Hey guys, I am planning out my schedule for junior year. I have two options. Option one:
AP English Language
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics 1
AP US History
Graphic design(mandatory)
French 3(mandatory)
And option 2:
AP English Language
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics 1
AP Seminar
Honors US History
French 3(mandatory)
Graphic Design(mandatory)
I have heard that APUSH is a lot of work, and it will be difficult to stay on top of all of my AP’s with SAT’s that year. I have also heard that AP Seminar is not as much work as APUSH. My major will be related to computers, aerospace, or physics. Should I take APUSH and overload my schedule, or tone it down a notch and take AP Seminar?
If you are going for a STEM major, then I would say it is up to you. If you are looking at Engineering schools or State Us, then Honors is fine. If you are applying to top 50 Universities, then take APUSH.
Agree with @bopper. It depends on which major/area you plan to study in college. APUSH could take as much as 50% of your time with all the volumes of reading and memorization. Choose carefully.
Thanks for your help! I’m trying to get into caltech or Stanford, and I need to do well in physics and calculus. After hearing your inputs, I don’t think I will be taking APUSH. However, I will be taking AP Seminar instead because it will help with college research projects. Again, thanks for your time!
Yeah, what you’re saying is true, but I think I would be in a better situation if I took APUSH in school and studied for it through the breaks. I would be well prepared and my homework situation would be more manageable. It will be a challenge with all of my other summer study plans, but I think I can do it. Any ideas on what books are the best for APUSH that I should use to study?(Princeton, 5 steps, Barron’s)? Also are there any online sites with some videos I can use to study?( crash course, khan academy)?
Khan Academy has an APUSH course. The best way to prepare is honestly reading through Wikipedia pages and reading time period specific books. Textbooks generally shove a bunch of information at you that will be on the exam but it’s hard to remember that info because there’s nothing outstanding about it. Wikipedia, biographies, and even some historical fiction, gives you facts that are strange but stand out. Strange facts like assassination attempt by dynamite or sea squirts eating their own brain leave a better imprint.
Princeton’s review is good but I haven’t compared it to the others.
-Killer’s Angels by Michael Shaara is a historical fiction dealing with the battle of Gettysburg and helps with remembering all those names. His son also wrote multiple historical fiction books on U.S. history although they aren’t as good as Killer’s Angels. Both of them put a lot of research into their books so they’re rather accurate.
-Biographies/autobiographies of important people like our presidents and the founding fathers.
-Common Sense is actually an interesting read and short. I’d suggest reading some influential works and such.
If you are a STEM major, don’t spend your summer self-studying APUSH.
It won’t be useful for admissions and you may not even need a history course in college.
That is true, but I am taking AP World History and the teacher said that doing well in it would make APUSH very easy. And by the way, I’m not self studying lol. I’m taking as a class in school and am just doing some prep over summer.
I don’t know, what do you guys think?
It sounds like you’ve already come to your decision, but I just wanted to add that APUSH has been one of the greatest classes I’ve taken in high school. Even if you’re going into a STEM major, APUSH can be incredibly helpful in further developing your writing and analysis skills. However, if AP Seminar is more aligned with your interests and potential major, go for it!
Personally, I’m taking APUSH and it really isn’t that bad. In fact, compared to the AP World and Euro I took sophomore and freshman year, APUSH is the easiest and the most interesting. Honestly, the difficulty depends on the teacher but I personally spend very little time studying on average for APUSH, but before a test or essay, I put in a lot of work and I end up with an A usually. By the way, what is AP Seminar?
The teacher at my school for APUSH is new, and he’s okay, but assigns a lot of work, based on what I’ve heard. And by the way, AP Seminar gives students an introduction to conducting independent analysis of complex ideas across various disciplines. It involves reading and understanding advanced source material in the form of texts and other media. You’re expected to synthesize information from different sources and formulate research questions based on these source materials. You’ll elaborate on these ideas through essays, oral presentations, and team projects. The goal of the class is to provide students with the tools to evaluate information accurately and make compelling, evidence-based arguments.
I copy pasted that lol
“I am taking AP World History and the teacher said that doing well in it would make APUSH very easy.”
APUSH is never very easy. WH will certainly help with context and broad timelines, but APUSH is a ton of reading and writing regardless of what you know.
I am in seminar right now, and you are right, it is not a lot of work. However, more than 50% of the AP score is a team based research project and presentation, and a individual research project and presentation. If you are a bad presenter, DO NOT TAKE IT. However, if you take seminar, research (the class after it), and 4 others, getting a 3 or better on all of the exams, you get an AP capstone diploma. The diploma can distinguish you from others, and you honestly become exponentially better at research.
If you’re looking to self-study, Adam Norris videos on YouTube are amazingly helpful. My APUSH teacher shows them to our class, and it breaks up everything in 10 minute videos of every period. It is the most in depth and to the point video I’ve seen (John Green talks a bit fast and tends to get off topic). I really recommend those. On another note, APUSH is incredibly fun! Although my class is primarily lecture form, I find the material itself to be engaging and I really enjoy the challenge. This is by far the most history I’ve learned and it feels like reading one big story about America. It’s full of excitement and I think it’s valuable to learn
Hi. I took AP Us history as a sophomore and It was very difficult as a class because our teacher was exceptionally strict and hard on tests. I ended up getting a 5 with a B+ both semesters. I would take it depending on your teacher tbh
@Awesome2020 If Stanford or Cal Tech don’t work out for you and you end up at a UC, APUSH would satisfy the American Institutions requirement at most/all of them. So it can definitely be a useful AP as opposed to some of the others.
