AP United States History Exam
Mirrored from www.collegeboard.com/ap
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When the first AP U.S. History Exam -- originally known as "American History" -- was given in 1956, 204 students took the exam. Nearly 100 of those students earned an AP grade of 3. Today, U.S. History is one of the most popular AP Exams, with 206,241 students taking the exam in 2001 and 50.9 percent earning an AP grade of 3 or higher.
Exam Content
Exam Format
Multiple-Choice Questions
Free-Response Questions
Exam Content
The U.S. History Exam tests knowledge and skills included in a full-year introductory course in United States history from the first European explorations of the Americas to the present. The exam covers political institutions and behavior, public policy, social and economic change, diplomacy and international relations, and cultural and intellectual development.
The multiple-choice section tests students' factual knowledge, breadth of preparation, and knowledge-based analytical skills. The majority of multiple-choice questions are on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Approximately one sixth of the questions deal with the period from the first European explorations through 1789, one half with the period 1790 through 1914, and one third with the period 1915 to the present. There may be a few multiple-choice questions on the period since 1980. Political institutions and behavior and public policy account for approximately 35 percent of the questions and social change for approximately another 35 percent. The remaining questions are divided between the areas of diplomacy and international relations (15 percent); economic developments (10 percent); and cultural and intellectual developments (10 percent).
The document-based question emphasizes the ability to analyze and synthesize historical data and assess verbal, quantitative, or pictorial materials as historical evidence. The DBQ for the 2002 exam will fall in the period 1810 to 1860. Standard essay questions may require students to relate developments in different areas, analyze common themes in different time periods, or compare individual or group experiences that reflect socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, or gender differences.
Exam Format
The exam is three hours and five minutes long. In Section I, students answer 80 multiple-choice questions in 55 minutes; in Section II, they are given 15 minutes to plan, 45 minutes to write an essay on the document-based question (DBQ), and 70 minutes to answer two standard essay questions.
| % of Grade | Number of Questions | Time Allotted | Reading Period | |
| Section I | 50 | 80 | 55 minutes | |
| Section II | 50 | 15 minutes | ||
| Part A | 1 Essay | 45 minutes | ||
| Part B | 1 Essay | 35 minutes | include 5-minute reading period | |
| Part B | 1 Essay | 35 minutes | include 5-minute reading period |
Multiple-Choice Questions
For your convenience, we have put together a pdf file of several multiple-choice questions for U.S. History.
Multiple-choice questions for United States History
Free-Response Questions
Below are the free-response questions (FRQs) from the past three AP U.S. History Exams, and for each, the rubrics used to score the essays at the AP Reading, sample student responses, and commentary on those responses.
| Questions | Scoring Guidelines | Sample Student Responses | Scoring Commentary | |
| 2001 | All Questions | Scoring Guidelines | Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4 Sample Response Q5 |
Scoring Commentary |
| 2000 | All Questions | Scoring Guidelines | Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4 Sample Response Q5 |
Scoring Commentary |
| 1999 | All Questions | Scoring Guidelines |
Exam Tips
Read and follow the directions carefully.
Your grades will benefit from following directions, but suffer if you don't. If the directions state, "Answer one of the two questions in Part B and one of the two questions in Part C" and you answer both Part B questions, the grade received on the exam will probably not reflect accurately what you know about the topics. Phrases like "All of the following... EXCEPT" or "Which of the following did NOT..." contain critical words. If an essay asks for two examples, then you need to give two. You must pay attention to them, or you will not respond correctly to the question.
First carefully analyze the question, thinking through what is being asked, and separate out the elements that must be addressed in the response. Some questions are best answered by first showing how a position or point of view could be supported and then indicating the ways in which it could be refuted. Others require you to consider all the similarities between people or events, and then to think of all the ways they are different.
Fill in those bubbles for the multiple-choice questions carefully.
Most high school students are familiar with filling in the circles or ovals on machine-scored answer sheets. But even the most experienced test-takers can make the critical mistake of getting responses out of sequence, for example, marking an answer for question five, when they meant to respond to question six. Such an error can happen easily when you skip a question. So that this doesn't happen to you, put a mark in your exam booklet books (not on the answer sheets) when you bypass a question. Check frequently to be sure that the number of the question on your answer sheet corresponds to the number of the question in your exam booklet.
Be aware of the time available throughout the test, and concentrate on questions you can respond to best.
Virtually all classroom and standardized tests have time limits. Skilled test-takers make a quick estimate of the amount of time the various questions or sections of a test will require, stay aware of the time available throughout the test, and concentrate on questions they can respond to best. On the multiple-choice section, note the number of questions and the time allotted for them.
Use all of the exam time.
Use all the time available for the exam. If you reach the end of the test with time to spare, go back to the questions you skipped, or review your essays.
Random guessing will get you nowhere.
Educated guessing, however, can be beneficial. AP Exams have a scoring adjustment to correct for random guessing. For questions with five answer choices, one-fourth of a point is subtracted for each wrong answer. Therefore, if you know nothing that helps you eliminate even one of the multiple-choice options, you probably won't benefit by randomly choosing an answer. But if you are fairly sure that even one of the options is wrong, it may be worthwhile to answer the question. Of course, if you can eliminate two or three options as probably incorrect, your chances of gaining credit become even greater.
Use the reading time to plan your essays.
Remember that the time provided to do the free-response questions is limited. Use the mandatory 15-minute reading period and the five minutes suggested planning time for each standard essay to plan your answers carefully -- to think about the major points you want to make and the evidence they can include to support these statements. Before you start writing your essays, be sure you understand what the essay question is asking you to do.
Support essays with specifics.
Write enough to answer questions fully and to make your ideas convincing by supporting them with specific details. Long answers are not necessarily the best answers, but answers that are very sketchy or filled with unsupported generalizations do not receive high scores. In the time allowed for each question, should be able to write several substantial paragraphs and to develop your critical analysis at some length.
Make notes and/or make an outline of your answer in the exam booklet.
Because of the time limitation in the free-response section, you don't have time to write rough drafts and then recopy answers. However, you can use the space provided in the exam booklets to make notes and/or to make an outline of your answer. As you write your essays, cross out words and sentences, and even move a part from one section to another. Save a little time for reviewing your essays so that you can edit or revise them slightly.
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