I’m going to be a sophomore once school starts. I signed up for the class during the course registration in May, but I’ve been very hesitant since then. Since the beginning of my freshman year, I wanted to take the class, but once I talked with my counselor during the course registration about it, I’ve hesitated to the point where I just want to drop out. Sometimes I really want to take it, but other times I don’t. I’m not afraid of the amount of work or anything like that, I have straight A’s. The thing is that I don’t know if I’m going to like it or if it’s simply going to be a boring class. I’m also not extremely passionate about history, although it doesn’t bother me, so I could get by just fine. But if it’s not interesting, then I don’t know what to do.
Do you have to take regular world history if you don’t take AP? Regular will almost certainly be boring. If you can handle the work, then I would do it, especially if you aren’t taking any other APs. I took one (Human Geography) sophomore year, and it helped me get comfortable with AP classes before I took more important ones.
I am also a rising sophomore who is planning on taking AP World History. I’ll go ahead and say it straight up; I hate history. However I am still certain I am going to take the class. You are going to have to take a social studies class no matter what, and it might as well be one that will look good on a college application so, in the future, you can go study what you want. Is there another class you would take instead that you are more interested in?
Whether or not AP is boring depends on the teacher, but you can expect general World History to be very dull compared to AP. In AP, you’ll move faster and cover more content. At my school, general World students studied things like religion for two to three weeks.
History is my strongest subject so I easily had a 99 average in it as well as a 5. However, thy changed the test this past year so I do not know how it is now.
(2016senior) Actually, the new AP World History test is going to start in the school year 2015-2016. It says it on the AP central website of College Board. So, I will be taking the older one.
(Madeline25) There is a class I really want to take which is AP Psychology, but that’s gonna wait until my junior year because I want to take the regular Psychology this year to have more of a background. Also, since AP World History will probably be my first AP, I don’t want to take two because it might be too overwhelming.
(iubaccounting) If I don’t take AP World History, my other options are World History II (Regular course) or AP Human Geography, and I don’t really want to take APHUG. Either way, I’m pretty sure it’s too late to sign up for AP’s.
I think you should definitely take AP World History. It’s a nice, easier AP course to ease you into taking other AP courses. The exam isn’t too difficult. I hated history but I still turned out okay. It teaches you how to prepare for AP exams junior and senior year. I know people who took 2-3 APs junior year and none sophomore year and they struggled a lot.
AP World History was a strange course for me, because I felt like our class went at a pace that can only be described as three weeks on religions and crop circles, and then a spurt of cramming things into the last week. It depends on the teacher, but most others go at a relatively fast pace compared to regular history classes. Your teacher will teach you how to write solid essays for the AP test, and the multiple choice part will be easy for you if you pay attention in class, even loosely. Tbh, I took the AP test in May, and I felt that one-third of the MC was defining and identifying religions based on common 2-3 keywords/locations. If you’re a good student, you should be able to talk to your counselor and switch into the AP class. A lot of kids that don’t care for history were in my class, and they took it just to get a feel for AP classes. APWH is definitely not a hard AP test. Just taking the course is enough prep, but if it is too late for you to sign up for AP classes, you should consider self-studying. I slacked off in class, came out with a high A, and self-studied in April to the point where I felt very confident in two of my essays and a lot of the MC. Please message me with what you decide to do, because I’d love to help you out! (:
(SingHar17) Thank you SO much for your advice. That’s kind of what I was looking for, for someone to say that people take it without even liking history that much because I did it for that same reason. I wanted to get a feel for AP classes, and since I’ve always had high A’s in history I chose to take this course. But really, thanks. By the way, I have signed up for the course.
@roymesac, No problem sweetie! Let me know if you have any more questions or need any help, even with picking prep books!