There is a lot of reading in AP US History. Some of it is long, dry textbook reading. But some of it is shorter passages that you have to interpret (called Document Based Questions or DBQs).

Most colleges require at least one lower division History college, but you have a choice of what kind to take. The school I started at allowed you to take the History of the South or the History of Philosophy to meet the requirement.

But then I transfered to a state school which required both American history and World history and no choice of subjects. Because I had taken and passed AP Euro and AP US, I didn’t have to take any college history and could use those units on journalism courses which I really loved.

Also keep in mind that colleges prefer students who take AP classes when they are available. So, you are likely to have more of a choice in colleges if you take the AP course now.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I took AP US History when I was in high school. Your friends are right, there is a lot of book reading involved. If you get a good teacher, he/she might be a little more engaging to make the material more interesting.

You’ll also have to write a few essays.

But as long as you make sure you get the main points from the text, you don’t really need to read it all “word-for-word”

Some advice from when would be to create “outines” of each chapter you read, while you read it… that way you get just be bare essentials you need to memorize.

Because it’s an AP class, make sure you at least ATTEMPT the AP exam. If you do well, that is definitly 3 or 4 college credits, for a lot cheaper than the cost of the college tuitions

US History and US Government are part of general education classes required by most colleges. Depending on the college/university, they might have a “Local government” class required (I have to take a Nevada Constitution class because I’m going to school in Nevada)

So, taking the AP exam is DEFINITLY worth it.

Good luck to you and remember to read read read!

In college you have to take either US history or European history. These will be survey courses and will not be real in-depth. They are designed to give you some general knowledge of the history of those areas of the world. If you want to you can take the AP history. Just make sure it will count as college credit. Then you will not need to take it in college. There is a lot of reading I know I got my degree in history. I enjoyed it and the reading the thing is that I like history and find it interesting. If you do not then you should go on and get it out of the way now that way you can take other courses you like when you go to college. I think that US history would be easier than trying to take European. Best of Luck. 🙂

I took it last year as a sophomore

It is a lot of reading, sometimes more than 2 hours a night. We had two textbooks, the regular high school one and then a Norton college textbook. It was a lot of reading and highlighting and a whole lot of studying for the test.

It is also more of an independant study than an AP. Most days, you just work by yourself. Our class tests were so much harder than the AP exam, so you need to study hard.

If you are not intrested in reading lond chapters on war, customs, and government, I would not suggest taking APUSH as it requires a lot of that.

Good Luck either way

A great deal depends on two factors…what college you are going to and what your major is.

It can be easy or difficult not only dependent upon the teacher but also dependent on your own background and interests.

As far as “I’m not really good with long reading’ is concerned you know your weakness and it will come back to haunt you not only is college but perhaps in your future career as well. Speak to your English teacher or Guidance Counselor about how you may overcome this handicap. it is important.

Good luck.

when i was in high school i took AP u.s. history and yes there is a lot of reading… it is not really required in college unless you are a history major. You do have to take u.s. government though in college

It is incredebly hard. But as long as you Actualy do the readings and take notes , realy pay attention you should be fine

I hope not, because I am taking it next year!!

yeah its really hard, but it really depends on the teacher, on how well he lectures