World History AP
Summer Homework
2011 - 2012
West High School
20401 Victor Street
Torrance, CA 90503
Stephen A. Martin
Room #3201
(310) 533-4299 x7736
smartin@etusd.org
Introduction
This class is designed to prepare you for the World History Advanced Placement Exam
as well as to help you develop a greater understanding of the evolution of global
development and contacts over time. The course highlights the nature of changes, their
causes and consequences, makes note of important continuities, while directly comparing
and contrasting major societies.
To help identify and analyze the patterns and developments of history, the class uses the
five AP World History Themes listed below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Interaction between humans and the environment
Development and interaction of cultures
State-building, expansion, and conflict
Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems
Development and transformation of social structures
Textbook and Materials
World Civilizations: The Global Experience, AP Edition, by Peter N. Stearns et. al., New
York: Pearson Longman; 4th ed., 2005.
(In assignments, this book is referred to as your “textbook” or “TB”.)
AP Student Review Manual, by Peter N. Stearns et. al., New York: Pearson Longman.
(In assignments, this book is referred to as your “workbook” or “WB”.)
Summer Assignment
Introduction: Welcome to World History Advanced Placement (WHAP) and your
summer assignment. The most important advice I can give you at this point is the
following: EVERYTHING you do between now and the AP exam (administered in midMay) is preparation for that exam. If you skip a chapter, a section, an assignment, a
question, a lecture, then you run the risk of not being fully prepared for the exam in May.
Knowledge is power!
All of the following assignments (reading and writing) should be completed by Friday,
September 9, 2011. All written assignments should be completed in a “homework
notebook” that is used exclusively for this class. There will be times when I ask you to
turn in this notebook so I may examine and comment on your writing. You will also need
a separate notebook in which to take notes in class. Do not use loose-leaf notebook paper
for any of these assignments. Please purchase a spiral notebook (100 pages minimum)
containing college-lined paper to use as your homework notebook.
Summer Assignment:
Period 1 – Technological and Environmental Transformations (8000 BCE – 600 BCE)
Key Concepts:
1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
3. The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban
Societies
Read the following in the textbook:
Preface: pages xvii – xxiii
Prologue: pages xxix – xxx (See Note 1)
Part I Introduction: pages 2 – 5
Chapter 1: pages 6 – 29
Read the following in the workbook:
pages vi – ix and pages 1 – 7 & 9
Do the following from the workbook:
Prologue (Workbook page 8; Textbook
pages xxix – xxx)
Section Review: Questions A, B, C (½
page each)
Multiple Choice: all (See Note 2 below)
Chapter 1 (WB 10 – 16; TB 6 – 29)
Chapter Review: B, C, F, J (½ page
each)
Map Exercise: A, B, D
Multiple Choice: all
Essay: Outline B, C, D (See Note 4
below)
Part I Review (WB 17 – 19)
Unit Overview: B, D, E (½ page each)
Multiple Choice: all
Geography: I, II (See Note 3 below)
In addition to the above, read the “Introduction” pages to each of the remaining five
“Parts” of the textbook. (These are the grayish pages at the beginning of each period in
the book. Examples: pages 30-33, 112-119, etc.) In your homework notebook,
following the assignments for Period 1, outline the information in each of these
“Introductions.” Refer to your workbook page 1 (“Tips for Reading Your Text and
Taking Notes”) for ideas on how to outline these pages. Specifically, read the paragraphs
under the following headings: Notetaking can take many forms, Do not read and outline
simultaneously!, and Do not write everything down.
As you study Part I, consider the following:
Can you compare/contrast different river civilizations?
Can you compare/contrast the basic criteria for what makes a civilization?
Can you trace how daily life changed and remained the same (continuities) from the
beginning of this time period to the end?
To answer the above, consider the changes and continuities in labor systems, the status of
women, poor people (underclass).
Note 1: In each chapter in the workbook there is a vocabulary section. You need not write
the definition of each word, but it is assumed that you know the definition and can use the
word correctly. Every test you take (multiple choice and essay) assumes that you know
these words.
Note 2: For each multiple choice question assigned, write-out the question and the
correct answer in your homework notebook. (Do NOT simply write the letter associated
with the correct answer.) Because nothing is easy, the multiple choice answer keys are at
the end of each unit. But wait, you say, that is easy. Well, it has been discovered that
some of the answer keys are wrong or mixed up. Check your answers with the answer
key; when you think the answer key is wrong, this is a great opportunity to ask a question
in class, discuss your reasoning, and otherwise impress you classmates and teacher with
your study skills.
Note 3: Knowing the geography of the world is CRITICAL to doing well on the AP
exam. You will be given geography quizzes throughout the course. You should be able
to locate and identify on an outline map of the world the continents, major bodies of
water, and major physical features (given on WB p. 19) before the beginning of this
course. You will also need to identify other bodies of water, physical features, historical
cities, regions, societies, civilizations and states on an outline map of the world as we
progress through the course.
Note 4: The essay questions at the end of each chapter are extremely important. To start,
you should not write a full-fledged essay to each question, merely an outline. A sample
outline for essay question A (p.16) is what follows; you should do your best to emulate
this with your outlines. As the year progresses, you will be required to write-out essays to
selected questions in your workbook.
Thesis Statement (T.S.): Because human groups were small and lacked job specialization,
gender differences meant little until more complex societies were formed during the
Agricultural Revolution.
Description of typical Paleolithic society
Hunting and gathering
Little food surplus
Few inter-tribe conflicts
Therefore: women have quasiequal status with men
Agricultural Revolution (AR)
Domestication of animals and grains
Food surplus → job specialization
Increase in inter-tribe conflict
Therefore: women have domestic tasks
Specific Example: Sumer
Prior to AR, women gather food with men
After AR, women hidden in house, used in marriage to complete political or
financial alliances; divorce becomes taboo,
marriage comes with a dowry.