THEMES

The AP United States History Course and Exam are looking to develop student understanding and skill in seven specific themes.

1. Identity

2. Work, Exchange, and Technology

3. Peopling

4. Politics and Power

5. America in the World

6. Environment and Geography

7. Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture

HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS

Students need to develop specific skills in looking at and analyzing history. Students are put in the position of acting as “apprentice historians.”

1. Chronological Reasoning

• Historical Causation

• Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time

• Periodization

2. Comparison and Contextualization

• Comparison

• Contextualization

3. Drafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence

• Historical Argumentation

• Appropriate Use of Historical Evidence

4. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis

• Interpretation

• Synthesis