AP History was very different than AP Biology, English, Calculus or Chemistry. AP doesn't mean differentiated - just that it meets college requirements for that course.
My kids' AP History was similar to yours, but they took it in school. AP English was better, in that the reading material was college level and more sophisticated. Calculus II was more difficult that high school Calculus II, but was deceiving in that it in no way compared to the difficulty of the Calculus my son is not taking in his second year in college.
AP was the only choice for more challenging classes in our high school, and the only option for gifted other than the mentorship program, so both my older kids took mostly AP classes for core subjects.
