AP World History Exam

The AP World History exam breaks down in the following ways: -55 Multiple Choice Questions -SAQs (4 Short Answer Questions) -DBQ (Document Based Question) -LEQ (Long Essay Question; which you will get to choose from 2 LEQs)

Section #1

Section I comes in two parts: MULTIPLE CHOICE (55 Questions in 55 minutes) & SHORT ANSWER (4 questions in 50 minutes). All together this counts for 60% of the AP World History exam.

Multiple Choice This isn't your standard multiple choice test. The College Board will present you with 55 questions over the course of 55 minutes. So, if you do the math... That's 60 seconds per question. But, again, this isn't a list of questions. These are ALL stimulus based. Below is what the College Board tells you about the Multiple Choice section:

What the College Board says: The multiple-choice section will contain a number of sets of questions, with between two and five questions per set that ask students to respond to stimulus material: a primary or secondary source, including texts, images, charts, graphs, maps, etc. This stimulus material will reflect the types of evidence that historians use in their research on the past. The set of multiple-choice questions about the material will draw upon knowledge required by the curriculum framework, and each question will address one of the learning objectives for the course. Events and topics contained in the illustrative example lists will NOT

appear in multiple-choice questions unless accompanied by text that fully explains that topic to the student.

THEY'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING (READING, PIC, MAP) AND ASK YOU QUESTIONS ABOUT IT. (BUT ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES WILL NOT APPEAR IN THIS SECTION UNLESS THEY EXPLAIN THEM TO YOU!)

SAMPLE #1: IMAGE

OK. So, each question will have a stimulus. Well, there it is. This one appears to be showing Hammurabi (yea, the law code guy). They will give you the stimulus (in this case an image) and a little description. What's next? The questions (2-5 questions based on the stimulus). For the answer key, scroll down.

SAMPLE #2: CHART

ANSWERS, 1. D, 2. D, 3. B, 4. B, 5. D, 6. A, 7. B

SAQ (Short Answer Questions) This is the final part of SECTION I. At this point, those MULTIPLE CHOICE questions are behind you. Let it go. You'll now have 50 minutes to answer 4 Short Answer questions. This will account for 20% of your score. Here's what the College Board tells you about the Short Answer Questions:

What the College Board says: Short-answer questions will directly address one or more of the thematic learning objectives for the course. At least two of

the four questions will have elements of internal choice, providing opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best. All of the short-answer questions will require students to use historical thinking skills to respond to a primary source, a historian’s argument, non-textual sources such as data or maps, or general propositions about world history. Each question will ask students to identify and analyze examples of historical evidence relevant to the source or question; these examples

can be drawn from the concept outline or from other examples explored in depth during classroom instruction.

There are four short-answer questions on the exam. Note that the short-answer questions DO NOT REQUIRE STUDENTS TO DEVELOP AND SUPPORT A THESIS STATEMENT. In each short answer question, students will be asked to do three

things, each of which will be assigned one point in the scoring.

4 questions. 3 parts to each question (a, b, c). They'll give you some stimulus (like the Multiple Choice) or just a regular prompt and 3 questions about it. No thesis needed. Just answer the question. Below is an acronym to help you A.C.E. the SAQ!

A: Answer the Question C: Cite Specific Evidence E: Explain How the Evidence Proves Your Assertion

SAMPLE #1: MAP

OK. So, here is your stimulus. There will be 3 questions to accompany this (A, B, C). Below, are the three questions. (NOTE: There may not be an A, B, C. But, you will be required to answer three things. So, in this example, there are 2 questions; but Part A asks you for two things).

SAMPLE #2: IMAGE

4 questions with 3 parts. You'll have 50 minutes on this one. This will wrap up Hour 2 of your AP World Exam. The next section are the REAL essays. A DBQ and an LEQ.