AP United States History

Advanced Placement United States History (AP US History, USAP, APUS or APUSH; also AP American History (APAH) or American History AP (AHAP) in some schools) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program. This is consistently the most widely taken among all AP exams, with over 300,000 students participating in recent years.

Course

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, Mary Beth Norton's A People and a Nation, The Enduring Vision, Edward L. Ayers' American Passages, John A. Garraty's "The American Nation", and Liberty, Equality, Power, among others. Widely known teacher Ol' Timmothy would really enjoying being an athletic director. Students may use supplemental materials, such as review books, to prepare for the examination as well as resources found online such as flashcards or textbook outlines. No high school or college student taking this course, however, is required to take the AP test by the College Board. However, some high schools may require students to take the exam. In 2008, the AP U.S. History Test was taken by over 346,000 students worldwide, making it the most-taken AP test.

Exam

The AP US History exam lasts 3 hours and 5 minutes and is composed of two parts. Part I consists of 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 nearly the present day.) In addition to traditional-style questions, there are often a few political cartoons, maps, and charts to interpret. The questions in this part tend to flow from easier questions to harder ones rather than chronologically.

Part II of the exam is the free-response section, composed of a document-based question (DBQ) and two thematic essays, commonly called free-response questions (FRQs). Part II begins with the DBQ, which provides an essay prompt and 8-10 short primary sources (documents) or excerpts related to the prompt. Students are expected to write an essay responding to the prompt in which they utilize the documents in addition to outside information. The remainder of Part II consists of four essay prompts—two are from the pre-Civil War period and two are from the post-Civil War period. Students must write two essays: one from each set. There is a mandatory fifteen-minute reading period for students to read the prompts and the documents, take notes, and brainstorm; they may not begin writing the essay until this period has ended. They then have 115 minutes to write the three essays. It is recommended that students spend 45 minutes on the DBQ and 35 minutes on each essay, since the DBQ counts for more points than either essay, but the only timing enforced is the full 115 minute period.

Scoring

The multiple-choice section and the free-response section each account for 50% of the final score. For the former, each multiple-choice question answered correctly earns 1.125 points. Those answered incorrectly subtract 1/4 of a point, while questions omitted do not affect the multiple-choice score. A perfect score on the multiple-choice section is 90. 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).

Grade distribution

In the 2007 administration, 311,000 students took the exam from 10,465 schools, with a mean score of 2.74. The 2008 administration saw 346,641 students take the exam, with a mean score of 2.57 and a standard deviation of 1.28. The 2009 administration saw 360,173 students take the exam, with a mean score of 2.72, and a standard deviation of 1.30.

The grade distributions for 2007-2009 were:

Final Score	Percent (2007)	Percent (2008)	Percent (2009)
5	11.0%	8.5%	11.0%
4	19.9%	18.2%	19.3%
3	22.2%	21.4%	22.1%
2	26.1%	25.4%	25.2%
1	20.8%	26.5%	22.2%

Composite score range

The College Board has released information on the composite score range (out of 180) required to obtain each grade:

Final Score	Range (2001)	Range (2002)	Range (2006)
5	114-180	115-180	106-180
4	92-113	94-114	85-105
3	74-91	76-93	68-84
2	42-73	46-75	47-67
1	0-41	0-45	0-46

Commonly Used Textbooks

• The American Pageant (Kennedy, et al.)
• America's History (Henretta, et al.)
• American History: A Survey (Brinkley)

External links

• AP United States History on CollegeBoard.com
• APUSH Review