Help a junior choose a history class!

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>Right now I'm signed up to take AP Psych, but I'm realizing that that is going to become a big waste of time. My school runs it really badly, and basically everyone gets a 5. I'm definitely happy with a 5, but I feel like even a 4 in a legitimate history class would be more practical for college credit. And it might suit me better to actually learn something.</p>

<p>So if I switch out of psych, I could either take AP World, AP Euro, or AP Poly Sci US + Comparative (my school doesn't offer them separately). APUSH is out of the question.</p>

<p>AP World has a great teacher that everyone loves. He is tough and will probably assign lots of work, but since he started teaching World, our school's exam average is something like 4.7. I like the sound of that. But I will be really busy next year, so I'm not sure if it would be worth the time commitment.</p>

<p>AP Euro has a cool teacher, but he's not that great. The class would be mostly sophomores, which I'm fine with. Average/slightly above average amount of work, from what I hear.</p>

<p>AP Poly Sci: We had one teacher who taught both US and and Comparative, but he is retiring. Now they are taking two different teachers from the department and splitting it up between them. Both are supposedly good teachers, but are both new to teaching the subject, so I'm not sure how that will go.</p>

<p>Note about me: I don't like history. I don't think I will thoroughly enjoy any of these classes, however, I see their educational value and think they are more practical for college than AP Psych.</p>

<p>Another note: I am already registered to take AP Macroeconomics, so you don't have to suggest it for me. My school doesn't offer micro, though, sadly.</p>

<p>Other APs I'm taking next year: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Macro.
I will be really busy as editor-in-chief of newspaper, as well as captain of volleyball team during AP season.</p>

<p>So which exam do you guys think would be best for me?</p>

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<p>Wait, how does “My school runs it really badly” lead to “everyone gets a 5”???</p>

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<p>Almost all universities require freshmen to take Psych 101 which is the equivalent of AP Psychology in almost all cases. I do not see why you would not take it. The information in psychology is just as important as that of history or math. Psychology, while easy, would benefit you just as much in my opinion.</p>

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<p>thank you james. that sounds good. i didn’t know that psych 101 is a common college course. that is definitely a good reason for me to stick with it.</p>

<p>alex, the reason i hear it is run badly is because the teachers basically dont do anything the whole year besides sporadic tests. then when the AP rolls around they throw mock exams at you, which causes you to cram hard for the real thing. that in combination with the fact that it’s a relatively easy exam leads to abundant 5’s.</p>

<p>any other perspectives on the other 3 history APs?</p>

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<p>this year, I am a apwh student. At my school, my teacher just assigned us to take notes on two chapters a week from the book The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, the textbook we used for the class. Then by Friday, we have a test. Sadly, some people cheat because they were too lazy to study. During the ap exam today, (for me, the exam was really easy this year), about thirty people thought the exam was hard, especially the FR. But the majority of the people are the ones who receive average test scores and were unable to assimilate the knowledge from the textbook. Some of the people also bought study guides, which doesn’t provide ample information for the FR.</p>

<p>I believe that APWH is easier than the other two exams because of the FR. You can receive nine’s on the three essays according to a very specific rubric.</p>

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<p>Ah… but APUSH is so much more fun :slight_smile: … I haven’t taken WH, but Euro was a simplistic class frilled with interesting details.</p>

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<p>jerry, if im paraphrasing correctly, what you’re saying is that if you put the effort in, it will pay off well. you also have to be generally smart for WH.</p>

<p>electric, im not taking APUSH because right now im in my school’s Honors US class, and i’ve concluded it’s not a subject that interests me enough to take again at the AP level. it will just be more of the same material except with more reading. plus our APUSH teacher is awful. although i agree that it could be interesting, or “fun” if taught well.</p>

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<p>i think u shud take ap us…but thats just me</p>

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<p>^ This thread is a year old, so I’m pretty sure he’s made his decision by now. :p</p>

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<p>u dont know this seekinguni but jax here temporarily dropped out of school for a yr to see if he cud live in the wild like bear grylls. jax unfortunately failed after a faceoff with a panda and has now returned to highschool to start his senior year. jax shud take AP us.</p>

<p>one day ur dream as an adventurer will come true jax</p>

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<p>OIC. Thanks for the info.</p>

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<p>“My school runs it really badly, and basically everyone gets a 5”</p>

<p>PARADOX!</p>