Syllabus

AP United States History

Mr. Donlon

Email: tdonlon@shufsd.org

Classroom: 507

Welcome to AP United States History! This is an introductory college-level U.S. history course. Students cultivate their understanding of U.S. history from c. 1491 CE to the present through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like American and national identity; work, exchange, and technology; geography and the environment; migration and settlement; politics and power; America in the world; American and regional culture; and social structures. 

This course is divided into nine historical periods of time. Below you will find a breakdown of how these periods of time will be weighted on the AP Exam. 

Grading Policies & Weighting 

Exams/Quizzes/Essays - 70%

You will be assessed in a variety of ways throughout this course to reflect the AP Exam. In addition to multiple-choice questions, you will be required to write DBQs, LEQs, and SAQs. These acronyms will become more familiar to you as we move forward.

Homework - 15%

Homework is due on the day & time in which they are assigned. Late work will be deducted 10 points each day it is late, after two days, late work will not be accepted. Be mindful of your time as you manage your other responsibilities. 

Most homework assignments will require you to handwrite your work and turn it in via Google Classroom. The AP Exam is handwritten– it is imperative that you are prepared to do your best.

Participation - 15%

Class Expectations:

• Limit cell phone use during class

• Be on time

• You are responsible for your OWN work (cheating is unacceptable)

• Be respectful

• Bring your Chromebooks charged

Supplies:

• Chromebook

• Loose Leaf paper & either a binder or folder to keep handwritten work

• Pencils and blue or black pens

• The textbook and supplemental readings will be provided to you digitally on our Google Classroom page.

Textbook: Advanced Placement Edition United States History, 2018, AMSCO

Absences & Extra Help:

If you have an excused absence on the day of an assessment you will have 5 days to make it up.  Unexcused absences disqualify you from making up missing work. 

I offer extra help in the morning and after school (by appointment), but ask that you email me the day before to let me know. You can email me if you have any questions as well.

End of year/important dates:

• AP Exam: Friday, May 10th, 2024

• U.S History Regent Exam: Thursday, Tuesday 18th, 2024

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**Here is a breakdown of the AP Exam**

APUSH Exam: Format, Timing, Scoring

Section IA: Multiple Choice (MC)

55 Questions | 55 Minutes | 40% of Exam Score

• MC Questions will be in sets of 3 or 4 questions per document.

• Questions may cover all “periods” (units) of the course: 1491 (just before European contact) through 2001. 

• Documents will be primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps.

• MC Questions will require you to analyze historical texts (primary sources like speeches, newspaper articles, etc.), historians’ interpretations (secondary sources with historians evaluating/interpreting historical issues), and historical evidence (these might be visuals--graphs, data, political cartoons, photos, etc. and are most likely to be primary sources).

• BE CAREFUL, the MC questions are tricky!

• You have ONE minute per question.  

***To guarantee a score of 5, try to aim for 80% on the MC.  65% puts you in the 4 range; 55% puts you in the 3 range.  But keep in mind that if multiple choice is your weakness,  60% of your score is the writing parts.***   

Section IB: Short Answer (SAQ)

3 Questions | 40 Minutes (approx. 13 minutes per question) | 20% of Exam Score

In the short-answer (SAQ) section, you’ll write answers to questions in your test booklet. Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.

For Questions 1 and 2 (no choice; you answer both), you will be provided with some sort of document or visual(s). You may be asked to

• Analyze historical developments described in the sources  (causes, effects)

• Put those historical developments and processes in context

• Make connections between those historical developments and processes

• You might have to explain different historical interpretations (2 historians with different ideas) and give historical evidence supporting these different interpretations

The Breakdown of the time periods in the questions: 

• Question 1 is required, includes 1 or 2 secondary sources (if it is 2, it will probably be 2 historians with different interpretations of the same event or development), and focuses on historical developments between 1754 and 1980.

• Question 2 is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments between 1754 and 1980.

• The 3rd question:  You will have to choose ONE from two options.   Question 3 will focus on historical developments between 1491 and 1877.  Question 4 will focus on historical developments between 1865 and 2001.  No sources (documents) are included for either Question 3 or Question 4.    NOTE:  Question 3 is the only SAQ that could be very EARLY in history and Question 4 is the only SAQ that might be very LATE in history. …let me repeat:  this is the only written part of the exam where you may have to respond to ONE question that is very early OR one question that is very late!!!

To maximize your SAQ score:

•  Be as specific as possible & answer in complete sentences.  The SAQs do not have partial credit.  You either get awarded 1 point or 0 points for each part of the question.  So do NOT be vague! Generally, you should try to answer each part of the question in 3 sentences.  Use the Identify, Explain, Analyze format (one thing is, this means that, this is important because).  Be careful NOT to ramble on, you might make mistakes that turn a “correct” answer into an “incorrect” answer.  

• PLAN YOUR RESPONSES—you should have plenty of time on this part of the test (13 minutes per question).  Read all parts of the question before you start your answer  (each question is probably going to have 3 parts) and make sure you know what you want to say for each part of the question. This is VITAL as the questions often build upon your previous answer. 

• SAQS on visual documents/primary sources (maps, images, graphs):  you might have to explain the cause and/or effect of the information shown in the visual.

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Section IIA: Document-Based Question (DBQ) 

1 Question | 1 Hour  (includes 15-minute reading period*) | 25% of Exam Score

• The DBQ prompt can be on anything from 1754 (the beginning of the French and Indian War) to 1980 (the election of Reagan).  This is “period 1” through “period 8” in my review material.

• They will provide 7 documents offering various perspectives on historical development. Some documents will be text, some will be graphs/data, and some will be visuals (images or maps). 

• Your DBQ essay will assess/analyze these documents as historical evidence and will develop an argument supported by an analysis of this historical evidence

• You must describe at least 6 of the 7 documents in your essay AND apply them to your argument (I suggest you describe and apply all of them)..

• HIPP: You must “source” 3 of the 7 documents by explaining the relevance of either the document’s historical situation, intended audience, purpose or point of view.  I suggest you do this for 4 of the documents. 

• *NOTE: It is unclear to me whether or not the 15-minute “reading period” will be enforced...in other words, they have not specifically stated whether or not you are actually allowed to begin writing your essay before the 15 minutes end.  In the past, they did not enforce it.

The APUSH DBQ Rubric has a total of 7 points:

• 1 point for contextualizing the question (this means at least 3 sentences worth of background info to the time period or the theme of the prompt)

• 1 point for a provable thesis that answers the prompt and addresses its complexity (this means that the prompt is a question and your thesis is the answer).  Your thesis must be in your intro AND you should REPEAT it in your conclusion.  If they do not see a provable, strong thesis in your intro, they will skim down to your conclusion.  Oftentimes, after writing an essay, you may decide to refine (and strengthen) your thesis.  So if it’s not perfect in your intro, make sure it is perfect in your conclusion.  

2 points for correctly describing (summarizing) the content of at least 6 docs of the 7 (without quoting them) and using them to prove your thesis (applying them to your argument).   This means you briefly identify/explain what the doc is saying and then explain how it fits into your argument.  I suggest you describe and apply all 7 docs (in case you misinterpret one of them).  The breakdown is 1 point for describing or summarizing and 1 point for applying them to your thesis.