For example, I’ve heard many people say that their AP Gov score didn’t help them at all once they actually got to college, and the English and Psychology are two of the best to take. </p>
Opinions? What do you think is the most/least helpful in my college endeavors? (I am currently planning on taking AP US Government and AP French Language this year, unless someone tells me it’s really not worth it.) Give me your thoughts please!</p>
It depends a lot on your school and your major. English and Lit are virtually guaranteed to apply towards your college degree, since ‘‘everyone’’ has to take basic English credits, but they’re among the harder APs from what I’ve heard.</p>
After that, I’d say it’s probably most important to strike a balance in subject areas. Outside of your intended major, you will only need a few courses in each area, and once you’ve met a requirement there’s no benefit to having more credit in that field. He’s the breakdown as I see it:</p>
"Hard" Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics):</p>
If you aren’t a science major, you only need one. Any is as good as the next, so pick what works for you. If you will be a science major, you’ll want to take whatever ones are relevant to your chosen field</p>
Social Sciences (USH, World, Euro, Gov, Economics):</p>
At most colleges, you’ll need several general ed credits in this area. None of them will hurt you, although none of them are critical either. Of the history options, USH is probebly the most broadly useful, and it is unlikely that you will need both World and Euro.</p>
Math (Calc, Stats, Computer Science):</p>
For a science major, all of these are useful, especially calculus. For a non-science major, you most likely only need one, and statistics may be your best bet.</p>
Languages:</p>
All of them are great, but unless you are going to be a linguistics major, there is no reason to take more than one.</p>
Misc others (Enviromental Sci, Art History, Psychology, etc):</p>
Take if you feel like it, or if you will need it at your chosen college. Not critical.</p>
All that aside, if you especially like or are especially good at a particular subject, definitely take it. A good AP score looks nice on college applications, and the credit will never hurt you.</p>
(source: I’m a college freshman. I took Calculus, Chemistry, Stats, US History, and World History. They have all been useful to me in college, although between US and World History I had more history credit than I actually needed. English or Lit would have been useful, but I ended up taking CLEP for my English credits.)</p>
Preface: this is from my experience attending a state university while keeping in touch with public-school friends, wherein almost all AP credits are accepted, which reduces the pool of students in the intro classes I’m taking as early college.</p>
I would second the English and Lit votes. Freshman composition classes are notoriously bad at my university, and if you can place out of them, fantastic. Good writing skills are also nice in any history or government class you’ll take.</p>
Calculus is nice if you’re going into anything medical related. For example, Calc I and II (Calculus BC) is required for things like a biology major, and is the basic core of a math or engineering track degree.</p>
Depending on your college’s core requirements, I would agree that things like Euro, World, etc. are generally not useful, though APUSH is.</p>
Unlike the previous poster, however, I would actually advise against taking science classes in your chosen major if you’re going to be a particular science major. I’d save those intro courses for real college, when you’ll have PhDs teaching it and they’ll be teaching you what you need to know (especially until the Bio course is revised).</p>
“For example, I’ve heard many people say that their AP Gov score didn’t help them at all once they actually got to college, and the English and Psychology are two of the best to take. ”</p>
In fact,I heard about AP Psychology and Human Geography are so easy that its score didn’t helpful.In my opinion,it depends on which major you are going to take in the college.For me,I am really interested in US Gov,so I am going to self-study it.</p>
It is no doubt that English and Lit is most universal,after that,should be your major subject.If you have not decide your major,math and sciences should be good choice.Taking different areas will be better than taking one area.</p>