A Not-So Comprehensive Ranking of AP Classes

As is the case for many college-prospective students, I have spent my four years of high school absolutely swamped in Advanced Placement (AP) classes. And with the final semester of senior year underway, I thought it would be fitting to reflect back on the AP classes and exams, in chronological order, that I have taken throughout my previous three years of education. And while the College Board may be genuinely one of the worst institutions on the face of the planet, I hope you will find my ranking much less arduous. Enjoy!

• AP World History: Modern – For my first AP class, this was a surprisingly wonderful experience. In all transparency however, on my transcript this class is listed as “Honors” since at my old school, Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, freshmen were not allowed to take AP classes. Luckily though, my year introduced this new class that taught the AP curriculum and whose students [mostly] took the exam, but that was labeled “Honors” to comply with school policy. Digression aside, I really did love this class because it helped expand my knowledge to regions well beyond those taught in middle school. I have also always loved geography and history, so this class was right up my alley. That being said, certain regions like Africa and the Pacific were a bit underrepresented in the coursework, which was a little disappointing. The exam itself was definitely difficult, as it was my first one, but I thought that it was fair overall. 9/10
• AP United States History – Being the de facto successor to one of my favorite classes freshman year, I really expected that this new history class would bring me comparable amounts of enjoyment. I could not have been more wrong. The topics which I was most interested in, indigenous affairs and queer rights, were barely touched on. And the topics which I did not care to relearn for the fiftieth time, white Colonial America and the Civil War, were taught at absurd length. Not only this, but we very rarely read the perspectives of non-white people, so I always had the feeling that the class was biased and ultimately not nearly substantive enough. It also did not help that my teacher was wildly condescending and regularly used the n-word. The exam was about as difficult as I expected, since I had already taken World History. 2/10
• AP French Language and Culture – I literally could not say enough good things about this class. I love learning languages, so this class was already in my wheelhouse, but after a full year of unbridled fun and class bonding, aided by one of the most amazing teachers I have ever had (shout out to Mme. Guzik!), I was only more propelled into my love for French. The course forces you to learn about all sides of the French language, including its usage in countries in Africa and the Americas, which I found incredibly interesting and a welcome break from the dubious rigidity of US History. The exam was definitely one of the hardest I have ever taken, but it was a blast anyway! 10/10
• AP Environmental Science – Another absolutely fascinating and pertinent class, Environmental Science was a perfect fit for my junior year. I have never really been that driven to the sciences, but since my main passion is human rights and international justice, many of the regulations and anthropological impacts of the subject were of great interest to me. My teacher, Ms. Katsenes, was also incredible and I could not have asked for a better person to lead the class. The exam was fairly difficult and at times a bit unexpected, but it was certainly manageable. 10/10
• AP Calculus BC – I have very little to say about this class other than that I absolutely detested it and that it was possibly the hardest subject I have ever had to tackle. University level calculus is no joke, and I always tell underclassmen who consider taking it that they need to be content with it taking up the bulk of their time in the next year. I hate math, and the only reason I even took it was to hopefully be exempt from math in college so that I can focus on things I actually care about. The exam was rough, but I was definitely prepared for it and I ended up doing very well. Hopefully this will enable me to realize my goal, because if it does not, I am going to be seriously upset with myself. 1/10
• AP English Language – I do not feel particularly strongly about this class one way or another. I have always loved writing and debating, so I found the majority of it fairly enjoyable. But some of the essays, namely the rhetorical analysis one, were tedious and took away greatly from the amusing parts of the class. The exam was pretty straightforward for me, but its difficulty level definitely depends on one’s overall writing ability. 6/10
• AP Comparative Government – This class is an interesting case for sure; of all of the AP exams I have taken, I felt the least prepared going into this one. Ultimately this was because the class itself covers a huge range of topics and really should be taught over the course of a whole year, but at Naperville North, it is taught only in the first semester. And for an exam which is in the spring, it is not hard to see why I felt so unprepared. Consequently, I basically ended up reteaching myself all of the material in the weeks leading up to the exam, which was frustrating and complicated. However, the subject matter of this class was both the most exciting and personally applicable than all of the other classes aside from maybe French. As for the exam, it was incredibly challenging and required an immense amount of studying on my part. 5/10
• AP United States Government – I was in the fortunate position of taking this class directly after taking US History, so I had very little issue with it. To this day I consider it essentially an APUSH-lite. Once again, the lack of diverse curricula was disappointing and ultimately fairly boring, with the only new substance beyond APUSH being a few additional court cases. The exam was definitely one of the easier ones I have taken, but again, I had the luxury of taking a much more difficult and highly similar version of the class previously. 4/10