Advanced Placement
Why Take AP Human Geography?
When you hear the word “geography,” maps may be one of the first things that comes to mind. While geography does include the study of maps, it encompasses so much more. Beyond the study of physical geography, the discipline also includes human geography, which explores the many ways that humans understand, create, shape, and modify their environments.
“I was fortunate to take AP Human Geography in high school. This class expanded my critical thinking, active reading, and writing skills immensely, which helped a lot in college and in preparation for graduate school. It’s one of the best classes I ever took.”
Kayla, AP alum
About the Course
AP Human Geography is one of the most popular AP courses for 9th and 10th graders. The course does not have prerequisites and can be a great place to start your journey with AP.
In AP Human Geography you will focus on using quantitative and qualitative data, including maps, tables, charts, satellite images, and photographs to learn more about how people impact and are impacted by their environments. The course provides a unique cross-curricular experience exploring topics like population, culture, environment, history, politics, and economics.
Here are some topics you will cover:
- Connecting geographic concepts and processes to real-life scenarios
- How regions change over time based on cultural, environmental, political, and economic factors
- The influence of globalization on diverse cultures and regions worldwide
- Learning to analyze a variety of geographic data such as tables, maps, charts, images, and landscapes
- Investigating patterns and trends in data and visual sources and drawing conclusions from them
How You Benefit
Learning to analyze distinct types of data is a transferable skill useful for many other classes in high school, other AP courses, and in your college classes. AP Human Geography will also expose you to areas of study aligned to many college majors and careers you may not have otherwise heard about. See all the majors and careers that this course is connected to.
And like all AP courses, AP Human Geography can help you stand out during the college application process and gives you the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both. Learn about all the benefits of taking AP courses and exams.
Talk to your school counselor to see if AP Human Geography is available at your school and if it may be right for you.
