 1? </p>
<p>Um, not sure about how SAT and AP Physics relate. I live in Canada and so the SATs are not a requirement for me unless I want to study in USA. I’m only taking AP courses to challenge myself with the tougher material. Sorry I couldn’t help…hopefully, someone on this forum will be able to answer that question for you. </p>