Section Ib: Short Answer
3 questions 40mins 20% of Score
In the short-answer section, youll write answers to questions in your test booklet. Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
- Question 1is required, includes 1 or 2 secondary sources, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1200 and 2001.
- Question 2is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1200 and 2001.
- You can choose betweenQuestion 3 andQuestion 4 for the last question. No sources are included for eitherQuestion 3orQuestion 4.
You’ll be asked to:
- 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
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 . 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.
Ap World History Exam 2022
Unlike 2020 and 2021, when the College Board modified the AP exams as a response to the disruption caused by COVID-19, the 2022 AP exams will return to its original format.
This year, the AP exams will take place over a two-week period in May: May 26 and May 913.
The College Board may change the format, however, if schools are disrupted in the spring due to COVID-19.
Well continue to monitor global, national, and local health conditions, putting the health and safety of students first, and if there are widespread school closures in spring 2022, well provide options similar to those offered in 2021, the College Board noted here.
We will, of course, update this guide if that should happen.
The AP World History exam for 2022 will be a full-length paper-and-pencil exam that students can take in school only.
Here is what you need to know to do well in the upcoming AP World History exam.
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Ap And Higher Education
Higher education professionals play a key role in developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education section features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.
This chart shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the AP Credit Policy Search.
Tip : Make Connections To Themes

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.
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Ap World History: What Score Do I Need For College Credit
The College Board considers a 3 on the AP World History exam a passing score. But that does not necessarily mean students will receive college credit for a 3.
Each college decides whether to grant credit for AP exams and what scores qualify. Most colleges that accept AP scores award credit for a 4 or 5 on the test. Some also grant credit for a 3.
Students considering AP exams can research the credit policy at their potential colleges.
Should I Take Ap World History
High schoolers often wonder which AP classes to take. AP World History remains a popular option, and the course covers an exciting period in history with scientific advances, imperial clashes, and social revolutions.
Students with strong research, analytical, and communication skills often thrive in AP World History. The class may challenge high schoolers with weaker writing skills. A large portion of the exam score comes from short-answer and essay questions.
Before signing up for AP World History, speak with teachers and past students at your school to learn more about the class.
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The Best Ap World History: Modern Review Guide For 2022
- The Albert Team
Youve taken the class, youve put in the hours of studying for unit exams and completing the work assigned by your teacher, and now its Maycrunch time for the 2022 AP® World History review exam!
Taking any AP® class can be difficult and stressful, but if you prepare and follow the guidelines and resources below, you will be even more armed with the knowledge and confidence to pass the exam.
This post includes information about the format of the exam, the topics covered, and study strategies for the AP® World History exam. Links to additional information and resources are also provided throughout.
What We Review
If You Are Still Struggling After You Have Done The First Three Steps Use The Resources Provided To You On The Ap Central Website
Use the resources, such as the released questions from the past three years of the exam on a daily basis when studying.
Practice and study in small chunks throughout the weeks prior to the exam. Study for 20 minutes and then take a 10 minute break. Once you have completed about one hour of studying, you should take an extended break.
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What Topics Are Covered On Ap World History: Modern Exam
Albert provides an immense number of resources to help you prepare for the AP® World History: Modern Exam. for both multiple choice and free response item types. There are also full-length practice tests so you can practice in a way that closely mimics the actual exam.
If you are looking for visual resources, those are covered as well. The chart below links to various videosboth brief and detailed that explain many of the topics covered in this exam. Most students learn best through multiple channels, so Albert provides both print and visual learning tools!
Unit |
Units 1 and 2 make up between 16-20% of the exam, Unit 3 through Unit 6 are the biggest percentage of the exam with a coverage range of 48-60% , and Unit 7 through Unit 9 make up 24-30% of the exam.
You can use this breakdown to guide exam preparations. For example, if you study for 100 minutes, you should spend between 48 and 60 minutes on Units 3-6.
Knowing the breakdown of the topics can be useful in being prepared for all portions of the exam, but particularly those that require a written response. The Document Based Questions cover a wide year range and can be about any unit from the course. This might seem intimidating, but the documents themselves can help to provide context for your writing if you get stuck.
Two Additional Ap World History: Modern Resources:
Freemanpedia
This website provides resources for all topics and units for AP® World: Modern.
Use this site if: you need more in-depth resources about the entire course. This site provides a variety of graphic organizers about key ideas for each unit.
Do not use this site if: you do not like graphic organizers. There are a ton of them on each page for each unit.
Heimlers History: Youtube Channel:
On this Youtube channel, you will find a collection of videos that cover the entire curriculum for AP® World History.
Use this site if: you are a visual learner and need a quick overview of each topic that you learned during the course.
Do not use this site if: you are not a visual learner or you need more in- depth information about a certain topic.
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Unit : Networks Of Exchange
Big Takeaways
Definitely do this:
- Check out this interactive website on the history of humans in the Indian Ocean
- Can you identify the countries of the world? Play this game!
- You wont be asked to label maps on the exam, but its useful to know where countries are located so you can draw conclusions from their region.
When Should You Take Ap World History

When do high schoolers typically take AP World History? The answer depends on the school. However, many schools offer world history in 10th grade. Students often study World History before taking AP U.S. History.
Since many students take AP World History as sophomores, it may represent one of their first AP classes. As a result, students may prefer to avoid taking multiple AP classes at the same time. However, high schoolers with more experience, including juniors and seniors who have taken AP classes, may take World History with other AP classes.
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Ap World History Practice Test
It can be difficult to find AP world history exams that you can use to practice for the real one that you will need to take to gain college credit after completing the AP world history course. Here are some free practice tests that our team collected to help you feel prepared for the exam:
Name of Test |
Free-response questions |
The Complete Guide To The Ap World History Exam
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!
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Practice Multiple Choice Questions From Previous Tests That You Took During The Year
Your teacher wrote questions for your unit tests to mimic the questions you will see on this exam. Create a mistake log and cross-reference units to identify which units you need to prioritize most. Look at your old tests and find which types of questions you struggled with the most to guide what to focus on while studying.
Is Ap World History Hard A Complete 2022 Guide
AP World History challenges students. But how hard is the exam, and should high schoolers sign up for AP World History?
- AP World History covers political, economic, cultural, and social history.
- The College Board recently changed the class so it focuses on 1200 to the present.
- The class builds strong analytical, research, and writing skills.
- Students should ask teachers and former students about the class at their school.
More than 300,000 students took the AP World History exam in May 2020. And when the scores came back, World History ranked among the 10 hardest AP classes, based on the number of passing scores.
Is AP World History hard?
www.bestcolleges.com is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.
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How Long Is The Ap World History: Modern Exam
The AP® World exam begins with 55 stimulus-based multiple-choice questions. Stimulus-Based refers to the exam format in which groups of 3 to 4 questions are related to a single chart, graph, picture, or primary/secondary source excerpt. This format requires you to analyze the stimulus to answer the questions attached to it. The multiple-choice questions are 40% of the exam and students have 55 minutes to complete the section.
After the multiple-choice section, there is a short answer section. You must answer the first two questions but you have a choice between the third and fourth questions to answer a total of three short-answer items. The short answer portion of the exam is 20% of the exam, and you have 40 minutes to write out responses for this section.
Following the short answer portion, the exam will have one hour to answer the Document Based Question or the DBQs. These are extended response questions that you will write based on a set of primary and secondary sources. The DBQ portion makes up 25% of the total exam score.
The exam ends with the long essay portion where you will respond to a question and craft an essay response. You will have 40 minutes to write this essay, and it makes up 15% of the exam score. Here is the link to the student page that breaks down the exam format even further if you are looking for more details.
Practice How You Would Organize Writing A Dbq Short Answers And Long Essay Once You Have Collected Your Information And Discussed The Information With Your Peers
Your teacher has probably given you many extended response questions throughout the year that mimic the exam, so use those to get started.
Use the organizational format that you like best and take time to master quickly mapping out an extended response.
Use your favorite writing outline web to practice sample questions that are provided on the AP® Central website or on the Albert website. If you dont have a favorite writing outline web, here is one that you might find useful.
Limit your prewriting to 15 minutes as you are preparing for writing essays on a timed test. However, you can practice planning out responses for multiple writing prompts during each study period.
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Does The College Board Offer Any Free Ap World History Exam Prep Resources
The College Board is offering a number of free AP World History exam resources to students to help them prepare for the exam.
AP World History Practice Tests
You can get examples of free-response questions from past AP World History exams for free. You can use these as practice tests to supplement other test prep materials you use.
Check here for free-response questions posed in the 2021 AP World History exam. You can also log in to the AP Classroom Question Bank for questions posed in the 2020 exam.
And check here for free-response questions from the 2002-2019 AP World History exams.
AP World HistoryCourses
The College Boards AP YouTube channel gives students access to APLive classes and recordings delivered by AP teachers from across the country. Additionally, to help students review course content and skills before their exam, the College Board gives students access to the AP Daily: Live Review sessions for the 2021 AP World History exam.
What Will Be Tested On The 2022 Ap World History Exam

The 2022 AP World History exam will test students on the whole course content, so be prepared to answer questions on these topics:
- Unit 1: The Global Tapestry
- Unit 2: Networks of Exchange
- Unit 3: Land-Based Empires
- Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization
- Unit 7: Global Conflict
- Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization
- Unit 9: Globalization
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Tip : Learn To Read Multiple
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.
STICK to the specifics of the question! Also, I admire the sacrifices this woman made for the sake of a stock photo, both in terms of her dignity and in terms of the pain she must have experienced when ripping that tape out of her hair.
How Is The Ap World History Exam Structured
Students complete the AP World History exam over the course of 3 hours and 15 minutes. During that time, test-takers complete 55 multiple-choice questions, three short-answer questions, and two free-response questions.
The free-response section includes a document-based question, where students read multiple primary source documents to answer the prompt. The section also includes an essay question. The College Board provides sample questions and practice exams that provide examples of the exam format.
- Section I : 55 Multiple-Choice Questions
- Section I : 3 Short Answer Questions
- Section II: 2 Free-Response Questions
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Advanced Placement World History: Modern
Advanced Placement® is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, these products.
Its a bold, new world!
- Interactive edition now available!
- Concise and accessible topics provide essential content organized in short, focused sections.
- Includes opportunities for students to explore and develop the skills and practices of historians.
- Promotes development of historical thinking skills, reasoning processes, thematic analysis, and concepts and understandings of course content.
- Guided instruction and practice is provided for each of the historical disciplinary practices or reasoning skills identified by the College Board.
- Questions based on AP® Exam formats186 multiple-choice questionsplus 1 complete practice test modeled on the AP® Exam
- Features to develop skills tested on the AP® Exam 60 Think as a Historian features provide skills instruction and practice9 Write as a Historian features build on skills for writing responses to essay questions9 Historical Perspectives features introduce significant historical issues and conflicting interpretations
- Teacher Resource includes correlations for each question to the College Board Curriculum Framework.The Teacher Resource is sold only to educators and shipped to school or district addresses only. A verified classroom set purchase of the student edition is required.