Advanced Placement Classes

[Cuddlefish!]

For Nerdfighters who have taken Advanced Placement (AP) classes to discuss their experiences and scores, and for Nerdfighters who are considering AP courses to pose any questions or concerns they have about what to expect. :)

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I only took two AP courses throughout my entire high school career:  AP Human Geography (which my entire freshman class was forced into) and AP Literature & Composition (which I took voluntarily my senior year).

 

I found Human Geography to be frightfully dull -- so much to memorize, so little to actually learn.  I didn't care a damn about it, so I didn't try and ended up with B's and C's in the class and a 2 on the exam. (If you are unaware, exam scores range from 1 to 5 with 5 being "extremely well qualified" and 1 indicating no qualification whatsoever.)

 

AP Literature, on the other hand, was by far the class for me.  We read short stories, essays, poems, and novels with actual intellectual content!!!  Twilight was never once a subject, except when discussing the differences between literary fiction and commercial fiction.  I got top marks on all my essays and a 5 five on the exam. :)

 

If you have no interest in the subject of an AP class you're considering, you probably shouldn't take it.  Yes, it will boost your GPA if you pass, but if you don't...  I wouldn't approach AP Calculus without a flamethrower and a biohazard suit.  Rule of thumb, if it's a class you think you'd have trouble in at the normal level, don't take AP.  Challenging yourself is all well and good as long as you're not beating your head against your desk mid-semester, praying for a way out.

[Pancake]

I took APUSH and AP English 11 last year, and I loved them both!

Okay, so sometimes during English I wanted to slam my head into my desk, but that's because it was 8 in the morning and it was loud and bright and I was le tired.

I seriously learned so much and had a lot of fun, APUSH definitely helped me get a better grasp on current events. And my brother and I can make a lot of history jokes that the rest of the family doesn't understand, and that's just plain fun.

I'm really jealous of the APs your school offers.

[Justin Egan]

I took AP English, World History, and Psychology in high school. Unluckily, I left the school before I could take the History test, and I missed the English one, but I passed the Psych one with a 5. I still need to claim my college credits for it. When I took the classes they weren't really that difficult. Then again, I'm a great student.

[Emily]

I so far have not taken any AP classes but i am going to be taking AP Social. I think that would be world history, but i am not entirely sure.
Does any one know what AP social is like, and is the curriculum interesting?

[Kathleen Konno]

This past year I took AP US History and AP Spanish. AP Spanish was, without a doubt, the hardest class I have ever taken. It's apparently equivalent to the third semester+ of Spanish in college. On the exam, I only scored a 3, but I'm overjoyed considering the last few years people have gotten 1's and 2's on it. APUSH thankfully was a breeze, considering our teacher didn't even make it past WWI with notes, leaving us to study our review books for the rest of the material. I got a 5 on that one, which I'm VERY happy about. Next year, I plan on taking AP Physics, AP Calculus, and AP English Lit. Hopefully nothing will be as bad as Spanish.

[Captain Jacqui Sparrow]

Whoa. Spanish is THAT hard? O_o
I'm kinda glad that they cancelled it on me lol. I think I knew a lot more going into Spanish 3 than when I left, sadly enough.
Congrats on getting a 5 on APUSH! I heard that AP exam is at least reasonable. I still can't believe that you're taking AP Physics. From what I've heard, the test is way harder than the AP Spanish one, but then again, isn't anything 65% or higher equal to a 5 or something?

[Olivia]

I'm required to take AP Calculus and AP Statistics, and pretty much required to take AP Environmental Science. I'm going to take AP English my senior year (can't as a junior- it's year long and I don't have the space- we have block scheduling so we have four classes per day per semester.) I'm also going to do AP US History if and only if a certain teacher is still at my school by the time I'm a junior.
There aren't normal or honors versions of those math classes, or the science one.

[Olivia]

Oh. right. Also AP Physics. Totally forgot about that one. But that's by choice.

[Captain Jacqui Sparrow]

I have never once heard of AP World History or AP Geography.

My school doesn't have AP English 11. Pisses me off.

I signed up for APUSH, AP Spanish, and AP Chem next year. They cancelled AP Spanish and AP Chem on me. I'm really annoyed about AP Chem because I took Regents chemistry this year, and I didn't want to wait a year between chem classes. AP Spanish, well, I'm a native speaker, but this last year of Spanish actually messed up my Spanish. My teacher was dreadful. She's trying to get me to take the college spanish course that my school has, but she might teach it, and I do NOT want her again, so hopefully for my senior year, they'll bring that back with AP Chem.

If not, I'll take AP Bio and AP Art, and poooosssibly AP English depending how my grades are in Eng 11H.

[Deirdre Murray]

I'm taking APUSH next year, and I'm just wondering ( I suppose this goes for all the classes)
how hard are the exams?
as for preparation, when should i start and what are some methods you'd recommend?
thanks so much!

[Pancake]

The exam isn't horrible. It's tough, but not unreasonable. I got a 4, but I think that's because I blanked out really badly on one or two of my essays.

For most of the year I spent about an hour a day at home doing APUSH homework and studying. And then at the end of March and all of April I stepped up a bit and studied a lot more. I used SparkNotes study flashcards and one of the big REA study books with practice tests in the back and everything.

My brother suggested focusing mainly on the flashcards, and he got a 5, so I listened to him.

You'll do fine. You might even have fun! Best wishes!

[Vita P]

May I suggest obtaining a copy of AMSCO's "United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination" review book? Its cover is an American flag. It's SUPER helpful; I know quite a few people who read that book throughout the year instead of the actual APUSH textbook we were supposed to read, haha. (I don't suggest doing that because it really is a meant as a review tool, but if you just need to fake having read the textbook for one day... it's an option!)

The major downside to this book is that it doesn't come with answers to the multiple choice questions; that's a separate book. What the hell, right? But honestly, if you read each chapter you can probably tell if you're getting the right answer to the multiple choice questions and the chapters themselves are much more helpful than the review questions anyway. It also has practice DBQs et all (so do other APUSH review books, probably, but AMSCO is just freaking awesome).

[Just Larry]

I'm taking AP Eng 11 and APUSH this coming year. From what I hear, APUSH is incredibly easy. There's a new teacher for the APEng, so I have no idea.
Senior year though, I'll be taking AP Calc, Physics, and Chem. All of which I've heard are torture.
I'm also taking the AP Music Theory exam, but that should be nothing.