AP United
States History
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A or B in previous years Social Science AND English courses.
Typically taken as a Junior
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coming soon
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coming soon
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Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice
55 Questions | 55 Minutes | 40% of Exam Score
Questions usually appear in sets of 3–4 questions.
Students analyze historical texts, interpretations, and evidence.
Primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps are included.
Section I, Part B: Short Answer
3 Questions | 40 Minutes | 20% of Exam Score
Students analyze historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history.
Questions provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best.
Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
Students choose between 2 options for the final required short-answer question, each one focusing on a different time period:
Question 1 is required, includes 1–2 secondary sources, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1754 and 1980.
Question 2 is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1754 and 1980.
Students choose between Question 3 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1491 and 1877) and Question 4 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1865 and 2001) for the last question. No sources are included for either Question 3 or Question 4.
Section II: Document-Based Question and Long Essay
2 questions | 1 Hour, 40 minutes | 40% of Exam Score
Document-Based Question (DBQ)
Recommended Time: 1 Hour (includes 15-minute reading period) | 25% of Exam Score
Students are presented with 7 documents offering various perspectives on a historical development or process.
Students assess these written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.
Students develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
The document-based question focuses on topics from 1754 to 1980.
Long Essay
Recommended time: 40 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score
Students explain and analyze significant issues in U.S. history.
Students develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
The question choices focus on the same skills and the same reasoning process (e.g., comparison, causation, or continuity and change), but students choose from 3 options, each focusing on historical developments and processes from a different range of time periods—either 1491–1800 (option 1), 1800–1898 (option 2), or 1890–2001 (option 3).
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AP United States History
5: 13.0%
4: 33.0%
3: 26.0%
2: 20.0%
1: 8.0%
More Info
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College Credit Oppurtunites
Passing scores typically grants between 4-8 units (roughly 1-2 courses).
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Course Synopsis
“AP US History allows students to take a closer look at many of the great stories American History has to offer, like delving into a captivating spy thriller or tale of scandal. This is one of the AP courses that satisfies actual course requirements at universities like UC San Diego and CSU Fresno.”
Course Practicalities:
- critical thinking
- effective arguing
Mrs. Custer
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College Majors
Complexity of Material Covered
On average, students gave a AP U.S. History a complexity score of 3.63 out of 5, which places the course in the low end of the highest complexity tier.
We recommend planning a balanced schedule consisting of all three tiers of complexity: mild, moderate, and high to have a healthy school-life balance and avoid burnout.
Workload of AP U.S. History
On average, students gave AP U.S. History a workload score of 4.47 hours per week. This places AP U.S. History in the heavy workload tier.
We recommend planning a balanced schedule consisting of all three tiers of workload: mild, moderate, and heavy to have a healthy school-life balance and avoid burnout.