Tag Archives: Human Geography

AP Human Geography Tips

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I know the first semester just finished for high schoolers and college students so I guess I wanted to give some more AP advice, at least for classes I took last year as a freshman.

If you are a freshman taking AP Human Geography like I was last year, here is what you need to know: Be prepared to read more difficult and complex texts and answer college board questions that require much more thinking than middle school social science classes. Additionally, there are also 3 FRQs (Free Response Questions) that you have to answer in one hour and fifteen minutes, which leaves you around 25 minutes give or take per question. You can find samples on the AP college board by searching “AP human geography college board frqs”.

The practice questions on the college board (the ones the teachers assign you) are very helpful. They are AP-style questions with 5 answer choices (A-E) per question. These questions come with two basic styles. One is set-based, usually with a stimulus such as asking you to analyze a map of Africa or a table for developing vs developed countries. The other style is just individual concepts that they can ask you that you would have to pull from your own knowledge, with no additional information.

This class is an introductory class to college geography, so a lot of the units are on the analysis of maps and applying that knowledge to understand how the migration of humans affects our geography. Also something to note: You need to memorize a lot of the key terms! I recommend buying the AP Human Geography Flashcards from the Barron’s company (the one with 250 terms). I reviewed this the night before my AP exam, and it was really helpful with locking in on key concepts one last time.

Although many freshmen say that the class is difficult (this is true as it is indeed your first AP class), however this experience can also be really fun as well. It teaches something you don’t normally learn, and you get to learn about the different countries of the world. I don’t know about you, but I have always found the evolution and migration of humans a very interesting topic.

Don’t worry, you guys will do great! – Aleena

AP Human Geography As A Freshman In High School, Is It Worth It?

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So, last year I was a freshman at my high school and I took the college level course: AP Human Geography. After taking the national exam at the end of the school year, I remember thinking to myself: “was that year’s hard work all worth it?”

First of all, lets talk about the benifits of taking this rigorous course:

  1. Pushes you to really focus and do work – Due to the pacing and toughness of this course, it really forces you to lock in during class time and also study times because if you don’t, you will be very behind
  2. Develops time management skills – The amount of vocabulary, notes, and concepts that you will have to review constantly is absurd, and it will seem impossible at first, but this allows you to use your time management skills to figure out your priorities.
  3. College credit – If you get a good score on the national exam, It will count as some college credit, letting you skip some classes when you get to college.

Now, for the negatives:

  1. Limits your free time – due to the amount of studying required, you will have decreased free time at home
  2. The class can be very frustrating at times – A lot of times you will not understand or remember the concepts, and it will leave you very angry and frustrated.

After all, is the class worth it? In my opinion, yes, because the all the negative aspects that personally experienced could have been easily solved by better time management skills

-Torres H.