Is AP World History better or worse to take than AP Human Geography?

Answer 1

AnswerWorse, there is a lot more things to know in AP World and Human Geography is more straight forward. A lot more work in AP world. AnswerIt largely depends on two issues: the teacher and your interests. If you absolutely love world history, AP World will be easier for you. The teachers are very important. AP World can lend itself to a lot of unneccessary busy work which leads to more late nights.

Very few people take AP Human Geo, but those people are generally better prepared for AP World. Only about half of the people who take AP classes their junior year took AP World sophmore year, so those AP World veterans are naturally better equiped to handle those classes.

I took both AP Human Geography and AP World History. Here is an overview of my personal experiences with those classes:

- Neither teacher was particularly good. AP Human Geo tended to go off on wild tangents and AP World was slightly bizarre and assigned way to many unimportant assignments. (Of course, your teachers will be different.)

- AP Human Geography covered a wide variety of concepts. The book was thus rather unorganized and your level of interest and understanding thus widely varied from chapter to chapter.

- The year I took AP Human Geo, the class was only a semester long. That meant a lot more cramming and a much busier schedule.

- AP Human Geo got you used to the basic structure of an AP class, which definitely pays off in AP World.

- AP Human Geo is more big-picture in nature. You need to know more examples but fewer details. A nice vocabulary and the ability to use certain AP World 'buzzwords' can pay off a lot when it comes to the essays.

- AP Human Geo might be more interesting for those interested in women's studies.

- Both classes spend a lot of time on strange religions, although AP Human Geo deals more with Animism.

- AP World is much more centered on Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

- With my busy schedule, AP Human Geo kept me up to at least 1:00 AM every night. AP World was more like 2:00 AM. Take AP Human Geo first and get used to it. This also depends on your schedule, workload, etc.

- You CAN conquer both classes. About the same number of universities accept the AP credit for those two classes.

- AP World spends a lot of time on essay writing.

- The AP exams are about the same length and both are morning exams.

- If you are in AP World, come exam time, you need to be in a study group.

- AP Human Geo is a lot more independent.

- If you are going to take AP Human Geo, take it freshman year.

- The schedule for AP World is a nightmare if you have a lot of extra-curricular activities.

**All in all, both classes required a lot of work. I also aced both classes. I honestly hated them both, but I am better equiped for the rest of my education having taken both. AP World is certainly harder than AP Human Geo, but neither is any laughing matter. And I know AP Human Geo would be easier for me now.

I recommend taking both if you can.