AP World History
Summer Work 2015
•
•
due date:
estimated time:
Monday, August 31 (first day of school)
6-8 hours (for planning purposes only; work until you finish)
Dear Students,
Welcome to AP World History. I look forward to a great year with you. You do not need a book to
complete the following assignments; you can find the information you need by researching on the
Internet. These assignments will assist in building your fundamental knowledge of world history and are
intended to lay the foundation for the first unit and subsequent material covered during the course of
the year.
AP World History is an awesome course. As it is your first AP course in social studies, you should know
that you will need to stay focused and work hard in order to be successful. Be prepared to spend four to
six hours a week outside of class on the course. Much of that work will involve reading and analyzing
resources and documents.
During the school year we will explore 10,000 years of human history, learn valuable skills, and take the
AP World History Exam in May, 2016. This is an exciting course that will allow us to look at the big
picture of history, trace cultures over time, and examine human interactions.
The purpose of this summer assignment is to get a jumpstart on the curriculum. Our textbook has many
chapters that we need to cover in about 30 weeks in order to have time to review before the AP test. The
summer assignment will also provide us with an opportunity to go into more depth on certain topics
throughout the year.
You will turn in two items.
1. A hard copy of this packet. Please hand write your answers to the map and vocabulary exercises.
If you need additional space, please write on your own paper.
2. Your typed or hand-written essay. The prompt is on the last page of this packet.
Both items are due on the first day of school. You will be quizzed on some of the information from this
packet during the first week of school. It is important that you show that you are capable of successfully
completing this independent assignment in the time allotted. This will give a clear picture of your ability
to handle this college-level course.
In addition to our textbook (available on MBS), it is highly recommended that you purchase Five Steps to
a 5 for AP World History (McGraw Hill). This is a practice book that will help you to study for the AP test
in May. I suggest that you follow along in this book as we go through the year. You may also want to
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purchase other study guides; however, this is the one that gets high reviews from past AP World History
students.
I will be available by email during the summer if you have questions about the assignment or the course.
I am looking forward to meeting all of you in August. Go Spartans!
Greg Young
gregory.young1109@gmail.com
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Part I: Mapping Exercise
• estimated time: 2 hours
Neatly label the attached world maps with the land and water features listed below. Use the colors
indicated in parentheses. Print neatly and make sure your maps are easy to read.
Map 1: AP World Regions
Refer to page 22 in the AP World History Course Description on the AP website. Using the world map
provided in this packet, draw and label the AP Regions based on the “closer view.” You may color it if you
would like, but that is not a requirement. However, please use a color or striping to indicate regions that
overlap.
Map 2: Bodies of Water and Rivers
A. Oceans, Seas, Bays, Lakes (color them blue)
1. Atlantic Ocean
2. Pacific Ocean
3. Indian Ocean
4. Arctic Ocean
5. North Sea
6. Baltic Sea
7. English Channel
8. Norwegian Sea
9. Barents Sea
10. Mediterranean Sea
11. Adriatic Sea
12. Aegean Sea
B. Rivers (draw them in blue)
1. Nile River
2. Tigris River
3. Euphrates River
4. Amazon River
5. Mississippi River
6. Rio Grande
7. Indus River
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Black Sea
Caspian Sea
Great Lakes
Red Sea
Persian Gulf
Arabian Sea
Bay of Bengal
South China Sea
East China Sea
Yellow Sea
Sea of Japan
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Yellow River (Huang He)
Yangtze River
Ganges River
Irrawaddy River
Mekong River
Congo River
Danube River
6.
7.
8.
9.
Atlas Mountains
Ural Mountains
Hindu Kush
Himalaya Mountains
5.
6.
7.
Mojave Desert
Namib Desert
Syrian Deserts
Map 3: Mountains and Deserts
A. Mountains (brown)
1. Alaska Range
2. Rocky Mountains
3. Appalachian Mountains
4. Andes Mountains
5. Alps
B. Deserts (yellow)
1. Gobi Desert
2. Kalahari Desert
3. Sahara Desert
4. Sierra Madre Desert
Map 1: AP World Regions
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Map 2: Bodies of Water and Rivers
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Map 3: Mountains and Deserts
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Part II: Common World History Vocabulary
• estimated time: 1.5 hours
Below you will find a chart of vocabulary words that will be repeated over and over during the course.
These words will apply to many different cultures throughout history. It is important that you become
familiar with the words and their meanings. Definitions should be hand-written in complete sentences
that thoroughly explain the word as it relates to the study of world history.
Please use Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary to locate the definitions. Once you have researched a
definition, please clarify the definition in the spaces below using your own vernacular. If a definition has
several choices, choose the one that you feel will most likely appear in a history classroom setting.
term
definition (complete sentences, your own words)
absolutism
agriculture
aristocracy
bias
bureaucracy
chiefdom
city-state
civilization
commercial
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term
definition (complete sentences, your own words)
demography
divination
dynasty
empire
epidemic
forager
globalization
indentured
servant
interregional
kingdom
medieval
merchant
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term
definition (complete sentences, your own words)
monotheism
nation
Neolithic
nobility
nomad
ocean
pandemic
papacy
pastoral
patriarchal
periodization
polytheism
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term
definition (complete sentences, your own words)
prehistoric
primary
source
revolution
rural
scribe
secondary
source
serf
shaman
slave
state
steppes
urban
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Part III: Continuity and Change over Time Essay
• estimated time: 3-4 hours
One of the three essays that you will be asked to write on the AP World History Exam is a Continuity
and Change over Time essay (CCOT). This is a style of essay that examines how something changes and
stays the same over time. For example, we could look at how world trade patterns changed from 1450 to
1750, or how the role of women changed in the Middle East from 1900 to the present. This type of essay
forces us to examine the beginning situation, what caused it to change, and its ending condition.
This summer I’d like you to write your own CCOT essay about yourself. You should pick an area to
specialize in: education, friends, responsibility, religious life, family athletics, music, or another topic of
your choosing. In regard to a time frame, start the essay wherever it’s appropriate for the topic. More
advanced essays will look at three to four different specialty areas (one paragraph for each) and will tie
them all together to give a more thorough analysis of you.
Complete the chart on the next page before you begin to write your essay, to help you plan and to
provide an organizational structure for your essay. You will use a similar planning chart throughout the
year as we write other CCOT essays. If you are striving for a more advanced essay, you would have three
to four different charts (one for each category).
I don’t expect perfect essays, but I do expect you to give it a try. Basic essays will have a minimum of
three paragraphs with a clear thesis. A basic essay will earn a maximum grade of B. In order to earn an A
for this part of the summer assignment, you will need to attempt the more advanced essay and have a
logical thesis tying it together. Your essay will give me a chance to understand your writing ability as we
begin the class; it gives you a chance to practice one of the three essay structures we will focus on (and
the one that is typically the hardest for students on the AP exam).
Hand-write your chart(s); type your final essay in MLA format.
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CCOT Chart
characteristics at
beginning of time period
significant changes, turning points, developments (note
the type of change – sudden, gradual, developmental)
1.
2.
3.
significant continuities through the time period
1.
2.
3.
1.
reasons why changes and
continuities occurred
2.
3.
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characteristics at end of
time period