I’m a freshman and I’m thinking of taking APUSH and APUSGOV. I’m just taking the tests, not the courses. Is it possible to get a 5? (I love learning about politics and did Extemp for three years.)
First, colleges want you to take the class. Self studying will actually harm our application because it’ll also prevent you from being able to take the class at a later time.
Second, there’s an AP class for freshmen called 'AP human geography ’ . Take it in class or online to get accustomed to AP rigor and exam formats.
Self-studying is not a bonus for your application, unless there is a scheduling conflict where you actually aren’t allowed to take the class. Generally, APUSH is a class for juniors and AP Gov for juniors or seniors.
I would follow @MYOS1634 suggestion and take AP Human Geo. It’s a good intro AP for you to get used to the rigor and exam format.
APUSH would be very very hard to self study in my opinion. There’s A LOT of information to learn, and the DBQs require a teacher’s guidance to do well (in my experience). I also agree with @MYOS1634 's advice; take AP Human Geography.
I don’t see the point in self-studying for these courses when you could just take them as classes later (or even now if they would let you). The only reason you would take them on your own is if you don’t have enough room in four years to put in AP government and APUSH, and I don’t see why that would be the case.
That being said, if you really wanted to study for them yourself and have a decent aptitude for those kinds of things, you can do so easily enough. Just start early, grab a prep book, make flash cards, do the practice problems and essays, etc. These aren’t the most difficult of the AP’s.
There will be no way to manage the 2 hardest sophomore AP classes as a freshman, unguided. Taking the actual classes will boost your GPA like you never imagined, its a great feeling.
Does your school offer these courses? If so, please just take them. You will miss out on a lot if you just try to cram from prep books. And colleges much prefer you to take the courses, because they know this. If you’re interested in history and government, there’s no shortage of books and news you can read to learn more about it, and you can consider getting involved in local government and elections.
Colleges are a not-for-profit business where you pay money to take classes.
They don’t want people that are not interested in taking classes.
Colleges don’t admit based on AP scores…many people cannot take that many or take a few senior year…and AP tests in senior year have the results released after you have been accepted to college.
Colleges want people who take AP classes as that shows they are ready for college.