I’m going to be a junior in high school in the fall and I’ve signed up to take World History Honors though I’m debating switching to AP World. I’ve signed up for 2 AP classes, AP Lang and AP Physics 1.
My teacher told me that I would do very well in the class but my main concern Is having time to do all the homework, especially during the fall because I play a fall sport. I do well in history and have always been a straight-A student but my reason for sticking with honors was because I was told it was an easy class I didn’t have to worry about. I want to challenge myself but still get good grades.
Should I take AP World? Does taking 3 AP classes really matter over 2?
I think this is a concern of many students–the challenge vs grade issue. Are you planning to apply to the most competitive colleges, T10 or T20? Are you taking any AP courses this year? Have you heard anything about the workload for these courses at your high school? For instance, APUSH is said to be the hardest AP offered at my kid’s school, whereas APWorld in supposed to be a very different course–more conceptual than memorization and pretty easy to do well in.
I’m not sure about colleges yet, but I don’t think I’m planning on applying to the most competitive. This year, I’m not taking any AP classes but all honors and I heard from a couple people that AP World is a lot of writing and outlining but manageable if you stay on top of your work. I’m a little scared of overloading myself.
Have you taken US history yet?
What social science history class would you take senior year? Would AP World be offered then?
What’s your current unweighted GPA?
If your current GPA is 3.5 and higher, I’d say trust your teacher and go for it.
If you’re in the 3.0-3.4 GPA range, taking two AP’s is probably enough.
I’m taking American Studies 2 this year and took 1 last year. For senior year I would probably take AP Gov and AP World would still be offered. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA.
Then I’d say go for it. Colleges will like it that you challenged yourself - you clearly have the ability . They even like the extra rigor better if you get a B/B+ in it.
Great, thank you! So you don’t think there will be too much work to handle along with extracurriculars? I feel like I’m always stressing out about school.
It’ll be more than this year but it’ll be good preparation for college (college is like 4 to 5 super fast Ap courses each semester). If you have a 4.0, it means you can stand the challenge.
Also, if it proves toooooooo challenging and time consuming, you could drop down to World History hoors, right? (whereas the reverse is rarely possible)
I would advise you to try to do AP World History but if it proves to be as way too challenging, then you always have the option to switch to World Honors. But if you truly feel like you can’t balance all the classes and your extracurricular activities, then don’t. World Honors is also impressive (unless you are planning on majoring in something history-related). At the end of the day, you know yourself the best.
Thanks to those who replied! So I guess the general consensus is to go for it and take AP? Overall, I agree and think that it’s the best choice for me and my goals as a student. Any other insight/encouragement for me to take the class would be greatly appreciated!
