AP® United States HistoryAn Overview of the Course and Exam
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► Responds to appeals fromteachers for clarified learningobjectives, increasedflexibility and depth
► Embraces college-levelemphasis on historicalthinking skills
► Aligns the expectations for all 3 AP history courses
► Encourages students to “think like historians”
Rationale for Course Design
A Tour of the AP® U.S. History Curriculum Framework
The AP USH Curriculum Framework
Nine historical thinking skills
Seven course themes
Key concepts for each of nine periods
Learning Objectives for the course as a whole
Major elements:
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Learning Objectives
Learning Objective
Theme
Skill
An overarching idea for the course as a whole
Ways that historians investigate and reason about this phenomenon
Specific events in U.S. History where we can study this theme in context
Key Concept
Statement about what students should know and be able to do to regarding this overarching idea to succeed on the AP Exam
Key ConceptKey
ConceptKey Concept
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Learning Objectives
Learning
Objective
Theme
Skill
Identity
Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
e.g., Period 5, Key Concept 5.1.IEnthusiasm for U.S. territorial expansion, fueled by economic and national security interests and supported by claims of U.S. racial and cultural superiority, resulted in war, the opening of new markets, acquisition of new territory, and increased ideological conflicts.
Key Concep
t
Students are able to assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the United States in the 19th century.
Key Concep
t
Key Concep
t
Key Concep
t
Identity
Work, Exchange
and Technology
Peopling
Politics and Power
Americain the World
Environment
and Geography
Ideas, Beliefs,
andCulture
Course Themes7
Defining Course Themes
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Overarching “big ideas” that structure the course as a whole:
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Learning ObjectivesStudents are able to...
In the Concept Outline:
ID-1Analyze how competing conceptions of national identity were expressed in the development of political institutions and cultural values from the late colonial through the antebellum periods.
2.3.II, 3.1.II, 3.2.I, 4.1.III
ID-2Assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the United States in the 19th century.
4.1.III, 5.1.I, 5.3.III, 6.3.II
ID-3Analyze how U.S. involvement in international crises such as the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and the Cold War influenced public debates about American national identity in the 20th century.
7.1.III, 7.3.II, 7.3.III, 8.1.III
Learning Objectives 1–3 for “Identity”
Overarching Question: How and why have debates over American national identity changed over time?
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Skill Type
Historical Thinking Skills Foster Critical Analysis and Interpretation
Comparison and Contextualization
Chronological Reasoning
Crafting Historical Arguments from
Historical Evidence
Historical Interpretation and
Synthesis
Historical Causation Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time Periodization
Historical Thinking Skill
Comparison Contextualization
Historical Argumentation Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical
Evidence
Interpretation Synthesis
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Nine Periods: 1491 to the Present
Period Date RangeApproximate Percentage of…
InstructionalTime AP Exam
1 1491-1607 5% 5%
2 1607-1754 10%
45%3 1754-1800 12%
4 1800-1848 10%
5 1844-1877 13%
6 1865-1898 13%
45%7 1890-1945 17%
8 1945-1980 15%
9 1980-Present 5% 5%
Defining the Course Periods
Period Title Date Range Exam Weight
1 Early Contacts Among Groups in North America 1491-1607 5%
2 North American Societies in the Context of the Atlantic World 1607-1754
45%3 Birth of a New Nation and Struggle for Identity 1754-1800
4 Growing Pains of the New Republic 1800-1848
5 Expansion, Regional Separation, the Civil War and Its Aftermath 1844-1877
6 Industrialization, Urbanization, and Cultural Transformation 1865-1914
45%7 Domestic and Global Challenges and the Creation of Mass Culture 1890-1945
8 Increasing Prosperity and Global Responsibility After World War II 1945-1989
9 Globalization and Redefining National Identity 1980-Today 5%
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The AP® U.S. History Exam
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AP® U.S. History Exam Design
Section I
Part A: Multiple-choice questions 55 minutes (40%)(55 questions, organized in sets of 2−5)
• Each set is focused on one or more learning objectives.
• Each set is organized around primary or secondary sources.
Part B: Short-answer questions (4 questions) 45 minutes (20%)
Type, Time, and Percentage of Total AP Exam Score
Section II
Part A: Document-based question (1 question) 60 minutes (25%)
Part B: Long-essay question (1 question selected from 2) 35 minutes (15%)
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Multiple Choice Questions (55 Qs, 55 minutes, 40%)
Questions are organized in sets of 2-5
Each set relates to stimulus material (quotations, pictures, cartoons, maps, etc.)
Each set has four possible answers One Correct Answer Three Distracters
Each question has a stem that is meant to assess one or more of the historical thinking skills
Each question must Measure information that is contained in the concept outline Align directly to one learning objective
Questions cannot be answered correctly without knowing historical content
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Questions 12–15 refer to the following quotation. “Economic growth was indeed the most decisive force in the shaping of attitudes and expectations in the postwar era. The prosperity of the period broadened gradually in the late 1940s, accelerated in the 1950s, and soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. By then it was a boom that astonished observers. One economist, writing about the twenty-five years following World War II, put it simply by saying that this was a ‘quarter century of sustained growth at the highest rates in recorded history.’ Former Prime Minister Edward Heath of Great Britain agreed, observing that the United States at the time was enjoying ‘the greatest prosperity the world has ever known.’”
-James T. Patterson, historian, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974, published in 1996
Sample: Stimulus for Multiple-Choice Set
Key Concept: 8.3I. Rapid economic and social changes in American society fostered a sense of optimism in the
postwar years as well as underlying concerns about how these changes were affecting American values. A. A burgeoning private sector, continued federal spending, the baby boom, and technological
developments helped spur economic growth, middle-class suburbanization, social mobility, a rapid expansion of higher education, and the rise of the “Sun Belt” as a political and economic force.
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Sample: Multiple-Choice Question Set
12. Which of the following factors most directly contributed to the economic trend that Patterson describes?
(A) A surge in the national birthrate
(B) The expansion of voting rights for African Americans
(C) Challenges to conformity raised by intellectuals and
artists(D) The gradual immersion of détente with the Soviet Union
Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Causation
13. One significant result of the economic trend described in the excerpt was the
(A) rise of the sexual revolution in the United States
(B) decrease in the number of immigrants seeking entry to the United States
(C) rise of the Sun Belt as a political and economic force
(D) Decrease in the number of women in the workforce
Learning Objective: WXT-3Explain how changes in transportation, technology, and the integration of the U.S. economy into world markets have influenced U.S. society since the Gilded Age.
Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Causation
Learning Objective: PEO-3 Analyze the causes and effects of major internal migration patterns such as urbanization, suburbanization, westward movement, and the Great Migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Sample: Multiple-Choice Question Set
14. Many of the federal policies and initiatives passed in the 1960s address which of the following about the economic trend described in the excerpt?
Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Contextualization
(A) Affluence had effectively eliminated racial discrimination
(B) Pockets of poverty persisted despite overall affluence
(C) A rising standard of living encouraged unionization of industrial workers
(D) Private industry boomed in spite of a declining rate of federal spending
Learning Objective: POL-3 Explain how activist groups and reform movements, such as antebellum reformers, civil rights activists, and social conservatives, have caused changes to state institutions and U.S. society.
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Sample: Multiple-Choice Question Set
15. The increased culture of consumerism during the 1950s was most similar to developments in which of the following earlier periods?
Historical Thinking Skills Periodization
(A) The 1840s
(B) The 1860s
(C) The 1910s
(D) The 1920s
Learning Objective: CUL-7
Explain how and why “modern” cultural values and popular culture have grown since the early 20th century and how they have affected American politics and society.
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Short-Answer Questions (4 Qs, 45 minutes, 20%)
3 tasks 1 point per task 3 points total
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Sample: Short-Answer Question
Briefly explain why ONE of the following options most clearly marks the beginning of the sectional crisis that led to the outbreak of the Civil War
(4 Questions; 45 Minutes Total)
Learning Objective: ID-2
Assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the U.S. in the 19th century.(Also POL-6)
Historical Thinking Skill
Periodization
A) Choose ONE of the events listed below, and explain why your choice best represents the beginning of an American identity. Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation. Northwest Ordinance (1787)
Missouri Compromise (1820)
Acquisition of Mexican territory (1848)
B) Provide an example of an event or development to support your explanation.
C) Briefly explain why one of the other options is not as useful to mark the beginning of the sectional crisis.
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Long-Essay Question (2 choices, 35 minutes, 15%)
Thesis=0-1 point
Support for Argument=0-2 points
Application of historical thinking skills=0-2 points
Synthesis=0-1 point
*6 points total
AP US: Long Essay RubricsVery different rubric and scoring
requirements
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Sample: Long-Essay Question
1) Some historians have argued that the American Revolution was not revolutionary in nature. Support, modify, or refute this interpretation, providing specific evidence to justify your answer.
OR2) Some historians have argued that the New Deal was ultimately
conservative in nature. Support, modify or refute this specific evidence to justify your answer.
Learning Objective: ID-1Analyze how competing conceptions of national identity were expressed in the development of political institutions and cultural values from the late colonial through the antebellum periods.(Also POL-5, CUL-4)
Main Historical Thinking SkillChange and Continuity over Time
(Choice Between 2 Questions; 35 Minutes; 15%)
Learning Objective: WXT-8Explain how and why the role of the federal government in regulating economic life and the environment has changed since the end of the 19th century.(Also POL-4)
Main Historical Thinking SkillChange and Continuity over Time
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Document-Based Question (1 Q, 60 minutes, 25%)
Never more than 7 documents
15 minutes recommended for planning/reading docs
45 minutes recommended for writing
Thesis=0-1 point
Support for argument=0-4 points Evidence=0-1 Argument & skill=0-3
Contextualization=0-1 point
Synthesis=0-1 point
*7 points total
AP US: The New DBQ RubricVery different rubric and scoring
requirements
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AP US: The New DBQ RubricVery different rubric and scoring
requirements
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For 3 points:Offers plausible analysis of BOTH the content of all or all but one of the documents, explicitly using this analysis to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument;
ANDat least one of the following for all or all but one of the documents:
• intended audience• purpose• historical context• the author's point of view
AP US: The New DBQ RubricVery different rubric and scoring
requirements
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Accurately and explicitly connects historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broaderhistorical events and/or processes
AP US: The New DBQ RubricVery different rubric and scoring
requirements
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Sample: Document-Based Question
Analyze major changes and continuities in the social and economic experiences of African Americans who migrated from the rural South to urban areas in the North in the period 1910–1930.
Main Historical Thinking Skill
Continuity/Change over Time
Other Skills Targeted
Argumentation
Use of Evidence
Synthesis
Contextualization
Learning Objective: PEO-3
Analyze the causes and effects of major internal migration patterns such as urbanization, suburbanization, westward movement, and the Great Migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.
(1 Question; 60 Minutes; 25 %)