Deciding whether or not to take your first AP Course? Yes, it may be challenging, but here is some insight from other resources to help prepare you for AP World. Sophomore year is a new step onto harder level courses and added difficulty; and a top contributor to that is the commitment to this course. Mrs. Butner and Mr. Ferguson are here to give all the upcoming sophomores advice to succeed in the subject!

It is much talked about by students and teachers the difficulty of this course. Going into sophomore year, many students question if they have the ability to take AP World. Here our some real tips and advice that will help you decide if you are ready to take this class or not.

Q&A Interview:

Q: How is AP World different from an honors class or CP course?

A: “AP World History focuses a lot on the why and the how parts of history. Sometimes, college prep and honors will do a little more focusing on facts and dates, AP is more about taking that information and synthesizing it. Being able to draw connections, establish patterns and themes across the course of history on a broader spectrum.”-Mr. Ferguson. “Basically seeing how everything connects overtime and that nothing is staying in one area, it’s spreading out much further than one may have thought of. The connections is a big part of it.”-Mrs. Butner.

Q: What goals do you have for your students by the end of the year?

A: “To learn. One of my my main goals is to learn and have fun. I don’t put the idea of getting the best grades. If the students learn and enjoy learning in the process of it, then I feel like I did a successful job.”-Mrs. Butner. “Ideally, I think this course has the opportunity to help people become more empathetic and compassionate. If you can understand how culture is different from your own certain things or why others believe certain things, rather than thinking it’s weird or saying “why would we ever do that?” Exploring those questions and unpacking those questions gets people to think outside of their own world view.”-Mr. Ferguson

Q: What are the top things a student can do to prepare for this class?

A: “I think one thing is to reorient the way in which you approach learning. One of the things I talk about on the first day is how your focus has probably in the past been a lot about “what’s my grade?” or “does this thing count?” And while those things are important, this course is about reorienting your thought process around “how can I improve myself as a student?” and “how can I improve my skills that I’m learning in the classroom and apply them to when I’m reading a new story or listening to a new speech?”-Mr. Ferguson. “I say asking questions. Asking questions and staying focus. Going along with Ferg, that really summarizes a lot of it. But, always asking the why, the how, and getting that deeper understanding of it.”-Mrs. Butner.

Q: How would a student know if they’re ready to take on AP World?

A: ” I dont think your ever ready for an AP, because it is a college level course and your sophomores. Your 15 and 16, this course is asking a lot. But, it contains asking yourself “do I think I’m ready for it?” You have to try and figure it out. You learn as you grow.”-Mrs. Butner. “You have to basically know that you will experience a lot of hardships that you have probably never experienced in a classroom environment before. And that the level of work that’s required of you is going to be a lot higher than you’ve ever expected. So, if students are willing to make that leap and put forth the effort, that’s really the first big step. I would say talking with friends that have taken the course before, siblings that have taken the class before, or even coming and talking to one of us is super helpful. All of us teacher’s are resources to be able to guide students in the direction that we think is best for the them. You can do as much research as you want, but ultimately it’s not until you really sit in the classroom and ask yourself, “is this the right place for me?” -Mr. Ferguson.