As a sophomore I plan to take one (My first( AP Class. Should I take either AP World or AP Human Geography?
I heard AP Human Geography is easy for a first AP Class so it lets me know what AP Classes are like and how to get prepared for more in the future.
However, about AP World History, I have heard mixed reviews. Half say it’s easy and while other says it’s difficult, especially the exam! I’m having trouble deciding which one I should take!
You want to challenge yourself, but you still want to be successful.
What other classes have you taken? What grades have you gotten?
I assume you are a freshman at the beginning of the year…see how your first semester grades go.
Also plan out your HS career a bit…If you like history, what classes would you take for all 4 years?
What would you take junior/senior year?
What does your SS teacher recommend?
If you are in Honors English and Honors Social Studies and are getting A’s that is one thing, but if you are in CP English and SS and are getting B’s, then I would say don’t take either.
DO you tend to like math/science or English/history?
If STEM, then wait until junior year. If Eng/History, then probably AP Geo unless you are a top top student.
Human geography is literally for toddlers, take world history its more useful
I took AP Human during Freshmen and AP World during sophomore.
For me, AP Human is very interesting (a little more than AP world since more modern topics) but I found it to be very hard. Perhaps it was because it was my first AP that I felt like it was hard, idk. AP World was such a breeze for me though. However, both teachers have different methods.
AP Human had more self learning (reading textbook like everyday)
AP World was more lecture based and less reading.
This was how it was at my school. However, exam wise they both felt the same. I would go with AP Human since like you said it is considered the easiest class since freshmen can also take it.
I took AP World and Ap geo at the same time during my sophomore year. You could probably sleep through the class,skim through a reveiw book, and get a 5 on the Ap geo exam which is pretty much what I did. It’s really easy. Ap world was far more interesting although it took a lot more effort and analytical and comprehension skills. It’s also far more useful for preparing you for other upper level classes and it depends on which college you want to go to but many don’t even accept Ap geo scores because of its lack of difficulty. I would go with Ap world.
At our school AP geography is just an elective but AP World (or honors/cp world) is required to graduate.
Can’t you just take both? APHG is a freshman class at my kid’s school, so take both if they are literally the only APs you can take as a soph.
@sirenixkat77
Don’t worry about one course being serious and the other “literally for toddlers”. Even Sheldon wasn’t in high school as a toddler so I think it’s the tween meaning of “literally”, meaning “not”.
What classes are you currently taking?
AP Human Geography is not a typical AP, in that it’s designed to be a “gateway to AP” class: the content is less in-depth and less fast-paced than typical AP’s, but you learn the process, the level of rigor required, the techniques/approaches, and the type of questions (like DBQs). It’s a class that prepares you well for APWH, AP Euro, and of course APUSH. It all depends on whether you have excellent skills at history or not. If not, I’d take AP HG, then junior year APUSH, then senior year APWH or AP Euro. If you’re really good and confident, take both, so that you can gauge the level and, if necessary, drop one or the other.
IMO, you should take World History. It is more challenging, but in a good way, and the material is much more interesting. Human Geography is really boring to me.