The thought of having to take a higher level class than you think you can manage, especially a class that you don’t have any interest in, isn’t very appealing. I know. I’ve been there.

As a rising sophomore, I had zero interest in taking AP World History. However, I knew that if I didn’t sign up for AP history, then I wouldn’t be able to take Honors English, a class that I actually wanted to take at a higher level. So I made a sacrifice that, as it turns out, I’m really grateful for.

When I got to AP World History, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the class was a ton of work. No, I’m no genius, so I didn’t end up with an A at the end of the year. However, having English as a linked supplement was unbelievably helpful. We would study the same time periods in both history and English, so my learning was reinforced every day. Whenever there were essays to write in history, I was always able to use evidence from literature we read in English and vice versa.

The link between history and English is even stronger this year between AP US History and AP Language. One of the bonuses with linked humanities is coordination between your teachers. In my classes we recently read Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice, a novel that we talked about in both history and English.

I can’t imagine what class would be like if I had taken standard history and AP English. Since the AP course moves at a faster rate, the content we study in English and history would never match up. Despite the fact that I wouldn’t have two AP classes to deal with, taking one AP humanity and one standard sounds like much more work to me.

Although I was a little skeptical about it at first, in the long run I’m happy that I’ve gotten to experience Langley’s unique system of linked humanities. The program has helped me push myself to achieve things that I probably wouldn’t have had I not made that seemingly small decision at the end of my freshman year.