Hello.
Our counselors at my school gave us a sheet showing our graduation requirements. I haven’t taken US History yet and I am going to be a senior next year. Regular and Honors US History are typically known as freshman classes, but I would feel humilliated if I take one of them as a senior. AP US History sounds rigorous, but many people say it is one of the most difficult APs ever, and it would be much harder if I haven’t taken a regular/honors class. I’m not sure what to do, but I just want an answer which one is better to take. I guess most of you are going to say APUSH, but it would be nice to explain why. 
If history isn’t your thing, don’t do APUSH. Take honors or regular and perform well in that class. So who cares if your with a bunch of freshman? Colleges? Yeah, so? Senior year history class isn’t a deciding factor. Do what your heart tells you! Best of luck!
I recommend APUSH! I’m not a history person at all, but APUSH became one of my favorite classes. It also is really cool that you could relate it to current events with all the political unrest in the country. At the same time, I had a teacher who was absolutely amazing. I don’t know about how rigorous your school makes it, but I think the AP test itself was not super hard. I ended up getting a 5 on the test despite having borderline A/A- grades throughout the year. APUSH has been one of my high school highlights academically, and I would not hesitate to take that class again (can’t wait for AP Gov next year w/ the same teacher)! History has been one of my worst subjects in general, but APUSH just drew my interest, and despite not having perfect grades, I learned a lot of information relevant to our current times. Highly recommend it.
If your schedule is going to be rigorous enough already, and you don’t really like history, don’t feel obligated to take APUSH. It was very interesting, and I really liked it, but it was so much work.
do you mean if you hadn’t ever taken a US history class before, or even in middle school or something? The last time I had studied US history was seventh grade, and I was fine. There aren’t really any prerequisites except basic knowledge. Having extra knowledge would certainly help, though (I found the musical Hamilton to be invaluable 
)
If you don’t do well with history, then there’s no shame in taking regular or honors history. However, APUSH isn’t one of the hardest APs. Imo, the history APs like euro and us history are decent classes. You’ll be fine as long as you can memorize information and details easily.
@writer80 Yeah, colleges can be strict sometimes, but many students at my school are very annoying. The kids might laugh at me if I take regular and say I failed the class in my entire HS life, but good point there. I appreciate it.
@oPhilippos Wow, that is really impressive for someone who’s “not” a history person, but you seem like you are one. A 5 in the APUSH exam sounds great. Hope you do well in AP Govt next year. I’m still thinking what I am going to do.
@corbeaux Yes, that is what I mean, but the problem is that I have never taken an AP class before. I just moved to the US and my other school was different. My schedule is completely not rigorous at all, especially compared to the people in CC. The counselors ay my school didn’t let me take any APs, because they say “foreigners are not advanced and have a harder time getting good grades when they take APs”.
@joyce1517 I was good at World History, but I know it’s different from US History, so WH might not be comparable to USH, and no, our school doesn’t offer AP European History. I’ll find out myself about US History whether it is going it be easy or not, or just relatively moderate.
@oPhilippos I second that. I never was a history person but I loved APUSH. It was the first AP that I passed too!
I am not sure why you have not taken US History?
But I would ask you:
What do you think your major would be next year in college? STEM related? or more liberal arts?
If STEM, Take honors history. Under no circumstances take regular because as an older student in that class with younger not as academically focused classmates you will go crazy. Don’t take APUSH because the beginning of senior year is super busy with applications and leadership in your clubs etc…and the end you will be focusing on graduating.
If more Liberal arts, then take APUSH. It will help you learn to take notes and write and these will be very useful skills you will need in college.
I think a lot of it depends on how hard the other classes you’re taking are and if you have time for another rigorous class. Definitely take at least honors though.
(And imo, that’s kind of rude of the counselors, bc a lot of other countries have school systems that are way more rigorous than AP classes. It does depend on how much English you knew and what your education before was like, but that kind of general statement kinda made me mad lol.)
@bopper I think the OP didn’t take US History because they didn’t live in the US before??
Unless you will major in a field pertaining to history, I recommend against taking the AP US History as it is notorious for strong cramming and absurd difficulty.
Sorry for the bump and late reply.
@bopper I am thinking about a few majors right now, but they are different to each other so I am not sure which one I want the most. Probably not in a STEM program. However, honors is going to be the same as regular (with younger people), even though honors would be better. I know graduating is important and applications become busier, but I’m not leading any club or have any extracurricular activities, so I am screwed for this, because I don’t have any EC activities.
@snowfairy137 My classes are very easy and show no rigor at all, because my counselor is the one who planned my schedule, not me. In fact, the counselor just checked my sophomore year transcript, not my earlier ones (not even 9th grade, because it was my last year in middle school), so she can plan my schedule. As for the part you said I never lived in the US before, I was born in the US, but I had to move somewhere else when I was 5 (long story), so I couldn’t take US History. I moved back after 10 years and a few months.
@HardOREasy Hmm… I understand, because most people say it is difficult to begin with.
I am thinking about my senior year schedule right now and which US History class to take, but this is going to be complicated, because I am 3 high school credits ahead compared to other juniors and the school might not let me sign up for the ones I want to take in my senior year.