Environmental Science and Human Geography really the easiest?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Everyone on CC says Environmental Science and Human Geography are the easiest AP tests. But when I looked up their score distributions, the amount of people that got 5s and 4s were much less than some other subjects. </p>

<p>Percentage of people with 5s:</p>

<p>Human Geography: 9.7
Environmental Science: 10.4</p>

<p>As compared with some other random ones:</p>

<p>Physics B: 14.8
Biology: 18.7
Psychology: 19.6 (people say this is also an easy 5)
Computer Science: 26.3
Calculus BC: 49.4
Chinese: 76.7 (Standard: 39.7)</p>

<p>Why???</p>

2

<p>Those classes have high rates of Freshman would be my best guess. </p>

<p>Chinese is so high because of native speakers</p>

<p>Think about the Students that are taking Comp Science & Calc BC mostly senior scholars.</p>

3

<p>But the freshman taking them would be high-achieving freshman, not your average freshman, right? (And I am planning to take them as a freshman :))</p>

<p>The non-native test takers for Chinese still manage to make a 5 score 39.7% of the time.</p>

<p>I want to to take computer science in freshman year too. (Computer science fascinates me.) Would I have no chance among senior scholars?</p>

4

<p>I have taken both classes. the AP human geography exam is honestly a joke, it is very very easy to receive a 5. On the other hand the AP environmental science exam was quite difficult, definitely harder than I thought it would be; this is for sure not an easy ap</p>

5

<p>The non-natives… they are Chinese lmao and that whole 5000% worth ethic thing is no joke lol. </p>

<p>Its not that its a bunch of smart seniors taking the tests its people who want to learn the material. </p>

<p>i got a 4 on APUSH sophomore year. i enjoyed US history. </p>

<p>If you enjoy Comp Sci, try to take the class you’ll do well.</p>

6

<p>I go to a magnet school, so I don’t have much room for choices in courses for my freshman year. I guess I’ll just self-study. Both my parents are programmers after all. :D</p>

<p>Do you think I should/can self study environmental science and human geography? How much would I approximately have to study in order to get a 5? </p>

<p>@Saahil Well, I think I will definitely try human geography! :slight_smile: What is on environmental science anyway? I’m going to take biology in freshman year.</p>

7

<p>When i first read that i thought you meant that ur parents programmed classes in your school lmao awkward. </p>

<p>Does your school not let freshman take AP’s? if they do have them hold off ur art/music/ foreign language requirement later</p>

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<p>AP environmental science is essentially a mix of physics, biology, and chemistry. It’s a great class and worth taking, in my opinion. The class completely changed my life</p>

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<p>My guess would be that most people taking HG and ES think that the classes are jokes.</p>

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<p>@div No, my school’s basically gave me all my classes. The only choice I got was French/Spanish and different math levels. Once I’m a soph though I have a bit more freedom.</p>

<p>@Saahil Cool. My school doesn’t offer it though, but I’m gonna take the test anyway.</p>

11

<p>APHG is really easy. Almost too easy that I thought you needed close to perfect for a 5. However, the APES exam was much harder than anticipated last year ( though still managed a 5). AP Psychology is the jok of the jokes, however. </p>

<p>Sent from my Nexus One using CC App</p>

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<p>What books do you guys suggest for selfstudy?</p>

13

<p>People have heard the class is a joke, have probably read that people take it without a class on here, or just take it because they needed something to fill up their slots and don’t care about the exam, would be my guess. Also, they may decide that calculus, for example, is more important than APHG and spend more time on it. </p>

<p>Prep books - Human Geography I would recommend Princeton Review.</p>

14

<p>To respond to the question in the OP, I think the best answer is that the testing populations for every exam are self-selective. By that, I mean that the types of kids that take each test are different. Bluntly put, the Calculus BC testing population is probably more high-achieving than those taking Human Geography or Environmental Science. Not everyone can handle Calculus (and its prerequisites), but almost anyone can take an APES course without prior knowledge.</p>

15

<p>I self studied 5s on both ES and HG. My preparation consisted solely oof reading prep books on a plane a month before. Very doable.</p>

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<p>Are there any recommended prerequisites for ES or HG? I’m only a freshman (going into freshman year) and I’m going to take biology.</p>

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<p>I had taken honors Chem and bio.</p>

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</p>

<p>In my experience, the kids who take these classes are usually kids who don’t take many other APs (or just dumb kids); most smarter/overachieving kids avoid Human Geography and APES for harder [and more useful] courses like AP World/Euro, AP Physics/Bio/Chem, etc., although there are a few who opt to take them. And even for high-achieving freshmen, it’s hard to compete with juniors/seniors so the curve probably favors the upperclassmen. Also, CB might just want to keep those exams with a low percentage of 5s; they could adjust the cutoffs, but I guess they don’t want to for whatever reason. I personally self studied both of these tests last year and although neither was as easy as AP Psychology, they were still pretty close; all 3 of those tests really easy and I didn’t spend much time on them (I did Human Geography in 1 night, actually), yet I got both 5s. I’ve always wondered why even non-native Chinese speakers score 5 so often; it’s puzzling.</p>

19

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<p>IDK about Human Geography, but I don’t think I needed any prior knowledge for APES. However, prior chemistry and/or biology knowledge definitely helps for APES.</p>