Is AP Human Geography Hard? A Complete Guide

AP Human Geography is often labeled as moderately to highly difficult, primarily for its unique course content. While the concept of human geography may seem foreign to many students, chances are they’ve already explored some of the course’s tenets on their own.

With the proper preparation, students can successfully complete a course in AP Human Geography and score high on the exam. This guide outlines what to expect as an AP Human Geography student.

AP Human Geography links math, data, and statistics to patterns in migration, human population, and geographical evolution. People study human geography to understand how their existence has changed the Earth’s surface.

Course topics include cultural patterns and processes, population and migration patterns and processes, and cities and urban-land-use patterns and processes. Here are the course’s main units:

Additionally, students develop skills in thinking geographically, understanding spatial relationships, and interpreting data. AP Human Geography expands on existing skills many humans use every day, like identifying patterns and connecting concepts to real-world scenarios.

Determining an AP course’s level of difficulty is subjective, though factors such as pass rate, amount of study materials, and existing subject skills are major indicators. Classes like AP Human Geography tend to primarily attract dedicated, well-prepared students in this subject.

The College Board defines a passing score on an AP exam as a 3 or higher. AP courses in which a high percentage of students earn a 3 or higher can be deemed “easy,” whereas lower-than-average pass rates indicate a higher level of difficulty.

The table below illustrates a significantly lower pass rate among AP Human Geography students than for test-takers across all AP exams, signifying a challenge for students aspiring to pass this exam.

The perfect score rate (i.e., a 5 out of 5) is also much lower for AP Human Geography than it is across all AP classes.

Source: College Board

AP exam pass rates and perfect scores are a sensible place to start in deciding whether AP Human Geography is hard; however, students should also weigh the strength of their school and teacher to deliver the course content and prepare for the exam.

The difficulty of the class also depends on the amount of material the curriculum covers. AP Human Geography requires seven units of study, in topics designed to build spatial-perception and comparative skills.

This subject typically does not always require specific prerequisites, which may seem beneficial to students but can actually make absorbing the course material more challenging. Students should allow plenty of time for each study module and pace themselves during exam preparations.

Each student brings unique skills and experience to an AP course. While AP Human Geography does not necessarily require formal academic prerequisites, students who begin with a heightened sense of self-awareness, cultural sensitivity, and an open mind can find success in this course.

Additionally, experts recommend taking requisite courses in world geography and history. AP Human Geography also suits students with excellent memorization and data comprehension skills as well as a tendency toward detail-orientation.

AP Human Geography is less difficult than some other AP courses and, as such, is often taken during 9th or 10th grade. AP Human Geography typically does not require the same kind of academic experience as other AP classes reserved for rising seniors.

Like any AP course, students should allow plenty of study time to absorb the material. Generally, students who take world history and geography before AP Human Geography enjoy a curricular advantage.

Most schools give recommendations but ultimately allow students to choose how many AP courses to take simultaneously. Students might consider taking only one difficult course or several easy courses at a time. Learners who experience AP Human Geography as an especially easy course may choose to take it at the same time as other AP courses recommended for the 9th or 10th grade.

While a course in AP Human Geography provides a somewhat “easy” introduction to this subject, the exam is known to be exceptionally hard.

As shown below, the highest percentage of students scored a 1 on the exam in 2020, indicating a high level of difficulty in achieving even a 3, the minimum score needed for advanced placement or course credit at most colleges.

The following sections address how the exam is arranged and scored.

Source: College Board

The AP Human Geography exam lasts two hours and 15 minutes. Questions are delivered across two sections, in multiple-choice and free-response format:

The exam includes multiple-choice questions designed to test a student’s abilities to understand geographic concepts, interpret geographic data, and analyze spatial relationships.

The free-response section focuses on assessing a student’s spatial-relationship skills across geographic scales. Free-response questions include real-life geographic situations or scenarios, data, images, and maps.

Each section of the AP Human Geography exam counts for half the total score. Students can score up to 60 points in the multiple-choice section and seven points per each free-response question. The composite score is ultimately converted into a numbered score from 1-5.

Learners should tailor exam preparations to their strengths and vulnerabilities. For example, students known to struggle more with writing or reading comprehension than answering multiple-choice questions may choose to focus their studies in this area.

Students can score high with a variety of combinations of points, per section. Learners who achieve the maximum allotment of points (60) for multiple-choice questions yet only score four out of seven possible points on each free-response question may still earn a score of 4-5, for example.

Source: College Board

Though school policies vary, most colleges award placement and/or credit to students who earn a 3 or higher on the AP Human Geography exam. A high score in this subject is particularly impressive to college admissions advisors, since the exam is infamously difficult.

A score of 3 denotes a passing or “qualified” grade of C, C+, or B-, according to the College Board. Higher scores (4-5) can afford students automatic placement in college-level courses and earn course credit in many universities.

AP Human Geography can offer well-prepared students the opportunity to boost their GPA, skip general education requirements, and earn college credit. Students tend to grasp the course content easily but require extra time to prepare for the demanding exam.

This course provides a sensible introduction to AP curriculum for 9th and 10th grade high school students; however, students should not assume they can effortlessly pass the exam. AP Human Geography especially benefits students considering diverse college majors including anthropology, art history, and cultural studies.

In 2020, the highest percentage of test-takers earned the lowest possible score (1), underscoring the difficulty of the exam.

Interestingly, the next-largest percentage earned a 3 that same year, emphasizing that earning a passing score in the exam was within reach. Asking instructors and former students their opinions can help gauge the level of difficulty.

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