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Score Higher on AP World History 2024: Tips for DBQs

12 min read • june 18, 2024

Document Based Question

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

• Students will be presented with seven documents that give various perspectives on a historical development or process and asked to develop an argument based on these documents and their own knowledge.
• 25% of Exam Score
• Recommended Time: 1 Hour (Includes a 15-minute reading period)
• Thesis/Claim (1)
• Contextualization (1)
• Evidence from 6 documents (2)
• Evidence beyond documents (1)
• Analyze 3 documents (1)
• Complexity (1)

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• You will technically have the DBQ and LEQ at the same time with 1 Hour and 40 Minutes total. However, the DBQ is worth more than the LEQ, so make sure to give yourself enough time to write your DBQ.
• A lot of students stress out over a DBQ because it has so many documents and seems so complex! To help mitigate this, try to think of this way the documents are helpful tools. You don't need to remember content, it's all right there for you! Don't stress over the outside evidence because it will come to you as you are using the documents and interacting with historical content.
• First, Source your documents in the thesis statement (ex: ...and resulted in a growth in capitalism (3, 4, 5), horrible working conditions (1, 2)... etc.).
• Do the same in your topic sentence of each body paragraph, and then, of course, source them when you refer to them the passage. Overall, you should source each document a total of 3 times.
• Secondly, include each source analysis "keyword" in your essay (ex: ...the POV of this document is.../the intended audience of this document is.../the historical context of this document is.../the purpose of this document is... ).
• Lastly, include the "keyword" of anything else you need to include in your essay (ex: "some outside historical evidence/knowledge that supports this is...").
• Make it clear to the reader/grader that you know what you are talking about and make it easy for them to check off every item from the rubric. This also helps you know if you completed everything you needed to get full points.
• Do a little extra in the essay as insurance. For example, instead of doing only 1 outside history evidence, do 2 or 3 in case you get one of them wrong. Do extra source analysis in case one of them isn't good enough, etc.
• It is essentially the "What?" and "Why?". Using a document's general idea to make your point not only helps organize your essay but makes it faster while writing it as well because most of the documents are linked in some way (same time period, about the same event, or an event that impacted another). So they will all often have a similar "What" and "Why," or any of the other big W's (who, what, when, where, why).
• Take a deep breath! Take your time reading through the documents and making the connections between each of them. You know more than you think!

🕛 Before You Write the DBQ

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Before you even look at the documents, you have to annotate the prompt! Make sure you know what it is asking, like is it an extent question? What’s the topic or the time period?
• Circle or underline certain different parts of the prompt just to make sure you understand.
• Skill of the prompt (what are they asking you to do with the topic?) This may be direct or vague - are they asking you to compare or contrast? Are they asking for a change or continuity? Are they asking for a cause or effect?
• READ THE PROMPT FIRST!!! You spend a lot of time reading through all of the documents and you NEED to know what you're looking for right from the start.
• Categorize the documents as you read. Based on the question, sort the documents based on their relevancy to your position or in any other way you see fit.
• When grouping/categorizing your documents ask yourself this question: Do those documents share the same value as the first document? If not, put them into a separate category and if they do put them in the same category as the first document! This will be the gateway into making your thesis with contrasting examples.
• Or if you’re a visual person, similar to the advice above, make a chart with two columns: one that is for the argument presented in the prompt and one that is against. It can be as simple as a check and and X. Organize the sources into which side they demonstrate best, then use the side that has more sources for your thesis and associated evidence, while the other side can be used in your counterclaim.
• While you're reading them, jot down ideas next to them. If you notice that Document 1 focuses on one perspective while Document 2 and 3 focus on another perspective, WRITE IT DOWN!!!
• Other things that you can note down is the purpose, perspective, biases, and context.
• Adding onto the above, being able to condense and re-express the documents is crucial to support whatever claim or main topic your essay will be about.
• When you are reading the documents, your eyes should ALWAYS go to the SOURCE FIRST!!! The source is so important. Many times the author, title, and especially the time period can tell you so much about the document BEFORE you even start reading.
• Take a few deep breaths and look at the documents. Make sure to comprehend the question first and then branch off on what possible controls can be used. If you have no idea what to do, gather evidence from the docs immediately and go from there.
• When reading look for key words in each document. Anything that sticks out to you can be underlined, such as who the document is addressed to, if it’s stated.

💡 Tips for Each DBQ Rubric Point

Thesis/claim.

• You can score up to 1 point for having this in your DBQ!
• After reading the question, take 30 seconds to think about how you plan to respond to the prompt.
• Before starting writing your introduction, write your claim off to the side so that you know what to write leading up to it.
• If time constraint is an issue for you, you can reduce it to 2 points as long as you make them strong. This is the foundation for the rest of your paper, so the thesis should be very clear on what it's about.
• Pick something defensible. You should be making your thesis after a strong understanding of what each of the documents says. Create a thesis that can be supported by at least 3 of the documents and don't be afraid to really flesh it out with the 'why' of your claim.
• “Within TIME PERIOD OF DBQ, three significant SKILL AND TOPIC OF PROMPT were the ARGUMENT/BP #1, ARGUMENT/BP #2 and ARGUMENT/BP #3.

Contextualization

• Before even looking at the documents, you need to brainstorm your contextualization! Nothing from the docs counts as context so it’s best to do it before, based on what the prompt is asking. Try to make a flow chart of at least 3 events that led up to the topic of the prompt and your context will already be done!
• If you get stuck/start blanking out about the time period, work backwards! First pick a year and then start jotting down key historical events/figures of that time. From there, you will be able to remember a lot of important topics that are relevant to the contextualization. Make sure that it is complete but do not spend too much time on it or going too far back. 2 sentences is plenty for contextualization.
• One thing: if you use information in your contextualization, you are no longer allowed to reuse it for outside evidence.
• Go 50-100 years back from the time of the prompt, but make sure that the information is relevant and does not go back further than a century.
• If you have been doing vocab lists throughout the year try and use some of those words (around 3-4) in this section. Think about the era of the DBQ and what major shifts had occurred or are in the process of occurring during that time period. This means that for this point periodization is an important skill to have for each unit. However, if you are extremely lost on the DBQ there are ways to try and earn the contextualization point by picking up on cultural norms or political tensions from the sources.
• When coming up with contextualization, you need to really think about telling a story. What major events led to the event/topic that is the focus of my essay?
• One way to think about it was like an upside-down pyramid where your most broad evidence goes at the top and your most specific evidence goes at the bottom, right before your thesis. Ideally, one should have about 3-4 good pieces of information in contextualization. 4 is recommended in case something is not correct. It's the same reason why you'd want to do extra HIPPs just in case you mess up.
• Another way to think of this is if it was a 'on last weeks episode' recap. So what happened to cause this or what were some developments that contributed to this topic? Or it’s similar to a lawsuit, there are a series of events that lead to the trial. There are always a set of factors or events that create the path to a certain development, which is easily applicable to the content in AP World.
• Context should never be more than two sentences. Pay attention to the time period given in the prompt and make a general statement describing what was going on before or during this time period. Don’t be too general and instead focus on information relevant to the prompt. For example, if the prompt asks about the Ottomans in the 1800s, you can contextualize by mentioning the Ottomans in the 1700s and how they had changed by the 1800s.
• As far as organization, contextualization can fit nicely after your thesis and before evidence since it offers background information. To write a more complex essay it is critical that your context matches the theme within the argument you are making.

Evidence from the Documents

• You can score up to 2 points for having this in your DBQ!
• Briefly review the documents prior to starting the essay and label which specific documents will support your thesis.
• Make note of the date!! If you misattribute a document to an incorrect time period, you will lose a lot of points.
• Remember to condense each document into a 1-2 sentence commentary in your own words, which will make drawing from each document much easier.
• Then you need to connect it to your argument. You can accomplish by saying “This shows or this illustrates” and then how it connect a to your argument. This is a format that you can use “Document X explains blah blah blah. This shows that blah blah blah”.

Evidence from Beyond the Documents

• Study and learn as much general knowledge as you can about Women’s’ Suffrage, WWI and WWII and big, HUGE events and timeframes like those because when it comes to their evidence, it will be a lot easier to connect it to topics like this in order to get points.
• There's not much to this other than knowing each of your units really well. If you have a solid foundation of the entire curriculum, this will not be particularly difficult. It is always worth the time to work backward and write down the key events/figures from a given period and then use that to support your claim.
• Cram sheets helps a lot for this because if you’re on a time crunch, knowing basic knowledge can help a lot on DBQ’s. With the help of a mentor (teacher), remember key units that are mentioned in the exam a lot like the Industrial Revolution or Pre-Modern Era. If you have more time in your hands, take a practice DBQ from the previous years found in college board and try to think of outside evidence on the spur of the moment to train yourself.
• If you know quite literally anything about the topic, just shove it in. The only requirement is that it must be relative to the prompt! Don't know what's going on with women in Cuba? Then say what's going on with women in America! It's much better than nothing. The good thing about AP World is that your range of usable information is much broader than in AP Euro or APUSH.

Document Analysis

• FRAME OF REFERENCE This is influenced by a person's gender, occupation, class, education, religion, personal interests, and other aspects of their being.
• HISTORICAL SITUATION This is made up of society's influences on a person. It can be societal values, economic pressures, political conditions, or other things which influence society. Examples: gas prices, war, theocratic government, revolution, etc.
• Having some kind of paper aside can help you the most on my exam. Write what your claim is, your 2/3 points, and the document you’d like to use. Then list 1-7 for each document provided on this aside and write POV, Purpose, Context, and Intended audience per document. This makes it clear on how to set up your essay and when to use what document.
• Remember, you don't need these specific analysis points for every single document. Usually, you unconsciously think through things like POV, purpose, context, and intended audience while reading. If one factor jumps out at you while reading, WRITE IT DOWN! It shouldn't be a stretch to make these analysis points work, most of the time they just make sense to include while paraphrasing evidence or when providing explanation.
• The idea is to put it in the form of "While [counter argument], it was ultimately [main argument]".
• For example, "While the Mongols played a large role in spreading the bubonic plague, it was ultimately trade routes such as the Silk Roads that were the main cause of the Black Death". Then, you can easily add a paragraph at the end discussing your counterargument, which counts as considering multiple perspectives!
• The easiest ways to get complexity is by introducing counterarguments and weaving together multiple pieces of evidence to create a narrative. The documents are intentionally supposed to contain views from many points, and by comparing the documents and doing sourcing to assess their validity, you have a very good shot of earning the complexity point.
• Adding onto the point above, if you have enough time, try to write a counterargument against your thesis that you then disprove. You can do this by bringing up the counterargument and then saying "while this and this may be true, my point is better due to this and this." If the rest of your DBQ is solid, then you have a very good shot of getting the complexity point with this format.

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The Complete Guide to the AP World History Exam

Advanced Placement (AP)

Before you start studying for the AP World History exam, you should get the inside scoop on its format and content. The types of questions you'll see might differ from your expectations. It's especially smart to practice writing essay outlines based on past questions before you're faced with fresh prompts on test day.

In this article, we'll go through the structure, content, and question types on the AP World History exam and provide some helpful tips for acing it !

How Is the AP World History Exam Structured?

The AP World History exam is three hours and 15 minutes and consists of two sections, each of which contains a Part A and a Part B. Here's a basic overview of these sections before we get into the nitty-gritty below:

• Section 1, Part A: Multiple Choice
• Section 1, Part B: Short Answer
• Section 2, Part A: Document-Based Question (DBQ)
• Section 2, Part B: Long Essay

It should be noted that the AP World History exam has undergone some big changes for the 2019-20 school year . Instead of covering thousands of years of human history and development, now it will cover only the years 1200 to the present ; as a result, the exam has been renamed AP World History: Modern (an AP World History: Ancient course and exam are in the works).

Section 1 Format

Section 1 on the AP World History exam lasts a total of 95 minutes and consists of two parts:

• Part A: Multiple Choice
• Part B: Short Answer

This chart shows what you can expect for each part of Section 1 on the World History exam:

Part A lasts 55 minutes and counts for 40% of your total AP World History score. Each question on this part comes with four possible answer choices (labeled A-D). Since there are no penalties for wrong answers, it's in your best interest to fill in an answer for every question.

Most multiple-choice questions come in sets of three to four questions and require you to analyze primary and secondary sources as well as data in the form of graphs, charts, maps, etc.

Part B lasts 40 minutes and counts for 20% of your final AP score. For this section, you must write three short answers (you'll get four prompts in total, but you choose one of two prompts to write on for your third essay). You'll have different sources, or stimuli, for each short-answer prompt:

• Short Answer 1: Includes one secondary source
• Short Answer 2: Includes one primary source
• Short Answer 3/4 (choose one prompt): No stimulus for either option; prompt 3 focuses on the years 1200-1750, while prompt 4 focuses on the years 1750-2001

Section 2 Format

Section 2 on the AP World History test lasts 100 minutes and, like Section 1, consists of two parts:

• Part A: Document-Based Question (DBQ)
• Part B: Long Essay

Here's a brief overview of the format of Section 2 of the World History exam:

Part A in Section 2 lasts one hour and counts for 25% of your total score. For the Document-Based Question, or DBQ, you'll get seven documents offering different viewpoints on a certain historical development. You must write an essay with an argument supported by this historical evidence.

Part B, which is the Long Essay, lasts for just 40 minutes and counts for 15% of your AP score. This part of the test requires you to write a full-fledged essay in response to one of three prompts (you choose which one you want to write on). Unlike the DBQ, you're not given any direct historical evidence to use in your essay; you must come up with it yourself to support your argument.

Here are the three types of prompts you can choose from for the Long Essay:

• Prompt 1: Focuses on the years 1200-1750
• Prompt 2: Focuses on the years 1450-1900
• Prompt 3: Focuses on the years 1750-2001

What Kind of Content Is Covered in AP World History?

Content on the AP World History exam is divided into six overarching themes and nine distinct units . Knowing these categorizations can help you get a better sense of what kinds of historical trends you will be asked to examine (this is especially helpful when writing free-response essays!). The units are roughly divided up into overlapping periods of time.

Below, we introduce the current themes and units, as described in the 2019-20 AP World History: Modern Course and Exam Description .

The 6 Themes in AP World History

Let's start by looking closely at the six major themes covered on the AP World History exam.

Theme 1: Humans and the Environment

The environment shapes human societies, and as populations grow and change, these populations in turn shape their environments.

Key points:

• Demography and disease
• Patterns of settlement

Theme 2: Cultural Developments and Interactions

The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications.

• Religions and cultures
• Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
• Science and technology
• The arts and architecture

Theme 3: Governance

A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

• Political structures and forms of governance
• Nations and nationalism
• Revolts and revolutions
• Regional, transregional, and global structures and organizations

Theme 4: Economic Systems

As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

• Agricultural and pastoral production
• Trade and commerce
• Labor systems
• Industrialization
• Capitalism and socialism

Theme 5: Social Interactions and Organization

The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

• Gender roles and relations
• Family and kinship
• Racial and ethnic constructions
• Social and economic classes
• Slavery and abolition

Theme 6: Technology and Innovation

Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences.

• Intellectual innovation
• Transportation technologies and trade
• Modes of production and machinery
• Communication

The 9 Units in AP World History

Here, we'll go over the nine units of the AP World History course and exam. But before we describe each one in depth, here's a quick overview of how these units are tested:

Source: AP World History Course and Exam Description, 2019-20

Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (1200-1450)

• Developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
• Developments in Dar al-Islam from c. 1200 to c. 1450
• Developments in South and Southeast Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
• State Building in the Americas
• State Building in Africa
• Developments in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450
• Comparison in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

• The Silk Roads
• The Mongol Empire and the making of the modern world
• Exchange in the Indian Ocean
• Trans-Saharan trade routes
• Cultural consequences of connectivity
• Environmental consequences of connectivity
• Comparison of economic exchange

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450-1750)

• Empires expand
• Empires: administration
• Empires: belief systems
• Comparison in land-based empires

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections (1450-1750)

• Technological innovations from 1450 to 1750
• Exploration: causes and events from 1450 to 1750
• Columbian exchange
• Maritime empires established
• Maritime empires maintained and developed
• Internal and external challenges to state power from 1450 to 1750
• Changing social hierarchies from 1450 to 1750
• Continuity and change from 1450 to 1750

Unit 5: Revolutions (1750-1900)

• The Enlightenment
• Nationalism and revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900
• Industrial Revolution begins
• Industrialization spreads in the period from 1750 to 1900
• Technology of the Industrial Age
• Industrialization: government's role from 1750 to 1900
• Economic developments and innovations in the Industrial Age
• Reactions to the industrial economy from 1750 to 1900
• Society and the Industrial Age
• Continuity and change in the Industrial Age

Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization (1750-1900)

• Rationales for imperialism from 1750 to 1900
• State expansion from 1750 to 1900
• Indigenous responses to state expansion from 1750 to 1900
• Global economic development from 1750 to 1900
• Economic imperialism from 1750 to 1900
• Causes of migration in an interconnected world
• Effects of migration
• Causation in the Imperial Age

Unit 7: Global Conflict (1900-Present)

• Shifting power after 1900
• Causes of World War I
• Conducting World War I
• The economy in the interwar period
• Unresolved tensions after World War I
• Causes of World War II
• Conducting World War II
• Mass atrocities after 1900
• Causation in global conflict

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization (1900-Present)

• Setting the stage for the Cold War and decolonization
• The Cold War
• Effects of the Cold War
• Spread of communism after 1900
• Decolonization after 1900
• Newly independent states
• Global resistance to established order after 1900
• End of the Cold War
• Causation in the age of the Cold War and decolonization

Unit 9: Globalization (1900-Present)

• Advances in technology and exchange after 1900
• Technological advances and limitations after 1900: disease
• Technological advances: debates about the environment after 1900
• Economics in the Global Age
• Calls for reform and responses after 1900
• Globalized culture after 1900
• Resistance to globalization after 1900
• Institutions developing in a globalized world
• Continuity and change in a globalized world

Sample AP World History Test Questions

Let's go through examples of each of the four types of questions you'll see on the AP World History exam. All sample questions come from the 2019-20 World History Course and Exam Description .

Multiple-Choice Question Example

Most multiple-choice questions come in sets of three to four questions that ask you to respond to a particular source, or stimulus, such as a primary source, a secondary source, or data in the form of a map, chart, or table.

In this sample question, you're being asked to read and interpret two separate passages . You must have background knowledge of economic trends in the late 20th century to be able to select the correct answer here (which is answer choice C ).

Short-Answer Question Example

This short-answer question is accompanied by a secondary source. In each short-answer question on the test, each part (A-C) should only require a one- to two-sentence answer . You'll then get 1 point per correct response (so the max you can earn on one short-answer question is 3 points).

Here's how you could earn full credit for this question, per the official scoring guidelines .

(A) Sample Answers

• Hakuseki's argument was influenced by Confucianism.
• Hakuseki's argument that sovereign is Heaven to the subjects and the father is Heaven to the child was influenced by Confucian beliefs.
• Hakuseki's argument that only the emperor is supposed to serve the Lord of Heaven reflects the beliefs of Confucianism.

(B) Sample Answers

• One important difference is that most Christian missionaries and Muslim Sufis traveled across the world and spread their religion without being banned by other governments.
• One important difference between the circumstances of the religious encounter in eighteenth century Japan and other religious encounters in the period 1450–1750 is that religious interactions in this period more frequently led to the development of syncretic belief systems such as Vodou or Santería than the outright banning of the preaching of a religion.
• One important difference between the Tokugawa shogunate banning the preaching of Christianity and most other religious interactions in the period 1450–1750 is that some governments, such as the Mughal Empire under Akbar, encouraged religious tolerance and interaction.

(C) Sample Answers

• The Mughal emperors of India and the African kings of Kongo attempted to restrict European merchants to certain towns and trading posts.
• The Ming and Qing emperors of China confined the Portuguese merchants to Macao and placed legal restrictions on converting to Christianity.
• Although the Safavid Empire allowed European merchants to settle in some cities and even serve as advisors at court, preaching Christianity was strictly forbidden.

Document-Based Question Example

You'll get seven documents with your DBQ (not shown in the sample above), and you must use at least six of these as evidence in your response. The DBQ is worth up to 7 points .

Here's what you'd need to do to earn full credit for this sample DBQ, per the scoring guidelines .

Long Essay Question Example

For the Long Essay, you'll get three possible prompts to choose from. This question is an example of an Option 2 prompt with a focus on the years 1450-1900 —in this case, the 19th century. You can earn up to 6 points for your essay.

Here's what you'd need to do to earn full credit for this sample, per the official scoring guidelines :

How Is the AP World History Exam Scored?

Now that you've seen what questions look like on the AP World History test, let's quickly go over exactly how the exam is scored. Like all other AP tests, you will get a final scaled score for AP World History on a scale of 1-5 . This is a cumulative score that combines your raw scores from each of the four parts of the test (Multiple Choice, Short Answer, DBQ, and Long Essay).

Keep reading to see how each part of the AP World History test is scored.

Multiple Choice

Raw scoring for the multiple-choice section is simple: you earn 1 point for each multiple-choice question you answer correctly . Since there are 55 questions, the max number of points you can earn here is 55. Remember that this part counts for 40% of your total score .

No points are taken off for incorrect answers, so be sure to fill in every answer bubble!

Short Answer

Each short-answer question is worth 3 points—one for each task (labeled A-C) you must complete. Because there are three short-answer questions, this means you can earn a total of 9 raw points for all your responses. The short-answer portion counts for 20% of your final AP score .

Document-Based Question

The DBQ is worth 25% of your final score and is graded on a 7-point rubric , as shown below:

The Long Essay is worth just 15% of your overall score and is graded on a 6-point rubric :

The Best Way to Prep for the AP World History Exam: 3 Tips

Here are a few of the most important prep tips for AP World History. If you want more advice, take a look at our article on the best study strategies for this exam .

Tip 1: Make Connections to Themes (and Memorize Examples)

World History is a course that covers a ton of information, so much so that it can be hard to think of specific examples that relate to your arguments in essay questions. You should be able to elaborate on one or two concrete events from each period that relate to each theme of the course.

As long as you can preserve this bank of information in your mind, you'll be able to support your answers to any essay questions the test throws at you.

Tip 2: Use Outside Information Selectively

Providing specific historical examples in your essay lets you show your mastery of the material, but you need to be cautious. This test is less about how much you know and more about how well you understand the connections and underlying themes that connect historical facts.

Each fact you mention must have a specific purpose and should tie directly into what the question is asking and what you've stated in your argument.

Tip 3: Learn to Read Multiple-Choice Questions Carefully

You can get into some trouble if you don't understand exactly what the multiple-choice questions are asking on this exam. You'll only find the correct answer if you stick to the specifics of the question. Otherwise, you could get tripped up by choices that are accurate statements about history but inaccurate answers to the question being asked.

Practice your skills in selecting answers that directly pertain to the evidence presented in the question.

Summary: What to Know About the AP World History Exam

The AP World History exam is a three-hour and 15-minute test that consists of 55 multiple-choice questions, three short answers, one DBQ, and one essay.

Questions address six major historical themes and nine units, with periods stretching back to the year 1200 CE. While this is undoubtedly a lot of information to study, it's important to realize that long-term trends are more important than small details.

You can do extremely well on the World History test, as long as you master the major events of each period and understand their essential causes and effects .

What's Next?

Looking for some practice materials for the World History exam? Then check out this detailed guide to all the AP World History practice tests available online .

It's a smart idea to practice your writing skills on DBQs before any AP history test. Learn about the best places to find DBQ examples and how you can write an excellent response .

Which AP classes should you take in high school besides World History? Our expert guide will help you decide based on your goals, academic interests, and schedule.

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Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., guide to the ap world history exam.

The AP ®  World History: Modern exam covers historical developments from c 1200 to the present. It will test topics and skills discussed in your Advanced Placement World History: Modern course.  If you score high enough, your AP score could earn you college credit !

Check out our AP World History Guide for what you need to know about the exam:

• AP World History: Modern Exam Overview
• AP World History: Modern Question Types
• AP World History: Modern Scoring
• How to Prepare

AP World History Exam Overview

The AP World History: Modern exam takes 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete and is composed of: a multiple-choice, short answer, and free response section.

AP World History Question Types

Multiple-choice.

AP World History: Modern multiple-choice questions are grouped into sets of usually 3-4 questions. They are based on primary or secondary sources, including excerpts from historical documents or writings, images, graphs, and maps. This section will test your ability to analyze and engage with the source materials while recalling what you already know about world history.

Short Answer

The AP World History: Modern short answer questions require you to respond to a secondary source for Question 1 and a primary source for Question 2, both focusing on historical developments between 1200 and 2001. Students will choose between two options (Questions 3 or 4) for the final required short-answer question, each one focusing on a different time periods of 1200 to 1750 and 1750 to 2001.

For all short answer questions, you’ll be asked to:

• Analyze the provided sources
• Analyze historical developments and processes described in the sources
• Put those historical developments and processes in context
• Make connections between those historical developments and processes

Document-Based Question (DBQ)

The AP World History: Modern DBQ presents a prompt and seven historical documents that are intended to show the complexity of a particular historical issue between the years 1450 and 2001. You will need to develop an argument that responds to the prompt and support that argument with evidence from both the documents and your own knowledge of world history. To earn the best score, you should incorporate outside knowledge and be able to relate the issues discussed in the documents to a larger theme, issue, or time period.

Long Essay Question

The AP World History: Modern Long Essay Question presents three questions and you have to choose one to answer.    All questions will test the same skills but will focus on different historical periods (i.e., from c. 1200–1750, from c. 1450–1900, or from c. 1750–2001). Similar to the DBQ, you will need to develop and support an answer to the question you picked based on historical evidence to earn the best score possible.

For a comprehensive content review, check out our book,  AP World History Prep

AP World History Review

The College Board is very detailed in what they require your AP teacher to cover in his or her AP World History course. They explain that you should be familiar with world history events from the following nine units that fall within four major time periods from 1200 to the present.

Read More: Review for the exam with our AP World History Cram Courses

AP scores are reported from 1 to 5. Here’s how students scored on  AP World History exam in May 2020:

Source: College Board

How can I prepare?

AP classes are great, but for many students they’re not enough! For a thorough review of AP World History: Modern content and strategy, pick the AP prep option that works best for your goals and learning style.  You can also check out our AP World History: Modern test prep book here .

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How to Approach AP World History: Modern Long Essay Questions

The second part of Section II of the AP World History exam contains three long essay questions—you must respond to one. The long essay question assesses your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytical manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would. This process is called historiography—the skills and strategies historians use to analyze and interpret historical evidence to reach a conclusion. Thus, when writing an effective essay, you must be able to write a strong, clearly developed thesis and supply a substantial amount of relevant evidence to support your thesis and develop a complex argument.

The College Board’s characteristics of a high-scoring long essay question response are listed below. Note that the requirements are very similar to those of the DBQ; the primary difference is that any requirements related to use of the documents are removed from the scoring requirements for the LEQ.

• Thesis: Make a thesis or claim that responds to the prompt. The thesis or claim must be historically defensible and establish a line of reasoning.
• Context: Provide context relevant to the prompt by describing a broader historical development or process.
• Evidence: Use specific and relevant examples as evidence to support an argument in response to the prompt.
• Historical Skill: Use a historical reasoning skill (causation, comparison, or continuity and change) to develop an argument in response to the prompt.
• Complex Understanding: Demonstrate a complex understanding of an argument that responds to the prompt by using evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify the argument.

AP World History: Modern Long Essay Question Strategy

During step 1: analyze the prompt.

• Each long essay question begins with a general statement that provides context about the tested time period, and then the second sentence identifies your task, which will always entail developing an evaluative argument. Make sure to read all three prompts carefully. Think of the evidence you could use and the argument you could develop in response to each one, then choose the question you feel most confident about.
• Begin crafting your thesis statement. You must have a thesis that takes a stand, answers the entire question, and shows the reader the path you will take in your essay answer. It is not enough to merely restate the task as your thesis. One of the most important things to do is to take a position. Don’t be afraid of taking a strong stand for or against a prompt as long as you can provide proper and relevant evidence to support your assertions. Each prompt will lend itself to building a thesis that employs a historical skill , such as causation, continuity and change, or comparison.
• Part of developing your thesis should be considering how your essay’s argument will demonstrate a complex understanding . As for the DBQ, your argument should address the complexity of the historical development or process—perhaps by including multiple variables, by considering both causes and effects, or by making an insightful connection to another time period. See the DBQ section of this chapter for a complete list of ways to demonstrate complex understanding.

During Step 2: Plan Your Response

• Make short notes that outline each paragraph of your essay, including the points you will make and the evidence you will use to support your points.
• The first paragraph of your essay will likely contain your thesis statement; the thesis may also appear in the conclusion, but placing it in the introduction will make it easier for your readers to follow your essay.
• Consider how you will provide context for the essay topic. The context you provide must be more detailed than a brief reference and should situate the topic of the prompt in relation to developments before, during, or after the time period from the prompt. The introduction paragraph or first body paragraph may be good places to include contextualization.
• In general, each body paragraph should address one part of your claim or one category of evidence you are providing in support of your thesis. Organizing your essay according to the historical skill being tested is an easy and effective way to structure your essay; each paragraph of an essay responding to a prompt about causation could address one cause, for instance. Jot down the evidence you will include in each body paragraph. To earn the maximum points for use of evidence, you must use examples that support your overall argument—merely listing relevant examples but not explaining how they support your claim will only earn 1 instead of 2 possible points for evidence.
• Confirm that your plan addresses all the essay requirements before moving into the writing step.

During Step 3: Action! Write Your Response

• There is no “standard” number of paragraphs you must have. AP readers look for quality, not quantity.
• The first paragraph of your essay should include your thesis and any other organizational cues you can give your reader. There is no need to spend time creating a “hook” or flashy statement for your first sentence or using rhetorical questions. AP graders are reading for the items that are listed in the rubric. You will notice that creativity in language is not a listed item. However, a well-written and developed argument is a desired item.
• Your body paragraphs should follow the “road map” you set in your introduction and thesis. Don’t stray from your plan, or you will find yourself straying from the prompt. You have taken the time to make a plan, so follow it! Do not merely list facts and events in a “laundry list” fashion. You must have some element of analysis between each set of evidence you provide. Using transition words, such as however, therefore, and thus, to show shifts in thought can make creating analytical sentences quick and easy. You should practice stringing facts and thoughts together using these “qualifying transitions” in your sentences.
• Beware of telling a story rather than answering the question. Readers are looking for analysis, not a revised version of your textbook. Do not attempt to shower the reader with extra factoids and showy language; focus on developing a well-crafted argument.
• Because this is a formal essay, you should avoid using personal pronouns, such as you, I, or we, and slang words. Because your essay is about history, write your essay in the past tense.
• You should end each body paragraph with a mini-conclusion that ties the paragraph back to the thesis. It can serve as a transition sentence into the next paragraph or stand alone. In either case, the reader should be able to tell easily that you are shifting gears into another part of the essay.
• Lastly, write your conclusion. Restate your thesis, but in a new way. Instead of rewriting your thesis word for word, explain why your thesis is significant to the question. Do not introduce new evidence in your conclusion. The conclusion should tie all of the mini-conclusion sentences together and leave the reader with a sense of completion. If you are running out of time when you reach the conclusion, you may leave it off without incurring a specific penalty. However, the conclusion can help solidify your entire argument in the minds of your readers, so practice writing timed essays so you can learn the proper timing it takes to write a complete essay (conclusion included).

During Step 4: Proofread

• Neatly correct any obvious errors.

For more help prepping for the AP World History: Modern exam, check out our AP World History: Modern Prep Plus Book.

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