My AP Review for Classes I Already Took
I can say, as a junior, I’ve taken quite a few AP Classes. I’ve completed 4 and I am currently in 6 more. It is safe to say I can give recommendations and my perspective toward a few classes. In this post I will focus specifically on the four I have already took!
AP Human Geography
My freshman year of high school I was put into AP Human Geography. In all honesty, I didn’t sign up for it and was not excited. The class was not exceptionally difficult. However, many of the things you learn are concepts that must be applied in order to truly succeed at the course. Unlike math where you learn a formula and use in every time or a normal history class where you just memorize events and people, you must analyze events and phenomenon and understand what the significance of it is. The coursework, which depends heavily on your teacher, was A LOT! Like a crazy amount. 2 guided note packets - about 4 pages front and back each - a week at least.
The great thing about this course is that it helps you understand your future history classes, especially AP, to a higher level. The terms you learn and everything you learn can actually be applied in many aspects of life and has helped me in my reading, science, and history classes. I recommend this as a fist time AP class. It is a wonderful foundation to start with.
At the end of the year you take an AP test. I can not accurately explain the atmosphere and difficulty of this test, since I took it during COVID when the test was altered for at-home testing. I can tell you my score: 4. I believe most people who actually pay attention and put a little bit of work into outside of class have the ability to pass - 3- the test!
RATING: 9/10
AP Seminar
I took this class my sophomore year of high school. This class focuses on learning to write college level papers and make higher-level presentations. There are 5 aspects to the AP score you get at the end of the year: group presentation, group paper, individual presentation, individual paper, and the test. These are not the official names of these part of your score, but it gets the point across clearly and is easier to remember.
Most teachers start by going over important aspects of this course such as plagiarism, citing, what a literature review is, analyzing sources, and how to create presentations.
Usually the first thing you will do that is sent to the college board is a group project. You, along with a few other people, will find a problem in the world, nation, state, or local community and research it. The goal is to have multiple perspectives on the problem, multiple solutions, a final solution, and limitations. Each person in the group take son a different prospective. Together you create a presentation sharing all of this information followed by a few reflection question (oral defense). Another part of this is creating a paper to go with it. This paper focuses specifically on your perspective of the question/problem your team has and does not need to include a solution.
The next things is an individual project. Unlike the group project, there are “stimulus sources” that have to be involved in both your paper and presentation in some form. You find the theme of these sources and find a problem surrounding the theme in order to form a question such as “How does child abuse of young girls affect their romantic relationships in the future?”. You write a paper about the research you collect. It will include multiple perspectives, a solution, and the limitation of your solution. You will then create a presentation showing this again with oral defense.
The actual test you take at the end of the year focuses on analyzing sources and creating arguments by writing. It has multiple written response sections.
This class was one of my most influential AP classes. It helped be learn how to correctly research and determine credibility. This course showed me how to create a persuasive argument. Arguably, this class is one of the most important classes an individual could take and I would recommend it to anyone, especially sophomores.
If you pass the AP class with a 3 or higher - I got a 3 - and then pass the secondary course, AP Research (currently in) , with a 3 or higher you earn an AP Capstone Diploma. This is a wonderful thing to be able to put on a resume. It is also why I recommend taking Seminar in your sophomore year, since it allows you to take Research your junior year and know of you earned you Diploma before putting it on resumes for college admission
RATING: 10/10
AP World History
This class is not necessary, but if you enjoy history, want to earn history credits before entering college, or need a boost in your GPA, I recommend it. It is one of the easier AP history classes and many people are able to successfully pass it. In fact, I was able to pass with a 4. The class extends across a long period of time giving you good general knowledge about history. It also helps develop document analyzing skills.
The AP test consists of a multiple choice section, a DBQ (discussion based question - An essay), and a short response section.
RATING: 6/10
AP Computer Science Principles
I am in a computer science program in my school, so I was required to take this class. I believe my rating may be biased since we had a lot of difficulties securing a teacher for the class leading to many challenges in learning the course. It is a widely passed test and most are able to score at least a 3 on it. It requires you to code a small project with many elements along with a test that is all multiple choice. I, thankfully, was able to pass with a 3
RATING: 3/10