Chances are, if you’re a high schooler in America, you’ve thought about taking at least one AP history course. The three most popular year-long AP histories are AP US History, AP European History, and AP World History. On the surface, these classes may seem pretty similar. After all, the AP testing formats are identical: 55 multiple-choice questions, 3 short answer questions, 1 document-based question, and 1 long essay. However, there are some students who really struggle with AP World, but excel in APUSH (and vice versa).
Why is that?
The answer lies in how the classes are structured. There are major differences in the level of detail that students need to know (with APUSH being the most detailed and AP World being the least). Additionally, the switches between different countries and different time periods can provide challenges for AP Euro and AP World Students who are learning about several different civilizations in a single unit.
Let’s break down the differences.
AP World
AP World covers 800 years of history in dozens of countries. As a result, the material of the course tends to focus more on broad themes rather than specific people or events. Students can find it challenging to keep up with the switch from country to country and the jumps across time periods. This class tends to be the easiest for students who struggle with memorization of names and dates.
AP Euro
AP Euro spans 550 years of history with a focus on a dozen or so European countries. The shorter timespan means that the class is more detailed than AP World, but not as detailed as APUSH. Students in these courses tend to have an easier time identifying themes but can get easily confused by similar sounding names (Triple Alliance vs Triple Entente or William I vs William II). Just like in AP World, students can struggle to understand which events are happening at the same time because instead of going chronologically, AP Euro often tends to group events and rulers together by similarity.
APUSH
APUSH effectively only covers about 400 years of history of the United States. Given that there’s only one country to learn about, most topics in this course are taught chronologically, rather than by theme. Students in this course usually have a good grasp on the order of historical events. Since the timespan is much shorter, students are expected to remember a higher level of detail (specific supreme court cases, constitutional amendments, and presidents) compared to Euro or World. This course can feel more challenging for students who struggle with memorization of events and historical figures.
