AP World History
Course Syllabus
“The AP World History course presented here, provides a clear framework of six chronological
periods viewed through the lens of related key concepts and course themes, accompanied by a
set of skills that clearly define what it means to think historically. The course’s organization
around a limited number of key concepts instead of a perceived list of facts, events, and dates
makes learning each historical period more manageable. The three to four key concepts per
period define what is most essential to know about each period based upon the most current
historical research in world history. This approach enables students to spend less time on factual
recall, more time on learning essential concepts, and helps them develop historical thinking
skills necessary to explore the broad trends and global processes involved in their study of AP
World History. To foster a deeper level of learning, the framework distinguishes content that is
essential to support the understanding of key concepts from content examples that are not
required. The themes and key concepts are intended to provide foundational knowledge for
future college-level course work in history. Command of these course themes and key concepts
requires sufficient knowledge of detailed and specific relevant historical developments and
processes — including names, chronology, facts, and events — to exemplify the themes and key
concepts. However, the specific historical developments and processes taught in an AP World
History course will vary by teacher according to the instructional choices each teacher makes to
provide opportunities for student investigation and learning for each key concept and theme.”
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Taken from AP World History – The College Boards,
Course Descriptions. (Fall 2011)
Course Overview
This course examines the history and development of Humankind from its very beginnings,
through its various stages of development, up to the current time. This is done by”periodization”
as the history of Humankind is divided into six times frames, focusing on five course themes, and
the four historical thinking skills as described below:
The Four Historical Thinking Skills:
1: Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
2: Chronological Reasoning
3: Comparison and Contextualization
4: Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
Course Themes:
1: Interaction between Humans and the Environment
2: Development and Interaction of Cultures
3: State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict
4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures
Historical Periodization:
Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations,
to 600 B.C.E
Period 2: Organization and Reorganization of Human
Societies, 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.
Period 3: Regional and Trans-regional Interactions, 600 C.E.
to 1450 C.E.
Period 4: Global Interactions, 1450 C.E. to 1750 C.E.
Period 5: Industrialization and Global Integration, 1750 C.E. to
1900 C.E.
Period 6: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments,
1900 C.E. to the Present
Course Objectives
♦ master a broad body of historical knowledge
♦ demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology
♦ use historical data to support an argument or position
♦ differentiate between historiographical schools of thought
♦ interpret and apply data from original documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters, etc.
♦ effectively use analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, compare and contrast
♦ work effectively with others to produce products and solve problems
♦ prepare for and successfully pass the AP World History Exam
Textbook:
Strayer, Robert W., ‘Ways of the World’,(Bedford/St. Martins,2013,
Boston & New York)
WEB Resources:
Students will be required to have access to the internet in order to prepare
various assignments, as well as to retrieve them. www.faylehistory.com
Practice quizzes will also be taken via the publisher’s web site.
Major Assignments:
Free response and document based essays
Unit Objective examinations
Group Projects and Presentations
Class discussion and debate
Mid-Year Examination
AP Final Examination (National Exam)
Units of Study:
Please note that the timeframes for the units of study represent a rough guideline for planning
purposes. Some changes to this plan are certain to occur depending on a number of variables
including teacher discretion, snow days, unplanned field trips, new material, etc.
Summer
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
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Chapters 1 & 2
Chapters 3 – 5
Chapters 6 - 8
Chapters 9 – 11
Chapters 11 – 13
Chapters 13 – 14
Chapters 15 – 17
Chapters 18 - 20
Chapters 21 – 23
The AP World National Exam occurs on Thursday, May 12th, 2016. It is an 8:00 A.M. session,
and the fee this year is $91.00. Reductions in the fees are available for qualifying students.
Please contact Ms. Nutter at Ext: 155 if you have questions about this. The exam is a
standardized test and is graded externally. Grades are not available until after the school year.
They are usually sent out in July from the College Board. The duration of the exam is just over
three hours, and students taking the exam are excused from school at the end of the exam block.
Grading:
Tests
Homework
Classwork
Projects
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40%
25%
15%
20%
Midterm examinations count as 20% of the Semester-I grade. Students are expected to sit for the
AP World National Exam in May, and therefore are NOT required to take a final exam in this
course.
On my web page, I have placed several informative links to the governing body of the AP
curriculum, which is the College Board. On these links you will find helpful information about
such topics as the AP National Exam, colleges that accept AP credit, the benefits of taking an AP
course, and more. I strongly encourage parents and students to take a few moments to study this
useful and informative material.
Materials:
Students will be required to cover their textbooks. As well, they are asked to purchase a three
ring notebook exclusively for this course.
I would ask that both parent(s) and student sign below, indicating to me that both have read and
understand the information provided in this syllabus.
____________________________ ________________________ ___/___/___
Student Name (print)
Student Signature
Date
____________________________ ________________________ ___/___/___
Parent Name (print)
Parent Signature
Date