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Exam Overview
It is an expectation that students enrolled in AP U.S. History will take the AP U.S. History Exam in May. Written by a committee of college and university faculty and experienced AP teachers, the AP Exam is the culmination of the AP course and provides students with the opportunity to earn credit and/or placement in college based on the score they achieve on the exam. Colleges and universities set their own criteria for how many credits students may earn based on their exam score
Exam Format
The AP U.S. History Exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes long and includes both a 95-minute multiple-choice/short answer section and a 100-minute free-response section. Each section is divided into two parts, as shown in the table below. Student performance on these four parts will be compiled and weighted to determine an AP Exam score.
How Student Learning Is Assessed on the AP Exam
The following are general parameters about relationships between the components of the curriculum framework and the questions that will be asked of students on the AP Exam:
Students' achievement of the thematic learning objectives will be assessed throughout the exam.
Students use of the historical thinking skills will be assessed throughout the exam.
Students' understanding of all nine periods of U.S. history will be assessed throughout the exam.
No document-based question or long easy question will focus exclusively on events prior to 1607 (Period 1) or after 1980 (Period 9).
Students will always write at least one essay-- in either the document-based question or long essay-- that examines long-term developments that span historical time periods.
The coverage of the periods in the exam as a whole will reflect the approximate period weightings.
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