AP of Honors history?

Question

I am a good student. I try hard, though I know I could do better. My current grades are all As and Bs, the occasional C. I have the oppurtunity to take an AP history course next year, as opposed to honors history. From what I've heard, I will need to identify 100-200 terms, write several essays (my enemy) and read 3-4 books to qualify for history. That, and the qorkload during school is not very enticing, but there are some perks. I will have the opputunity to improve academically and there is no doubt that AP courses look good on college applications. However, I am but sure I'm up for such a rigorous course. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I recently had the same problem, except with AP bio. It's a personal decision. Think about what motivates you. What career do you want to pursue? Will taking this course help you get there?
Good luck!

Answer 2

As a history teacher I say join up. The identification of terms it is easy enough don't stress yourself out. What books do you have to read, just curious to see if they are the same books that I assign? Trust me when I tell you reading 3-4 books should be a cinch for you. As for essays, I have my students practice writing essays as they pertain to history. I then check them and return the essays to the students. They rewrite and practice some more. By the time they get to my class they all get B's and A's. I only had one student who had a C. Teachers are there to help you along the way. Talk to your teacher and explain to him/her your weakness of writing essays. He or she will work with you only of you are serious and would like to improve yourself.
Having AP does look good on your college transcript. However, the class may also damage your grades if you don't master the material. Furthermore, AP classes for most colleges count as a credit. In order to ge the credit you must pass the AP Exam. Once you did this you would not have to take HY 101.
The best suggestions I can give you are these: study hard, do your homework, participate in class discussions and you will have an A and that is 100% guarantee.

Answer 3

You don't want to bite off more than you can chew. Taking an AP class won't do you much good if you're so overloaded with work that all your grades (not to mention your social life and extracurriculars) suffer.

However, not only do AP classes look good on a transcript, but they actually qualify as college credit at most schools (so you can say goodbye to History 101 your freshman year)

If you're confident that you can handle the coursework (and you would know that better than anyone) then by all means take the challenge. (For what it's worth a C in AP would look better than a C in honors).

Hope this helps
(Myself? I took 3 AP classes in high school. I was very glad that I did)

Answer 4

I took AP US History last year and struggled very hard but I earned a "4" on the exam and a "B" for the class.

Our class read about 100 pages a week and we practiced with 45 minute timed essays on DBQs and essay prompts every Friday. Also, outlining was time consuming, for most it took about 2 hours, for me, it took me 3 hours and another half an hour to review. The standards are very high in AP, if you fail to produce a more-than-satisfactory essay, be prepared to see Ds and 3s written on your paper. Your thesis has to be very strong and address the entire question, otherwise you're setting a disastrous body.

Taking AP litterally changed my social life. I didn't have one actually from taking the class. I was so busy with typing away 70 terms and outlining (occasionally for 2 chapters- approx 60 pages) and everything needed to flow on an accelerated pace so that I wouldn't miss one thing.

If you want this very badly, make sure that your have the equipped retention and writing skills for it.

I'm currently in AP Government and AP Biology and both are sucking away my time with studying and outlining.