AP African American Studies

INTRODUCTION

AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with authentic and varied sources. Students explore key topics that extend from early African kingdoms to the ongoing challenges and achievements of the contemporary moment. Given the interdisciplinary character of African American studies, students in the course will develop skills across multiple fields, with an emphasis on developing historical, literary, visual, and data analysis skills. This course foregrounds a study of the diversity of Black communities in the United States within the broader context of Africa and the African diaspora.

NOTE: AP African American Studies currently still a pilot course. This means that it will be weighted as an honors class and there is very limited information about its AP Exam so far.

COURSE PATHWAY

There are no pre-requisites for taking this course. This class is an elective credit, meaning you do not have to take it to graduate high school. This course is strictly limited to Seniors since it is still a pilot course.

COURSE BREAKDOWN

AP African American Studies Units.pdf

Above, you can access a more in-depth overview of the AP African American Studies units.

AP African American Studies consists of 4 different units:

Origin of African Diaspora
Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance
The Practice of Freedom
Movements and Debates

Throughout this course, students are expected to analyze sources, apply disciplinary knowledge, and create well-supported arguments.

To accompany the AP Exam, students also have to complete a final project.

Each unit is weighed slightly differently on the AP Exam, as shown to the left.

FINAL PROJECT

There is a Final Project for AP African American Studies that all students must complete. Below, you can access information and directions about what this final project will look like.

AP African American Studies Final Project.pdf

EXAM OVERVIEW

NOTE: Since AP African American Studies is still a pilot course, it is currently unclear how much each section of the exam and the Final Project will weigh.

SECTION I - MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

There are 60 multiple choice questions in the first section of the exam. You will have a total of 70 minutes to complete this section of the exam. You will be given various stimuli such as primary, secondary, data, and visual sources to analyze.

SECTION II - FREE RESPONSE QUESTIONS

In this section, you will be given 4 FRQ (free-response question) questions in which you will have to write a response to answer each part.

FRQ 1: Text-Based Source
FRQ 2: Non-Text-Based Source
FRQ 3: No Source
FRQ 4: No Source

You will have a total of 80 minutes to complete this section of the exam. It is recommended that you use 20 minutes for each FRQ.

REVIEW MATERIALS

Coming Soon...