Part A: 55 minutes
Part B: 40 minutes
55 multiple-choice questions
3 short answer questions
40%
20%
Part A: 60 minutes (including 15-minute reading period)
Part B: 40 minutes
1 document-based question
1 long essay
25%
15%
Questions are grouped into sets of three or four questions and based on a primary source, secondary source, or historical issue. Each set of questions is based on a different piece of source material. This section will test your ability to analyze and engage with the source materials while recalling what you already know about U.S. history.
The three questions in this section will be tied to a primary source, historical argument, data or maps, or general propositions of U.S. history. Students are required to answer the first and second questions and then answer either the third or the fourth question. You are not required to develop and support a thesis statement, but you must describe examples of historical evidence relevant to the source or question.
The DBQ question requires you to answer a question based on seven primary source documents and your knowledge of the subject and time period. All the documents will pertain to a single subject. Students should develop an argument about the question and use the documents to support this argument.
For the long essay question, you’ll be given a choice of three essay options on the same theme, and you must choose one. You must develop and defend a relevant thesis, but there won’t be any documents on which you must base your response. Instead, you’ll need to draw upon your own knowledge of topics you learned in your AP U.S. History class.
For a comprehensive content review, check out our book, AP U.S. History Prep
AP scores are reported from 1 to 5. Colleges are generally looking for a 4 or 5 on the AP U.S. History exam, but some may grant credit for a 3. Here’s how students scored on the May 2020 test:
|
|
|
5 | Extremely qualified | 10.8% |
4 | Well qualified | 15.6% |
3 | Qualified | 21.9% |
2 | Possibly qualified | 23.0% |
1 | No recommendation | 28.8% |
Source: College Board
AP classes are great, but for many students they’re not enough! For a thorough review of AP U.S. History content and strategy, pick the AP prep option that works best for your goals and learning style.
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Ap® us history faq: everything you need to know for 2024.
Read below for detailed answers to the most commonly-asked questions about the 2024 AP® US History exam!
What We Review
The AP® US History course is inherently more difficult than a regular US History course. The AP® courses are designed to teach at a college introductory level, and the AP® exams test your knowledge of college-level content. Within the realm of AP® exams, the AP® US History exam is more difficult than the majority of the AP® exams. Here’s why:
In 2023, 47.5% of students scored a 3 or above on the AP® US History exam, with a mean score of 2.54.
It is important to note the sample size when viewing statistics. The AP® US History exam has been the second most popular exam in the last three years, second only to AP® English Language.
Approximately 470,000 students take the AP® US History exam every year. In 2023, 467,975 students took the APUSH exam .
Because of the accessible nature of the content, it is likely that some students who take AP® US History lack the academic experience necessary to do well or do not adequately prepare for the exam . This at least partially explains why the pass rate for the APUSH exam is typically lower than the average pass rate of all AP® exams.
So, while the passing percentage may appear low, it is possible that the percentage is skewed slightly due to a higher volume of unprepared test takers.
In order to maximize your study time for the AP® US History exam, it is useful to know how the exam sections are weighted so that you can focus your attention on the areas that carry more weight than others.
The AP® US History exam is fairly evenly weighted among all nine categories, but three of the nine categories carry a much lower weight than the others. These categories are:
These units are only weighted at 4-8% of the exam, while the following 6 units are weighted at 10-17% of the exam:
When attempting a score of 3 or better of the AP® US History exam, it could be useful to know how many questions you need to answer correctly in each section to achieve that score. Our AP® US History score calculator (previewed below) shows that you must correctly answer 28 multiple-choice questions and at least half of the short answer and essay questions to achieve a passing score.
The AP® US History exam is worth taking for various important reasons. First, AP® courses help build essential college skills, such as time management and study skills. AP® courses also help to build an academic confidence level for students going on to college.
Second, taking AP® courses lets colleges know that you are taking your academics seriously and that you are familiar with and prepared for the rigors of college-level courses. According to College Board research , “ students who receive a score of 3 or higher on AP® Exams typically experience greater academic success in college and have higher graduation rates than their non-AP® peers.”
Perhaps the most important benefit of taking the AP® US History exam is the potential for college credit, which can translate into thousands of dollars in savings on your college tuition. By completing college credits in high school, you can avoid the need for additional semesters beyond four years and, in some cases, even graduate early.
Earning college credit can translate into significant savings on college tuition. The list below of several top colleges outlines the savings realized when using AP® US History for college credit.
Univ of California – Berkeley | 3 | 5.3 | |
University of Chicago | 5 | 100 units toward general elective credit | |
University of Michigan | 4 | 4 | |
Northwestern University | 5 | 2 | |
Duke University | 4/5 | 2 courses | |
MIT | 5 | 9 | |
UNC-Chapel Hill | 3/4 | 3 | |
Texas A&M | 3 | 6 |
The chart clearly outlines that there are significant savings to be gained by taking and passing the AP® exams. Add to this the educational benefits and it is clear that taking the AP® US History exam is worth your time and effort.
The 2024 AP® US History exam will take place on:
Fri, May 10, 2024, at 8am local time
Curious about when other AP® exams are happening in 202 4? View or download the complete AP® exam schedule here .
Schools can take the 2024 AP® US History exam as a traditional paper-and-pencil test or as an in-school digital exam on computers. More information on the digital option is available here .
You should check with your teacher and AP® Coordinator to know if you’ll take a paper-and-pencil or digital version.
Return to the Table of Contents
According to the latest update from the College Board exam season timeline , students will receive their AP® scores in July 2024. Historically, the College Board typically releases AP® scores early in the month of July.
You’ll be able to access your AP® scores online with your College Board account username and password.
1A: Multiple Choice | 55 questions | 55 minutes | 40% |
1B: Short Answer | 3 questions | 40 minutes | 20% |
2A: Document-Based Question | 1 question | 45 minutes + 15 min reading period | 25% |
2B: Long Essay | 1 question | 40 minutes | 15% |
The multiple-choice section of the AP® US History exam requires answering 55 questions in 55 minutes. The questions are typically grouped in subject sets of three to four. The questions require you to analyze historical texts and evidence using primary and secondary sources. All sources, maps, and graphs needed to answer the question are included.
The AP® US History short answer section consists of three questions with a time limit of 40 minutes. This section actually consists of four total questions – the first two are required, and you can choose to answer either question 3 or question 4, for a total of three answered questions.
The first two (required) questions cover the years 1754 to 1980. The optional questions cover 1491 to 1877, and 1865-2001 respectively.
The single document-based question on the AP® US History exam allows a 15-minute reading period and then allows for an additional 45 minutes to answer the question.
You must read 7 documents from a variety of historical perspectives. Based on your assessment of these documents, you must present and defend an argument that is supported by the provided documents. This question can cover any topic from the time period 1754-1980.
The last question on the AP® US History exam is the long essay question. You are allowed 40 minutes to answer this question. For this question, you can choose from three time periods. Option 1 is 1491-1800, Option 2 is 1800-1898, and Option 3 is 1890-2001. You should choose the option for which you feel most comfortable developing and defending an argument.
It’s useful to know that the rubrics for the LEQ and DBQ have been slightly changed for the 2024 exam. The basic instructions remain the same, but the instructions for earning the evidence and complexity points have been simplified. The most noticeable changes are in the DBQ, where the number of documents that need to be used and the number of times POV has to be analyzed to earn full credit has been reduced. You can find the full rubrics in the College Board’s Course and Exam Description .
Pro tip : when answering the free-writing questions on the AP® US History exam, remember not to rely too heavily on quotations. Overusing quotations can signal to the exam reader that you are not confident in your understanding of historical content/context and lack the ability to adequately express that understanding.
The units are weighted according to the chart below. If you want to know how this weighting translates to an actual score, try our free AP® US History score calculator . As you can see from the chart below, units 3-8 are weighted more heavily than the rest, so be sure to prepare well for those sections.
The exam weighting breakdown for AP® US History is as follows:
Unit 1: Period 1: 1491-1607 | 4-6% |
Unit 2: Period 2: 1607-1754 | 6-8% |
Unit 3: Period 3: 1754-1800 | 10-17% |
Unit 4: Period 4: 1800-1848 | 10-17% |
Unit 5: Period 5: 1844-1877 | 10-17% |
Unit 6: Period 6: 1865-1898 | 10-17% |
Unit 7: Period 7: 1890-1945 | 10-17% |
Unit 8: Period 8: 1945-1980 | 10-17% |
Unit 9: Period 9: 1980-Present | 4-6% |
If you fail or your score on the AP® US History exam is not high enough to receive college credit at the institution of your choice, it is important not to panic!
You can retake the AP® US History exam as many times as you choose to achieve a higher score. The exam is given once a year in May. You will be required to pay the exam fee every time you take the exam.
The impact of failing the AP® US History exam on your high school GPA will actually be negligible. Most high schools base your course grade on your coursework and course exams. They don’t typically factor your AP® exam score into your course grade, so it shouldn’t affect your GPA
For college admissions, the impact of failing the AP® US History exam depends on the reason for taking the exam. If you are taking the exam for college credit, typically a score lower than a 3 (or a 4 for some schools) will disqualify you from receiving college credit for the course.
Since the student is in control of where their AP® scores are sent, you can choose not to send a low score to the college of your choice. In addition, if you do send your AP® US History exam score to a college and then retake the exam and achieve a higher score, you can choose to cancel your lower score.
Students typically take the AP® US History course later in their high school career.
The AP® US History exam does not have any prerequisite requirements, however, many schools require at minimum successful completion of the school’s regular US History course. Many also require a grade of C or better on either AP® European History or AP® World History. For these reasons, most schools recommend waiting until your junior or senior year to take AP® US History.
Waiting until 11th or 12th grade to take AP® US History means that you’re well-established in your high school career and more able to juggle the demands of more rigorous classes. This experience will allow you to handle this intensive survey course that covers the entirety of American history.
Taking other AP® courses before AP® US History also allows you to have more exposure to the in-depth and informed responses required for the College Board’s short answer and essay questions before tackling them in the detail-heavy environment of AP® US History.
Some students like to take more than one AP® class at a time. Many pair the reading and writing intensive AP® US History course with either an AP® language or AP® math course to balance the workload.
In the end, the decision of when to take AP® US History will depend on your academic abilities and your workload. You should discuss the decision with your parents and your guidance counselor to settle on the perfect time to take AP® US History.
The College Board has made past AP® US History exam questions available on their AP® Central website .
In addition, the College Board has made practice tests available for the past several years. Using these practice tests allows you to gain familiarity with the level of depth of the questions and the types of responses that have been successful in the past.
Practice tests for the AP® US History exam for the most recent exam years can be found below:
You can find some examples of the multiple choice questions from the AP® US History Course and Exam Description . There are only 17 questions in the guide, so this will not mimic the actual test in length and may omit some important learning objectives.
If you would like additional practice on the multiple choice portion of the exam, Albert provides thousands of practice questions that are aligned with the actual units covered by the AP® US History exam.
There is quite a bit more useful information on the AP® Central website that you should review if you want to maximize your score on the AP® US History exam. This includes:
The scoring guidelines are useful to review because they outline how points are allocated or withheld on the short answer questions.
Unlike multiple choice, the short answer questions can be more subjective to judge. The scoring guidelines provide examples of answers that would be awarded full or partial credit. This information can be invaluable to students trying to milk every point out of the AP® US History test.
In the Chief Reader Reports, the Chief Reader for each year shares insights on each short answer and essay question. The reports outlines the expectations for each question and the elements that were present in successful responses. The report also provides information on where students missed the mark on the question.
According to the 2019 Chief Reader Report for AP® US History, one common mistake that students made was relying too heavily on quotations. To the reader this signaled an inability to show comprehension by expressing the ideas from the excerpts in their own words. From this report data, you can learn not to rely on quotations and to restate concepts to demonstrate a higher level of understanding.
Another useful tool is the AP® US History Scoring Report. This report lets you see at a glance which questions students struggled with and which ones they were successful in answering. For example, question #3 on the 2019 exam had the lowest mean score of 1.34 points (out of a possible 3).
Correctly answering this question required an understanding of the economics of different colonial groupings from 1607 to 1754. According to the Chief Reader Report, students who missed this question often failed to correctly identify the geography of the colonies or discussed factors that occurred outside the specified time frame.
After reviewing the Scoring Guidelines, the Chief Reader Reports and the Scoring Reports, you can also review the sample responses. For example, the sample response for question #3 provides three actual student responses to the question: one that received full credit, one that received two points, and one that received one point.
If you’re looking for powerful practice with AP® US History FRQs, Albert has practice questions for each type of FRQ along with examples of responses that would earn full points. Albert even provides a detailed explanation of how the sample response earned each point in the rubric!
AP® Central provides a lot of information on the short answer and essay questions, but it is important to remember that 40% of the exam score comes from the multiple choice section. Albert provides thousands of AP-aligned practice questions for the AP® US History exam, along with detailed explanations for each question.
You can learn more about Albert here
The decision to take AP® US History depends on your academic interests and goals after graduation. If you have enjoyed history courses in the past and are interested in learning more about the events and cultures that went into founding the United States, AP® US History could be a good choice for you. You can read more detail in the course overview .
You are not required to take AP® US History to graduate, so if history and analytical writing are not strengths for you, it might be better to choose a different AP® course. It really does depend on your interests and academic strengths.
If college is your goal, taking AP® US History looks good on your transcript and can boost your overall GPA. AP® courses carry more weight than the average high school class, or even honors classes, since they are considered college-level. The combination of AP® classes on your transcript, a higher weighted GPA and a higher class rank can make the difference when applying to colleges with more competitive admissions.
If you are considering taking AP® US History to get a perfect score, you’ll want to be aware of the difficulty level and the percentage of 5s awarded for this exam. Approximately 10-11% of students who take the AP® US History exam typically score a 5 on the exam.
This is comparable to several of the other AP® History exams. The AP® US Government exam awarded 12.9% of students a perfect score in 2019, and AP® European History awarded a 5 to 11.7% of students. AP® World History had the lowest percentage, with only 8.7% of students being awarded a perfect score.
No matter which AP® courses you choose, achieving a perfect score will always be difficult, so you should choose AP® courses based on your interests and academic strengths. You should decide after weighing advice from your parents and guidance counselor, but the ultimate decision should be yours.
How students usually score on the AP® US History exam depends on a variety of factors. First, it is important to note that the AP® US History exam is the second most popular AP® exam, so the trends over the past three years are based on an extremely large sample size. The larger sample size increases the reliability of the data.
Over the last three years, the scoring trends for the AP® US History exam are as follows:
2023 | 10.6% | 14.8% | 22.1% | 22.7% | 29.8% | 47.5% |
2022 | 10.8% | 15.6% | 21.9% | 23.0% | 28.8% | 48.2% |
2021 | 10.1% | 15.9% | 21.2% | 21.6% | 31.2% | 47.2% |
2020 | 13.0% | 19.2% | 26.6% | 20.4% | 21.0% | 58.8% |
2019 | 11.8% | 18.4% | 23.4% | 22.0% | 24.3% | 53.7% |
2018 | 10.7% | 18.4% | 22.7% | 22.7% | 25.5% | 51.8% |
2017 | 10.8% | 17.7% | 22.3% | 23.5% | 25.6% | 50.9% |
Over the last few years, the percentage of students who achieved a passing score has remained mostly stable, with about 50% of students passing the exam with a score of 3 or higher.
For 2023, the mean score on the AP® US History exam was 2.54, which was based on 467,975 total test takers .
Albert has thousands of AP® US History practice multiple-choice questions, free-response questions, and full-length practice tests to try out.
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Advanced Placement (AP)
If you want to do well on the AP US History exam, you have to practice! Practice tests can help you organize your prep logically around areas of the curriculum that are most challenging for you. This article provides a complete list of all official and unofficial AP US History practice test materials available online , as well as detailed instructions and tips on how to use them in your studying.
This section lists all the free official practice tests and questions available online for AP US History. These practice tests and free-response questions come directly from the College Board. You can use the free-response questions to practice writing essays at any point during the school year, but I'd save the full exams for the final stages of your study process .
The closer you get to the AP US History exam, the more important it'll be to understand exactly where your weaknesses lie and which aspects of the test present the most significant challenges. Official materials provide the best practice because the questions are a consistently accurate representation of the content and format of the real test .
There is one full-length, official AP US History practice tests available for download:
Though the practice test comes with answer keys for the multiple-choice part, you'll have to use the official scoring guidelines to score your own free-response answers. You could also ask your AP US History teacher if they'd be willing to grade your practice essays for you.
This test is the very best free practice exam available online, so try to save it for when you're closer to test day and want to get an accurate estimate of your score level.
Free-response questions for AP US History have undergone some minor changes in recent years, but these sample questions will still closely resemble the format of the free-response section of the test that you're taking . You'll also find scoring guidelines here and some sample student responses.
I encourage you to save the most up-to-date questions for later on in the study process so that you can get a better idea of what your scores will look like on the real AP test.
Official AP US History Course and Exam Descriptions offer plenty of multiple-choice questions and free-response questions—just not in the format of a full-length test . You can get some great practice with these materials, especially if you're looking to zero in on specific weaknesses.
Here are the APUSH Exam Descriptions that are currently available online:
There is also this document with sample questions from the 2012 AP US History curriculum framework . With this, you'll get 11 multiple-choice questions, three short-answer questions, one DBQ, and two Long Essay prompts.
This new and innovative tool by the College Board allows you to complete and submit homework for your AP US History class online through a special portal managed by your US History teacher. What's really cool, though, is that your teacher can also assign you official practice questions here as a way to supplement your exam prep.
This document includes a bunch of DBQs from past versions of the AP US History test. This question has remained relatively consistent throughout the years, so I'd say these are totally fine to use as practice materials.
You never know exactly what the documents will look like on the test, so you should practice analyzing them until you feel comfortable with all different types of sources.
The following AP US History tests are not directly from the College Board, but they will still help you become familiar with the material. This section includes links to both full unofficial practice tests and small-scale, topic-specific quizzes. The short quizzes may be useful in the early stages of your studying when you want to target certain eras or avoid questions on material your class hasn't covered yet.
Even though I'm emphasizing online practice materials in this article, it's also worth mentioning that some APUSH prep books include high-quality practice tests that are modeled directly after the newest version of the exam. If you're willing to part with some of that sweet cash money, check out our list of the best review books for AP US History .
This site has nine quizzes, each covering a different time period. The quizzes are each 20 questions long and are multiple choice. They're not a great match for the actual AP US History exam, but they can be good practice for basic dates and facts, especially if there's a time period you're particularly shaky on.
This old-format AP US History practice test was created by an AP teacher. It has 80 multiple-choice questions, each with five answer choices (the current test format has 55 questions and four answer choices for each question, so you'll need to tweak this old exam a lot). It also has one DBQ and some essay prompts that are a little different from the current Long Essay requirement.
Here, you'll find practice quizzes for every topic covered in the US History course. There are multiple-choice questions and for some topics "short answer" questions (there's a drop-down menu of 12 answer choices). These won't help much with the more analytical elements of the test, but if you want to test your factual recall, they'll serve you well.
Albert maintains a series of free, high-quality practice quizzes on every topic covered by the AP US History curriculum (and all have been updated for the 2020 exam format and units). Some resources other fee, other require a paid membership. As you take them, the site will display stats that detail how you're faring on questions of each difficulty level. This should help you figure out the areas in which your memory is shakier.
This site has chapter-by-chapter practice quizzes organized around an old edition of The American Pageant textbook. Questions are multiple choice and true/false. Again, this is more helpful for factual recall than for analysis questions.
This test has just 40 questions, but the website also includes a list of frequently asked AP US History multiple-choice questions that will prepare you better for the exam.
This site contains 32 multiple-choice quizzes, one for each chapter of the 13th edition of the McGraw-Hill US History textbook. The quizzes follow the organization of the textbook, but they can still be useful even if your class uses a different book. Each quiz is titled so you can know what part of US History it's testing you on.
These are a few additional sites that have a bunch of short practice quizzes on every topic in the APUSH curriculum. Use these resources if you're looking for additional questions that will test your basic knowledge of events in US History, or if you're looking for more questions dealing with a specific time period.
Now, you have all sorts of AP US History practice resources—but what's the best way to use them? In this section, we go over exactly how you should be studying with AP practice exams during each semester of the APUSH class.
At this point, you can mostly rely on unofficial AP US History tests and quizzes that only deal with the topics your class has covered. Many of the websites listed above have large collections of questions for each unit of the course. Work on building a strong foundation of knowledge so that you'll be prepared to answer more advanced analytical questions in the future.
You can also look through the official free-response practice questions to find some you feel confident answering based on what you've learned so far. It's never too early to start practicing for the free-response section, especially when it comes to the Document-Based Question, or DBQ.
Writing a coherent argumentative essay that incorporates six or seven different sources in just 50 minutes is a tough skill to master! Try to come up with an essay-writing process that works well for you so that you're a pro by the time the AP test rolls around.
Start taking full AP US History practice tests and assessing your score level midway through the second semester (March is a good time to get the ball rolling on this). By then, you've learned enough of the material for your scores on APUSH practice tests to be fairly accurate predictions of your final AP exam scores.
Since the US History test has undergone various changes in recent years, you won't have many full official practice tests that reflect the current format. Use your limited resources wisely by carefully assessing your performance on each practice test and studying your weak areas before you take additional tests.
We recommend taking and scoring an initial APUSH practice test (with accurate time constraints!) before you do any studying. As you take the test, mark any questions you're unsure about; you will want to study that material later even if you end up guessing correctly. After you score your test, categorize your mistakes by time period and theme to see whether there are any patterns .
Next, start studying the areas that need work . You can turn to unofficial AP US History practice questions here to test your knowledge. You should also practice writing essay outlines so you're more prepared for the free-response section. Once you feel that you've mastered all the AP topics that stumped you on the first test, take another practice test to see whether you've improved.
Decide whether or not you want to repeat this process based on your score on the second test. If you haven't improved much, you should reconsider your prep methods. Spend a longer time checking in with yourself to make sure you've retained information. You can also plan on doing more practice questions between full tests so that you're prepared for both the format and the content tested.
Before we wrap up, here are four critical test-day tips to remember on the day of your US History exam.
The multiple-choice section on AP US History is based on excerpts from historical source materials, or stimuli, so it tests both analytical skills and factual recall. You'll have to read the source material carefully to find the correct answer.
In many cases, several answer choices are historically accurate, but only one will be directly supported by the evidence in the excerpt or illustration. Look for direct connections, and don't make too many assumptions based on your prior knowledge.
When you have to write a timed essay, it can sometimes end up an unfocused, disorganized mess. This is exactly what you don't want to happen on the AP US History exam. Hold yourself back from starting the writing process immediately, even if you're anxious about not finishing in time.
Writing a preliminary outline is critical on this test. Without an outline, you run the risk of rambling and getting stuck when you can't identify a good piece of supporting evidence! It'll be far easier to write your essays if you already have a structure in place that makes sense.
The Document-Based Question is different from other essay questions that you'll encounter on AP tests. In fact, it's probably the only question of its kind that you've ever seen on any test. DBQs can seem intimidating and weird, so make sure you practice them as much as possible before the real exam.
Write notes next to each piece of source material to give yourself a basic idea of what it is and how it could be used to support the points you plan on making in your essay. You should also come up with a strategy for approaching these questions that works well for you before you're face-to-face with the DBQ on test day.
It's a great move to include outside historical references that support your arguments for the DBQ and/or Long Essay. Even though you're given seven sources to use as evidence in the DBQ, making additional outside connections will show that you've really mastered the material .
Just remember to be careful with using outside information. Don't fact-vomit all over the essay with everything you've ever learned about a topic. Structure your thoughts so that any outside information relates directly to the main argument of your essay.
The AP US History practice tests in this article should serve as useful resources for you as you prep for the AP exam and any in-class assessments. Remember that official College Board questions are the highest quality practice materials, so use them wisely. We recommend trying to save most of the official practice resources for when you're closer to the actual APUSH test. You can use unofficial materials throughout the school year to brush up on specific topics in the course.
To recap, here are our four top study tips for AP US History :
With these tips in mind, you can take full advantage of the practice materials, become a master of US History, and show the AP test who's boss!
Are you missing some of your notes from class? We've got links to great notes for AP US History that will give you tons of information on every topic in the course.
How can you know whether your AP US History practice test results are equivalent to a high or low AP score? Learn more about how AP tests are scored in our guide .
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Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.
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Hey, I need some advice! I'll be taking the AP US History exam this year and I need tips to properly prepare for it. What are the best study methods, resources, and tricks you've used to get a good score? I could really use some guidance!
Preparing for the AP US History exam can be a daunting task, but with the right study strategies and resources, you can increase your chances of scoring well. Here are some tips for effective prep:
1. Understand the exam structure: The APUSH exam is divided into four sections: multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, a document-based question, and a long essay question. Familiarize yourself with each section, the question types, and the grading rubric to know what to expect on exam day.
2. Use reputable resources: CollegeBoard releases official course outlines, practice questions, and exam details. Leverage these materials to guide your studies. Additionally, consider using widely-praised review books like The Princeton Review's "Cracking the AP U.S. History Exam" or the Barron's AP U.S. History guide.
3. Analyze historical documents: Practice analyzing primary sources, as this skill is crucial for the document-based question (DBQ) and the long essay question. Work on understanding the main points, historical contexts, and differing perspectives within these sources.
4. Strengthen your historical thinking skills: Focus on the key historical thinking skills assessed by the APUSH exam – contextualization, comparison, causation, continuity and change over time, and argumentation. These skills are necessary for analyzing documents, writing essays, and answering short-answer questions effectively.
5. Create and review timelines: Develop a comprehensive timeline of key events, people, and themes in U.S. History. Regularly review this timeline to help solidify your understanding of the historical chronology and the connections between different events.
6. Leverage practice exams: Take full-length, timed practice exams to simulate the actual test environment. This helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, manage your time effectively, and become more comfortable with the exam format. Make sure to review your answers and understand why you got questions right or wrong.
7. Join study groups: Collaborate with peers in study groups to discuss difficult topics, exchange ideas, quiz each other, and support each other's learning. This can be a powerful way to retain information and stay motivated.
8. Break concepts into smaller chunks: Rather than trying to tackle the entire curriculum at once, break it down into smaller periods and themes. Focus on understanding key concepts, events, and people within each time period before moving onto the next.
9. Watch educational videos: Supplement your textbook reading and class notes with educational videos, like Crash Course, Khan Academy, or Tom Richey's YouTube channels. These videos can help explain complicated concepts in a more digestible format.
10. Stay consistent with your studies: Set aside regular study time each week to review material, practice questions, and complete practice exams. Avoid cramming in the days leading up to the test. Instead, approach your APUSH exam preparation with sustained effort, and give yourself ample time to master the content.
Remember, persistence, planning, and practice are the keys to success on the AP US History exam. Stay dedicated to your goal, and make the best use of the resources and study strategies mentioned above. Good luck!
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Ap® us history (intensive, ncaa approved).
Analyze historic material, synthesize your own ideas, and develop skills to make conclusions on the basis of an informed understanding of history in this course that successfully prepares you for the AP U.S. History exam. You’ll master the ability to interpret documents while learning how to persuasively present your reasoning and evidence in an essay format.
Through synchronous virtual class meetings every other week and one-on-one review sessions you can schedule directly with your instructor, you’ll chart the course of U.S. history from the Constitution all the way down to challenges of the 21st century.
Time Commitment: 8-11 hours per week (1 hour of class time every other week, 8-10 hours of independent work).
Course Overview
What we'll do
We’ll explore U.S. history through textbook readings, projects, directed online activities, and live sessions with an experienced instructor that emphasizes critical thinking and applications. We’ll learn to interpret historical documents, master a significant body of facts, and write critical essays and short-answer responses. Students will analyze historical facts material, synthesize their own ideas, and develop the skills to make conclusions based on a knowledgeable judgment. They will also learn how to present their reasoning and clear evidence persuasively in essay format.
What we’ll learn
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
How we'll measure learning
Instructors evaluate student work using rubrics and provide detailed constructive feedback on each assignment. This course is aligned to the College Board AP U.S. History course skills and contents.
This course is
Register for an Online course by selecting an open class below. If no open classes are listed, then course enrollment is currently closed. Note: You will need to have an active CTY Account to complete registration through MyCTY
This course is not open for enrollment at this time. Please check back later.
Math | Verbal | |
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Required Level | Advanced CTY-Level | or Advanced CTY-Level |
Students must achieve qualifying scores on an advanced assessment to be eligible for CTY programs. If you don’t have qualifying scores, you have several different testing options. We’ll help you find the right option for your situation.
1 prerequisite
Successful completion of a high school history course
Application fee.
Financial Aid
We have concluded our financial aid application review process for Academic Year 2023-2024 Online Programs (Courses with start dates July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024). Our application for Academic Year 2024-2025 Online Programs is expected to open in January. We encourage those who may need assistance in the future to apply for aid as early as possible.
This course requires a computer with high-speed Internet access and an up-to-date web browser such as Chrome or Firefox. You must be able to communicate with the instructor via email. Visit the Technical Requirements and Support page for more details.
This course uses a virtual classroom for instructor-student communication. The classroom works on standard computers with the Zoom desktop client , and on tablets or handhelds that support the Zoom Mobile app . Recorded meetings can only be viewed on a computer with the Zoom desktop client installed. The Zoom desktop client and Zoom Mobile App are both free to download.
Most course lectures may be viewed on mobile devices, but some assignments and quizzes must be completed on a desktop or laptop computer.
This course uses Respondus LockDown Browser proctoring software for designated assessments. LockDown Browser is a client application that is installed to a local computer. Visit the Respondus website for system requirements .
Students may interact in online classrooms and meetings that include peers, instructors, and occasional special guests.
Courses may include videos from the web. Recommendations or links at the end of videos are provided by the video host and are not CTY recommendations.
Virtual class meetings may be recorded for students to review.
After a you complete a course, your projects may be used to illustrate work for future students.
You will need to create an account on a third-party site to access course resources.
Our online History and Social Science courses include the study of economics, U.S. history and government, world history, and psychology. Reading and writing are at the heart of all our offerings. Courses for older students cover material typically found in introductory college-level classes, while younger scholars enjoy studying world history and geography. All courses are guided by expert instructors who connect with you through virtual class meetings and interactive review workshops. Whichever course you choose, you’ll gain important insights into the inner workings of government, world civilizations, global culture, and the human mind.
In the newly created Preparation for AP World History and Geography Eastern Hemisphere and Preparation for AP World History and Geography Western Hemisphere courses, students explore fascinating historical concepts of the past through historical analysis, engaging discussions, and dynamic live sessions. Students meet with their instructor and peers each week to investigate transformative world events and discuss their thoughts with one another. Taking these courses will help students prepare for the challenge of AP History courses.
As an educator I believe that my job is to make learning easy. To that end, I always try to present the material in a way that is as easy for my students to understand as humanly possible. In doing so, students are inspired to want to learn because they see that effort gets results.
I enjoy building relationships with students, facilitating their learning, and helping them achieve a refined understanding of the complex world around us. Using a high energy, enthusiastic approach to learning allows me to deeply connect with my students while having lots of fun!
History and Social Sciences Instructor
Teaching AP World History: Modern , I'm frequently astonished at how natural it is for students from both the United States and across the world to meet and learn about a global subject from not just their instructor but, just as importantly, so many different student perspectives!
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The AP U.S. History exam gives students a choice between two long-essay questions. You chose ONE! A thesis statement is required. You will have 35 minutes to answer the one question you select. Makes up 15 % of final exam score. Graded on a 0-6 point scale.
The second part of Section II of the AP exam contains three long essay questions—you must respond to one. The AP U.S. History long essay question assesses your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytical manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would.
Recommended time: 40 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score. Students explain and analyze significant issues in U.S. history. Students develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence. The question choices focus on the same skills and the same reasoning process (e.g., comparison, causation, or continuity and change), but students choose ...
The AP US History exam is one of the longer AP tests, and it has four different types of questions: Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Document-Based Question (DBQ), and Long Essay. The main thread running through this test is an emphasis on analyzing historical evidence and applying outside knowledge in context.
Step 1: Analyze the Prompt. Each long essay question will ask you to "evaluate the extent" of some factor in American history. Since you are evaluating, you will need to develop an argument that addresses the prompt. Make sure to read all three prompts carefully. Think of the evidence you could use and the argument you could develop in ...
AP® U.S. History 2021 Scoring Guidelines. Row D Analysis and Reasoning (0-2 points) 0 points. Does not meet the criteria for one point. 1 point. Uses historical reasoning (e.g., comparison, causation, continuity and change) to frame or structure an argument that addresses the prompt. 2 points.
These sample exam questions were originally included in the AP U.S. History Curriculum Framework, published in fall 2012. The AP U.S. History Course and Exam Description, which is out now, includes that curriculum framework, along with a new, unique set of exam questions. Because we want teachers to have access to all available questions that ...
Score Distributions. Introduction and Preface. Short Answer Question 1. Short Answer Question 2. Short Answer Question 3. Document-Based Question 1. Long Essay Question 2. Long Essay Question 3. Download free-response questions from past AP United States History exams, along with scoring guidelines, sample responses, and scoring distributions.
Step 1: Take a Full-Length Practice Test. Time: 3 hours 15 minutes. The first step is to take a full, official AP US History practice test under realistic conditions. Time yourself in accordance with the actual test and write out both essays (DBQ and Long Essay) completely.
AP United States History Exam Tips. The following strategies for answering the free-response questions were developed by faculty consultants to help you on exam day. Answering essay questions generally requires a good deal of training and practice. Students too often begin to write immediately, creating a string of disconnected, poorly planned ...
There are four types of questions on the AP U.S. history exam. This includes 55 multiple-choice questions, three short-answer questions, one document-based question (DBQ), and one long essay question (LEQ). You will have 95 minutes for the first section, which includes the multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions, and 100 minutes ...
AP U.S. History Teacher Survey: unweighted points to earn a 5 Standard Setting Panel: unweighted points to earn a Multiple-Choice 49 39 Short Answer 1 3 2.7 2.5 Short Answer 2 3 2.3 2.5 Short Answer 3 3 2.6 2.5 DBQ 7 5.3 5.0 Long Essay 6 4.7 4.5 TABLE 2: AP U.S. History points required to earn a 3, effective in May 2017 Raw points possible
The AP U.S. History Exam will test your understanding of the historical concepts covered in the course units, as well as your ability to analyze primary and secondary sources and identify patterns and connections that can support a historical interpretation. Exam Duration. 3hrs 15mins.
Section II of the APUSH exam consists of two types of free-response questions.Part A consists of one document-based question (DBQ), and Part B consists of one long essay question (LEQ).For the DBQ, students have 60 minutes to answer, including 15 minutes for reading, whereas for the LEQ, students get just 40 minutes to complete it.. You should take at least one AP U.S. History practice test ...
Use these sample AP U.S. History essays to get ideas for your own AP essays. These essays are examples of good AP-level writing. 1. The '50s and '60s: Decades of Prosperity and Protest (DBQ) The 1950s were characterized as a prosperous and conformist decade for many reasons. The first and most widespread of these reasons was the development ...
Unit 7: Period 7: 1890-1945. You'll examine America's changing society and culture and the causes and effects of the global wars and economic meltdown of this period. Topics may include: Debates over imperialism. The Progressive movement. World War I. Innovations in communications and technology in the 1920s.
The College Board requires your AP teacher to cover certain topics in the AP U.S. History course. As you complete your APUSH review, make sure you are familiar with the following topics: Period 1 (1491-1607) : Native American Societies Before European Contact; European Exploration in the Americas; Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and ...
25.6%. 50.9%. Over the last few years, the percentage of students who achieved a passing score has remained mostly stable, with about 50% of students passing the exam with a score of 3 or higher. For 2023, the mean score on the AP® US History exam was 2.54, which was based on 467,975 total test takers.
2006- #2: Evaluate the extent to which the ratification of the US Constitution was a turning point for the traditional American political elite. 2005 - #1: Evaluate the extent to which the American Revolution changed the political, economic, and social aspects of American society from 1775 to 1800.
ESSAY QUESTION 1. Advanced Placement is being redesigned to test more conceptual understanding. These are draft examples of the types of questions that will be found on the new U.S. history test ...
Official AP US History Practice Exams and Questions. This section lists all the free official practice tests and questions available online for AP US History. These practice tests and free-response questions come directly from the College Board. You can use the free-response questions to practice writing essays at any point during the school ...
Preparing for the AP US History exam can be a daunting task, but with the right study strategies and resources, you can increase your chances of scoring well. Here are some tips for effective prep: 1. Understand the exam structure: The APUSH exam is divided into four sections: multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, a document-based question, and a long essay question.
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Analyze historic material, synthesize your own ideas, and develop skills to make conclusions on the basis of an informed understanding of history in this course that successfully prepares you for the AP U.S. History exam. You'll master the ability to interpret documents while learning how to persuasively present your reasoning and evidence in an essay format.