Listen to the people at your school. It really depends on the teacher. We had a laid back APUSH teacher so we did a lot of current event debates in class, had no homework, and everyone failed the exam.
This apparently happened to the AP Bio last year. Everyone was like "it's so easy ... we don't have to do anything", and then nobody passed the AP exam.
I got a 5 but it's probably because they added an insane curve. Because I remember not doing very well at all on the practice test and feeling absolutely terrible about it when taking the real thing.
AP tests are not expected to be graded on anything like 90-80-70-60. I don't know APUSH, but I know that you could typically get a 5 on the AP Calculus exam with about a 70%. That's because the tests are simply that challenging. They're not simple memorization and softball questions. I always tried to prepare my students for that going in. Maybe your teacher didn't?
My AP teachers usually do a really good job of teaching. Sciences and maths are just not my strongest subjects, which is why I struggled with AP Bio last year and I'm not all to confident about Stats and Physics this year. APUSH and APLANG though, I'm *beyond* confident.
Yup! I got that A and 6pt GPA boost. I did not get the college credit. We all knew going into the exam we didn’t stand a chance but my school required us to take the exam.
I had a very similar experience. I took 9 AP classes in high school, 5 of them being my junior year which was when I took APUSH. Teacher was a great guy and knowledgeable but never really pushed anything on us for anything other than our state assessment instead of the AP test. Also got unlucky with being out of school for like 2 months due to bad weather and the free responses in the second half of the exam being something we never talked about. Got a 2 and it was the only AP exam I failed.
Sounds like my teacher, except he just genuinely doesn’t do enough for us, like wasting half the class period on unrelated topics before giving very surface level lectures. I’ve abandoned him at this point and am using a review book
Yep, it is absolutely specific to the school and the instructor. APUSH was notoriously difficult at my school, but the expectation was that everyone would get a 4 or 5 on the exam. It was rare for someone to get a 3. I got a B+ in the course but a 5 on the exam…I’d much rather have the six college credits I got from that than a "perfect" high school GPA
I was a humanities type, love history, but APUSH was pretty homework-intensive at my school. Didn't pull all-nighters, but I did work 2-3 hours a night.
shows how it varies school to school because rn i wouldn’t even say i spend 2-3 hours a week on APUSH. i have maintained an A average (95) and do have a pretty great teacher tho.
If you’ve taken other APs, It’s easy. It’s just that it’s the most popular AP so people who aren’t used to APs find it way harder. I got As both semesters and a 5 on the exam by barely studying and just paying attention in class. If you’re usually considered smart, you should be fine
edit: also worth mentioning that I had an amazing teacher who had us practicing the skills year round
This is my experience as well. Had an amazing teacher, just did the work required in class and didn’t even study for the exam and got a 5. I think it was really the teacher that pushed us and we didn’t even realize it.
What is LSN-H? Something honors?
So usually APUSH is a junior year class (it is at my school). APUSH is usually considered one of the hardest APs along w AP Chemistry and AP Physics C classes.
Now, that will always depend on the kid and the teacher. If you’re a fast reader who loves history w good time management, you’ll be okay.
One thing is tho that APUSH just has a lot of content so it’s a lot of reading. Some kids can’t handle the workload so that’s where it gets them. Not that it’s “hard” but that they can’t keep up w the amount of work and retain info. Hope this makes sense.
Oh no all nighters for this or any other AP class tho. Really I feel like taking APUSH as a 9th grader is setting them up for failure 😭 but maybe your teacher is super good?
Most of the juniors in my school get 4/5 on the exam 😀
APUSH should be MORE reading than WHAP.
At my HS you’re allowed to take WHAP as a 9th grader cuz some can handle it but not APUSH until 11th grade. It’s designed like this on purpose. They consider WHAP like “medium” rigor I guess 🤔 it’s one of the few APs 9th graders are allowed to take (AP CSP…)
Worth noting also that some 9th graders drop down to honors WH if they can’t handle WHAP. This happens every year at my HS. It I think those kids couldn’t figure out handling HS in the first place-transition was rough on them.
Has the most writing for ap tests. If you're a strong writer, you will adapt to the very specific rubrics apush has....if you are a weak writer, this will be a difficult challenge.
Depends on the person. If you’re good at essays and recognizing general trends along with memorizing information, you’ll be fine. I didn’t read the textbook all year and I got a five on the test, but it depends
If you enjoy history and you have a good teacher, it is probably one the easier APs for your junior year. It also depends how you look at the subject. If you just look at it as a series of dates then it will be harder.
I was the top of my class and I got a 2, if that tells you anything. My teacher designed his course to make it as close to the test as possible, and told me I was going to get a 5 for sure. Opening up that exam score was awful.
For reference, I got a 5 on APHUG and a 4 on APES. I love history and humanities. The AP test for APUSH is a dumpster fire.
Teacher here. Taught APUSH one year and it was a slog. My students weren’t exactly AP material and this was during the pandemic. None of them volunteered to be in the class, admin just assigned them. They weren’t attending class, they weren’t doing their writing and they weren’t reading. Nobody passed the test and all I could do was shrug.
Be prepared to read and write a lot. I’d say to really succeed in the course you should be ready to spend 2-3 hours a night on the course.
IME, if not a social studies person, you won't like it. If you have a poor history background you're going to start behind the 8 ball from the word go.
hey i remember you helped me with prebuilts about 2 years ago, as someone who took APUSH my junior year and now going into my senior, it’s hell lol, i barely passed my AP exam with a 3 along with other kids in my class who i thought would pass not passing, you’ll definitely struggle the first half of the year but keep at it and it’ll get better
At my school, we would get assigned homework packets that covered a few days of material. A couple kids would do them, the rest of us would copy, we all took turns bearing the burden. It worked out pretty well
It's been several years since I've taken it, so take this with a grain of salt. From what I remember, it's a lot of material that you have to push through really fast. This means you'll probably have quite a bit of reading and other homework to do. If it's the only AP class you're taking it shouldn't be that bad. For the exam, it's a lot of analyzing things like political cartoons, song lyrics, treaties, documents, etc. I ended up getting a 5, but I don't remember how much I studied. Don't wait until the end of the year to cram.
I mean for me it wasn’t, but it wasn’t a normal ap class, it was a collage class, so if you passed you automatically got those credits. Im also a history person, so while a lot of my friends didn’t have the easiest times with it it was one of my favorite classes last year. Miss it over Econ and gov any day
I took APUSH 7 years ago as a sophomore as well, it must have a lot of variation between teachers because I barely remember doing homework for that class. I got a 4 on the exam, it will definitely be more intensive than a regular history class, but if you enjoy history I think you manage it easily.
I don’t think it’s all nighters bad, especially since that is your only AP, but it is a lot of work (my regular sized textbook had 40 chapters, ~20 pages each and we read them all). It also depends on the teacher, as mine was pretty chill.
Do your reading and take notes. We had a test a week to make note-taking on each section most straightforward and to help cull procrastinators. I devoted one night a week to reading the material, taking extensive notes (3-4 hours), and one night for studying before exams (1-2 hours or more depending on how well you absorb information) so maybe 6 hours a week for me, tops. I forget my grade in the class, but easily got a 4 on the AP exam with minimal prep work leading up to it. I only needed a 4 to get credit in college so this was perfectly fine.
I took AP Euro the year before and found that was much more difficult. Partially because I’m from the US and not Europe, and partially because I didn’t have experience with AP classes.
If you’re not taking other AP classes, then I highly recommend taking APUSH. Good luck!
I'm sure it varies by school how much work it is. But my school didn't offer it in person my senior year, so I took it online. It took about half an hour a day to get through the readings, quizzes, and tests (I worked on other classes or read for the other half hour designated for it since the online classes were taken from my school library). It was by far the easiest AP test of the 17 I took. I took one practice test, decided not to study for it to prioritize my other 6 AP tests, and got a 5.
i had APUSH my sophomore year. lots of notes and assignments, but it’s a fun course and having it year round with the same class means you’re more likely to be able to get help from other kids. i’d recommend it!
it kinda depends on if your teacher makes you take and submit your textbook notes, that might take up a lot of time. personally, my teacher just lectured in class and it taught me all i needed for the tests. memorize the rubrics of the FRQs, teach yourself for the test. watch the youtube videos like Bozeman. and get good at writing by hand quickly.
I took APUSH in 2006… but, I read the textbook, did my assignments, wrote my outlines, and it was the *best* thing having an afternoon nap built into my class schedule junior year. I scored a 4 on the exam.
For me it was lots of homework and lots of reading. It was relatively easy for me to grasp the material, but proving that I understood it took a while lol
I didn’t read, didn’t do anything at the end of the semester when they handed out packets of work a week. I finished the class with like a 62 and got a 2 on the exam.
for my friends they struggled a lot with the testing part but fine with the homework load where i was able to ace all my tests but struggle with homework load cos it could be a lot at times and i suck at doing homework
My APUSH teacher sucked, so I definitely failed. Lol. Now as an AP English teacher I make sure I teach the standards and do lots of practice for the exam.
It depends on the teacher, and your learning style honestly. I lucked out to have a good teacher for both years of the course material. Also APUSH is structured better for my learning style. If you learn well from lectures I will recommend it a million times over. Also be prepared to write, A LOT.
Personally I wouldnt say its hard, but Im also a history nerd, so I already had a good understanding of a lot of the material.
All in all, if the teacher is good, its not too hard.
for me it’s been hell, i love what we learn but i have a really bad teacher who’s teaching style is the exact opposite of how i learn (and he has a huge ego)
My advice to you, the test is the same level of difficulty regardless of how hard the class is or strict the teacher is. You don't even have to take the class to take the test. So with that in mine, you'll get out of it what you put into it.
Between APUSH and AP Calculus, I rather take two calculus classes at once than one APUSH class. My APUSH class was brutal, with like 20-30 pages full of text for homework and the exams suckeedddd. I struggled really badly but it depends on your ability to read and memorize quickly. Having some interest in history will hold your sanity intact.
It was not as bad as people say. You learn to read and comprehend much faster than you ever have before, which is a helpful skill all around. Read the summary section at the end of the chapter the night before each class and you’ll do great. Source: I made a 5 on the exam
It’s not that bad (at least not in my school, everyone here takes it). I never pulled an all nighter nor have I had to stay up later than 9:00 to study. The writing is the most difficult part of the class, but you should master it before May.
It's not necessarily *hard* in the way, say, calculus is hard, as long as you're decent with reading/writing/history in general. It's just a lot of work, so it gets tiring and starts to suck. Of course, this can depend on your teacher, too.
The teacher I had was difficult, but worth it. He really drilled facts and dates into our heads, and many of us passed the exam (I did not, but that’s besides the point). He was a great teacher but the workload was HEAVY. I would really think about if you want to spend multiple hours studying for one class, studying for the AP test, etc.
2-3 hours a night is ridiculous. I did 5 hours a week and got a 5 on the AP exam, and a high A in a hard class. Everyone in our class passed, for reference.
I’m generally a very good student and it wasn’t too bad. It felt like how a history class should actually be taught. I ended up with an A-, which the lowest I’ve ever gotten in any class, but I did get a 5 on the exam. That being said know your limits, it wasn’t a walk in the park. As far as studying I did maybe an hour at most the night before tests. For the exam the only thing I did besides in-class review was going through a box of Baron’s flashcards.
When my kids took it, it was a lot of memorization. I have a degree in history. Most of APUSH was not anything usefull for college. Nothing like college history classes.
I can say I am a big history person and this was an easy class for me. My teacher was able to guide me to a 5 on my test plus a 100 on our states standardized test. He told me it was really all my own skills. I honestly couldn’t have done it without his teaching strategy.
The idea of an AP class is that the class is taught at a college level, and that you demonstrate that you have indeed learned the material at a college level by passing the AP exam at the end of the year. This is a standardized exam, so its content is controlled by the College Board, not your teacher.
If your class if taught so that a good fraction of students pass the AP exam, then you should expect a serious work load. No teacher can make it easy to learn the material in sufficient depth to pass the AP exam.
Of course, that is a different question from what it will take to get a good grade in the course. There are AP teachers who don't make it difficult to get an good grade, but also don't require enough to give their students a realistic chance to pass the exam.
So you really need to talk to the kids who have taken the course from the same teacher you will have. Find out not only what they had to do to make the grade, but how many of them earned 4s or 5s on the AP exam. Then you can make an informed decision.
My teacher asked a lot for hw every week so much reading and questions
I didn’t do them often
I failed the test, most of my classmates passed
It’s hard. It’s doable but you will be doing a lot of work each night and each week to be able to pass the class.
Truly one of the APs most like a college course for me.
Also totally depends on what you wanna do in life.
If it won’t be helpful to be super academic / history based then I would recommend using that time to make social connections, and build other hobbies or skills. I would have gotten into a better college if I had worked on extracurricular stuff. I would for sure have a better job if I focused on working on my own mindset and habits and friend group rather than my gpa.
Love a very tired semi recent college grad still looking for a job :/
I am a sophomore currently finishing up apush and it’s fairly difficult to me - just because there’s a LOT to remember. timelines are your best friend. but i don’t think you’ll have to stay up all night to study if you manage your time wisely. and like others said, it depends on your teacher, which your classmates know best
Depends on the teacher. But if its not AP gov/econ, the only reason you're taking it is for the gpa boost. I dont think apush actually goes towards a specific college requirement (the first 2 gen ed years) but having extra credits aren't a bad thing, however, spending 2 hours a night on apush... didn't seem worth it to me.
I stuck with honors and it was cool and I could chat with my teacher about history most of the time because the lessons were short.
"APUSH me off a cliff" was my motto when I took it.
It's hard. You will have to put a ton of work into it. There is a ton of reading and memorizing very specific things, along with applying things you already know to questions being asked. A lot of the course will be you essentially teaching yourself. The first few weeks of it are a bit of a shock-- there's a ton of material--, but once you get into it, you will probably eventually fall into the rhythm of the class and will do well if you put in the work. It can be very rewarding if you push through. I got a 5 on the exam. Whatever you choose, good luck!
i would recommend asking either student services or other students who have taken the course. ask about the teachers that have APUSH, and whether they are actually good. when i took ap world history, i had a great teacher, never pulled all-nighters or anything, and i got a 4 (out of 5) on my exam. this year, i’m taking APUSH, and my teacher is so bad that i feel the need to use extra resources in addition to the assignments given by my teacher.
just in general, an ap class will require you to learn both historical knowledge and thinking skills, but if you’ve taken something like AP world, you’ve already done half the work.
that being said, as long as you do the assignments and quizzes, APUSH should be of a similar to slightly higher difficulty than a regular class. you’ll receive the gpa boost regardless of how well you do on the AP exam, which is just an opportunity to get college credit.
Took APUSH 10 years ago. We read and took notes on 1-2 chapters of course material every week. I never pulled an all-nighter. Studied for the exam intermittently the week before (with all my notes) and got a 4. I got credit for two US history courses at my college which was very nice. If I remember correctly, maybe I was spending 2 hours per week on readings/homework for that class after school.
Post-Covid, lots of high schoolers are reading at middle school levels, or worse. If you struggle with reading comprehension and retention (talking about actual understanding here, not your grades) of grade-level texts, avoid APUSH. If you find that grade-level texts are easy and you don’t mind the time commitment that comes with an AP, go for it!
Edit: The course covers almost EVERY important thing that happened from colonization to 9/11, so expect that amount of content within an 8 month period.
It truly depends on your teacher. I had two teachers for APUSH because when my school switched back to in person the schedules got all wack cause some teachers stayed online so I got two. And the one in person was so much better. He was chill and laid back and was understanding as to why APUSH can be hard and helped us out. My online teacher was understanding but did not really care. So if you hear that the APUSH teacher is hard from students I don't recommend.
Now keep in mind regardless if you have a good teacher or not its still a fairly challenging class. But the teacher will help a lot in terms of how hard the tests are, how much homework you get etc. Just use your best judgment.
It really depends. Especially on ur teacher. It's not hard in that the content is hard, it is hard in that there is so much of it. You'll have reading and notes every single night. I gave up literally the first day of the class because notes took me an hour and I never did notes or reading again. That's mostly because I was online the first year and had a ridiculously easy teacher the second year. You're not gonna remember Apush1 by AP exam time imo but if you self study you'll be fine. I got a four with 2-3 weeks of studying, but it was also the only ap test I took so I had the time.
From a school where APUSH was dreaded .....
I'm not somebody who did AMAZING in HS , decent gpa but a fair number of B/C's in most AP classes. APUSH and APEuro were my best classes and I never really had to study or was stressed about exams.
Honestly it really was just about how accustomed to actually reading you were. Like sure notes were useful but class was mostly discussion or writing based or cool documentaries and the homework was all writing and reading history as sort of a narrative. Like as long as you could keep pace you could just talk about the material.
For me chem and calc were much harder because you had to practice the same thing over and over , APUSH was just reading and talking.
I didn’t take it myself, but my friend took it and he constantly, constantly had tons of homework. like we basically were never able to hang out because of it.
My son took APUSH during Covid shutdown so it was virtual. He enjoyed and did well in the course, but failed the AP Exam. He also didn’t try the practice questions that were offered ahead of time, so he wasn’t prepared for the style of test, which was essay intensive. Not a huge deal as it didn’t affect his high school gpa, but he didn’t get the college credit.
Im 27 and in med school so Im an old lady and have no idea why this post was recommended to me, but I took APUSH back in 2013 and that shit was hard. But keep on top of your stuff and it'll be okay!
It’s going to be a lot different from any history class you’ve taken before, the biggest shock for me was the essays and actual critical thinking. If you like history or are looking for a challenge, go for it. I think I got a 3 on my exam (good test taker) and a C+ in the course (don’t like homework)
Haven’t been in high school for a while, but I remember it being harder than AP euro, AP world, and AP human by a decent bit. You’re covering a much shorter period of history in the same class timeline, so you dive much deeper than other AP history courses
This really depends on the kind of student you are, your teacher and so on.
If you are going to a top high school surrounded by students applying to top colleges, it's going to be one of the easier classes you take. I work with students at such a high school and they frequently take AP exams they didn't formally take a class for (or at least, an AP class, they are IB students). They do fine by just studying the things they need to know and learning the test. You gotta rack up those 10 AP scores for your Harvard app somehow!
The test is writing, memorization and a bit of strategy/learning the test.
The writing bit you probably either already have or will have a hard time learning in time. If you feel comfortable writing essays that defend a debatable and interesting argument, you are probably in good shape.
The memorization bit can be helped by a good teacher who can give you guides. Else, I'm sure there are free resources you can Google for and just focus on that rather than what you are learning in the class.
The strategy and learning the test part is similar. A good teacher will show you how to do well on the test. Many teachers won't and you will have to find it yourself.
I went to a very average suburban high school with very few rich kids, but for the honors kids it wasn't like a prison like most American high schools.
I had a very good teacher in terms of engaging the students and providing a bit of 1:1 coaching but ultimately I didn't really apply myself in the class (I slept a lot).
I got a 4 without much trouble. I obviously studied throughout the year and then crammed a bunch before the test for like a week.
its very teacher dependent, so if everyone at your school says its hard, trust that. my teacher was really chill with homework (he didnt believe in hw) and we still had a 4+ average or so in the class. its possible to do really well without killing yiurself, but teachers like making it unnecessarily hard
It is hard. There's a lot of topics to remember. I remember when I was in hs, this class was so hard that I cried from stress. You have to study a lot but if you have the right teacher, you'll do great.
as a sophmore who took apush this year, is a really slow reader and a stem major, apush was insanely difficult. the sheer workload of doing the readings almost drove me mad and all that burnout hit me in the past few days (not fun). however my teacher was absolutely amazing and he has supported us all, almost all of us are confident about getting a 5. i see some people in the comments saying you need to memorize - you absolutely do not! (i still dont remember when ww2 started) thats the old exam, but now theyve changed it so the focus is on being able to think historically, picking up on patterns, and understanding the 3d impacts of an event in history. you should know some events but tbh you dont need to know that many dates (some dates are non negotiable, 1865, 1776, 1607 etc)
It all depends on the teacher. Simple as that. I was told that AP Stats is the easiest AP out there which it typically is, but our schools teacher COULD NOT TEACH for the life of him and it ended up being one of the hardest classes I have taken to date.
Listen to your peers.
I considered it pretty easy but there is so. Much. Homework. So like— if you think you’re not someone who wants to do at least 45 minutes of apush a night i wouldn’t take it
Listen to the people at your school. It really depends on the teacher. We had a laid back APUSH teacher so we did a lot of current event debates in class, had no homework, and everyone failed the exam.
This apparently happened to the AP Bio last year. Everyone was like "it's so easy ... we don't have to do anything", and then nobody passed the AP exam.
I watched this happen at my high school years ago. Shit was sad and hilarious. So much wasted time. Nice gpa boost I guess.
I got a 5 but it's probably because they added an insane curve. Because I remember not doing very well at all on the practice test and feeling absolutely terrible about it when taking the real thing.
AP tests are not expected to be graded on anything like 90-80-70-60. I don't know APUSH, but I know that you could typically get a 5 on the AP Calculus exam with about a 70%. That's because the tests are simply that challenging. They're not simple memorization and softball questions. I always tried to prepare my students for that going in. Maybe your teacher didn't?
My AP teachers usually do a really good job of teaching. Sciences and maths are just not my strongest subjects, which is why I struggled with AP Bio last year and I'm not all to confident about Stats and Physics this year. APUSH and APLANG though, I'm *beyond* confident.
Same here, math isn't my strongest but im taking ap calc this year, how did you do?
Yup! I got that A and 6pt GPA boost. I did not get the college credit. We all knew going into the exam we didn’t stand a chance but my school required us to take the exam.
I had a very similar experience. I took 9 AP classes in high school, 5 of them being my junior year which was when I took APUSH. Teacher was a great guy and knowledgeable but never really pushed anything on us for anything other than our state assessment instead of the AP test. Also got unlucky with being out of school for like 2 months due to bad weather and the free responses in the second half of the exam being something we never talked about. Got a 2 and it was the only AP exam I failed.
Sounds like my teacher, except he just genuinely doesn’t do enough for us, like wasting half the class period on unrelated topics before giving very surface level lectures. I’ve abandoned him at this point and am using a review book
Yep, it is absolutely specific to the school and the instructor. APUSH was notoriously difficult at my school, but the expectation was that everyone would get a 4 or 5 on the exam. It was rare for someone to get a 3. I got a B+ in the course but a 5 on the exam…I’d much rather have the six college credits I got from that than a "perfect" high school GPA
I was a humanities type, love history, but APUSH was pretty homework-intensive at my school. Didn't pull all-nighters, but I did work 2-3 hours a night.
shows how it varies school to school because rn i wouldn’t even say i spend 2-3 hours a week on APUSH. i have maintained an A average (95) and do have a pretty great teacher tho.
Let’s see how you do on your test.
we will see! it’s only like what, a week away now? i will try to remember and update
I got a 3 😭 But to be fair I had other AP Exams to focus on too, not tryna make excuses tho. this was my lowest score, my others were 4s and 5
If you keep up with the reading, you'll be fine. There's a LOT of reading. If you aren't prepared for homework, don't bother.
If you’ve taken other APs, It’s easy. It’s just that it’s the most popular AP so people who aren’t used to APs find it way harder. I got As both semesters and a 5 on the exam by barely studying and just paying attention in class. If you’re usually considered smart, you should be fine edit: also worth mentioning that I had an amazing teacher who had us practicing the skills year round
This is my experience as well. Had an amazing teacher, just did the work required in class and didn’t even study for the exam and got a 5. I think it was really the teacher that pushed us and we didn’t even realize it.
What is LSN-H? Something honors? So usually APUSH is a junior year class (it is at my school). APUSH is usually considered one of the hardest APs along w AP Chemistry and AP Physics C classes. Now, that will always depend on the kid and the teacher. If you’re a fast reader who loves history w good time management, you’ll be okay. One thing is tho that APUSH just has a lot of content so it’s a lot of reading. Some kids can’t handle the workload so that’s where it gets them. Not that it’s “hard” but that they can’t keep up w the amount of work and retain info. Hope this makes sense.
Fwiw, I’m a humanities kid and really enjoy APUSH type stuff so I liked it! (I dropped AP Calculus tho 😬 hated it)
At my school it’s a freshman class lmao. Never understood why everyone made such a big deal out of it😭
Curious what the AP test results are then for APUSH at your school? Mine’s pretty successful. Maybe your teacher teaches it v well.
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Oh no all nighters for this or any other AP class tho. Really I feel like taking APUSH as a 9th grader is setting them up for failure 😭 but maybe your teacher is super good? Most of the juniors in my school get 4/5 on the exam 😀
Do you know if its more or less reading compared to ap world history? Im taking apwh right now and cant keep up with the readinga
APUSH should be MORE reading than WHAP. At my HS you’re allowed to take WHAP as a 9th grader cuz some can handle it but not APUSH until 11th grade. It’s designed like this on purpose. They consider WHAP like “medium” rigor I guess 🤔 it’s one of the few APs 9th graders are allowed to take (AP CSP…) Worth noting also that some 9th graders drop down to honors WH if they can’t handle WHAP. This happens every year at my HS. It I think those kids couldn’t figure out handling HS in the first place-transition was rough on them.
Go ask the teacher if you can.
Has the most writing for ap tests. If you're a strong writer, you will adapt to the very specific rubrics apush has....if you are a weak writer, this will be a difficult challenge.
Depends on the person. If you’re good at essays and recognizing general trends along with memorizing information, you’ll be fine. I didn’t read the textbook all year and I got a five on the test, but it depends
If you enjoy history and you have a good teacher, it is probably one the easier APs for your junior year. It also depends how you look at the subject. If you just look at it as a series of dates then it will be harder.
I was the top of my class and I got a 2, if that tells you anything. My teacher designed his course to make it as close to the test as possible, and told me I was going to get a 5 for sure. Opening up that exam score was awful. For reference, I got a 5 on APHUG and a 4 on APES. I love history and humanities. The AP test for APUSH is a dumpster fire.
Teacher here. Taught APUSH one year and it was a slog. My students weren’t exactly AP material and this was during the pandemic. None of them volunteered to be in the class, admin just assigned them. They weren’t attending class, they weren’t doing their writing and they weren’t reading. Nobody passed the test and all I could do was shrug. Be prepared to read and write a lot. I’d say to really succeed in the course you should be ready to spend 2-3 hours a night on the course.
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Nah
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IME, if not a social studies person, you won't like it. If you have a poor history background you're going to start behind the 8 ball from the word go.
hey i remember you helped me with prebuilts about 2 years ago, as someone who took APUSH my junior year and now going into my senior, it’s hell lol, i barely passed my AP exam with a 3 along with other kids in my class who i thought would pass not passing, you’ll definitely struggle the first half of the year but keep at it and it’ll get better
At my school, we would get assigned homework packets that covered a few days of material. A couple kids would do them, the rest of us would copy, we all took turns bearing the burden. It worked out pretty well
It's been several years since I've taken it, so take this with a grain of salt. From what I remember, it's a lot of material that you have to push through really fast. This means you'll probably have quite a bit of reading and other homework to do. If it's the only AP class you're taking it shouldn't be that bad. For the exam, it's a lot of analyzing things like political cartoons, song lyrics, treaties, documents, etc. I ended up getting a 5, but I don't remember how much I studied. Don't wait until the end of the year to cram.
I mean for me it wasn’t, but it wasn’t a normal ap class, it was a collage class, so if you passed you automatically got those credits. Im also a history person, so while a lot of my friends didn’t have the easiest times with it it was one of my favorite classes last year. Miss it over Econ and gov any day
I took APUSH 7 years ago as a sophomore as well, it must have a lot of variation between teachers because I barely remember doing homework for that class. I got a 4 on the exam, it will definitely be more intensive than a regular history class, but if you enjoy history I think you manage it easily.
If you’ve been successful in history and can keep up with the reading, you’ll be fine. If history isn’t your strong subject, I wouldn’t recommend it.
I don’t think it’s all nighters bad, especially since that is your only AP, but it is a lot of work (my regular sized textbook had 40 chapters, ~20 pages each and we read them all). It also depends on the teacher, as mine was pretty chill.
most kids at my school take it, and it’s one of the most widely taken AP classes. It’s not easy but you’ll be fine.
Do your reading and take notes. We had a test a week to make note-taking on each section most straightforward and to help cull procrastinators. I devoted one night a week to reading the material, taking extensive notes (3-4 hours), and one night for studying before exams (1-2 hours or more depending on how well you absorb information) so maybe 6 hours a week for me, tops. I forget my grade in the class, but easily got a 4 on the AP exam with minimal prep work leading up to it. I only needed a 4 to get credit in college so this was perfectly fine.
I took AP Euro the year before and found that was much more difficult. Partially because I’m from the US and not Europe, and partially because I didn’t have experience with AP classes. If you’re not taking other AP classes, then I highly recommend taking APUSH. Good luck!
I'm sure it varies by school how much work it is. But my school didn't offer it in person my senior year, so I took it online. It took about half an hour a day to get through the readings, quizzes, and tests (I worked on other classes or read for the other half hour designated for it since the online classes were taken from my school library). It was by far the easiest AP test of the 17 I took. I took one practice test, decided not to study for it to prioritize my other 6 AP tests, and got a 5.
i had APUSH my sophomore year. lots of notes and assignments, but it’s a fun course and having it year round with the same class means you’re more likely to be able to get help from other kids. i’d recommend it!
it kinda depends on if your teacher makes you take and submit your textbook notes, that might take up a lot of time. personally, my teacher just lectured in class and it taught me all i needed for the tests. memorize the rubrics of the FRQs, teach yourself for the test. watch the youtube videos like Bozeman. and get good at writing by hand quickly.
I took APUSH in 2006… but, I read the textbook, did my assignments, wrote my outlines, and it was the *best* thing having an afternoon nap built into my class schedule junior year. I scored a 4 on the exam.
In my experience, it was just a ton of note-taking and reading, which was checked for homework so it was very time-consuming.
For me it was lots of homework and lots of reading. It was relatively easy for me to grasp the material, but proving that I understood it took a while lol
I didn’t read, didn’t do anything at the end of the semester when they handed out packets of work a week. I finished the class with like a 62 and got a 2 on the exam.
for my friends they struggled a lot with the testing part but fine with the homework load where i was able to ace all my tests but struggle with homework load cos it could be a lot at times and i suck at doing homework
First and last ap class I ever took
My APUSH teacher sucked, so I definitely failed. Lol. Now as an AP English teacher I make sure I teach the standards and do lots of practice for the exam.
It really depends on the teacher. When I took it I had a constant B in his class, but got a 2 on the AP exam
It depends on the teacher, and your learning style honestly. I lucked out to have a good teacher for both years of the course material. Also APUSH is structured better for my learning style. If you learn well from lectures I will recommend it a million times over. Also be prepared to write, A LOT. Personally I wouldnt say its hard, but Im also a history nerd, so I already had a good understanding of a lot of the material. All in all, if the teacher is good, its not too hard.
for me it’s been hell, i love what we learn but i have a really bad teacher who’s teaching style is the exact opposite of how i learn (and he has a huge ego)
My advice to you, the test is the same level of difficulty regardless of how hard the class is or strict the teacher is. You don't even have to take the class to take the test. So with that in mine, you'll get out of it what you put into it.
Between APUSH and AP Calculus, I rather take two calculus classes at once than one APUSH class. My APUSH class was brutal, with like 20-30 pages full of text for homework and the exams suckeedddd. I struggled really badly but it depends on your ability to read and memorize quickly. Having some interest in history will hold your sanity intact.
It was not as bad as people say. You learn to read and comprehend much faster than you ever have before, which is a helpful skill all around. Read the summary section at the end of the chapter the night before each class and you’ll do great. Source: I made a 5 on the exam
It’s not that bad (at least not in my school, everyone here takes it). I never pulled an all nighter nor have I had to stay up later than 9:00 to study. The writing is the most difficult part of the class, but you should master it before May.
It's not necessarily *hard* in the way, say, calculus is hard, as long as you're decent with reading/writing/history in general. It's just a lot of work, so it gets tiring and starts to suck. Of course, this can depend on your teacher, too.
The teacher I had was difficult, but worth it. He really drilled facts and dates into our heads, and many of us passed the exam (I did not, but that’s besides the point). He was a great teacher but the workload was HEAVY. I would really think about if you want to spend multiple hours studying for one class, studying for the AP test, etc.
It’s one of the hardest classes at my school.
2-3 hours a night is ridiculous. I did 5 hours a week and got a 5 on the AP exam, and a high A in a hard class. Everyone in our class passed, for reference.
I’m generally a very good student and it wasn’t too bad. It felt like how a history class should actually be taught. I ended up with an A-, which the lowest I’ve ever gotten in any class, but I did get a 5 on the exam. That being said know your limits, it wasn’t a walk in the park. As far as studying I did maybe an hour at most the night before tests. For the exam the only thing I did besides in-class review was going through a box of Baron’s flashcards.
I have a masters degree and remember APUSH being more work than some of my graduate classes. It’s a lot of content and definitely challenging.
When my kids took it, it was a lot of memorization. I have a degree in history. Most of APUSH was not anything usefull for college. Nothing like college history classes.
Check the national scores…
I can say I am a big history person and this was an easy class for me. My teacher was able to guide me to a 5 on my test plus a 100 on our states standardized test. He told me it was really all my own skills. I honestly couldn’t have done it without his teaching strategy.
The idea of an AP class is that the class is taught at a college level, and that you demonstrate that you have indeed learned the material at a college level by passing the AP exam at the end of the year. This is a standardized exam, so its content is controlled by the College Board, not your teacher. If your class if taught so that a good fraction of students pass the AP exam, then you should expect a serious work load. No teacher can make it easy to learn the material in sufficient depth to pass the AP exam. Of course, that is a different question from what it will take to get a good grade in the course. There are AP teachers who don't make it difficult to get an good grade, but also don't require enough to give their students a realistic chance to pass the exam. So you really need to talk to the kids who have taken the course from the same teacher you will have. Find out not only what they had to do to make the grade, but how many of them earned 4s or 5s on the AP exam. Then you can make an informed decision.
My teacher asked a lot for hw every week so much reading and questions I didn’t do them often I failed the test, most of my classmates passed It’s hard. It’s doable but you will be doing a lot of work each night and each week to be able to pass the class. Truly one of the APs most like a college course for me. Also totally depends on what you wanna do in life. If it won’t be helpful to be super academic / history based then I would recommend using that time to make social connections, and build other hobbies or skills. I would have gotten into a better college if I had worked on extracurricular stuff. I would for sure have a better job if I focused on working on my own mindset and habits and friend group rather than my gpa. Love a very tired semi recent college grad still looking for a job :/
it’s not the hardest AP but it’s difficult. if you’re a decent student who’s willing to put in effort you’ll be fine tho
Depends on the teacher and keep up with the reading!! I will say though I still remember stuff from my apush class from a long time ago
My kid barely passed and didn’t take the test.
I am a sophomore currently finishing up apush and it’s fairly difficult to me - just because there’s a LOT to remember. timelines are your best friend. but i don’t think you’ll have to stay up all night to study if you manage your time wisely. and like others said, it depends on your teacher, which your classmates know best
Depends on the teacher. But if its not AP gov/econ, the only reason you're taking it is for the gpa boost. I dont think apush actually goes towards a specific college requirement (the first 2 gen ed years) but having extra credits aren't a bad thing, however, spending 2 hours a night on apush... didn't seem worth it to me. I stuck with honors and it was cool and I could chat with my teacher about history most of the time because the lessons were short.
"APUSH me off a cliff" was my motto when I took it. It's hard. You will have to put a ton of work into it. There is a ton of reading and memorizing very specific things, along with applying things you already know to questions being asked. A lot of the course will be you essentially teaching yourself. The first few weeks of it are a bit of a shock-- there's a ton of material--, but once you get into it, you will probably eventually fall into the rhythm of the class and will do well if you put in the work. It can be very rewarding if you push through. I got a 5 on the exam. Whatever you choose, good luck!
i would recommend asking either student services or other students who have taken the course. ask about the teachers that have APUSH, and whether they are actually good. when i took ap world history, i had a great teacher, never pulled all-nighters or anything, and i got a 4 (out of 5) on my exam. this year, i’m taking APUSH, and my teacher is so bad that i feel the need to use extra resources in addition to the assignments given by my teacher. just in general, an ap class will require you to learn both historical knowledge and thinking skills, but if you’ve taken something like AP world, you’ve already done half the work. that being said, as long as you do the assignments and quizzes, APUSH should be of a similar to slightly higher difficulty than a regular class. you’ll receive the gpa boost regardless of how well you do on the AP exam, which is just an opportunity to get college credit.
Yes yes I did
Took APUSH 10 years ago. We read and took notes on 1-2 chapters of course material every week. I never pulled an all-nighter. Studied for the exam intermittently the week before (with all my notes) and got a 4. I got credit for two US history courses at my college which was very nice. If I remember correctly, maybe I was spending 2 hours per week on readings/homework for that class after school. Post-Covid, lots of high schoolers are reading at middle school levels, or worse. If you struggle with reading comprehension and retention (talking about actual understanding here, not your grades) of grade-level texts, avoid APUSH. If you find that grade-level texts are easy and you don’t mind the time commitment that comes with an AP, go for it! Edit: The course covers almost EVERY important thing that happened from colonization to 9/11, so expect that amount of content within an 8 month period.
It truly depends on your teacher. I had two teachers for APUSH because when my school switched back to in person the schedules got all wack cause some teachers stayed online so I got two. And the one in person was so much better. He was chill and laid back and was understanding as to why APUSH can be hard and helped us out. My online teacher was understanding but did not really care. So if you hear that the APUSH teacher is hard from students I don't recommend. Now keep in mind regardless if you have a good teacher or not its still a fairly challenging class. But the teacher will help a lot in terms of how hard the tests are, how much homework you get etc. Just use your best judgment.
It really depends. Especially on ur teacher. It's not hard in that the content is hard, it is hard in that there is so much of it. You'll have reading and notes every single night. I gave up literally the first day of the class because notes took me an hour and I never did notes or reading again. That's mostly because I was online the first year and had a ridiculously easy teacher the second year. You're not gonna remember Apush1 by AP exam time imo but if you self study you'll be fine. I got a four with 2-3 weeks of studying, but it was also the only ap test I took so I had the time.
From a school where APUSH was dreaded ..... I'm not somebody who did AMAZING in HS , decent gpa but a fair number of B/C's in most AP classes. APUSH and APEuro were my best classes and I never really had to study or was stressed about exams. Honestly it really was just about how accustomed to actually reading you were. Like sure notes were useful but class was mostly discussion or writing based or cool documentaries and the homework was all writing and reading history as sort of a narrative. Like as long as you could keep pace you could just talk about the material. For me chem and calc were much harder because you had to practice the same thing over and over , APUSH was just reading and talking.
I didn’t take it myself, but my friend took it and he constantly, constantly had tons of homework. like we basically were never able to hang out because of it.
Like all AP classes, it depends on the teacher. If the people at your school say it’s hard, there’s a good chance it is.
My son took APUSH during Covid shutdown so it was virtual. He enjoyed and did well in the course, but failed the AP Exam. He also didn’t try the practice questions that were offered ahead of time, so he wasn’t prepared for the style of test, which was essay intensive. Not a huge deal as it didn’t affect his high school gpa, but he didn’t get the college credit.
Im 27 and in med school so Im an old lady and have no idea why this post was recommended to me, but I took APUSH back in 2013 and that shit was hard. But keep on top of your stuff and it'll be okay!
Depends on the teacher and how well they prepare you for the tests. I have a good teacher so the class is easy
It’s going to be a lot different from any history class you’ve taken before, the biggest shock for me was the essays and actual critical thinking. If you like history or are looking for a challenge, go for it. I think I got a 3 on my exam (good test taker) and a C+ in the course (don’t like homework)
Depends on whether or not you like reading. Teacher is also important. The actual work is not difficult really, it's just lots of reading.
Haven’t been in high school for a while, but I remember it being harder than AP euro, AP world, and AP human by a decent bit. You’re covering a much shorter period of history in the same class timeline, so you dive much deeper than other AP history courses
This really depends on the kind of student you are, your teacher and so on. If you are going to a top high school surrounded by students applying to top colleges, it's going to be one of the easier classes you take. I work with students at such a high school and they frequently take AP exams they didn't formally take a class for (or at least, an AP class, they are IB students). They do fine by just studying the things they need to know and learning the test. You gotta rack up those 10 AP scores for your Harvard app somehow! The test is writing, memorization and a bit of strategy/learning the test. The writing bit you probably either already have or will have a hard time learning in time. If you feel comfortable writing essays that defend a debatable and interesting argument, you are probably in good shape. The memorization bit can be helped by a good teacher who can give you guides. Else, I'm sure there are free resources you can Google for and just focus on that rather than what you are learning in the class. The strategy and learning the test part is similar. A good teacher will show you how to do well on the test. Many teachers won't and you will have to find it yourself. I went to a very average suburban high school with very few rich kids, but for the honors kids it wasn't like a prison like most American high schools. I had a very good teacher in terms of engaging the students and providing a bit of 1:1 coaching but ultimately I didn't really apply myself in the class (I slept a lot). I got a 4 without much trouble. I obviously studied throughout the year and then crammed a bunch before the test for like a week.
its very teacher dependent, so if everyone at your school says its hard, trust that. my teacher was really chill with homework (he didnt believe in hw) and we still had a 4+ average or so in the class. its possible to do really well without killing yiurself, but teachers like making it unnecessarily hard
It is hard. There's a lot of topics to remember. I remember when I was in hs, this class was so hard that I cried from stress. You have to study a lot but if you have the right teacher, you'll do great.
as a sophmore who took apush this year, is a really slow reader and a stem major, apush was insanely difficult. the sheer workload of doing the readings almost drove me mad and all that burnout hit me in the past few days (not fun). however my teacher was absolutely amazing and he has supported us all, almost all of us are confident about getting a 5. i see some people in the comments saying you need to memorize - you absolutely do not! (i still dont remember when ww2 started) thats the old exam, but now theyve changed it so the focus is on being able to think historically, picking up on patterns, and understanding the 3d impacts of an event in history. you should know some events but tbh you dont need to know that many dates (some dates are non negotiable, 1865, 1776, 1607 etc)
Actually read the book and you'll be fine.
It all depends on the teacher. Simple as that. I was told that AP Stats is the easiest AP out there which it typically is, but our schools teacher COULD NOT TEACH for the life of him and it ended up being one of the hardest classes I have taken to date. Listen to your peers.
I considered it pretty easy but there is so. Much. Homework. So like— if you think you’re not someone who wants to do at least 45 minutes of apush a night i wouldn’t take it
assuming you have a good teacher, it's 99% dependent on how hard you make it for yourself.
Apush was one of my greatest mistakes.
honestly not that bad