Harvard Student Ranks all 40 AP Classes by Difficulty — Transcript

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1. 0:00Today, we're ranking every AP class
2. 0:03based on their difficulty, and this
3. 0:05includes both the class itself and the
4. 0:07AP exam at the end. If you're wondering
5. 0:10what qualifications I have to be talking
6. 0:12about this topic in specific, I've taken
7. 0:1510 of these classes while I was in high
8. 0:17school, and I was also able to make it
9. 0:19into a pretty good school, which I will
10. 0:21be continuing in a master's program
11. 0:24starting this fall. Anyway, let's start
12. 0:26with F tier, which contains the easiest
13. 0:29AP classes. And you probably wouldn't
14. 0:31even know it's an AP if it didn't have
15. 0:33an exam at the end. Starting with the
16. 0:35easiest AP out of all the 40 options, AP
17. 0:39Human Geography. If you took this as a
18. 0:41freshman, you probably thought you were
19. 0:43super advanced. The class is fairly
20. 0:45accessible content, but vocabulary and
21. 0:48concepts can be abstract at times. This
22. 0:51is a table that will be showing the
23. 0:52passing and failing rates for the AP
24. 0:54exams according to the 2024 College
25. 0:56Board of Statistics. Anything three or
26. 0:59above is considered passing for at least
27. 1:01some college credit. Each exam is scaled
28. 1:04differently, so the passing rate does
29. 1:06not directly equal the difficulty of the
30. 1:08exam going forward. Fair warning. Next
31. 1:11comes AP environmental science, also
32. 1:13known as APEZ. It's mostly vibes. You'll
33. 1:16talk about pollution, recycling, and how
34. 1:18the planet's on fire. and then you'll
35. 1:21usually forget to recycle your AP
36. 1:23practice packets. It's not conceptually
37. 1:25hard, but it can be tricky due to the
38. 1:27scientific vocab and the case studies
39. 1:29that are usually involved. Next is AP
40. 1:32pre-calc. It's one of the newer courses.
41. 1:35It covers algebraic functions, trig, and
42. 1:37modeling. It's not as hard as calculus,
43. 1:40but keeping up with the multiple
44. 1:41functions and applications can be tough.
45. 1:44I consider it to be a good prep for AP
46. 1:46Calc or college STEM majors. After
47. 1:50pre-calc comes AP research. It's an
48. 1:53independent research project and your
49. 1:55difficulty is going to depend on your
50. 1:56topic and your writing skills. At the
51. 1:59top of the easiest tier is AP computer
52. 2:02science principles. Principles is doing
53. 2:04a lot of the heavy lifting here. It's an
54. 2:06entry-level coding class that focuses on
55. 2:08computing concepts with a very high pass
56. 2:11rate. It's a chill class if you like
57. 2:13coding, confusing if you don't, and
58. 2:16terrifying if your teacher also doesn't.
59. 2:18And that rounds out the first tier. Next
60. 2:20up is the D tier, and these are the
61. 2:22classes you took because they were an
62. 2:24easy college credit. Starting off the
63. 2:27new tier is AP Seminar. It's also a
64. 2:29projectbased class similar to AP
65. 2:32research. It focuses on writing,
66. 2:34collaboration, and more research. It's
67. 2:36very doable with good time
68. 2:39management. Next is AP 2D art. In this
69. 2:42class, you're graded on a portfolio, not
70. 2:45a written exam. The workload depends on
71. 2:48how polished your projects are, and its
72. 2:50main challenges are time management,
73. 2:52creative originality, and thoughtful
74. 2:55design. Next comes AP
75. 2:57Microeconomics. This class focuses on
76. 2:59individual markets, supply and demand,
77. 3:01and marginal thinking. Not very math
78. 3:04heavy, but can pose challenges with
79. 3:06understanding the graphs, opportunity
80. 3:09cost, and
81. 3:10elasticity. AP psychology comes next.
82. 3:13You learn fun stuff like why you
83. 3:15procrastinate while procrastinating.
84. 3:18It's relatively heavy on memorization
85. 3:20like theories and people, but the
86. 3:23concepts are often intuitive. The second
87. 3:26art related AP is next with AP 3D art.
88. 3:29It's similar to 2D, but working with
89. 3:31physical or sculptural materials adds
90. 3:34complexity. Physically building and
91. 3:36photographing pieces that meet AP rubric
92. 3:39criteria can be challenging. At the top
93. 3:42of this tier comes AP Comparative
94. 3:44Government and Politics. It's got a
95. 3:45shorter curriculum, focuses on comparing
96. 3:48political systems, and has less content
97. 3:51compared to AP Gov. That finishes out
98. 3:54Dtier and Ctier is next. They're classes
99. 3:57that exist. And as long as you study and
100. 3:59prepare well, they shouldn't pose too
101. 4:01much of an issue. They're not super
102. 4:03hard. They're not super easy. They're
103. 4:05just somewhere in the middle. AP Music
104. 4:08Theory is first on this tier, and from
105. 4:11what I've heard, it's easier if you have
106. 4:13a strong music background. Otherwise,
107. 4:16it's pretty tough. Next comes AP
108. 4:18Computer Science A. This class focuses
109. 4:21on Java programming, objectoriented
110. 4:24design, algorithms, and data structures
111. 4:26like arrays and array lists. The
112. 4:28workload is moderate. You'll be writing,
113. 4:31reading, and debugging coding
114. 4:32frequently. AP African-American Studies
115. 4:36is next. It's an interdisciplinary
116. 4:38course that combines history, sociology,
117. 4:41literature, political science, and art.
118. 4:43It's also a newer course, which means an
119. 4:45evolving curriculum. One spot higher is
120. 4:48AP drawing as it requires strong
121. 4:50observational and expressive drawing
122. 4:52skills. It has the same portfolio
123. 4:54structure as other AP arts, but it can
124. 4:56prove challenging due to the creativity,
125. 4:59technical skill, and personal voice
126. 5:01required in the drawing. AP Euro is
127. 5:04next, and it's similar to a push in the
128. 5:06amount and the demand of the essays, but
129. 5:09more manageable due to a narrower scope.
130. 5:12Next comes AP Statistics. Low-key one of
131. 5:15the more useful APs you can take. Just
132. 5:17don't expect it to be easier just
133. 5:19because it's math with words. The course
134. 5:21involves logical thinking and
135. 5:23interpreting data, but not overly
136. 5:25mathheavy. At the top of Ctier is AP
137. 5:28government. It's fine. The class is
138. 5:30basically here's how the government
139. 5:32works or you know should work. It's
140. 5:35memorizationheavy, especially Supreme
141. 5:37Court cases and institutions. That
142. 5:40finishes up C tier. And next is B tier,
143. 5:44which has tough classes but are
144. 5:45manageable with preparation. The first
145. 5:48class in this tier is AP macroeconomics,
146. 5:51and you'll never look at supply and
147. 5:52demand the same way again. It focuses on
148. 5:55the economy as a whole and can pose
149. 5:57challenges in memorizing formulas and
150. 6:00interpreting economic
151. 6:03indicators. After this is AP World
152. 6:05History. Try remembering all of the
153. 6:08world history in nine months. You'll
154. 6:10probably be mixing up the Mongols and
155. 6:13Mesopotamians, but you'll definitely
156. 6:14feel this class being more intense than
157. 6:16AP Euro. It is a broad scope, but less
158. 6:19depth compared to a push. It requires
159. 6:22strong reading and writing skills. Next
160. 6:25comes AP Art History. Honestly, it's
161. 6:28surprisingly intense. This class is
162. 6:30similar to a push, but with paintings
163. 6:32and judgmental paintings. It has lots of
164. 6:35memorization, but more accessible if
165. 6:37you're visually oriented and enjoy art.
166. 6:40The second to last class in this tier is
167. 6:42AP US History, also known as a push.
168. 6:45Nothing humbles you like the DBQ about
169. 6:48the panic of
170. 6:501837. You'll learn more random dates
171. 6:52than you'll ever need. There's tons of
172. 6:55reading, historical interpretation, and
173. 6:57long essays, including the DBQ and LEQ.
174. 7:01I consider it to be the most difficult
175. 7:02historybased AP of them all. The last in
176. 7:05the B tier is AP Calculus AB. It's a
177. 7:09challenging college level math course
178. 7:10that covers limits, derivatives, and
179. 7:13integrals. It's often the first truly
180. 7:16abstract math class that students take.
181. 7:19It's perfect for students strong in
182. 7:20algebra and are planning to pursue STEM,
183. 7:23but requires consistent practice and
184. 7:25comfort with problem solving. That
185. 7:27rounds out B tier. Next comes the second
186. 7:30highest tier on this list, which is A
187. 7:32tier. These are firmly in the difficult
188. 7:34tier, but you might still have a chance
189. 7:37to for a social life. First comes AP
190. 7:40Latin. It's very specialized, making it
191. 7:43tough for most students unless you're
192. 7:44strong in Latin grammar and translation.
193. 7:47Next is AP Literature or AP Lit. It's
194. 7:51often compared to AP Lang as it's a
195. 7:53reading and writing intensive course
196. 7:55focused on analyzing classic and
197. 7:57contemporary literature. This includes
198. 7:59Shakespeare. It's challenging due to the
199. 8:02advanced vocabulary, abstract themes,
200. 8:04and essay expectations, but manageable
201. 8:07for students overall. AP biology comes
202. 8:10next, and in this class, you're going to
203. 8:11memorize everything. It's not as
204. 8:13conceptually difficult as other AP STEMs
205. 8:16like chemistry, but the volume of
206. 8:18content is criminal. It's got a massive
207. 8:22content load and analytical free
208. 8:24response
209. 8:25questions. Next comes AP Spanish Lang.
210. 8:28And this is a challenging course that
211. 8:30emphasizes fluency in reading, writing,
212. 8:32listening, and speaking Spanish in real
213. 8:35world conversations and academic
214. 8:37contexts. It's easier for heritage or
215. 8:40fluent speakers, but demanding for
216. 8:42non-native speakers due to its fast pace
217. 8:45and highle grammar and vocabulary
218. 8:48requirements. Alongside AP Spanish lang,
219. 8:51this is also where the rest of the
220. 8:52language and culture AP classes are
221. 8:54going to fit. This includes Chinese,
222. 8:56German, French, Italian, and
223. 8:59Japanese. AP Lang is next, where you're
224. 9:02going to write essays, analyze essays,
225. 9:05and dream about essays. It's not overly
226. 9:08difficult, but it's extremely draining.
227. 9:10And no matter what, the College Board
228. 9:12will find a way to confuse you with
229. 9:14their rubric and the system they'll
230. 9:16grade you on. At the very top of A tier
231. 9:19is going to be AP Calculus BC. It's
232. 9:22hard, but at least the rules make sense.
233. 9:25If you're already decent at math, you'll
234. 9:26probably be fine, but if not, welcome to
235. 9:29the void. It covers all of AB plus more
236. 9:33advanced topics. It's got a fast pace
237. 9:35and intense problem solving. That
238. 9:38finishes off the A tier. And finally,
239. 9:41next comes the S tier, the classes that
240. 9:43will just outright eat your soul and
241. 9:46destroy you from the inside out. These
242. 9:48classes aren't just hard, they can feel
243. 9:50like a full-time job, but you do kind of
244. 9:53feel like a genius when you do finally
245. 9:55get it. Starting off the most difficult
246. 9:57tier is AP Physics 2. It's a
247. 10:00continuation of physics one which is
248. 10:02ironically placed higher than this one
249. 10:05and includes fluid dynamics,
250. 10:07thermodynamics, and modern physics. The
251. 10:10main challenge in this course is the
252. 10:11abstract ideas and more math, although
253. 10:14still sometimes algebra based. It's
254. 10:17often confusing if your physics one
255. 10:19foundation is at all weak. Right after
256. 10:22comes AP Physics 1. It's algebra based
257. 10:25physics with mechanics topics and can be
258. 10:28extremely challenging for new students
259. 10:30due to the conceptual reasoning and the
260. 10:33tricky free response questions. The pass
261. 10:36rate is very low at only around
262. 10:3847% due to the hard grading but not
263. 10:41necessarily content difficulty. AP
264. 10:44Spanish lit comes next. it's placed so
265. 10:47high up due to the heavy reading and
266. 10:48analysis of complex Spanish literature
267. 10:51from different centuries aspects of the
268. 10:53class. Alongside this, there's the
269. 10:55challenge of understanding older texts
270. 10:57in Spanish and writing essays about
271. 10:59them. Once again, if you're fluent or a
272. 11:02heritage speaker, this class is much
273. 11:04more manageable, but for non-native
274. 11:06speakers, it's very difficult. The third
275. 11:08most difficult AP class is awarded to AP
276. 11:11Physics C mechanics. This requires
277. 11:15strong calculus plus a deep conceptual
278. 11:17understanding of physics. The class can
279. 11:19be summed up as a college level
280. 11:21mechanics class using calculus but
281. 11:24challenging due to the fast pace and
282. 11:26require deep understanding of motion,
283. 11:28force, energy, and rotation. I recommend
284. 11:31only taking this class if you are taking
285. 11:34or have taken calculus in the past. The
286. 11:37second most difficult AP class is AP
287. 11:39Physics C electricity and magnetism or
288. 11:42ENM. This is due to the fact that it
289. 11:44uses advanced calculus and vector math
290. 11:46to explore ENM fields and circuits. Its
291. 11:49main challenges is that it's abstract
292. 11:51and extremely mathheavy. Many students
293. 11:54consider this as the hardest AP class
294. 11:57and is best for future engineers,
295. 11:59physicists, or math pros. Physics 1 and
296. 12:02two are broader but much less technical
297. 12:04in
298. 12:05comparison. Finally, the most difficult
299. 12:07AP class of all is AP Chemistry. This
300. 12:10class separates the students from the
301. 12:13survivors. The AP exam felt like a fever
302. 12:16dream when I took it, but the curve is
303. 12:18generous, so you might survive. The
304. 12:20class relies on heavy memorization,
305. 12:23complex math with specific formulas, lab
306. 12:26aspects, and abstract concepts students
307. 12:28likely would be seeing for the first
308. 12:30time, unless chemistry has been taken
309. 12:33previously. So, that's the tier list of
310. 12:36all 40 AP classes. Do you agree with my
311. 12:38opinion? Let me know in the comments,
312. 12:41preferably respectfully. And remember,
313. 12:43you can survive any AP class, as long as
314. 12:46you have caffeine, Google Docs, and at
315. 12:48least one friend who's better at the
316. 12:50subject than you. Make sure to like,
317. 12:53subscribe, and good luck to anyone
318. 12:55currently taking AP Chemistry. You
319. 12:57deserve a medal and possibly an app.
320. 13:00[Music]