AP United States History facts for kids
Advanced Placement (AP) United States History (also known as AP U.S. History or APUSH) is a special high school course and exam. It's offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program. This course is designed to be like a first-year college history class. It helps students learn a lot about American history. If you do well, you might even earn college credit!
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Learning About U.S. History
The AP U.S. History course is made to teach you as much as you would learn in a college history class. It covers the entire history of the United States. This includes everything from the time before Europeans came to America, all the way up to the present day.
The course divides U.S. History into 9 main time periods:
| Time Period | Focus on Exam |
|---|---|
| 1491-1607 | 4-6% |
| 1607-1754 | 6-8% |
| 1754-1800 | 10-17% |
| 1800-1848 | 10-17% |
| 1844-1877 | 10-17% |
| 1865-1898 | 10-17% |
| 1890-1945 | 10-17% |
| 1945-1980 | 10-17% |
| 1980-Present | 4-6% |
In AP U.S. History classes, students usually use textbooks that are also used in colleges. These books help cover all the required topics.
Different Views on History
Sometimes, people have different ideas about how history should be taught. Some groups have shared their thoughts about the AP U.S. History course. They wanted the course to focus more on American strengths and national pride. In response to these ideas, the course was updated in 2015.
The APUSH Exam
The AP U.S. History exam takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete. It has two main parts.
Section I has two different types of questions:
- Part A: Multiple Choice Questions
- You will answer 55 multiple choice questions.
- Each question has four possible answers.
- These questions cover American history from before Europeans arrived to today.
- Questions often come in groups of two to five. They are based on a source like a document, map, or political cartoon.
- Part B: Short-Answer Questions
- You will answer three short-answer questions.
- The first two questions are required for everyone.
- For the third question, you get to choose between two options.
- You have 95 minutes for all of Section I.
Section II is where you write essays:
- Part A: Document-Based Question (DBQ)
- You will get an essay question and seven short historical documents.
- You need to write an essay that answers the question.
- You must use information from the documents and your own knowledge.
- Part B: Long Essay Question
- You will see three different essay questions.
- You only need to choose and answer one of them.
- These essays ask you to think about historical patterns. For example, how things changed over time, how different events compare, or what caused certain events.
You get 15 minutes to read the essay questions and plan your answers. Then, you have 100 minutes to write both essays. It's suggested to spend 60 minutes on the DBQ and 40 minutes on the long essay.
Many students take the AP U.S. History exam. In May 2011, over 400,000 students took it around the world. It is one of the most popular AP exams.
How the Exam is Scored
The AP U.S. History exam is scored on a scale from 1 to 5. A score of 3, 4, or 5 is generally considered a passing score. Many colleges give credit for these scores.
Here's how each part of the exam contributes to your total score:
- Section I (Multiple Choice and Short Answer) is worth 60% of your total score.
- Multiple choice questions are 40%.
- Short-answer questions are 20%.
- Section II (Essays) is worth 40% of your total score.
- The Document-Based Question (DBQ) is 25%.
- The Long Essay Question is 15%.
