EXAM FORMAT
Historical Periods
1 1491-1607 5%
2 1607-1754 10%
3 1754-1800 12%
4 1800-1848 10%
5 1844-1877 13%
6 1865-1898 13%
7 1890-1945 17%
8 1945-1980 15%
9 1980-Present 5%
Section I. 1 hour, 40 min
1. Multiple Choice- 55 questions 55 minutes
2. Short answer- 4 Questions, 45 minutes
Section II. 1 hour, 35 min
1. DBQ- 1 hour- 15 min reading, 45 min writing
2. Long Answer- answer 1 out of 2, 35 min
Exam Score Breakdown
Multiple Choice Questions 40%
Short Answer- 20%
DBQ- 25%
Long Essay- 15%
OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
Section I: Thematic Learning Objectives. In this section, the framework presents a set of learning objectives, organized by seven major themes, that describe what students should know and be able to do by the end of the AP U.S. History course. These represent the major historical understandings that colleges and universities want AP students to have developed in order to merit placement out of the introductory college U.S. history survey course. Students should use a range of historical thinking skills to investigate the thematic learning objectives.
The themes are:
1. Identity
2. Work, Exchange and Technology
3. Peopling
4. Politics and Power
5. America in the World
6. Environment and geography- physical and human
7. Ideas, Beliefs and Culture
Section II: Historical Thinking Skills. The curriculum framework begins by describing the historical thinking skills that are central to the study and practice of history. These are organized into four types of skills: chronological reasoning, comparison and contextualization, crafting historical arguments from historical evidence, and historical interpretation and synthesis. Teachers should develop these historical thinking skills with students on a regular basis over the span of the course.
Skill Type
I. Chronological Reasoning
II. Comparison and Contextualization
III. Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
IV. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
Historical Thinking Skill
1. Historical Causation
2. Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
3. Periodization
4. Comparison
5. Contextualization
6. Historical Argumentation
7. Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
8. Interpretation
9. Synthesis
Section III: The Concept Outline. The required course content for each historical period of U.S. history is presented in a concept outline.
Key Concept 1.1: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America developed a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and each other.
Key Concept 1.2: European overseas expansion resulted in the Columbian Exchange, a series of interactions and adaptations among societies across the Atlantic.
Key Concept 1.3: Contacts among American Indians, Africans, and Europeans challenged the worldviews of each group.
Key Concept 2.1: Differences in imperial goals, cultures, and the North American environments that different empires confronted led Europeans to develop diverse patterns of colonization.
Key Concept 2.2: European colonization efforts in North America stimulated intercultural contact and intensified conflict between the various groups of colonizers and native peoples.
Key Concept 2.3: The increasing political, economic, and cultural exchanges within the “Atlantic World” had a profound impact on the development of colonial societies in North America.
Key Concept 3.1: Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to new conflicts among the British government, the North American colonists, and American Indians, culminating in the creation of a new nation, the United States.
Key Concept 3.2: In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of government, as well as other new religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems across the Atlantic World.
Key Concept 3.3: Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised questions about boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to contests over the creation of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, national identity.
PERIOD 4: 1800–1848
Key Concept 4.1: The United States developed the world’s first modern mass democracy and celebrated a new national culture, while Americans sought to define the nation’s democratic ideals and to reform its institutions to match them.
Key Concept 4.2: Developments in technology, agriculture, and commerce precipitated profound changes in U.S. settlement patterns, regional identities, gender and family relations, political power, and distribution of consumer goods.
Key Concept 4.3: U.S. interest in increasing foreign trade, expanding its national borders, and isolating itself from European conflicts shaped the nation’s foreign policy and spurred government and private initiatives.
PERIOD 5: 1844–1877
Key Concept 5.1: The United States became more connected with the world as it pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere and emerged as the destination for many migrants from other countries.
Key Concept 5.2: Intensified by expansion and deepening regional divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural, and political issues led the nation into civil war.
Key Concept 5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested Reconstruction of the South settled the issues of slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
PERIOD 6: 1865–1898
Key Concept 6.1: The rise of big business in the United States encouraged massive migrations and urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and renewed debates over U.S. national identity.
Key Concept 6.2: The emergence of an industrial culture in the United States led to both greater opportunities for, and restrictions on, immigrants, minorities, and women.
Key Concept 6.3: The “Gilded Age” witnessed new cultural and intellectual movements in tandem with political debates over economic and social policies.
PERIOD 7: 1890–1945
Key Concept 7.1: Governmental, political, and social organizations struggled to address the effects of large-scale industrialization, economic uncertainty, and related social changes such as urbanization and mass migration.
Key Concept 7.2: A revolution in communications and transportation technology helped to create a new mass culture and spread “modern” values and ideas, even as cultural conflicts between groups increased under the pressure of migration, world wars, and economic distress.
Key Concept 7.3: Global conflicts over resources, territories, and ideologies renewed debates over the nation’s values and its role in the world while simultaneously propelling the United States into a dominant international military, political, cultural, and economic position.
PERIOD 8: 1945–1980
Key Concept 8.1: The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by asserting and attempting to defend
a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.
Key Concept 8.2: Liberalism, based on anticommunism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of governmental and especially federal power to achieve social goals at home, reached its apex in the mid- 1960s and generated a variety of political and cultural responses.
Key Concept 8.3: Postwar economic, demographic, and technological changes had a far-reaching impact on American society, politics, and the environment.
PERIOD 9: 1980–Present
Key Concept 9.1: A new conservatism grew to prominence in U.S. culture and politics, defending traditional social values and rejecting liberal views about the role of government.
Key Concept 9.2: The end of the Cold War and new challenges to U.S. leadership in the world forced the nation to redefine its foreign policy and global role.
Key Concept 9.3: Moving into the 21st century, the nation continued to experience challenges stemming from social, economic, and demographic changes.