AP World
History
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A or B in Honors English 9 or A in English 9
Typically taken by Sophomores, but can be taken by Juniors and/or Seniors
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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 secondary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1200 and 2001.
Question 2 is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1200 and 2001.
Students choose between Question 3 (which focuses on historical developments or between the years 1200 and 1750) and Question 4 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1750 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 1450 to 2001.
Long Essay
Recommended time: 40 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score
Students explain and analyze significant issues in world 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 primarily on historical developments and processes in different time periods—either 1200–1750 (option 1), 1450–1900 (option 2), or 1750–2001 (option 3).
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AP World History
5: 12.0%
4: 32.0%
3: 20.0%
2: 28.0%
1: 9.0%
1: 7.0%
More Info
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College Credit Oppurtunites
Passing scores typically grants between 4-8 units (1-2 classes) at universities.
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Course Synopsis
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a different time period? In AP Modern World History, you’ll get to do just that. In AP World History we learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed.”
Course Practicalities:
- analyze historical sources,
- make cross period connections
- craft historical arguments
- participating in time period simulations
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College Majors
What is the difference between AP Euro and AP World?
AP Euro. History
-Covers approximately 550 years of history
- Focuses on the European perspective on global conflicts, covers primarily one continent
- Covers less historical events, but goes more in depth on each event
-Narrower perspective
-College board course synopsis: “Students cultivate their understanding of European history through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like interaction of Europe and the world; economic and commercial developments; cultural and intellectual developments; states and other institutions of power; social organization and development; national and European identity; and technological and scientific innovation.”
AP World History
- Covers approximately 750 years of history
- Focuses on the global impacts of conflicts
- Covers more historical events, but goes less in depth on each event
- Broader perspective
- College board course synopsis: “Students cultivate their understanding of world history from c. 1200 CE to the present through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.”
Complexity of Material Covered
On average, students gave a AP World a complexity score of 4.00 out of 5, which places the course in the high 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 World History
On average, students gave AP World a workload score of 4.93 hours per week. This places AP World 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.