Advanced Placement United States History

About the Advanced Placement Program^{® (AP®)}

The Advanced Placement Program® enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies — with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both — while still in high school. AP Exams are given each year in May. Students who earn a qualifying score on an AP Exam are typically eligible to receive college credit and/or placement into advanced courses in college. Every aspect of AP course and exam development is the result of collaboration between AP teachers and college faculty. They work together to develop AP courses and exams, set scoring standards, and score the exams. College faculty review every AP teacher’s course syllabus.

AP United States History Course Overview

AP United States History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about U.S. history from approximately 1491 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Seven themes of equal importance — identity; peopling; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; environment and geography; and ideas, beliefs, and culture — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in different times and places.

AP United States History Course Content

The AP U.S. History course is structured around themes and concepts in nine different chronological periods from approximately 1491 to the present:

• Period 1: 1491–1607
• Period 2: 1607–1754
• Period 3: 1754–1800
• Period 4: 1800–1848
• Period 5: 1844–1877
• Period 6: 1865–1898
• Period 7: 1890–1945
• Period 8: 1945–1980
• Period 9: 1980–Present

Within each period, key concepts organize and prioritize historical developments. Themes allow students to make connections and identify patterns and trends over time.

Key Themes: The course is structured both chronologically and thematically. The themes include:

1. American and National Identity (NAT)

2. Politics and Power (POL)

3. Work, Exchange, and Technology (WXT)

4. Culture and Society (CUL)

5. Migration and Settlement (MIG)

6. Geography and the Environment (GEO)

7. America in the World (WOR)

Historical Thinking Skills

The historical thinking skills provide opportunities for students to learn to think like historians, most notably to analyze evidence about the past and to create persuasive historical arguments. Focusing on these practices enables teachers to create learning opportunities for students that emphasize the conceptual and interpretive nature of history rather than simply memorization of events in the past. Skill types and examples for each are listed below.

I. Chronological Reasoning

1. Compare causes and/or effects, including between short-term and long-term effects
2. Analyze and evaluate historical patterns of continuity and change over time
3. Connect patterns of continuity and change over time to larger historical processes or themes
4. Analyze and evaluate competing models of periodization of American history

II. Comparison and Contextualization

1. Compare related historical developments and processes across place, time, and/or different societies, or within one society
2. Explain and evaluate multiple and differing perspectives on a given historical phenomenon
3. Explain and evaluate ways in which specific historical phenomena, events, or processes connect to broader regional, national, or global processes occurring at the same time

III. Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence

1. Analyze commonly accepted historical arguments and explain how an argument has been constructed from historical evidence
2. Construct convincing interpretations through analysis of disparate, relevant historical evidence
3. Evaluate and synthesize conflicting historical evidence to construct persuasive historical arguments
4. Analyze features of historical evidence such as audience, purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and context germane to the evidence considered
5. Based on analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, make supportable inferences and draw appropriate conclusions

IV. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis

1. Draw appropriately on ideas and methods from different fieldsof inquiry or disciplines
2. Analyze diverse historical interpretations
3. Apply insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the present
4. Evaluate how historians’ perspectives influence their interpretations and how models of historical interpretation change over time

ABOUT THE EXAM

• The AP U.S. History Exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes long and has a multiple choice/short answer section and a free response section. Each section is divided into two parts.

Section I — Part A: Multiple Choice | 55 Questions | 55 minutes | 40% of Exam Score

• Questions appear in sets of 2 to 5.
• You’ll be asked to analyze historical texts, interpretations, and evidence.
• Primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps are included.

Section I — Part B: Short Answer | 3 Questions | 40 minutes | 20% of Exam Score

• Analyze historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history.
• Questions provide opportunities for you to demonstrate what you know best.
• Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
• You’ll have a choice between two options for the final required short- answer question, each one focusing on a different time period.
  • Question 1 (required): periods 3-8
  • Question 2 (required): periods 3-8
  • Choose between Question 3, periods 1-5, and Question 4, periods 6-9

Section II — Part A: Document Based | 1 Question | 60 minutes (includes a 15-minute reading period) | 25% of Exam Score

• Assess written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.
• Develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
• The document-based question will focus on topics from periods 3-8.

Section II — Part B: Long Essay | 1 Question | 40 minutes | 15% of Exam Score

• Explain and analyze significant issues in U.S. history.
• Develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
• You’ll select from one of three essay choices, each focusing on the same theme and skill but different time periods:
  • Option 1: period 1-3
  • Option 2: periods 4-6
  • Option 3: periods 7-9

Click the link below to see the AP United States History course and exam description from College Board.

https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-us-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf

CELL PHONES & OTHER DEVICES – Once the tardy bell rings to start class, all cellular devices should be off and out of sight! No other electronic devices should be out during class, unless permission from the teacher has been given. Failure to adhere to this policy will result the first time in phone confiscation for the rest of class. The second offense, the student will deal with administration. STUDENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE OR HAVE IN SIGHT ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE (unless pre-approved by an administrator or Mr. Knight) DURING ANY TEST, QUIZ, OR ASSESSMENT, INCLUDING A CELL PHONE, LAPTOP, i-WATCH, ETC. YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE A 0/F IF ANY ARE OUT DURING ANY ASSESSMENT! NO QUESTIONS ASKED!