<p>What Makes APUSH So Hard?
I'm taking it next year so I'd love to know.</p>
<p>I don't know about the test, but for me, that class <em>isn't</em> hard. even though history is my weak subject..in fact...</p>
<p>Freshman Year History: 1st semester B, 2nd Semester A-
Sophomore Year History: 1st Semester B, 2nd Semester A-
Junior Year APUSH: 1st Semester A</p>
<p>As you can see, APUSH has actually been easier than my freshman/sophomore non-honors/non AP history classes...</p>
<p>So basically, depends on the teacher and the school. Some people say it's a lot of memorization, etc...we seem to focus a lot on the bigger concepts as well..depends.</p>
<p>I didn't find it hard. However, I can see where someone would be coming from if they did say it was hard. There is 200+ years of material to cover in approx. 7 months, and many juniors aren't prepared for that abrupt shift (at least at my school). Freshman and parts of Sophomore year are a joke compared to APs, as they should be given that the class should be a college level course.</p>
<p>If history is your thing, it'll be cake. If history isn't your thing, it can still be pretty easy if you're ready to put in the needed study time from day one.</p>
<p>The fact that not many people enjoy it.</p>
<p>You have to go through class thinking, "Wow, this is so freaking interesting! My understanding of the present has just been enhanced by my knowledge of the past."</p>
<p>I don't think the subject is all that hard. The problem is that many teachers fall behind and then have to rush. As a result, the course becomes very boring and test scores suffer.</p>
<p>Teacher, workload, no time, a looooot to memorize in a short time. Lot's of details, textbooks are hard....</p>
<p>And yeah, basically it. Also, it's so bloody boring.</p>
<p>Nothing, because it isn't that hard.</p>
<p>Asking about the test is different than asking about the class. No one could tell you about the class because it obviously varies from school to school.</p>
<p>I took a US History course at my school (no APs offered, this was standard junior course) that was not at all meant to prepare you. I studied out of a book two nights before. I got a 5 and misspelled "Ho Chi Minh" as "Ho Min Chin." </p>
<p>If you're worried about the class, talk to people at your school who have taken it. The test itself is not hard.</p>
<p>More material. It's that simple. Even though US History is a lot 'shorter' so to speak, than, say, European History, the fact that the AP tests are made in America leads to the US History AP test being far more in depth than any other Social Studies AP test. Also, because so many people take the course, ETS is heavily pressured to create a 'good' test that has lots of questions involving careful analysis or critical thinking; a number of the less popular tests simply test your recall skills.</p>
<p>I agree with raller, the APUSH test is not necessarily that hard, it just covers a lot more material than most other history AP's.</p>
<p>I don’t care if this thread is super old. I hated APUSH. It was all busy work. I think grades from a history class depends on how much you can memorize. And if you have a teacher who BREATHES the AP test (my teacher was a GRADER for the AP tests yet only less than half of the students he had passed the test) then you’re probably going to have lots of busy work. Anyone who is still looking at this thread in 2014, rethink taking APUSH if you’ve got a huge schedule.</p>
<p>History needs to learned multiple times to be fully understood. The first time around you learn the basics and details so that the next times around you are not struggling with the basics. The second and third times around you learn the big picture and how things connect with each other. Everything time after that is more detailed and professional eventually leading to research on a particular topic.</p>
<p>Thank you for bumping a 5 year old thread.</p>
<p>lol didn’t even realize.</p>