AP U.S. History Practice Exam Notes

About the College Board and AP Equity and Access Policy

• Mission and History of the College Board:     * The College Board is an organization driven by its mission as a not-for-profit entity designed to connect students with college success and the broad range of educational opportunities.     * Founded in: $1900$.     * Primary Purpose: Created to expand access to higher education.     * Membership: Composed of over $6,000$ of the world’s leading educational institutions.     * Core Dedication: The promotion of excellence and equity in education.     * Annual Impact: Assists more than seven million ($7,000,000$) students each year in preparing for the transition to college through various programs and services.     * Key Programs: Includes the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®.     * Additional Functions: Serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools.

• AP Equity and Access Policy:     * Guiding Principle: Educators are strongly encouraged to make equitable access a guiding principle for their AP programs.     * Target Audience: All willing and academically prepared students should have the opportunity to participate in AP.     * Barrier Removal: Encourages the elimination of barriers restricting access for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.     * Student Diversity: Schools are instructed to make every effort to ensure AP classes reflect the diversity of the general student population.     * Preparation: The College Board believes students should have access to academically challenging coursework before enrolling in AP to ensure success.

The Advanced Placement Program® (AP) and Academic Success

• Program Overview:     * Purpose: Enables high school students to pursue college-level studies.     * Course Variety: Offers more than $30$ unique courses.     * Assessment: Each course culminates in a rigorous exam.     * Benefits: Provides opportunities for college credit, advanced placement, or both.     * Admissions Advantage: Demonstrates to college admission officers that a student has sought the most rigorous coursework available.

• Development and Quality Standards:     * Modeling: Each course is modeled on a comparable college-level course.     * Faculty Role: University faculty ensure courses align with college standards.     * Teacher Role: Dedicated teachers help students develop content knowledge and skills required for college.

• Global Recognition:     * Exam Scoring: Developed and scored by university faculty and experienced AP teachers.     * Recognition: Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States and institutions in more than $60$ countries recognize AP scores for admission, credit, or placement.

• Correlations with College Success:     * Research indicates that students receiving a score of $3$ or higher on AP Exams typically experience greater academic success and higher graduation rates compared to non-AP peers.     * Key Research Citations:         * Linda Hargrove, Donn Godin, and Barbara Dodd, College Outcomes Comparisons by AP and Non-AP High School Experiences (New York: The College Board, $2008$).         * Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (Austin, Texas: National Center for Educational Accountability, $2006$).

Development and Scoring of AP Courses and Exams

• AP Course Audit:     * Process: AP teachers must submit syllabi for review by college faculty.     * Requirement: Schools must participate to mark a course as "AP" on a student's transcript.     * Standardization: Ensures syllabi meet or exceed curricular and resource expectations for college-level courses.

• The AP Development Committees:     * Composition: Committees consist of college faculty and expert AP teachers.     * Responsibility: They define the scope and expectations of the course and articulate the course framework.     * Evidence-Based Design: Work is informed by data from various colleges to reflect current scholarship developments.     * Exam Alignment: Responsible for designing exam specifications and questions.

• Exam Development Lifecycle:     * Duration: A multiyear endeavor.     * Quality Control: Exams undergo extensive review, revision, piloting, and analysis to ensure questions are high quality and fair.     * Difficulty Balance: Committees ensure an appropriate spread of difficulty across questions.

• Scoring Procedures:     * Multiple-Choice: Scored by machine.     * Free-Response: Scored by college faculty and expert AP teachers during the annual AP Reading.     * Consistency: Readers are trained and monitored by the Chief Reader (a respected college faculty member).     * Composite Score Construction: Scores on free-response questions are weighted and combined with multiple-choice results to create a raw score, then converted to a composite score ($5, 4, 3, 2, 1$).

• Alignment with College Grades:     * The score-setting process involves psychometric analysis and comparison with students in equivalent college courses.     * Equivalency Scale:         * $5$: Equivalent to a grade of "A" in college.         * $4$: Equivalent to grades "A−", "B+", or "B".         * $3$: Equivalent to grades "B−", "C+", or "C".

• Interpretation of Scores:     * $5$: Extremely well qualified.     * $4$: Well qualified.     * $3$: Qualified.     * $2$: Possibly qualified.     * $1$: No recommendation.

AP United States History Exam Structure

• Total Exam Timing: $3\,hours\,and\,15\,minutes$.

• Section I: Multiple-Choice and Short-Answer ($95\,minutes$ total):     * Part A: Multiple-Choice Questions:         * Total Questions: $55$.         * Time Allotted: $55\,minutes$.         * Weight: $40\%$ of total score.         * Format: Questions are organized into sets based on primary or secondary sources.     * Part B: Short-Answer Questions:         * Total Tasks: $3\,questions$.         * Time Allotted: $40\,minutes$.         * Weight: $20\%$ of total score.         * Question Specifics:             * Question 1 (Required): Focuses on periods $3–8$.             * Question 2 (Required): Focuses on periods $3–8$.             * Choice: Choose between Question 3 (periods $1–5$) OR Question 4 (periods $6–9$).

• Section II: Free-Response ($100\,minutes$ total):     * Part A: Document-Based Question (DBQ):         * Total Questions: $1$.         * Time Allotted: $60\,minutes$ (includes a mandatory $15\,minute$ reading period).         * Weight: $25\%$ of total score.         * Historical Focus: Periods $3–8$.     * Part B: Long Essay Question (LEQ):         * Total Questions: $1$ (chosen from three options).         * Time Allotted: $40\,minutes$.         * Weight: $15\%$ of total score.         * Option Periods: periods $1–3$, periods $4–6$, or periods $7–9$.

Practice Exam: Section I, Part A (Multiple-Choice Questions)

• Questions 1–3 (Stimulus: Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin):     * Source Details: Describes the arrival of Reverend Mr. George Whitefield from Ireland in $1739$. Whitefield was an itinerant preacher who, after being refused pulipits by clergy, preached in fields to "enormous" multitudes.     * Q1: Whitefield’s impact suggests religious culture was shaped by: (C) trans-Atlantic exchanges.     * Q2: Open-air preaching contributed to: (B) Greater independence and diversity of thought.     * Q3: Example of: (D) The expansion of Protestant evangelism.

• Questions 4–6 (Stimulus: Graph on Migration to the United States, $1820–1860$):     * Source Details: Visualizes spikes in migration, particularly between $1840$ and $1860$.     * Q4: Cause of trend ($1843–1854$): (B) Economic and political difficulties in Germany and Ireland.     * Q5: Direct effect after $1845$: (C) An upsurge in nativist sentiment.     * Q6: Associated process: (B) The emergence of an industrialized economy.

• Questions 7–9 (Stimulus: Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, $1848$):     * Source Details: Lists injuries and usurpations toward women, including the denial of the "elective franchise" and lack of property rights.     * Q7: Challenged the ideal of: (B) women should focus on the home and the domestic sphere.     * Q8: Late 19th-century continuation: (A) The formation of voluntary organizations and reform efforts.     * Q9: Support split in the $1870s$ over: (C) Supporters of the Fifteenth Amendment.

• Questions 10-11 (Stimulus: Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, $1776$):     * Source Details: Mentions governments derive power from the consent of the governed and the people's right to alter or abolish destructive governments.     * Q10: Response to: (A) British government’s attempt to assert greater control.     * Q11: Consistent with: (D) The ideas of the Enlightenment.

• Questions 12–14 (Stimulus: Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Education, $1954$):     * Source Details: Declares that "separate but equal" has no place in public education.     * Q12: Immediate result: (D) Segregationists in southern states temporarily closed many public schools.     * Q13: Growth of belief in federal power to: (A) promote greater racial justice.     * Q14: Reversed: (D) Plessy v. Ferguson.

• Questions 15–16 (Stimulus: Mae M. Ngai, Impossible Subjects, $2004$):     * Source Details: Explains the quota system of the Immigration Act of $1924$ and the exclusion of Asians from citizenship.     * Q15: Reflected: (D) social tensions emerging from the First World War.     * Q16: Supporting evidence: (A) Census data showing the changing percentages of the foreign-born population ($1920–1930$).

• Questions 17–18 (Stimulus: Harry Truman, Truman Doctrine, $1947$):     * Source Details: Articulates policy to support free peoples resisting subjugation via economic and financial aid.     * Q17: Goal: (A) restraining communist military power and ideological influence.     * Q18: Issued primarily to: (D) bolster noncommunist nations, particularly in Europe.

• Questions 19–21 (Stimulus: Jacob Riis, late-nineteenth-century photograph):     * Source Details: Shows cramped, impoverished urban living conditions.     * Q19: Contributed to: (B) An increase in Progressive reform activity.     * Q20: Depicts: (A) The growing gap between wealthy people and people living in poverty.     * Q21: Perspective of advocates: (D) Government should act to eliminate the worst abuses of industrial society.

• Questions 22–23 (Stimulus: John Muir, Century Magazine, $1909$):     * Source Details: Description of Hetch Hetchy valley as "God’s best gift" that ought to be guarded.     * Q22: Major change in view: (C) The idea that government should preserve wilderness areas in a natural state.     * Q23: Reaction to: (A) increasing usage and exploitation of western landscapes.

• Questions 24–27 (Stimulus: George Washington, Farewell Address, $1776$):     * Source Details: Warns against foreign influence and "permanent alliances"; suggests extending commercial relations but avoiding political connection.     * Q24: Response to: (C) controversy regarding support for the revolutionary government of France.     * Q25: Influence on 20th-century decision: (C) The refusal to join the League of Nations in $1919$.     * Q26: Opposing group: (A) Democratic-Republicans.     * Q27: Recommendations ceased to influence after: (D) involvement in the Second World War.

• Questions 28–30 (Stimulus: Alan Taylor, American Colonies, $2001$):     * Source Details: Describes the introduction of livestock and pathogens to the Americas as a "team effort" managed by Europeans.     * Q28: Export of New World crops transformed Europe by: (A) improving diets and stimulating population growth.     * Q29: Foreshadowed: (B) The population decline in Native American societies.     * Q30: Illustrates: (C) The phenomenon known as the Columbian Exchange.

• Questions 31–34 (Stimulus: Map of British Settlement of Thirteen Colonies, $1700–1775$):     * Data: Shows expansion from the coast toward the Appalachian Mountains.     * Q31: Depicts: (A) inland expansion of the colonial population.     * Q32: Factor in $1700$ pattern: (C) The orientation of British colonies toward producing commodities for export.     * Q33: Effect of $1700–1775$ change: (B) An increase in conflicts between British settlers and American Indians.     * Q34: Explains: (D) growth of social tensions between backcountry settlers and coastal elites.

• Questions 35–37 (Stimulus: John C. Calhoun, $1844$):     * Source Details: Asserts the "African race" has attained high elevation in morals and civilization within the relation of the two races (slavery).     * Q35: Support from: (C) Southern landowners.     * Q36: Undermines assertion: (B) Many slaves engaged in forms of resistance to slavery.     * Q37: Contributed to ($1840s–1850s$): (B) increased sectional divisions between the North and the South.

• Questions 41–43 (Stimulus: Carl Schurz, Report on the Condition of the South, $1865$):     * Source Details: Notes lack of national feeling in the South and notions that the "Negro exists" for raising cotton.     * Q41: Debates about: (C) The process of readmitting Confederate states.     * Q42: Effect in late 19th century: (B) The establishment of sharecropping throughout the South.     * Q43: Failure of Republican base: (C) Republicans grew weary of pressing their Reconstruction agenda in a hostile environment.

• Questions 44–46 (Stimulus: Franklin Roosevelt, Quarantine Speech, $1937$):     * Source Details: Argues for a concerted effort against international anarchy and violations of treaties.     * Q44: Difference in policy: (A) Roosevelt was arguing to expand the role of the United States in the world.     * Q45: Effort to: (D) overcome opposition to participation in the impending Second World War.     * Q46: Post-$1945$ continuity: (B) United States membership in an international collective security organization.

• Questions 50–51 (Stimulus: Bill Clinton, radio address, $1996$):     * Source Details: Declares the "era of big government is over."     * Q50: Action reflecting this: (B) The enactment of welfare reform to restrict benefits and encourage self-reliance.     * Q51: Similarity to: (B) Ronald Reagan.

• Questions 52–55 (Stimulus: Harriet Hanson Robinson, Loom and Spindle, $1830s/1898$):     * Source Details: Describes working in textile mills in Lowell, MA; hours from $5:00\,AM$ to $7:00\,PM$.     * Q52: Contributed to development: (C) The expansion and increased organization of industrial production.     * Q53: Reflected: (A) The sharp increase in the number of workers making goods for distant markets.     * Q54: Regional difference: (C) The South relied much less on wage labor than the Northeast.     * Q55: Assertion challenged by: (D) Confrontations between unions and factory management over wages and working conditions.

Practice Exam: Section I, Part B (Short-Answer Questions)

• Question 1: The Frontier Interpretations:     * Frederick Jackson Turner ($1893$): Argues that the Western frontier is the source of American character, a meeting point of "savagery and civilization" where social development perennially begins over again.     * Patricia Nelson Limerick ($1887$): Conceives of the West as a place of conquest and intersecting cultures (Indigenous, Latin, Anglo, Afro-American, and Asian) where the story is defined by the allocation of ownership/property.     * Tasks:         * (a) Describe one difference between interpretations.         * (b) Support Turner using events from $1865–1898$.         * (c) Support Limerick using events from $1865–1898$.

• Question 2: Post-Civil War Image and Citizenship:     * Stimulus: An image depicting African Americans exercising civic rights (likely voting).     * Tasks:         * (a) Describe perspective about citizenship in image.         * (b) Explain historical development leading to the change.         * (c) Explain how change was challenged ($1866–1896$).

• Question 3: Antislavery Movements ($1780–1810$ vs. $1830–1859$):     * Tasks: Compare differences, similarities, and effects of the movements in these periods.

• Question 4: Mass Media ($1920s$ vs. $1950s$):     * Tasks: Compare similarities, differences, and effects of mass media between these decades.

Practice Exam: Section II, Part A (Document-Based Question)

• Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which differing ideas of national identity shaped views of United States overseas expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• Document List:     * Document 1: E. E. Cooper (African American editor), $1898$. Argument that war with Spain would cement races and end prejudice.     * Document 2: William Graham Sumner (Yale Professor), $1899$. Argues that expansion violates American doctrines of equality and copies Spanish imperialism.     * Document 3: President William McKinley, $1899$. Claims divine guidance led to the decision to occupy the Philippines to "uplift and civilize and Christianize" them.     * Document 4: Jane Addams (Social Reformer), $1899$. Criticizes the war for Brutality and its negative moral influence on domestic life/children.     * Document 5: Theodore Roosevelt, "The Strenuous Life," $1899$. Argues that the Philippines are unfit for self-government and the US must fulfill its duty firmly.     * Document 6: William Jennings Bryan, Campaign Speech, $1900$. Argues that a republic cannot be an empire and colonialism violates "consent of the governed."     * Document 7: Puck Magazine, $1904$. Satirical cartoon showing Uncle Sam and foreign subjects in a schoolroom setting.

Practice Exam: Section II, Part B (Long Essay Questions)

• Question 2 (Periods $1-3$): Evaluate the extent to which trans-Atlantic interactions fostered change in labor systems in British North American colonies from $1600$ to $1763$.

• Question 3 (Periods $4-6$): Evaluate the extent to which new technology fostered change in United States industry from $1865$ to $1900$.

• Question 4 (Periods $7-9$): Evaluate the extent to which globalization fostered change in the United States economy from $1945$ to $2000$.

Answer Key to Multiple-Choice Questions

• $1. C$ (CUL-1.0; 2.2.I.B)

• $2. B$ (CUL-1.0; 2.2.I.A)

• $3. D$ (CUL-1.0; 2.2.I.B)

• $4. B$ (MIG-1.0; 5.1.II.A)

• $5. C$ (CUL-4.0; 5.1.II.A)

• $6. B$ (MIG-1.0; 4.2.III.A)

• $7. B$ (CUL-3.0; 4.2.II.C)

• $8. A$ (POL-2.0; 6.3.II.B)

• $9. C$ (CUL-3.0; 5.3.II.B)

• $10. A$ (WOR-1.0; 3.1.I.B)

• $11. D$ (NAT-1.0; 3.2.I.B)

• $12. D$ (NAT-4.0; 8.2.I.C)

• $13. A$ (POL-2.0; 8.2.I.B)

• $14. D$ (NAT-2.0; 6.3.II.C)

• $15. D$ (MIG-1.0; 7.2.II.A)

• $16. A$ (MIG-1.0; 7.2.II.A)

• $17. A$ (WOR-2.0; 8.1.I.B)

• $18. D$ (WOR-2.0; 8.1.I.A)

• $19. B$ (POL-2.0; 7.1.II.A)

• $20. A$ (WXT-2.0; 6.1.I.C)

• $21. D$ (POL-3.0; 7.1.II.B)

• $22. C$ (GEO-1.0; 7.1.II.C)

• $23. A$ (GEO-1.0; 6.2.II.A)

• $24. C$ (WOR-1.0; 3.3.II.B)

• $25. C$ (WOR-2.0; 7.3.II.C)

• $26. A$ (POL-1.0; 3.2.II.B)

• $27. D$ (WOR-2.0; 7.3.III)

• $28. A$ (WOR-1.0; 1.2.I.B)

• $29. B$ (GEO-1.0; 1.2.II.A)

• $30. C$ (GEO-1.0; 1.2.II)

• $31. A$ (MIG-2.0; 3.3.I.B)

• $32. C$ (WXT-2.0; 2.2.I.B)

• $33. B$ (WOR-1.0; 2.1.III.E)

• $34. D$ (MIG-2.0; 3.3.I.B)

• $35. C$ (WXT-1.0; 5.2.I.A)

• $36. B$ (WXT-1.0; 5.2.I.B)

• $37. B$ (NAT-1.0; 5.2.I)

• $38. A$ (MIG-1.0; 2.1.I.C)

• $39. C$ (MIG-1.0; 2.1.I.C)

• $40. A$ (MIG-1.0; 2.1.I.C)

• $41. C$ (POL-3.0; 5.3.II.C)

• $42. B$ (WXT-1.0; 5.3.II.D)

• $43. C$ (POL-3.0; 5.3.II.C)

• $44. A$ (WOR-2.0; 7.3.II.E)

• $45. D$ (WOR-2.0; 7.3.II.E)

• $46. B$ (WOR-2.0; 8.1.I.A)

• $47. A$ (NAT-3.0; 7.3.III.B)

• $48. D$ (CUL-3.0; 7.3.III.C)

• $49. A$ (CUL-3.0; 8.2.II.A)

• $50. B$ (POL-3.0; 9.1.I.C)

• $51. B$ (POL-3.0; 9.1.I.B)

• $52. C$ (WXT-2.0; 4.2.I.A)

• $53. A$ (WXT-1.0; 4.2.II.A)

• $54. C$ (WXT-2.0; 4.2.III.C)

• $55. D$ (WXT-1.0; 6.1.II.C)