A couple more AP US Gov and Economics questions.

[FloridaLisa]

I'm in the midst of planning next year (aren't we all?) and have a couple of AP US Gov and Economics questions.

First, for those who have completed AP USGov, is APUSH a necessary pre-requisite or just suggested? In other words, on a 1 - 10 scale, how necessary is APUSH (if at all) to AP USGov? I'm thinking they can be studied independently but want to make sure I'm not getting the cart before the horse!

Also, both AP USGov and Economics (either) are .5 credits, right? But taken through PA Homeschoolers they are year-long courses. So, my question, does it feel like a full credit in the student's schedule that only awards .5 or is the work-load equal to a half-credit course?

I don't want to put my ds in the position of having several .5 credit classes that feel like full-credit courses and overload his schedule. And I'm trying to avoid having to find this out by experience this year (my poor oldest may already deem himself the grand experiment!).

Thanks as always --
Lisa

[Gwen in VA]

Hi Lisa,

Both my kids did AP US Gov through PAH, my son did AP Econ through PAH, and dd did APUSH through PAH.

1) APUSH is NOT a prereq for AP US Gov. Some very basic familiarity with US history might be nice -- ds2 will take APUSGov in 10th, before he does APUSH. We will have him read a quick overview of US history before the APUSGov class, but that is all the preparation we think he will need.

AP US Govt is a class that many public school students seem to take as sophomores, before they have had APUSH.

2) APUSH is a harder class than APUSGovt. APUSH takes a LOT of time, since a 5 on the APUSH exam usually is worth 6 credits. APUSGovt is definitely easier, though it is still definitely an advanced class that requires hard work. I would estimate that my kids put in 60-90 minutes a day for USGovt; dd probably did nearly 2 hours per day for APUSH. The APUSGovt is still definitely worth 1 credit!

3) The PAH AP economics is a FABULOUS class. It is really hard work, but it throughly and solidly prepares a student for the AP macroeconomics exam, and since the class ends at the end of Frebraury a student can use March to study for the AP microeconomics exam if he wants. PAH AP econ is definitely worth 1 credit -- my son spent more time on that class than pretty much any other he took in high school. I forget the exact statistics, but something like 2/3 of the kids in ds's class received a 5, and almost everybody in the class got a 4 or 5.

By the way, a lot of the time in AP econ is spent playing the simulation games, which are FUN!

4) In many high schools AP US Govt and AP macroecon are 1-credit classes; giving them a full credit is not unusual.

[FloridaLisa]

Yea, yea, yea! I'm glad to see that AP USGov is worth a credit. I'm planning to teach it over the course of the year and we are hitting a lot of gov and constitutional law. I've looked at the PA AP economics class and it does look really good. Thanks, as always, for the great BTDT information.

Lisa