So I have somewhat of a dilemma. My US History teacher is retiring right before the end of this semester. She won’t be there to give our midterms nor will she be there to discuss our recommendations she will have entered.
My school puts our history classes in a very strange order, but it somewhat makes sense.
9th grade- Civics and Economics OR Economics and Civics (I was given the latter order.)
Advanced option- AP Government and Economics
10th- US History
Advanced option- APUSH
11th- World History
Advanced option- AP World History
I have had a lot of choice in my History class career for all of high school. I could of asked for AP Government, I got recommended for APUSH, but I chose not to take either of these courses.
Now I may sound like a rebel on this website for saying this, but I honestly don’t believe you should take an AP course in a subject unless you enjoy it and I honestly cannot stand history classes. From my experience, free thinkers are always looked down upon, often times you will get a teacher who tries to shove their opinion down your throat. and it just seems as if you have to agree with what is being said.
Here’s where I may lose some. I am EXTREMELY bored in general History classes. I never study for anything we do, I never read the textbook, but I still manage to make high marks. Hell, I sometimes pull other homework out after I finish copying notes because the teacher hasn’t started talking yet or when announcements are on.
I’ll give you an example of my boredom from Civics. I always finished all the work extremely fast. We follow a modified block schedule and so I had a 58 minute period Monday, and 2 90 minute periods Wednesday and Friday. Usually I would work all of Monday and a small chunk of Wednesday. I maybe READ the book 3 times. I would skim it to do my work. I would have about 2 and a half hours of free time a week in that class. I walked out with 100%. My teacher was very sad to see me take regular US History. APUSH is one of the most time consuming difficult classes in the school.
I am just as bored in regular US History. My teacher also teaches the APUSH classes. We always manage to be 2-3 weeks ahead of all the other teachers, but I am still bored.
I have 4 Honors classes. Chemistry has made me want to grind my teeth and English has just been annoying. Honors American Lit (my English 10 class) is also one of the hardest classes in the school. I really wanted to do AP Biology, but my counselor wanted me to take Honors Chemistry first. This year has been preparing to take on AP’s. I haven’t had any yet.
I was thinking about making my junior schedule as follows
AP Biology
AP Environmental
Spanish 4
Honors Precalc
Honors Physics
World Lit
(AP?) World History
This year- Honors American Lit, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Chemistry (inorganic), Anatomy and Physiology, US History, Spanish 3, and Engineering (going to drop this). I want to major in Biology
Other posters can be leery when someone signs on and then immediately asks a somewhat controversial question.
You tell us AP WH is an 11th grade option, you’re now in USH and you have no AP’s so far. Are you in 10th? And so what tier of colleges do you expect to apply to?
History, chem and English annoy you. Leaves me wondering what you do like.
UofM/MSU are my top picks. I’m fine with going to a smaller school in Michigan though.
I am in 10th
I am more interested in Anatomy/Physiology, Biochemistry, Spanish language, Environmental Science, Math, Meteorology, etc. English has just been rougher this year because of the relationship I have with the teacher, it’s usually a class I don’t mind.
I am currently taking WHAP as a freshman, and if you hate history and find it boring, you will find AP World History to be a living hell. If you have an interest in history, as I do now, and are good at English, this class would be ideal for you. Personally, I love AP World History, I enjoy the challenge, and don’t mind writing either. To give you an idea of the course load, my class usually has a weekly quiz of 50 questions or slightly less, depends on the week. My teacher spends about a week on each chapter, before we move on to the next. Often, we are assigned five paragraph essays over certain topics every week or so. For example, the most recent batch of essays for homework that I had were essays over the Enlightenment and Protestant Reformation, each being about 2 pages in length, and we had four days to complete them both. For tests, we receive 6 essay prompts. My teacher will role two dice and we will have to choose which essay to complete accordingly. For example, my last test my teacher roled a one and a four, I chose the fourth essay prompt which was about the cultural, political, and economical achievements of the Tang and Song dynasties. It was 6 pages long and I took 50 minutes to complete it. This class is certainly not for you if you have many extracurricular activities, or if you find history to be boring. I know many smart people taking this class that are getting the lowest grades they have ever gotten before because they simply don’t have enough time to study. If you don’t study, you fail, no joke, simple as that. Before taking this class, I didn’t see much of a purpose in history, but this class has opened my eyes. AP World History will teach you time management skills, a deeper understanding of history, and ultimately a sense of what you can truly accomplish through hard work. As you previously stated, you hate history. This class may not be for you, but if you want to challenge yourself, earn some college credit and learn how to manage time more efficiently than ever before, I would advise you to take this class.
Throw in AP world history. I’ve always hated history but I took it anyway freshman year to have a competitive schedule. I found it really interesting, much better than APUSH.
^^ Agree with the above poster. I’m taking APUSH right now, and last year’s WHAP course was SO much more interesting. There’s so many patterns to analyze within history and overall, its generality (and lack of Euro-centrism) makes it more compelling than US history IMO. I must say that dates/geography knowledge is essential to succeeding on the AP exam (and the class) and although patterns are important, there are times where rote memorization of names/dates/places is key - so if you don’t enjoy that, I would say the class isn’t for you. In addition, it does emphasis strong analysis/English skills and heavy reading.
Your lack of AP’s will be a problem for UMichigan - will you have at least 4 “core” APs, including AP English Language, by the time you graduate?
Since you’re bored this year, take APWH but ask your guidance counselor whether you’ll be allowed to “drop down” to regular World History. Generally speaking WH will be challenging so at least you won’t be bored, you’ll learn new skills, and you may even start liking history.
Note that you can’t “be a free spirit” in history, just like you can’t in chemistry - it’s a social science. You can’t go all “free thinker” on a chemistry experiment, nor can you on a historical text. However, “regular” history classes focus on getting you to memorize some facts/dates to link them in a chain of events and causes/consequences. In AP, though, you’ll also learn different ways you can look at that source and how people have looked at it through different periods. (A good introduction to this is historiography of the cold war, when you can easily find three analytical movements, but APWH has interesting points too since the way you look at non-European history from various points is fascinating).
It sounds like your favorite subjects are applied versions of a core course (ie., meteorology, physiology, etc) except for Spanish.This is fine - there are lots of applied majors for you to pursue in college.
core = English, Calculus, Foreign Language, History, Bio/Chem/Phys
"Light" APs are Psychology, Environmental Science, Statistics, Human Geography.
The other APs are seen as complementary - less necessary than core APs, more rigorous than "lite" APs.