AP United States History

Advanced Placement United States History (AP United States History, AP US History, USAP, APUS, APUSH, AHAP, AP American, or AP American History ) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.

Course

This course is for students desiring a freshman college-level course in United States history. The course is a survey of the nation's history from 1492 to the present using a college-level textbook such as The American Pageant, used by 40 percent of all AP US History classes, Out of Many, and Alan Brinkley's American History: A Survey, as well as Gary B. Nash's The American People, Eric Foner's Give Me Liberty The National Experience, A People and a Nation, The Enduring Vision, and Edward L. Ayers' American Passages, among others. Students may select to use supplemental materials, such as review books, to prepare for the examination. Students are also required to write college-level essays and participate in class discussion in preparation for the exam.

Exam

The AP US History exam lasts 2 hours and 55 minutes. The first section comprises 80 multiple choice questions with each question containing five choices. Students have 55 minutes to complete this part of the exam. The questions cover American History from the colonial era to modern times (from 1607 until approximately 20 years prior to the administering of the exam.) However, there are usually few, if any, questions on the post-1970s era. In addition to traditional-style questions, there are often a few political cartoons, maps, and charts to interpret. The second half of the exam, the free-response section, is composed of a document-based question (DBQ) and two thematic essays, commonly called free-response questions (FRQ). While the DBQ is required, students can choose between one of two thematic essays in two separate sections (one spanning from 1607 until 1860, and the other from 1860 until the end of the cold war.) There is a mandatory fifteen-minute reading period before students can actually start writing their essays. It is suggested, but not required, that they use this time to read and plan for the DBQ, but students may also use this time to read and plan for the thematic essays. After this, students can work on the three essays at their own pace for the remaining 115 minutes of the exam, but are urged to spend about 45 minutes on the DBQ and 35 minutes (5 for planning, 30 for writing) on each thematic essay.

Scoring

The multiple-choice section of the exam accounts for 50% of the final score, as does the free-response portion. For the former, each multiple-choice question answered correctly earns one point. Those answered incorrectly subtract 1/4 of a point, while questions omitted do not affect the multiple-choice score. A perfect raw score on the multiple-choice section is 80. As for the free-response, the DBQ is worth 45% of the section's total value, while the two thematic essays are each worth 27.5% (55% combined). [1]

Grade distribution

In the 2007 administration, 333,562 students took the exam from 10,824 schools. The mean score was a 2.75. This exam was the most widely taken AP exam in 2007.

The grade distribution for 2007 was:

Score	Percent
5	99.1%
4	19.9%
3	22.2%
2	26.2%
1	20.6%

In the 2006 administration, 311,000 students took the exam from 10,465 schools. The mean score was a 2.74. This exam was the most widely taken AP exam in 2006.

The grade distribution for 2006 was:

Score	Percent
5	11.0%
4	19.9%
3	22.2%
2	26.1%
1	20.8%

Popularity

Interestingly, the AP United States History test is the most popular AP exam, with over 300,000 test-takers per year over the last several years. To put this into perspective, more than 1 in every 1000 American residents takes the test every May.

External links

• AP United States History on CollegeBoard.com
• U.S. History for AP Students (note cards by era; outlines & summaries, too)
• Digital History (resources that include multimedia summaries)
• Historyteacher.net