Should I take APUSH? What are some good habits to force upon yourself for AP classes?

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
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<p>Hello, I’m currently a Freshman who is on winter break. When our break concludes we will soon be selecting courses for the 2015-2016 school year. My Economics teacher told me he would recommend me for APUSH if I wanted, but I’m unsure if I would like to take it. I hear it is like hell at my school. We have 24 AP courses at my high school, but freshman are steered away from taking them. The only one I could of taken would of been AP Gov, which I opted out of taking because it is a full year course and Economics would still be needed. </p>

<p>Honors courses also aren’t extensively offered until 10th grade. I currently have, Honors Geometry, Biology, English lit 9, Economics, Art, Spanish 2, and Programming. I’m typically an A/B student, but I find artsy things and visualization challenging, which causes me to have a B in Geometry and Art (I have a really good teacher for art, but she scares me at times). English Lit has been a struggle for me and the class as a whole due to our student teacher, who lacks teaching experience, sometimes I have an A in there and sometimes I have a B. It’s a very strange class. I’m not learning anything, I will be switching into another teacher’s class at the semester change next month. To sum it up if her failures with my class get out, it could tremendously lower her chances of getting hired. We are the only class shes taught all year.</p>

<p>I’m not exactly sure if I want to be a chemical engineer or a bio engineer or go into medical. I had American History as an 8th grader, and in all honesty I hated the materiel, but I managed to get an A in the class. Faking my way through it was harder some days then others, but overall I have no interest in history. (My high school does block scheduling 123467 on Monday, and rotating 2456, 1357.)</p>

<p>Would Apush be a good idea to take? What AP classes did you take and what experience did you have with them? What are some good habits to force upon yourself? </p>

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<p>I feel as though it’s really easy to do well in history classes as you progress since a lot of the material repeats itself. Also, being in other AP history classes teaches you to read both quickly and efficiently. Don’t be worried if you fail the first test. You’ll get into the habit of learning what to look for as you read later in the year!</p>

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<p>If you have no interest in history, I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be a little rough. APUSH, pretty much across the nation, is extremely heavy in reading. The textbook my school uses has 30-40 paged chapter, and we’re assigned a chapter for every two nights (I’m on a block schedule). </p>

<p>It depends on you. I’m not about that whole ‘taking a class only for the AP credit’ thing, only because you’ll end up hating the class- basically what’s happening with me in APES right now. If you school has 24 AP courses, then you have plenty of other options to take a class you’ll actually like. </p>

<p>Good luck with whatever you decide! <3</p>

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<p>I’m currently taking APUSH as a sophomore, although I’m not a huge fan of history (prefer math/science). I find it okay (doing it through dual enrollment), and not that difficult, but I can also memorize stuff quickly and my teacher is good. I think those two things make the difference between doing well and not, especially to students who don’t really enjoy it.</p>

<p>As for habits for AP classes, learning how to study/schedule well is always helpful. I have a long list in one of my previous posts, which I won’t put here because then this post will be WAY too long. :slight_smile: But a few other things I don’t think I’ve said, which I learned this year with many challenging classes:</p>

<p>Learn to read quickly: Learning to quickly read, analyze, and absorb information is crucial to higher level classes of all types. History and English are typically the most reading intensive, since I have to read the textbook and review my notes, but even science/math classes require this skill. </p>

<p>Learn to memorize quickly: Similar to above, most (if not all) classes will require memorization of something at some point–history especially so. Find what works for you: flash cards, retyping notes, Quizlet, etc. I personally find retyping notes time-consuming and not that useful, but flash cards and One Note really help me, since I can bring them anywhere. </p>

<p>Learn to take notes well: Also related to the above notes, but for me absorbing information from lectures is very different from reading text. With listening, I need to focus a lot more and quickly figure out what to write down, and the best way to paraphrase it for easy reference. Also, keeping very neat notes (if your textbook doesn’t match the lecture that closely) is extremely useful for reference and helps me avoid having to rewrite/retype them.</p>

<p>But good luck with what you decide, whether you choose to take APUSH or not!</p>