General Review Tips
• Prioritize - Focus on topics/areas of weakness first
• Avoid trying to memorize too much - Review “big picture” concepts
first, specific terms/name/events later
• Look at old materials - Review in-class and reading notes, past essays
& tests, study materials from Fall final
• Try different approaches - There is no “best” way to review
(alone/group, on-line/book/flash cards, practice tests/packets – it
depends on your learning style – try mixing it up).
• Find a “middle ground” - Some review better than no review. Too
much review is counterproductive.
• Be positive – You have learned a lot this year & the AP exam is graded
on a major curve.
AP Exam Multiple Choice Information
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55 minutes for 80 questions
Each question has 5 possible answers
Multiple Choice counts for ½ of total score
No points lost for wrong or skipped questions.
Questions get progressively more challenging.
BIG curve on multiple choice - Score over 40 likely
earns a 3 (passing score) – over 50 likely earns a 4
and over 60 a 5.
• Chronology of Questions:
– 16 (20%) pre 1790; 36 (45%) 1790-1914; 28 (35%) 1915 – 1990
• Topic of Questions:
– 28 (35%) Politics; 28 (35%) Social/Cultural; 12 (15%) Foreign
Policy; 8 (10%) Economics; 4 (5%) Cultural/Intellectual
AP Exam Essay Information
• There is 1 DBQ essay you must write on and 4 FRQ
prompts of which you must write on 2. You will be
required to write one FRQ on a topic prior to 1880 and
one FRQ on a topic after that date.
• The 5 total essay prompts will range in their topics
chronologically and thematically.
AP Essay Writing Tips
• READ prompts multiple times
• Brainstorm & make a quick “plan of attack”
• Introduction needs some brief background on “big
picture” followed by an on-topic thesis
• Body paragraphs need to BLEND details with analysis.
(Facts & explanations).
• Grading is “holistic” – no points “taken away”, just
earned. If in doubt, make a guess.
A few AP US Exam review websites:
Time lines:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/timeline/timelineO.cfm
http://chaos1.hypermart.net/fullsize/US1750fs.gif
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0902416.html
Terms grouped by “era”
http://www.mredmoody.com/ush-ap-preperation.html
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/history/index.htm
General review websites:
http://highschoolsurvivalguide.com/APUSH.html
http://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/
http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/AHAPCourseMainPage.htm
Brainstorm significant people,
presidents, events, themes,
trends and/or ideas from
1789-1865
Key concepts to consider
• Political: Republicanism, Significant Presidents,
Supreme Court/Judicial Review, interpretation of
Constitution, Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny,
Westward expansion & clash w/slavery, Popular
Sovereignty, Jacksonian Democracy, Nullification
• Social: expansion of rights of men, Reform
movements & role of women and African Americans in
this, slavery, immigration, Republican Motherhood,
Cult of Domesticity, 2nd Great Awakening, Trail of
Tears
• Economic: Impact of Market Revolution, American
System, regionalized economy, slavery, role of federal
government & banking
In what ways and to what
extent did Constitutional
and social developments
between 1860 and 1877
amount to a revolution?
• Evaluate the impact of the Civil War on
political and economic developments in
TWO of the following regions:
• The South
• The North
• The West
Focus your answers on the period between
1865 and 1900.
• Describe the patterns of immigration in
TWO of the periods listed below. Compare
and contrast the responses of Americans
to immigrants in these periods.
• 1820-1860
• 1880-1924
• 1965-2000
Assess the moral arguments and
political actions of those opposed to
the spread of slavery in the context of
TWO of the following:
Missouri Compromise
Mexican War
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Analyze how western expansion
contributed to growing sectional
tensions between the North and
the South. Confine your answer
to the period from 1800 to 1850.
The Jacksonian Period
(1824-1848) has been
celebrated as the era of the
“common man.” To what
extent did the period live up
to this characterization?
Analyze the impact of the
market revolution (1815-1860)
on the economies of TWO of
the following regions.
The Northeast
The Midwest
The South
nd
2
In what ways did the
Great
Awakening influence TWO of
the following during the period
1820-1860?
Abolition
Temperance
Utopian Communities
• Analyze the causes of growing opposition
to slavery in the United States from 1776
to 1852. In your response, consider both
underlying forces and specific events that
contributed to the growing opposition.
• With respect to the federal Constitution,
the Jeffersonian Republicans are usually
characterized as strict constructionists
who were opposed to the broad
constructionism of the Federalists. To
what extent was this characterization of
the two parties accurate during the
Thomas Jefferson’s presidency? (DBQ)