AP Lang was very little work for my kid. Colleges want to see AP Lang. It’s much easier than AP Lit so I would get my English AP in by taking Lang. Then you can skip Lit if desired.

World was much more work than Lang.

I’d definitely take Lang. For college admissions, I’d take World over Psych but since he has other AP social sciences, it’s not as crucial as taking AP Lang. So if you need to cut the work load, cut World.

AP Psychology is a TON of memorization of terms. An absolute ton. So if your kid has trouble with that kind of task it is not for them.

I recommend you go into Barnes & Noble and flick through one of the AP Psych books, Barrons or Princeton review. They will give you a sense of what is covered and what the tests are like. Mostly multiple choice.

AP World is not that hard, but AP English language has the disadvantage of being subjectively judged by the teacher and their personal preferences, over any kind of basic rubric.

Anonymous wrote:My kid was told AP World is not as bad as History or Government.

The reason that World is easier than APUSH is that the kids have already taken APUSH. The essay formats are the same, with stable prompts, etc.

I would do history and English. 2 graduation requirements.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say AP English and AP Psych based on needs and workload. Unless he's a history buff. The history classes seem to require a lot of busy work like notes.

English is critical these days - schools and students have weakened in this area since I was a kid.

Psych may be interesting and has a reputation for being easy.

Have you looked to see what credits he might get at colleges that he prefers? That might be a factor.

If he kid goes to a decent college, learning how to take notes (what you call busy work) will be an essential skill to be successful. No professor will be handing the students notes/copies of slides in college.

PP. My kids were forced to turn in extensive handwritten "Cornell Notes" on the APUSH textbook. It was like summarizing the encyclopedia. Doable but pointless.

In my district, APUSH is the ONLY 9th grade AP. And the punishing amount of notes is a problem. No other classes at the school require so much notes to be graded.

My family went to Cornell. They were not required to use Cornell notes at Cornell!

I would do AP World and AP psych.

Anonymous wrote:My junior with ADHD/dyslexia is taking AP Language Composition and AP World. It’s been manageable and she is doing well in both. Her accommodations are more or less in place, but it does take self advocacy on her part. My oldest, who graduated last year, took AP Psychology and said it was a lot of busy reading and less interesting than he anticipated. He also found AP Lang to be one of the more useful classes for college preparation and took Honors Eng 12 senior year.

Thank you! This is so helpful! My son's gotten pretty good at advocating for his accommodations, so he should be fine on that front. It's good to know your oldest did AP Lang and then Honors Eng 12. And also helpful to hear about AP Psych. My son was just talking to a friend who's taking it and the friend said it's mostly memorizing words. Maybe he should skip it and get his tech credit instead!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say AP English and AP Psych based on needs and workload. Unless he's a history buff. The history classes seem to require a lot of busy work like notes.

English is critical these days - schools and students have weakened in this area since I was a kid.

Psych may be interesting and has a reputation for being easy.

Have you looked to see what credits he might get at colleges that he prefers? That might be a factor.

If he kid goes to a decent college, learning how to take notes (what you call busy work) will be an essential skill to be successful. No professor will be handing the students notes/copies of slides in college.

Every competent professor hands out their notes, because they want their students engaged, not taking dictation.

"Taking good notes in class is an important part of academic success in college. Actively taking notes during class can help you focus and better understand main concepts....Good note-taking will improve your active listening, comprehension of material, and retention. Taking notes on both synchronous and asynchronous material will help you better remember what you hear and see."

https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/effective-note-taking-in-class/