My high school offering APUSH to upcoming ninth graders, and I was wondering if I should take it? I’m not as much worried at the test part since I know I’m pretty good at those. The course load just worries a little bit with me being a ninth grader and joining all the new extracurricular activities and clubs. Any advice? My Social Studies grades have been solid As for the past 3 years
Not advisable because it’s a lot of reading and could be overwhelming for a first AP class. The test format will be nothing you ever experienced in middle school social studies, even if you got all As in social studies so far.
If APHUG is offered, that that first.
Odd that APUSH is offered to freshmen at your school, as most high schools start out with World History/Geography for freshmen. Unless your school is something like Basis.
My daughter is a 9th grader, just finishing up APUSH. It’s been a LOT of reading and a lot of work. It was recommended by her middle school counselors when she registered last spring and we went along with it. She’s done fine and lucked out by having a wonderful teacher but if you have an option to take this later, I would recommend it.
I agree that this is not a freshman level course. Those taking thAt AP exams are typically juniors and most freshmen do not test well vs juniors. Those two extra years can make a huge difference.
My school is offering World History to freshman, but it recommended that for higher level students to take APUSH. Since it’s not offering APHUG to freshman for whatever reason, I will also be taking a tour. So depending on the teacher and how many other freshmen will be taking it will help me choose.
Hearing stuff like this makes me thankful that our HS doesn’t offer any AP’s to freshman and sophomores. APUSH should not be offered to freshman.
I would say in general this is known as a challenging course so I would not say to take it as a freshman.See how you do in honors History freshman year and then you will see if you should move on to APs.
I agree that APUSH is challenging and big shift in workload from any middle school course.
That said, some high schools have it programmed in their curriculum to do it freshman year. I would definitely try to get a better sense from the school the percentages of freshmen that take APUSH and what the history sequence look like for 10-12.
APUSH is the only AP offered to sophomores at my school; we have a pretty high pass rate. And our school is very uncompetitive. It comes down to whether or not your teacher thinks you can take the course (they are in the district, after all, and know the course at your HS the best), as well as how other kids in the past have fared, and whether or not you like history/reading.
All of our freshman have to take US history 1 cp or honors - no AP allowed. Sophomores can chose to take APUSH or US history 2 (cp or Honors) - taking APUSH does not exempt anyone from US History 1. Getting As in middle school certainly helps but it is no guarantees that APUSH will be nearly as easy. World history is considered a junior year class here.
My DS took AP World in 9th grade. Common wisdom is that the hardest AP history class is your first one. The class was for freshman only. To get in you had to score in the top 6% on the high school placement test. Because it was only freshman, the teacher was very deliberate about building up to the full 5 paragraph essay. The teacher has a multi year 100% pass rate.
If this is the standard 9th grade course for honors students, then I would say go ahead and take it. But the OP indicated that this is an option, with AP WH being another option. No matter which way you slice it, the first AP history course, whether US, WH, or Euro, will be challenging for most students and their AP scores will generally reflect it. The second one is generally easier, since skills are transferable. Personally, I would opt for AP WH since the stakes are lower given that fewer colleges give credit for it. Then take AP USH in a later year and nail the exam. But it also depends on what the 4-year history/social studies plan looks like under each scenario.
I would agree. This is a missing piece of the equation.
APUSH is only offered to juniors and seniors at our school. It is two hours of reading and note-taking each night. AP HUGE is a freshman course and AP WH is offered to sophomores.
I would go with what your 8th grade teachers recommend, because every school is different.
What is the typical social science/history sequence for honors/top students at your school?
Is that a US history course over 2 years?
Would there be a class just for freshmen?
Has it been done before?
@FlowingWinds Keep in mind your SS grade has been good in middle school…but SS is taught at the same level for all students. You haven’t taken an honors course yet, much yet a college level course. There is no rush…you can take it later but you are stuck with any bad grade you get because you are not prepared.
Sorry for the late response everyone, but I managed to talk to my school counselor and she told me that she the mixed up APUSH with the regular AP World. And so while the school doesn’t have APUSH for freshman, AP World seems to be the advanced AP class. Looking at the comments it seems that AP World is easier then APUSH, so that should be better for going into high school
AP Human Geography and/or AP World are often the honors courses available to freshman and sophs. So if you’ve been recommended for APWH, then it should work out fine as a first AP class. Good luck.
It’s different indeed!
I’d suggest some light reading (middle grade/young adult novels that take place in some of the times and places from APWH) so that you have a better idea of the context. The syllabus is online and any librarian will be positively delighted to provide you with suggestions pertaining to each country and period. ?
I also strongly recommend Crash Course World history (online videos). Very informative, well done, and funny!