Wanna Travel the World… AP Style?
As a second semester freshman, my peers and I are in the position of trying to figure out what our sophomore year schedules will look like. Being a sophomore means having access to a lot more classes, including advanced placement (AP) classes. There’s one class in particular that makes finalizing schedules very tricky, AP World History or WHAP. To decide whether or not to take it, much more information is needed.
WHAP is an introduction to world history taught at a college level, for high schoolers. The timeline of history for this class starts at 1200 CE to present day. It is organized into nine sections each weighing about an average of 11% of the AP exam. The AP exam is an optional but recommended test for students to take in May that covers all of the concepts learned in the class and can even earn a student college credit based on their score.
For students not interested in history, this class is not recommended to take. It requires lots of in-depth analysis of documents and visual pieces as well as two to three hours of homework at night. Current WHAP-taker April Le ‘22 recommends to “take WHAP only if you are really passionate about the subject and are very willing to put in lots of effort as it’s known as the hardest class at Notre Dame.” Riddhima Prashant ‘22 thinks it’s important for freshmen to really understand the big jump going from Global Studies/Global Studies Honors.“Your Global Studies class is definitely not going to prepare you for the amount of work we get in WHAP, it is so much more and the way we have to do the work is very different.” says Prashant ‘22.
AP World History is definitely a class that will challenge and teach students the skills that will be useful for college and beyond. While choosing classes, remember that being passionate, regardless of the subject, and willing to put in as much work as you need to succeed is necessary. The decision is now yours, are you ready to take WHAP?
