The following is me attempting to analyze it from the view of an "average" student (ex. undecided on major, does not take too many AP courses, does not have a special skill such as one of languages being native language, perfect pitch, drawing ability, etc.).
I have, am, or will be taking every AP class outside of Physics 2 and C, Calculus, the capstone diploma ones, African American studies, the drawing/design ones, and all the languages outside of Chinese. I will not be discussing those listed above in this article. Based on my opinion thus far, here are the top 5 AP classes in every category (will follow up on this in a couple of weeks with a detailed report and in a year if my opinions change on any of the courses).
Top 5 Most Important:
Measured by: Universally Applicable, Important Life Skill, Ability to Transfer College Credit
1. United States Government
Whether we like it or not, we constantly have to deal with the government in our lives.
2. English Language and Composition
If you live in America, English is arguably the most important skill to have. Having the abilities to effectively analyze different texts and write well is applicable to any career field. Plus, it doubles as preparation for the SAT/ACT.
3. Macroeconomics
Why do so many people blame countries' issues on its economy? Because macroeconomics connects various fields together through the analyzation of the scarcity of the world's resources.
4. Statistics
Generally considered the easiest of the AP math courses, it also has wider applications and is used across all sciences and many other fields requiring the use of data.
5. Computer Science Principles
As technology becomes a larger and larger part of society, it is important for everyone to at least have knowledge regarding the principles of computer science. Not a difficult course at all, and easy to self-study outside school.
Honorable Mention: Biology; fairly applicable to all fields. If you had to do a science course but not majoring in STEM, probably do biology.
Top 5 Most Challenging:
1.English Literature
English Language and Composition, except a lot more reading, a lot more analyzation, and the AP test is way harder.
2. Chemistry
A lot of math in the course. Many equations to learn to apply and very difficult to wrap head around some of the concepts. Definitely harder to understand compared to the other science courses.
3. Physics 1
Really solid math foundation needed to do well in the course. If you do not already understand the math concepts really well, it will be near impossible to do well in the course. The AP test itself is generally harder than the other ones and with a low pass rate.
4. Computer Science A
Again, this is one of those where those who do computer science related projects outside of school will have a much easier time with. But if you, like me, do not have much experience with computer science at all, it is 10 units and go over a lot of material and memorization.
5. World History
A lot more content to go over compared to US History and European History. Very difficult to memorize and keep track of everything going on as many things happen around the world during the same time periods.
Honorable mention: Music theory; if you do not have much prior knowledge regarding music theory, it would probably be the hardest one
Top 5 Easiest:
1. Human Georgraphy
It is the first AP that many students take for a reason. You probably already know a lot of the concepts just from common high school knowledge, the course just goes more in depth into it. The pass rate is only low because of many freshmen and seniors taking it.
2. Computer Science Principles
Not very difficult, only basic code reading, analyzation, and writing.
3. Environmental Science
Just goes in depth regarding one chapter of AP Bio. Some memorization but basic mathematical equations. Do not have to, but could be good idea to do this and Stats concurrently.
4. Comparative Government
As the name suggests, you compare different types of government systems. However, I find that learning how each government system works and connecting them is fairly easy to do.
5. Psychology
Still quite a bit of memorization to do, but fairly easy to study through enough practice problems. High exam pass rate.
Top 5 Most Overrated:
1. European History
Quite a lot of people take this course over World History. Parts of the course are interesting, but I find World History or APUSH much more important and relevant (at least from an American standpoint).
2. AP Precalculus
While keeping in mind that, as of this writing, the course has not started, it only replaces college precalculus credit, a class that very few students have to do in college anyway. Bottom line: do not feel pressured to have to take AP Precalculus over regular Precalculus if given the option.
3. United States History
By no means am I saying that it is a bad course. In fact, it is nowhere close to that. However, it is the second most taken AP, well ahead of both US Government and World History, which are probably both around equally important.
4. Environmental Science
Many students take this course, and the pass rate is low. While there is quite a bit of memorization, there seems to be an issue of too many students taking the course as just a way to get in another AP course. The other AP sciences are all more important in my opinion.
5. Human Geography
Same as APES, except replace "sciences" with "social sciences."
Ultimately, this is just from my experience and the rankings for you may vary depending on your own skills. Interests, and other circumstances. Feel free to ask any questions regarding tips for AP classes and which classes to take. Happy studying!
Comments