Most of us are overachievers, right? Well, as one myself, I found that we often show this commitment to academic success through AP exams, which are known to be challenging and rigorous. While I hate to admit it, AP scores are an important part of college applications, since they can give you credit for college courses, and your parents can save money. In case you’re unfamiliar with the grading scale, the highest score is a 5 and the lowest is a 1, with most colleges accepting scores of 3 and higher.

Currently, I’m a rising junior at a high school in a decently competitive district, so the top percentage of students take about 15-20 AP classes. I’ve taken 7 AP exams and 9 AP classes, and I plan to take 7 more this coming year. For the APs I have taken, I'm going to rank them from easiest to hardest, and give my opinion on whether you should or should not take the class.

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1. AP Seminar

AP Seminar was one of my favorite classes from my sophomore year. The teacher, class, and assignments given together made it a fun experience. The reason I put Seminar as my easiest class is that most of the work given is primarily a completion grade. I would also say I am decent at speaking in front of classes, so that also made the class more enjoyable for me than for someone who is not as comfortable with speaking.

I did get a 5 on this exam, so I would say that adds to my credibility. For the exam itself, the hardest part was writing the EOC B because I had never actually ever written a full, good EOC B in class, since my teacher was chill. However, one con is the workload of this class, from annotated bibs to scripts, so do not procrastinate in this class.

Overall, I definitely recommend taking this class because it teaches you how to write and speak in front of people.

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2. AP Precalculus

I honestly don’t think many people even consider this an AP, since most universities don’t accept it for college credit. The concepts of the class were a bit difficult for me sometimes, but I had a good teacher and studied for every test. I don’t consider myself to be good at math, so I have to study a lot to do well in a math course.

I got a 5 on the exam, though, without studying, because it was a lot easier than the class. The exam was one of the easiest exams I have taken, but I only took it so I could pass my semester exam. So, I wouldn’t recommend taking the exam unless your school gives you some benefits, since the score doesn’t hold much value.

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3. AP World History

Before I give my opinion about world history, it’s important to remember that history is my strong suit over STEM classes. I thought world history was an easy class to get an A in, since I always did well on the writing, such as DBQs and LEQs. I was scared at first since everyone said my teacher was hard, but after I understood what she wanted in an essay, it was easy. However, I thought the MCQ was hard because it was only stimulus-based.

I got a 5 on the exam, but I studied a lot for it. The world history AP exam depends primarily on how much you study and practice writing. A bunch of people say you don’t need to know much content for the exam, which is true to some extent. For the exam and unit tests, I would recommend watching all of Heimler’s videos to review the content.

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4. AP Human Geography

The content in this class was very interesting for me, but I hated the amount of textbook notes we were given every week. Each packet took me at least 5 hours, and I would still end up failing the textbook quizzes. The tool that carried my grade was Quizlet. Most of the tests had questions from Quizlet that I studied the night before for practice.

I also got a 5 on this exam, and it is content-heavy. The FRQs were fairly easy, so the only difficult part was the MCQ. I think this class is a fun course to take, but it’s also one of the classes you can’t procrastinate on because there’s a lot of work (specifically the textbook notes).

5. AP United States History

I just finished this class because I took it as an online course over the summer. I thought this class wasn’t too bad because a lot of the content was repeating from world history, and all of the writing formats were the same, like DBQs and LEQs. The reason I put APUSH as a harder class was mainly because I took it online without a teacher. I haven’t taken the exam for this yet, but I’m planning to take it this year.

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6. AP Psychology

I also took this class online last year, and took the exam a few months after. I didn’t remember much of the content and the writing formats.

I still decided not to study, so I got a 4 on the exam. Considering the fact that I passed with barely any studying, I think overall the exam was easy. If you take it in person with a teacher, you’re guaranteed a 5 because this exam is fully memorization-based with application questions.

7. AP Art History

I also took this class online, and even though I finished it last week, I already forgot most of the content. I thought that the FRQs that were on the test weren’t hard, but the MCQ was very specific, so sometimes it was hard to recall the information.

I haven’t taken the AP exam for this class, but I honestly don’t think I will take the exam, since most of the content is a blur. Also, memorizing all 250 art pieces would be extremely time-consuming and annoying, so I would rather avoid that. My upperclassmen friends who took the exam also told me that it was a difficult exam, even with studying and taking the class in person.

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8. AP Computer Science Principles

To give the most honest review, I genuinely had no idea what was going on in this class. My teacher also didn’t know what she was teaching, so that made me even more confused. The only reason I got an A in the class is that my friends put all their blood, sweat, and tears into teaching me the content right before the test.

I also got a 3 on the exam, because I guessed on all of the MCQ and FRQ, so I’m also surprised I even passed the test. For the project that we submitted before the exam, my partner ended up failing the exam, so it was clear that both of us were lost in the class. If you’re a coding person, then this class and exam are probably better for you.

9. AP Statistics

I genuinely hated this class. The content, the teacher, and the FRQs made me want to rip my hair out. I walked into the class thinking that it would be easy, like everyone said, but it definitely was one of my hardest classes in my sophomore year. I got an A in both semesters by studying for hours for each test and quiz.

The AP exam was a completely different story, though. It was surprisingly one of the easiest exams I took, and I was confident that I would get a 5, which I did. I’m still putting it as the hardest AP I took because the content was confusing, and I only got a 5 because I studied the most for it.

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Conclusion

While looking at my rankings, it’s also important to take into consideration the teachers at your school and your strengths and weaknesses in certain subjects. For me, history is one of my strong suits, which is why I found world history to be easy, even though it's generally considered one of the harder courses. I hope this advice will be useful for your high school career, so you know which classes suit you.