AP World History Free – Response Question
You will have 10 minutes to read the contents of this green insert. You are advised to spend most
of the 10 minutes analyzing the documents and planning your answer for the document-based
essay question in Part A. You may make notes on this paper. Suggested writing time is 40
minutes for the document-based essay question in Part A.
BE SURE TO MANAGE YOUR TIME CAREFULLY.
Part A
(Suggested writing time – 40 minutes)
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-4. The
documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise. Write your answers on lined pages
from your notebook.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents.
Write an essay that:
 Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
 Use all or all but one of the documents.
 Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible.
Does not simply summarize the documents individually.
Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ point of view.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1. Analyze these 4 theories of the origin of humans. What additional kind of document(s)
would be most helpful in furthering you analysis?
Document 1
Source: Charles Darwin, British naturalist, first proposed his theory of evolution in The Origin of
Species, 1859.
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the
one that is the most adaptable to change."
Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause
proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely
complex relationship to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation
of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will thus
have a better chance of surviving, for, of the many individuals of any species which are
periodically born, but a small number can survive. I have called this principle, by which each
slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation
to man's power of selection.
Document 2
Source: Billy Graham, Protestant revivalist from the United States, in The Meaning of Life, by
David Friend and the editors of Life Magazine, pg. 104 (1991)
Humanity is not an accident, and life has profound meaning. This is in cause our creator, whom
we call God, deliberately put us here, and endowed us with a spiritual nature, as well as body and
mind. This not only separates us from the animals but gives us capacity to know God and to do
His will.
Document 3
Source: Michael Behe, professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, published “Darwin’s
Black Box,” a controversial book in which he argues against Darwin’s evolutionary theory,
newspaper article in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 8, 2001.
My religious beliefs haven't influenced my scientific work. I first learned Darwin's theory in
parochial school. We were taught that it was God's way of making life through natural laws. That
seemed fine with me. It was only when I learned of scientific problems with the theory of
evolution that I became skeptical of it.
Although intelligent design fits comfortably with a belief in God, it doesn't require it, because the
scientific theory doesn't tell you who the designer is. While most people -- including me -- will
think the designer is God, some people might think that the designer was a space alien or
something odd like that.
The conclusion that parts of life were intentionally designed can be supported with scientific
evidence. The further deduction that the designer is God requires philosophical and theological
arguments.
I certainly think Darwinian evolution should be taught in high school. It's an important theory.
But I think it should be taught "warts and all." Teach the evidence that fits into the theory, but
also present the evidence that doesn't. Talk about examples that seem to demonstrate how
evolution works, but also talk about examples that have been shown to be fraudulent or seriously
incomplete. In the past students have been misled by their biology textbooks. In the future,
students should be taught the difference between data and interpretation.
Document 4
Source: Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer, paediatrician, geneticist and author, who studies the early
movement of humanity, Out of Africa’s Eden, The Peopling of the World, 2003
"It is supported by the genetics, that modern humans arose in Africa, moved out and replaced
everybody else - and completely. There is no trace of any of the earlier species of humans - who
were known to have left Africa previously - to be found in modern humans, certainly not in the
mitochondrial DNA," said Oppenheimer.
"I argue very much for a single exodus, based on the structure of the African (family) tree. All
those who are not Africans belong to the same twig, if there had been waves (of migrations of
Homo sapiens) they wouldn't all belong to the
same twig. It's a logical thing."