Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time....U.S. History was for 9th graders and AP Gov/NSL was for 10th graders. It seems like MCPS has changed it.

Is AP US History supposed to be more challenging than AP Gov?

When? Both of my kids, at different high schools, took AP NSL in 9th grade and AP USH in 10th grade, within the past 5 years.

When my '21 grad was in HS, the path was APUSH in 9th, AP Gov in 10th; now it is the opposite.

My 9th grader is in this class. It's hard!

This varies enormously by school. Best to name your high school to get advice specific to the school. (Some HSs have the norm of APUSH freshman year and others have the norm of NSL freshman year. Probably also big differences in number of kids in AP vs honors across schools.

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time....U.S. History was for 9th graders and AP Gov/NSL was for 10th graders. It seems like MCPS has changed it.

Is AP US History supposed to be more challenging than AP Gov?

When? Both of my kids, at different high schools, took AP NSL in 9th grade and AP USH in 10th grade, within the past 5 years.

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time....U.S. History was for 9th graders and AP Gov/NSL was for 10th graders. It seems like MCPS has changed it.

Is AP US History supposed to be more challenging than AP Gov?

It is considered a much harder AP than AP NSL

Anonymous wrote:Yes NSL was significantly easier than APUSH

Absolutely. It’s a very good first AP class. It also gives good context for some of the stuff they’ll learn in APUSH.

At B-CC APUSH is not offered to 9th graders, only AP NSL.

OP - this is going to vary school by school. Also at most HS, the recommendations are a gauge, and you don't necessarily have to follow them.

It depends on the school. My son is taking APUSH in 9th.

Yes NSL was significantly easier than APUSH

This was a few years but ISTR at BCC you needed permission to take AP Gov (NSL) in 9th and most of the kids who did that took APUSH in 10th (because the alternative sequence flipped the order of the classes).

Even in 10th I think APUSH was probably my kid’s hardest class.

My kids took AP Gov as 9th graders and APUSH (US History) in 10th. That is the sequence at WJ.

My nieces and nephews, in another state, started with APUSH, and then AP Gov in 10th. Doesn't really matter they all end up in AP World in 11th

My current 9th grader is taking it. There are typically two sections of APUSH (so estimate 50-60 kids taking it) out of ~450 kids in the grade at her school. That probably varies from school to school, and in some schools US History is done in 11th grade rather than 9th. It's definitely her most intense class.

Once upon a time....U.S. History was for 9th graders and AP Gov/NSL was for 10th graders. It seems like MCPS has changed it.

Is AP US History supposed to be more challenging than AP Gov?

Did your child get recommended? DD tells me no one she knows was recommended for this class.