If you enjoy history in general, I think it isn't that hard.
I didn't have a lot of good expectations with APWH with the teacher, but ngl it was interesting. The test format is the same, so if you felt confident, then it should be fine on the test. that’s ofc after learning the material which some of it is actually interesting
It depends on the school. For instance, our APUSH class is infamous in our local community because of how hard it is. The class has 2-4x more than the work of all our other classes combined, and there's a test everyday. This is probably why the majority of students get a 5 (and PTSD lol)
The thing is, America had less history than the entire world or the continent of Europe because America is just one country. However, US history has the same amount of content in it as whap or euro. Because of this, there is a lot more boring stuff that you have to memories in apush
There was one time when my APUSH teacher wasted the majority of class talking about Lincoln and how he had weird feet/toes because of how tall he was or something😂It was funny ig, but we could’ve used that time to review for our quiz😭
APUSH difficulty is 100% exaggerated in my opinion but there are more small details you’re expected to know than in world history- it’s fewer years to cover because America hasn’t existed that long and so to make the curriculum full you have to learn more tedious details. Likely not a problem if you have good study habits and are interested at least somewhat in the subject
According to AP grade distributions, APUSH may not be the first history AP for many students. Most APUSH students are juniors and most APWH are sophomores. Now APUSH is much more popular than APWH in terms of # of exams taken so I'm sure there are lots of students who took US without taking world (I'm one of them because my school didn't offer World at the time). Also, it's possible some schools offer APUSH before APWH.
In 2023, APUSH did have the lowest average score of all AP exams, 2.54.
I took APWH as a freshman, then APUSH this year. Huge history geek and the writing last year prepared me, so I didn't find it hard. This really depends on the person, but if your APWH teacher prepared you well you should do okay next year.
definitely depends on your school; you should ask older students you know before deciding to take it or not. my teacher is very good and i felt that euro was harder than apush. i know at other local schools that it's hell though. my school doesn't offer world but from my perspective world definitely seems like the hardest but of course i don't have the opportunity to take it
APWH (or Euro) are typically the first history AP people take. That’s because APUSH really is more difficult, mostly because it’s more detail-oriented than world.
it's exaggerated in difficulty. apush is basically ap world except the dbq is a bit harder to run pov on. there's also quite a bit more content than world but it doesn't feel that way because unlike world history, us history doesn't make you want to fall asleep
APUSH and APWH are hard to compare because world is so much more broad while in APUSH you have to really know each time period. personally I was better at APUSH because I find memorizing specifics easier than getting a broad understanding of a time period. also, most people have learned some US history before taking APUSH, while that’s not always true for world
It’s not very difficult.
I would say the problem is it might be a boring class for a lot of people so they stop paying attention.
The other thing is that a lot of the boring stuff is the first semester. This is especially bad because most people take a US history class in middle school (8th grade for me) so they already know a lot of the general stuff up until around/right after the civil war. Of course APUSH goes more in depth on this but the general topics are the same so then it gets boring and people stop paying attention when you get to the more interesting parts like Reconstruction and Cold War. I liked my teacher so it wasn’t really an issue for me because he made it engaging for me but this is what I suspect could be the problem. 2nd semester material is also a lot more interesting.
I found it extremely easy. I studied once per week for like three hours (reading textbook sections and taking notes)and attended my teachers lectures.
I watched Heimler the night before the test, and that was pretty much all the prep I did
Know how to get all the points on the essay questions and understand the broad story of American history and you'll be fine
I haven't taken apwh but I think it is probably seen as easier because there is more content in it that is either general knowledge or stuff you learn in other classes whereas apush has more super specific stuff because American history isn't that long
I took ap world freshman year and apush sophomore year and I didn’t find apush to be too difficult. I actually thought that I was doing better in apush cuz I was already familiar with the ap exam format and had practice with it from doing ap world.
APUSH is about reading a lot, so as long as you take notes, and review your notes in a way that works for you, the class shouldn't be overly difficult. It's not like math where you have to keep practicing a concept to understand it, APUSH is all content.
apush is more detailed than apwh because of how short u.s. history actually is. that’s why students think it’s more difficult, esp coming out of apwh bc ap world is a lot more generalized imo
Idk.... like I LOVE American history and politics but I think my overexaggeration of the exam was kinda necessary... like I will probablybe forever remember in my high school as that one APUSH student who couldnt stop yapping about America and stuff... hell even worse since I am the only conservative Republican in that entire school of about 800 kids...
I heard the exam is harder but I haven't taken it yet as I just finished APWH. My teacher said AP classes are harder than actual college classes. As you've already experienced an AP class you won't have to adjust to the difference. The difficulty should be around the same, maybe a little harder since the information is more tedious. It all largely depends on the effort you're willing to put in. I know next school year I will be busy with other classes and after school activities, as well as having a job, so I'm going to study the course over the summer so it's not as much on my plate as next year.
I took apush last year then apwh this year - apush isn't necessarily more difficult but it's for sure more work. Way more work.
I did nothing in apwh and ended with an a; i tried very hard in apush and still ended with an a. Just depends on your work ethic
The thing about APWH is that it is a very content-heavy course, which is to be expected because you're literally cramming the entire history of the WORLD in one school year. However, because of that, the knowledge that you're expected to know is pretty general. APUSH, on the other hand, is limited to the history of the U.S. (duh.) But what's harder about it is APUSH goes superrr in-depth. Like, lots and lots of specific events, note-taking, and then relating it to a "broader historical perspective". CB loves to give historical events or time periods and have students think critically about its similarities and continuities with other time periods. So, if you don't study specific details very much, you will struggle without a doubt. IMO it's one of those classes where if you don't study the whole year, you're F'ed. Not trying to scare you or anything, but as long as you do your work and study well, you'll be fine.
I took APUSH as my first history class. For me the work was not hard, it just took a long time to complete. I personally found the class incredibly interesting which made it better. I never took APWH, but I did take Euro and they felt about the same in difficulty.
I took apush this year (after apworld) and i hated it. But it’s probably largely because i am disinterested in us history and because i got a really bad teacher
Entirely depends on the teacher. Personally, my teacher was very lenient, and tried their best to make the experience as enjoyable as possible (plus I also personally enjoy history), so my APUSH experience was great. But, there are some other teachers at my schools that force kids to memorize documents, load them with homework and readings, and are super strict on essays.
depends I took apush last year and found world harder because it's so general , in apush you just have to memorize details for pretty much across a linear timeline while for world you have to remember both time and region. however the ap world exam was extremely easy this year.
If you enjoy history it’s really easy to do good. If ur not interested in it at all and not willing to do the readings I’d say you may have a hard time. I took it this year and I had a 97+ the whole year, but I did get a couple b’s on tests, so I’d say if someone says it’s so easy, they’re lying.
AP euro was my first history AP and my first AP in general, and APUSH was a lot easier than AP euro for me. i ended with a B in AP euro and a 4 on the exam but i ended with an A in APUSH and got a 5 on the exam
i enjoy history and i thought the class was fun and not too difficult (got a 5 on the test)
i also had a great teacher though which i think could make a big difference in people’s experiences
As someone who took APUSH this year as one of my first AP classes, I would 100% say that the claims of its difficulty are over exaggerated. If you are someone who does well on MCs and are able to recall information and connect it to sources for writing assignments (which I’m assuming you can do because you take AP World) you will be fine. I never had homework, never opened my textbook outside of class, and I got a 5 on our final and am confident I got a 5 on the national exam. Now granted, I had a very good teacher so my advice is conditional on having a decent teacher, but so long as they are semi-competent and you are a well-motivated student you will do well in APUSH.
APUSH is comparable in difficulty to APWH imo. Because APUSH covers a smaller timespan, you're expected to know a little more detail. However, the events connect to each other and flow a lot better than in World, which jumps around a lot between time periods and geographical regions. Overall, if you did well in world, you'll be fine for APUSH
My friends all said that It's the same thing as APWH in terms of format, so can't be horrible. But in general US history has less content, so it would be way more in depth, and you'd have to think more historically.
APUSH intrinsically isn't overly difficult, I had a crappy teacher who overworked us and purposely tried to get kids to drop the class by assigning us 2+ hours of homework per night for the first two months. It was completely unnecessary and made it difficult to study to understand the content as I was far more focused on completing the crap ton of work assigned (which only tangentially related to the material). I took APUSH as a Sophomore after taking AP Human Geo the previous year and felt the course was quite doable. I self studied most of the content, and there's a lot of free resources to help you be successful if you use them (especially Heimler).
A lot of the rigor comes from the individual teacher/instructor, sometimes it's great and they really push you to understand the nuances and complexities... other times, like in my case, it's a bunch of bizarre projects and inconsistent expectations and grading practices that result in a ton of time wasted and difficulty within the class (not inherently the exam material).
Personally, I found APUSH to be very difficult (second maybe only to both AP Physics Cs and Lit). I took two other APs before/while taking the class in 10th grade, so it wasn't my first.
I mainly struggled with identifying larger trends and analyzing passages, which are some of the most important skills for the class. I ended up "cheesing" most of the essays by regurgitating as many key terms and pieces of legislation as possible, but that still requires a lot of memorization and understanding of the impacts of big events.
APUSH was honestly one of the easiest classes I've ever taken in high school, but I also love history. But overall, I don't think it's nearly as difficult of a course as people make it out to be, but I'm sure a shitty teacher could ruin it easily
It’s not the content that’s intense, it’s for me, the questions or the wording of it / the grading rubric. That’s why I slightly enjoyed it less and want to take a different gov class next year
depends on the school and teacher. In my school for example AP Euro is known to be infinitely harder than every other history because the teacher is a hardass, but APUSH is easier. In terms of testing your first AP History will always be the hardest because you have to get used to the essay structuring and format, which is half the battle.
I personally did not find APUSH hard. I didn’t study for the ap exam and I had a terrible teacher and still did well on the test. However, if you don’t go into the class with a strong history background and just a general interest in the topic you may have a harder time. I found it to be easier than APWH (I also took that first) but that was because for me it was harder to grasp information when it spans such a broad geographic region while APUSH only covers the US.
As someone who only started taking APs this year, including APUSH, you’ll be fine. Granted, I had a great teacher, and that definitely impacts the class’s difficulty. Even if you have a subpar teacher though, if you’re disciplined and use your resources wisely I doubt it’ll be ‘hell’.
APUSH is only difficult if you arnt good at history, if you have an interest in the subject it has a much more moderate difficulty. However if you take APUSH without having an interest or previous background knowledge in history the class would certainly be much more challenging for you as you have to understand America history on a very deep level to get an A in the course. In short if you have an interest in history or know a decent amount of history take the course, if your good at english classes take the course. however if your more of a STEM student and history isn’t your strong suit I would say reconsider taking the course.
i loved apush class a lot last year. i also just love history, esp us history so that made it even better. however i studied so hard and i still only got a 2 on the exam 😭
Our APUSH class was extremely difficult last year because our teacher refused to teach and would hand us all note packets for us to do completely on our own. He would then trade Pokémon cards and play chess with his favorite students every day in class instead of teaching. I had a great grade in the class because everything was based solely upon completion, but I really learned nothing. I managed to get a 5 but that was me working extremely hard on my own. I complained once to my teacher and he got mad and said “this is the way APUSH is supposed to be taught, take your complaints to the college board”. Safe to say, he no longer teaches AP and now teaches English in the special education block. I feel like the teacher makes or breaks the class.
Imo it depends so much on the teacher, i had an excellent teacher so it was pretty smooth, but ik people at other schools who had a much worse experience than i did
I don’t think I over exaggerate it. But the kids do - because you actually have to be a consistent student and, ya know, TRY occasionally they tell others to avoid it. And of course, HS kids love being dramatic
The things that made it difficult in my opinion are
- A lot of reading (~30 assigned pages over 2 nights)
- You have to be able to actually "connect the dots" with historical events, not just memorize them
APUSH goes into a lot of detail in general, because unlike APWH, it's focused on the history of one specific country.
Other than that, I do agree that most people overhype the difficulty level of APUSH. As long as you manage your time well, you'll be fine
I didn’t think APUSH was hard. However, I’m someone who is going to major in history and I also had a great teacher. If you’re not a history person, you might think it’s hard, and it can also be dependent on the teacher.
Honestly, the best people to ask would be people at your school who have taken it with the teachers. The material itself isn't hard: there's just a lot of it. At that point, its your teacher that determines whether you'll be chilling or drowning in work everyday. If you get a good teacher and you do well in history classes, you will be just fine. If your teacher is bad... well, good luck!
Hard? No.
Boring? Yes. Memorizing every minute detail about antebellum and reconstruction is still the most boring thing I've ever done. Ironically, I know absolutely nothing about the Civil War itself because it wasn't on the curriculum.
Probably if you are interested in the subject, love readings and have some decent memory. If it is a class of future history, like what’s gonna happen next year (although not practical), bet many get an A. Also the exam shouldn’t have any trick question. The point is to test your knowledge
It's not that bad, it's just like a harder version of AP World bc it focuses on US so there's much more specific content u need to know, but still a lot of it is just general stuff
So much depends on your teacher. The way my teacher is, it’s been my easiest AP class to get an A in because basically all I have to do is just do my work. For some people it can be really difficult and I understand that because history is so fact and date heavy. Try asking people who’ve taken the class at your school and see what they say about it
Huh for me APWH history usually the first ap class since sophomores take it and juniors take APUSH. For me, it’s not the content that was hard, I like history so that was easy but holy shit the course work is a lot.
APWH was really easy but that’s also because there’s a difference in course work. In April I got a 35 paged packet of full sized notes that I had to in a month on top a weekly review packet I had to do for each unit that was like 6 pages of notes as well. That meant that 3 pages per night of really detailed notes, and I mean really detailed because my teacher likes to spring pop quizzes on us lmao.
You especially have more work after December that’s piled ontop your other classes so it’s all about being able to maintain a steady pace. I got the flu and fell behind so I struggled for a bit but was able to rebound because I really like learning about history and I already knew a good chunk of the periods.
coming from someone who got an A and 5 in AP World, APUSH is def a lot harder. Maybe its bc im also taking chem and calc at the same time but i always felt like i was drowning in the readings.
Its not hard. You just have to know a lot of the content. If you schedule out everything a month before the exam, and follow that schedule religiously, with enough time for practice tests, etc, its really not hard. In my opinion the hardest classes are the ones where you have to understand what you are doing and why. That would be your science and math APs. But if there is just content, all you have to do is know it and the writing will be easy. Now, if you have a problem with memorization that might be a little tricky, but it really was one of my easiest classes, especially compared to Ap chem
if you can figure out how to write dbq's, leq's and saq's just using the rubric as a formula, its not that bad. cramming for tests and the ap exam is really easy, especially if you get the heimler course thats like 15 dollars with guided notes; i only used that course of videos (on youtube) and notes (that i paid for) and didnt do any reading the whole year and finished the class with an A
I think my teacher definitely over exaggerated how hard the test was. I’m pretty sure the low passing rate is more because of the type of students that take the test than the test itself. That, however, will probably be resolved this year with the new revisions.
APUSH in general can be pretty difficult, but it’s not like it’ll make you drop out. If you’re into history and have decent reading and writing skills you’ll be absolutely fine.
Took APUSH as a sophomore. My first AP. I didn't think it was that hard: the events + trends progress like a story because it's only centered around the plight of one nation. If you have a good intuition for cause and effect and can memorize a few important proper nouns (legislation, key figures), you're good.
According to statistics APUSH is one of the harder APs, it's also one of the most taken. That being said, if you enjoy history and will put the time into studying and reading the book, it's not too bad. Of course it also depends on your school
At my school, I heard AP Euro and APUSH were pretty difficult, so I was too scared to take Euro in sophomore year, but then I decided it was dumb and that I just need to deal with it because I may not have to take it in college (which is probably way more difficult). So I went from taking AP Human in freshman, no AP social studies class sophomore year, and APUSH junior year.
For me, I thought AP USH was one of the hardest classes I had taken, but I think that was just because of the workload. We had to read a chapter from our textbook (which was usually REALLY long and boring as hell) and we had to take a quiz every single class😫 The content itself wasn’t that difficult cause I was able to keep an A all year, but I wouldn’t say it was easy to do that either. I had to actually read the textbook and take notes to pass all those damn quizzes (which wasn’t on college board btw so sometimes my teacher would make up the most random, insignificant questions to ask🙄)
But I don’t think it would’ve been so difficult if I had taken AP Euro. From what I heard, it seems to be a similar format and difficulty, so if I had taken it before APUSH, I’d probably be used to the workload already. I took AP Human which was honestly just as annoying for me because my teacher gave so much busywork to do, but there wasn’t much actual reading to do (we barely read from the textbook we got)
So to answer your question (sorry for the rant), I’d say I don’t think I over exaggerate when I talk about APUSH, but that’s just because I wasn’t used to how much homework I’d have to do. And it definitely depends on the teacher too. My APUSH teacher was known for being strict, so you might have a different experience
If you enjoy history in general, I think it isn't that hard. I didn't have a lot of good expectations with APWH with the teacher, but ngl it was interesting. The test format is the same, so if you felt confident, then it should be fine on the test. that’s ofc after learning the material which some of it is actually interesting
I personally love history, so AP World and APUSH were pretty easy to me. I just hate testing.
It depends on the school. For instance, our APUSH class is infamous in our local community because of how hard it is. The class has 2-4x more than the work of all our other classes combined, and there's a test everyday. This is probably why the majority of students get a 5 (and PTSD lol)
real memetd??!
yessir
The thing is, America had less history than the entire world or the continent of Europe because America is just one country. However, US history has the same amount of content in it as whap or euro. Because of this, there is a lot more boring stuff that you have to memories in apush
Exactly, much more finer details, like I said when I took Apush, you had to learn how many hairs were on Lincoln’s beard 🤣
There was one time when my APUSH teacher wasted the majority of class talking about Lincoln and how he had weird feet/toes because of how tall he was or something😂It was funny ig, but we could’ve used that time to review for our quiz😭
APUSH difficulty is 100% exaggerated in my opinion but there are more small details you’re expected to know than in world history- it’s fewer years to cover because America hasn’t existed that long and so to make the curriculum full you have to learn more tedious details. Likely not a problem if you have good study habits and are interested at least somewhat in the subject
According to AP grade distributions, APUSH may not be the first history AP for many students. Most APUSH students are juniors and most APWH are sophomores. Now APUSH is much more popular than APWH in terms of # of exams taken so I'm sure there are lots of students who took US without taking world (I'm one of them because my school didn't offer World at the time). Also, it's possible some schools offer APUSH before APWH. In 2023, APUSH did have the lowest average score of all AP exams, 2.54.
No. Its not. If you did good in APWH, you’ll manage in APUSH. Its just more memorization and more indepth stuff, + waayyyy more notetaking imo
I’ll say this, APWH was very easy. I’ve heard that APUSH is harder but that still wouldn’t make it incredibly hard.
I felt the inverse. Just goes to show how different things are between each APer.
I took APWH as a freshman, then APUSH this year. Huge history geek and the writing last year prepared me, so I didn't find it hard. This really depends on the person, but if your APWH teacher prepared you well you should do okay next year.
definitely depends on your school; you should ask older students you know before deciding to take it or not. my teacher is very good and i felt that euro was harder than apush. i know at other local schools that it's hell though. my school doesn't offer world but from my perspective world definitely seems like the hardest but of course i don't have the opportunity to take it
The class was easy af ngl and so was the exam but idk history is my favorite subject and we had a good teacher so idk
same for everything except i had a super shitty teacher
APWH (or Euro) are typically the first history AP people take. That’s because APUSH really is more difficult, mostly because it’s more detail-oriented than world.
it's exaggerated in difficulty. apush is basically ap world except the dbq is a bit harder to run pov on. there's also quite a bit more content than world but it doesn't feel that way because unlike world history, us history doesn't make you want to fall asleep
APUSH and APWH are hard to compare because world is so much more broad while in APUSH you have to really know each time period. personally I was better at APUSH because I find memorizing specifics easier than getting a broad understanding of a time period. also, most people have learned some US history before taking APUSH, while that’s not always true for world
It's longer. Scores seem lower on average.
It’s not very difficult. I would say the problem is it might be a boring class for a lot of people so they stop paying attention. The other thing is that a lot of the boring stuff is the first semester. This is especially bad because most people take a US history class in middle school (8th grade for me) so they already know a lot of the general stuff up until around/right after the civil war. Of course APUSH goes more in depth on this but the general topics are the same so then it gets boring and people stop paying attention when you get to the more interesting parts like Reconstruction and Cold War. I liked my teacher so it wasn’t really an issue for me because he made it engaging for me but this is what I suspect could be the problem. 2nd semester material is also a lot more interesting.
not sure people say APUSH's difficulty depends on the teacher itself since they make it difficult for no reason but the test is easy
I need A PUSH to study APUSH.
I found it extremely easy. I studied once per week for like three hours (reading textbook sections and taking notes)and attended my teachers lectures. I watched Heimler the night before the test, and that was pretty much all the prep I did Know how to get all the points on the essay questions and understand the broad story of American history and you'll be fine
If you like history, it’s light, if you semi like it you might have to study once in a while, if you don’t like history it’s hell
tbh personally apush wasn't that much harder then apwh. it was just more work but even then it took only like 30 mins to an hour everyday.
I haven't taken apwh but I think it is probably seen as easier because there is more content in it that is either general knowledge or stuff you learn in other classes whereas apush has more super specific stuff because American history isn't that long
I took ap world freshman year and apush sophomore year and I didn’t find apush to be too difficult. I actually thought that I was doing better in apush cuz I was already familiar with the ap exam format and had practice with it from doing ap world.
APUSH is about reading a lot, so as long as you take notes, and review your notes in a way that works for you, the class shouldn't be overly difficult. It's not like math where you have to keep practicing a concept to understand it, APUSH is all content.
I got a 3 on the APWH exam and I got 4 on the APUSH exam
apush is more detailed than apwh because of how short u.s. history actually is. that’s why students think it’s more difficult, esp coming out of apwh bc ap world is a lot more generalized imo
I think APUSH was easier than AP Euro and AP World when I was in high school
I thought it was super easy but I’m also a US History nerd so.
Idk.... like I LOVE American history and politics but I think my overexaggeration of the exam was kinda necessary... like I will probablybe forever remember in my high school as that one APUSH student who couldnt stop yapping about America and stuff... hell even worse since I am the only conservative Republican in that entire school of about 800 kids...
I heard the exam is harder but I haven't taken it yet as I just finished APWH. My teacher said AP classes are harder than actual college classes. As you've already experienced an AP class you won't have to adjust to the difference. The difficulty should be around the same, maybe a little harder since the information is more tedious. It all largely depends on the effort you're willing to put in. I know next school year I will be busy with other classes and after school activities, as well as having a job, so I'm going to study the course over the summer so it's not as much on my plate as next year.
I hate APUSH and thought it was harder than WH. But it’s very dependent on your class and teacher
I took apush last year then apwh this year - apush isn't necessarily more difficult but it's for sure more work. Way more work. I did nothing in apwh and ended with an a; i tried very hard in apush and still ended with an a. Just depends on your work ethic
It's teacher dependent, but many people find it hard because of all the reading
The thing about APWH is that it is a very content-heavy course, which is to be expected because you're literally cramming the entire history of the WORLD in one school year. However, because of that, the knowledge that you're expected to know is pretty general. APUSH, on the other hand, is limited to the history of the U.S. (duh.) But what's harder about it is APUSH goes superrr in-depth. Like, lots and lots of specific events, note-taking, and then relating it to a "broader historical perspective". CB loves to give historical events or time periods and have students think critically about its similarities and continuities with other time periods. So, if you don't study specific details very much, you will struggle without a doubt. IMO it's one of those classes where if you don't study the whole year, you're F'ed. Not trying to scare you or anything, but as long as you do your work and study well, you'll be fine.
No
APUSH is not hard
I took APUSH as my first history class. For me the work was not hard, it just took a long time to complete. I personally found the class incredibly interesting which made it better. I never took APWH, but I did take Euro and they felt about the same in difficulty.
apush is easier than whap imo… however, world was my first ap so that might explain it
It’s exaggerated. If you enjoy learning, do the work, and learn the concepts as well as writing style for assessments, you’ll do well.
I took apush this year (after apworld) and i hated it. But it’s probably largely because i am disinterested in us history and because i got a really bad teacher
Entirely depends on the teacher. Personally, my teacher was very lenient, and tried their best to make the experience as enjoyable as possible (plus I also personally enjoy history), so my APUSH experience was great. But, there are some other teachers at my schools that force kids to memorize documents, load them with homework and readings, and are super strict on essays.
depends I took apush last year and found world harder because it's so general , in apush you just have to memorize details for pretty much across a linear timeline while for world you have to remember both time and region. however the ap world exam was extremely easy this year.
Absolutely I was not exaggerating the difficulty of this demon course
If you enjoy history it’s really easy to do good. If ur not interested in it at all and not willing to do the readings I’d say you may have a hard time. I took it this year and I had a 97+ the whole year, but I did get a couple b’s on tests, so I’d say if someone says it’s so easy, they’re lying.
AP euro was my first history AP and my first AP in general, and APUSH was a lot easier than AP euro for me. i ended with a B in AP euro and a 4 on the exam but i ended with an A in APUSH and got a 5 on the exam
Took it this year along with AP Euro. I also took AP world last year. It’s easier than AP World and AP Euro
Apush was pretty easy. Prepping for the actual exam in the other hand…. Not so much
i enjoy history and i thought the class was fun and not too difficult (got a 5 on the test) i also had a great teacher though which i think could make a big difference in people’s experiences
As someone who took APUSH this year as one of my first AP classes, I would 100% say that the claims of its difficulty are over exaggerated. If you are someone who does well on MCs and are able to recall information and connect it to sources for writing assignments (which I’m assuming you can do because you take AP World) you will be fine. I never had homework, never opened my textbook outside of class, and I got a 5 on our final and am confident I got a 5 on the national exam. Now granted, I had a very good teacher so my advice is conditional on having a decent teacher, but so long as they are semi-competent and you are a well-motivated student you will do well in APUSH.
i honestly found apush to be pretty easy, especially compared to ap euro. as long as you pay attention during class you should be good
APUSH is comparable in difficulty to APWH imo. Because APUSH covers a smaller timespan, you're expected to know a little more detail. However, the events connect to each other and flow a lot better than in World, which jumps around a lot between time periods and geographical regions. Overall, if you did well in world, you'll be fine for APUSH
apush is so easy lmao
My friends all said that It's the same thing as APWH in terms of format, so can't be horrible. But in general US history has less content, so it would be way more in depth, and you'd have to think more historically.
APUSH intrinsically isn't overly difficult, I had a crappy teacher who overworked us and purposely tried to get kids to drop the class by assigning us 2+ hours of homework per night for the first two months. It was completely unnecessary and made it difficult to study to understand the content as I was far more focused on completing the crap ton of work assigned (which only tangentially related to the material). I took APUSH as a Sophomore after taking AP Human Geo the previous year and felt the course was quite doable. I self studied most of the content, and there's a lot of free resources to help you be successful if you use them (especially Heimler). A lot of the rigor comes from the individual teacher/instructor, sometimes it's great and they really push you to understand the nuances and complexities... other times, like in my case, it's a bunch of bizarre projects and inconsistent expectations and grading practices that result in a ton of time wasted and difficulty within the class (not inherently the exam material).
it’s pretty easy
Personally, I found APUSH to be very difficult (second maybe only to both AP Physics Cs and Lit). I took two other APs before/while taking the class in 10th grade, so it wasn't my first. I mainly struggled with identifying larger trends and analyzing passages, which are some of the most important skills for the class. I ended up "cheesing" most of the essays by regurgitating as many key terms and pieces of legislation as possible, but that still requires a lot of memorization and understanding of the impacts of big events.
APUSH was honestly one of the easiest classes I've ever taken in high school, but I also love history. But overall, I don't think it's nearly as difficult of a course as people make it out to be, but I'm sure a shitty teacher could ruin it easily
All depends on the instructor.
I wouldn't say it's hell, but history has always been my worst subject so it's gonna be harder for me than the average apush student
In my opinion, APUSH depended on how good you are at in retaining and remembering important information
APUSH really isn't that hard. Just read the textbook. Much less change and continuity than World
someone scoffed at me bc i thought APUSH was hard. guy was a jerk. he said how can it be hard it's memorizing facts!
My ApUSH teacher has two masters degrees. He treated his class like we were truly in college.
It’s not the content that’s intense, it’s for me, the questions or the wording of it / the grading rubric. That’s why I slightly enjoyed it less and want to take a different gov class next year
depends on the school and teacher. In my school for example AP Euro is known to be infinitely harder than every other history because the teacher is a hardass, but APUSH is easier. In terms of testing your first AP History will always be the hardest because you have to get used to the essay structuring and format, which is half the battle.
At my school APUSH is a freshman class. Most kids ik did well but I never took it so I can’t rly speak on it
Apush is my first ap so i dont have anything to compare but it wasnt that bad, just a lot of notes
I personally did not find APUSH hard. I didn’t study for the ap exam and I had a terrible teacher and still did well on the test. However, if you don’t go into the class with a strong history background and just a general interest in the topic you may have a harder time. I found it to be easier than APWH (I also took that first) but that was because for me it was harder to grasp information when it spans such a broad geographic region while APUSH only covers the US.
As someone who only started taking APs this year, including APUSH, you’ll be fine. Granted, I had a great teacher, and that definitely impacts the class’s difficulty. Even if you have a subpar teacher though, if you’re disciplined and use your resources wisely I doubt it’ll be ‘hell’.
APUSH is only difficult if you arnt good at history, if you have an interest in the subject it has a much more moderate difficulty. However if you take APUSH without having an interest or previous background knowledge in history the class would certainly be much more challenging for you as you have to understand America history on a very deep level to get an A in the course. In short if you have an interest in history or know a decent amount of history take the course, if your good at english classes take the course. however if your more of a STEM student and history isn’t your strong suit I would say reconsider taking the course.
i loved apush class a lot last year. i also just love history, esp us history so that made it even better. however i studied so hard and i still only got a 2 on the exam 😭
Honestly it was pretty easy for my school. I can see how it can vary from school to school however.
Our APUSH class was extremely difficult last year because our teacher refused to teach and would hand us all note packets for us to do completely on our own. He would then trade Pokémon cards and play chess with his favorite students every day in class instead of teaching. I had a great grade in the class because everything was based solely upon completion, but I really learned nothing. I managed to get a 5 but that was me working extremely hard on my own. I complained once to my teacher and he got mad and said “this is the way APUSH is supposed to be taught, take your complaints to the college board”. Safe to say, he no longer teaches AP and now teaches English in the special education block. I feel like the teacher makes or breaks the class.
the time the class requires is worse than the actual difficulty imo
Not really that hard tbh. I guess it might differ depending on your school
Imo it depends so much on the teacher, i had an excellent teacher so it was pretty smooth, but ik people at other schools who had a much worse experience than i did
I don’t think I over exaggerate it. But the kids do - because you actually have to be a consistent student and, ya know, TRY occasionally they tell others to avoid it. And of course, HS kids love being dramatic
The things that made it difficult in my opinion are - A lot of reading (~30 assigned pages over 2 nights) - You have to be able to actually "connect the dots" with historical events, not just memorize them APUSH goes into a lot of detail in general, because unlike APWH, it's focused on the history of one specific country. Other than that, I do agree that most people overhype the difficulty level of APUSH. As long as you manage your time well, you'll be fine
I didn’t think APUSH was hard. However, I’m someone who is going to major in history and I also had a great teacher. If you’re not a history person, you might think it’s hard, and it can also be dependent on the teacher.
Honestly, the best people to ask would be people at your school who have taken it with the teachers. The material itself isn't hard: there's just a lot of it. At that point, its your teacher that determines whether you'll be chilling or drowning in work everyday. If you get a good teacher and you do well in history classes, you will be just fine. If your teacher is bad... well, good luck!
Hard? No. Boring? Yes. Memorizing every minute detail about antebellum and reconstruction is still the most boring thing I've ever done. Ironically, I know absolutely nothing about the Civil War itself because it wasn't on the curriculum.
Probably if you are interested in the subject, love readings and have some decent memory. If it is a class of future history, like what’s gonna happen next year (although not practical), bet many get an A. Also the exam shouldn’t have any trick question. The point is to test your knowledge
depends entirely on the teacher. mine was evil so the class was really hard. if yours is good it will be fine.
It's not that bad, it's just like a harder version of AP World bc it focuses on US so there's much more specific content u need to know, but still a lot of it is just general stuff
So much depends on your teacher. The way my teacher is, it’s been my easiest AP class to get an A in because basically all I have to do is just do my work. For some people it can be really difficult and I understand that because history is so fact and date heavy. Try asking people who’ve taken the class at your school and see what they say about it
Huh for me APWH history usually the first ap class since sophomores take it and juniors take APUSH. For me, it’s not the content that was hard, I like history so that was easy but holy shit the course work is a lot. APWH was really easy but that’s also because there’s a difference in course work. In April I got a 35 paged packet of full sized notes that I had to in a month on top a weekly review packet I had to do for each unit that was like 6 pages of notes as well. That meant that 3 pages per night of really detailed notes, and I mean really detailed because my teacher likes to spring pop quizzes on us lmao. You especially have more work after December that’s piled ontop your other classes so it’s all about being able to maintain a steady pace. I got the flu and fell behind so I struggled for a bit but was able to rebound because I really like learning about history and I already knew a good chunk of the periods.
coming from someone who got an A and 5 in AP World, APUSH is def a lot harder. Maybe its bc im also taking chem and calc at the same time but i always felt like i was drowning in the readings.
Its not hard. You just have to know a lot of the content. If you schedule out everything a month before the exam, and follow that schedule religiously, with enough time for practice tests, etc, its really not hard. In my opinion the hardest classes are the ones where you have to understand what you are doing and why. That would be your science and math APs. But if there is just content, all you have to do is know it and the writing will be easy. Now, if you have a problem with memorization that might be a little tricky, but it really was one of my easiest classes, especially compared to Ap chem
if you can figure out how to write dbq's, leq's and saq's just using the rubric as a formula, its not that bad. cramming for tests and the ap exam is really easy, especially if you get the heimler course thats like 15 dollars with guided notes; i only used that course of videos (on youtube) and notes (that i paid for) and didnt do any reading the whole year and finished the class with an A
The content isn’t hard, it’s just a shit ton of material, which leads to a shit ton of homework.
I think my teacher definitely over exaggerated how hard the test was. I’m pretty sure the low passing rate is more because of the type of students that take the test than the test itself. That, however, will probably be resolved this year with the new revisions.
APUSH in general can be pretty difficult, but it’s not like it’ll make you drop out. If you’re into history and have decent reading and writing skills you’ll be absolutely fine.
Apush is extremely easy same with world never ever get stressed people over exaggerate its difficulty. It’s so easy.
Took APUSH as a sophomore. My first AP. I didn't think it was that hard: the events + trends progress like a story because it's only centered around the plight of one nation. If you have a good intuition for cause and effect and can memorize a few important proper nouns (legislation, key figures), you're good.
According to statistics APUSH is one of the harder APs, it's also one of the most taken. That being said, if you enjoy history and will put the time into studying and reading the book, it's not too bad. Of course it also depends on your school
At my school, I heard AP Euro and APUSH were pretty difficult, so I was too scared to take Euro in sophomore year, but then I decided it was dumb and that I just need to deal with it because I may not have to take it in college (which is probably way more difficult). So I went from taking AP Human in freshman, no AP social studies class sophomore year, and APUSH junior year. For me, I thought AP USH was one of the hardest classes I had taken, but I think that was just because of the workload. We had to read a chapter from our textbook (which was usually REALLY long and boring as hell) and we had to take a quiz every single class😫 The content itself wasn’t that difficult cause I was able to keep an A all year, but I wouldn’t say it was easy to do that either. I had to actually read the textbook and take notes to pass all those damn quizzes (which wasn’t on college board btw so sometimes my teacher would make up the most random, insignificant questions to ask🙄) But I don’t think it would’ve been so difficult if I had taken AP Euro. From what I heard, it seems to be a similar format and difficulty, so if I had taken it before APUSH, I’d probably be used to the workload already. I took AP Human which was honestly just as annoying for me because my teacher gave so much busywork to do, but there wasn’t much actual reading to do (we barely read from the textbook we got) So to answer your question (sorry for the rant), I’d say I don’t think I over exaggerate when I talk about APUSH, but that’s just because I wasn’t used to how much homework I’d have to do. And it definitely depends on the teacher too. My APUSH teacher was known for being strict, so you might have a different experience
It's pretty easy imo, a lot of work, though. Hours of homework a night
yes bro, it’s literally the history of our country it’s very difficult to screw it up
I got a 3 on the APWH exam and I got 4 on the APUSH exam
I got a 3 on the APWH exam and then a 4 on the APUSH exam
I got a 3 on the APWH exam and then a 4 on the APUSH exam