New AP on the Block: AP Human Geography

Written by: Lola McGinnis

As the 2025-2026 school year begins, a new AP course joins Hayward High School’s (HHS) roster of AP classes, AP Human Geography, (AP Human, AP Human Geo for short or can also be abbreviated to APHUG), is the study of patterns and the processes of human understanding, use and altercation of the Earth in which include topics of population, migration, culture, politics and more.

New to Hayward High, AP Human Geography introduces students to not only the world around us, hence the name, but also the world of AP as a whole as it is typically a ninth grade level course, allowing students to have a smooth introduction to APs. Since this course is normally offered to ninth grade students, the AP exam is structured differently than a typical exam. Normally an exam includes Multiple Choice Questions, commonly known as MCQ’s, and Free Response Questions, commonly known as FRQ’s, that tend to be some sort of essay. For APHUG, however, it has the standard MCQ’s but the FRQ’s are a bit different.

In the words of Ms. Ogden, the current APHUG teacher, “AP Human Geography is not just about maps (although, we really like maps in the class!) – it’s about PEOPLE! Why do people want to live by the coast? How come K-Pop has taken over the world? How far into the ocean does a country get to claim? Why does Japan need to encourage its women to have babies?

APHUG’s FRQ’s are a much more condensed version of essays in which they include individual answers for a set of questions rather than focusing on one large overarching question for each question. There are a total of three FRQ’s which a student has about an hour and fifteen minutes to complete, as well as sixty MCQ’s in a single hour. Fair warning, the first unit can be very map heavy but as the units progress it does become less map focused. If this sounds like a course you’re interested in for next year, go ahead and talk to Ogden in E-04 (or B hall once construction is finished) to get more insight or sign up for the class for the next school year!

“AP Human Geography is a passport to understanding the world.” At the moment, Ogden is located in room E-04, due to construction around campus, but can be found in B Hall once construction has finished up.