AP History ranks among the most popular AP courses of all time. But if you think it’s the students’ top choice because of its difficulty, you are sadly mistaken – in fact, it’s one of the hardest options out there. Given that it’s not exactly known to be the easiest subject around, is AP History hard? If you were to look solely at its pass rate, it just might be. However, this is a rather simplistic view of a complex question with multi-faceted aspects that call for discussion. And that’s precisely what we’re going to be doing today.
The difficulty of AP history through the lens of these key factors
So is AP History hard? Before attempting to answer the question, we need to dive into objective factors that determine its difficulty.
- The pass rate. For obvious reasons, a lower pass rate indicates that students are having trouble with the subject.
- The percentage of students who manage to score a 5. With 5 being the highest score possible, if the percentage is incredibly low, this might suggest that the subject is challenging.
- What the students are saying. Those who have experienced something have a story to tell, and that story carries some weight. Their testimonials offer a valuable glimpse into the subject’s difficulty.
- The timing of taking AP History. Generally speaking, the classes that students take during their senior years tend to be designed to be more difficult.
- The extent of the subject material to study. Compared to other subjects, there’s a lot to take in when studying the US history. Plus, there’s lots to memorize, including key historical figures, dates, timelines and major historical events.
- Analytical thinking. Contrary to popular belief, history is more than mere memorization; it’s about interpreting historical evidence and drawing objective conclusions based on it.
- Writing skills. Interestingly, a significant part of the AP History exam consists of essay-type questions that will require a solid writing proficiency. You will be asked to analyze documents, which means you’re going to not only need to comprehend the material itself, but also form coherent arguments based on it.
AP History in comparison to other AP classes
As we’ve established, AP History will put several of your skills to the test, including:
- Your ability to memorize information
- Your critical thinking
- Your analytical comprehension
- Your talent for writing
Without a doubt, the above cognitive abilities are universally required to do well in school, so there’s no surprise about there being some overlap with other subjects.
- Compared to AP Sciences, both share lots of memorization, but AP History has a more pronounced focus on reading, writing, and formulating arguments.
- Compared to AP English, both require a solid grasp on the fundamentals of persuasive writing as well as critical analysis. Granted, AP History has a pronounced emphasis on memorizing information.
- Compared to AP Math, they are both similar in the sense that they will test your deductive reasoning. However, AP History is much more content-based.
What’s the AP History pass rate?
What’s particularly concerning is that the AP History pass rate is less than 50%. In other words, to pass any AP exam, you will generally need a score of 3 or higher, so scoring a 2 constitutes a failing grade. Keep in mind that the pass rate for other AP subjects is in the range of 66% or higher, meaning that the one for AP History is comparatively lower (and quite substantially so at that). To give you a glimpse into the rest, the only subjects with worse pass rates are English Literature and Composition at 44% and Physics 1 at 42%.
How about the US History perfect score?
To further evaluate the difficulty of US History, we also need to look at the percentage of students who get a perfect score. For the latter, it’s in the range of 11%, while 17% manage to get it across other AP exams.
The recent US History scores
According to College Board, in 2024, the pass rate for US History was 72.2% and the per-grade distribution was as follows:
- 5 (12.8%)
- 4 (33.3%)
- 3 (26%)
- 2 (19.4%)
- 1 (8.4%)
Now let’s compared this to the year of 2021:
- 5 (31.2%)
- 4 (21.6%)
- 3 (21.2%)
- 2 (15.9%)
- 1 (10.1%)
In the year of 2022, the pass rate for US History was only 48.3%. 10.8% of students got a grade of 5. Therefore, is AP History hard? The above numbers suggest that a lot depends on the year of the AP exam. But also that yes, generally AP History is going to be a challenge.
Fun fact
Despite its challenging nature, AP History remains the second most popular exam in AP.
The structure of the AP History exam
To better gauge whether the difficulty of AP History is something you’re willing to take on, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the exam’s structure. Although writing is a substantial part of it, you will also encounter a short-answer section and multiple-choice section. In total, you will get 55 minutes to answer 55 multiple-choice questions and 50 minutes to answer 4 short answer questions.
An overview of individual AP History sections
| Name | Structure | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1: part A | 55 multiple-choice questions | 55 min |
| Section 1: part B | 4 short-answer questions | 50 min |
| Section 2 | 2 free-response questions | 1h 40 min |
The US history: a look through the key periods in time
The US History spans from the year of 1491 and all the way to the present times. It takes you from the times of the First American natives to how Europeans first started exploring the New World. Then, the AP course material progresses towards:
- European colonies in North America
- The Revolutionary War
- The early years of the Republic
- The Civil War
- The 20th century
The US history can be compartmentalized into the following key periods:
- Period 1: 1491-1607
- Period 2: 1607-1754
- Period 3: 1754-1800
- Period 4: 1800-1848
- Period 5: 1844-1877
- Period 6: 1865-1898
- Period 7: 1890-1945
- Period 8: 1945-1980
- Period 9: 1980-present
Note that you’ll also get to learn about its economic, cultural, social, and political developments, as well as how to analyze:
- Visual sources
- Texts
- Historical evidence
Thematically, you will learn about the following broad themes of the US history:
- American and national identity
- Work, exchange, and technology
- Geography and the environment
- Migration and settlement
- Politics and power
- America in the world
- American and regional culture
- Social structures
As for the topics you’ll get to delve into, they are as follows:
- Exploration and Colonization. A period marked by exploration when America was first discovered and the colonies grew.
- Revolution and Nation Building. Here, you will learn the ins and outs of the American Revolution as well as how the US Constitution was formulated.
- Expansion and Conflict. During this period of time, the US began expanding westward and the conflicts with Native Americans began. It was also an era of internal tensions that eventually led to the civil war.
- Civil War and Reconstruction. Get to know the complexities of the Reconstruction period, along with its political, strategic, and social aspects.
- Industrialization and Reform. This is the famous Industrial Revolution period. You’ll get to familiarize yourself with how the society was restructured at the time, along with the political movements that were active at the time.
- Modern America. Both the 20th as well as the 21st century were marked by major cultural, political and economic developments. Learn about the civil rights movement and the World War.
AP History: the scoring system
To determine whether AP History is hard or not, it’s essential to also examine its scoring system. As is the case with a typical AP exam test, your test will be graded with a score between 1 and 5.
There are 2 sections:
- Section 1 (it amounts to 60% of the score)
- Section 2 (it amounts to 40% of the score)
Section 1 consists of multiple-choice questions (up to 55 points) and short-answer questions (up to 9 points).
Section 2 consists of one long essay question plus a document-based question with each of them being worth 6 points. After converting the scores, we get a scaled score of X out of 150 that determines the final AP exam grade.
An overview of the AP History scoring system:.
Section 1:
- Multiple-Choice Questions (40%)
- Short-Answer Questions (20%)
Section 2:
- Document-Based Question (25%)
- Long Essay Question (15%)
The minimum AP History score to qualify for college credit
This one is a bit tricky to answer because different schools tend to have a different approach. When it comes to earning AP exam credit, many schools will require you to score either a 4 or a 5. You may be credited for scoring a 3, but again, this is up to the school’s discretion.
How likely is it that AP History will be hard for you? Ask yourself these questions and you’ll know
So, at the end of the day, is AP History hard? At Novel Prep, we believe it comes down to what you’re looking for as an individual and what skills you bring to the table. To arrive at a conclusion, you’re going to need to do some homework and familiarize yourself with it some more. In addition, asking the following questions is bound to help:
What do the school’s former students think about the class?
One of the most reliable sources of information is the people who have already had some experience with it. So seek them out and ask them about what they thought and whether they considered the workload to be manageable. You can also ask your teacher or even the school counselor. The reason why you should be doing this is that schools have a certain degree of autonomy over how they design the curriculum.
Where are your academic strengths?
This one will require a little bit of introspection to find the answers to. But try to assess your situation objectively – where do you struggle in school and what are your strengths? If writing and memorization and not exactly your strong points, you’re going to struggle with AP History. Keep in mind that it’s not so much about factual recall as it is about making analytical judgment calls and presenting a compelling argument based on the sources analyzed.
Does the schedule fit my existing academic responsibilities?
You need to realize that taking AP US History is going to be a certain pressure on your time and schedule, which means taking your existing responsibilities into account is going to be crucial. The last thing you want to be doing is overloading yourself when your plate is full already. That’s especially true if you want to keep your GPA high.
Is the AP History exam worth taking?
So now that we’ve established that AP History is going to be a challenge in and of itself, there is but one question to answer – is it worth taking in the first place? Well, if you consider yourself as someone who loves the subject, historical events, figures, and trends… the answer is on the palm of your hand. If you’re not the kind to shy away from a challenge, taking on AP History might just be the next academic milestone you need.
Also, do you have a strong command over the written language? If so, you’ll undoubtedly do well on the written essay section. On the other hand, if you consider yourself to be none of those things, opting for AP History just because you think you “should” is a surefire way to burn yourself out.
Conclusion
To re-iterate the key points: is AP History hard? Based on what the pass rate data seems to suggest, the answer is yes, at least in comparison to other AP subjects. Not only that; the percentage of students who manage to get the maximum score of 5 is considerably lower compared to other AP subjects as well.
However, if you consider writing and reasoning to be one of your strong areas, can memorize facts like it’s nothing, and don’t shy away from a challenge, we believe that enrolling in AP History is going to be one of the most rewarding experiences for you.
And remember, there’s no need to go at it alone – at Novel Prep, we’ve got your back! By signing up for our AP Prep courses, our finest history tutors will guide you through everything you need to know. Whether it be through personalized online tutoring or interactive online group sessions, we’d love to see you become one of the 7000+ students we’ve helped become an academic success.
