AP Euro or IB HOA?

None
Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:46:18 +0000

I never took AP Euro, but I did take AP US History and IB History of the Americas (A little repetitive: USA is the Americas, jk).

I agree with ava78’s post that AP emphasizes breadth and IB prefers depth. I learned only 7 topics in the History of the Americas, such as Mexican revolution, Spanish-American War, etc, but too many in AP.

Looking back, I prefer the IB style. AP teaches the student how to spit out facts, but IB teaches the thinking, analytical, research, and communication skills. That’s not to say that AP does not, but not on the same level as IB. I think it’s more important to learn how to analyze history and historiography than knowing who won more votes in the 1888 election (Cleveland, though he lost the presidency).

IB is also a lot less demanding. Because IB covers less factual material, I did not have to spend hours every week on busywork, trying to remember every fact from my history book. If your goal is time management and take no other advanced classes, AP Euro could be a way to acquire those skills, especially doing something that is not fun, which everyone faces many times in life.

However, my IB History teachers were boring, while the AP one was fun and humorous.