Of the many Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered at James Lawson, the AP history classes are an interesting sight to behold. There are three main AP history classes which are taught: AP European History, AP United States History, and AP World History, also called AP Euro, APUSH, and AP World respectively. 

“AP World covers world history from about 1200. Start with like trade networks, Mongols impact and goes to present day globalization. It’s not very specific and is a very broad perspective. We are most interested in how the Mongols influenced the modern world,” AP World History teacher Luke Oakman said.

While World and Euro are typically taken in sophomore or senior year, APUSH is taken junior year. Through these classes, students learn about the origins of all these places, ranging from a singular country to the entire world. 

“[APUSH] is the history of the US from the beginning to 2001; It is a college-level survey class taken over the course of two semesters (similar to college) and it teaches students the reasoning, writing, and thinking skills needed to do college-level work,” AP European History and AP US History teacher Alexa Claremont said.

“AP European History is similar and serves the same time period as a college survey course called Western Civilization. It covers European history from 1350 to the present starting at The Bubonic plague to today. We focus specifically on Europe and European history and teaches the reasoning, writing, and thinking skills that you need to do college level work,” Claremont said.

These courses give a simplified, yet detailed perspective of the origins of the world as it is known and shows how the dominos aligned in the past to make way for the present. Knowing how to memorize and analyze is key to passing these courses and the exams overall.

“Students know how to write, act, and think. You know how to read for understanding and you’ve read primary sources, so when you go to college and have to do those things, it’s not a new thing to you. It prepares you for what you’re going to be expected to do in college. The exam is nationally recognized, and it looks good on a college application,” Claremont said.

At the end of these courses, students must take the AP exam which is split into portions of multiple-choice and written response questions. All three AP exams have the same formula: The multiple-choice portion, then the SAQs (Short answer questions), then the DBQ and LEQ (Document Based Questions and Long Essay Questions). 

“It is a nationally recognized test that gives you [college] credit if you get a 3, 4, or 5… even if you don’t “pass”, the AP exam, the skills you learn in an AP class do help you when you get to a college level,” Claremont said.

While ultimately deciding to take part in these classes may be tough, having the chance to learn both major historical events, while also having the opportunity to learn college-level skills and mindsets, is an incredibly beneficial decision that one can make when given the offer.