AP WORLD HISTORY
TEST FORMAT AND
THE FIVE THEMES
Test Format
• Exam last 3 Hours and 5 Minutes
• 55 Minutes for 70 Multiple Choice Questions
• Break
• 50 Minutes for Document Based Question (10 minutes
for Reading and Evaluating Documents)
• 40 Minutes for Change Over Time Essay
• 40 Minutes for Comparative Essay Question
Grading
• 70 Multiple Choice Questions = 1/2 Score
• Document Based Question = 16.66% of Score
• Change Over Time Essay = 16.66% of Score
• Comparative Essay = 16.66% of Score
• Essays Graded on Scale of 0 to 9
What do the questions look like
• The questions fall into 6 basic categories,
which are as follows:
– Identification (35-40% of the test) - simply test
whether you know a fact, or facts.
– Analytical (20-25% of the test) - makes you think
about relationships, see connections, place in
order.
– Quotation Based (10% or less of the test) - match
the quote with the appropriate person.
– Image Interpretation (10% or less of the test) determine images relevance, purpose, or
meaning.
– Map Based Questions (10% or less of the test) identify what a map shows, or interpret it's
purpose.
– Graph & Chart Interpretation (10% or less of the
test) - interpret answer from data given in chart
form.
What will be on the test?
Time Frames
– Prehistory to 600 C.E: 19-20% of Questions
– 600 C.E-1450 C.E: 22 % of Questions
– 1450 C.E- 1750 C.E: 19-20% of Questions
– 1750 C.E- 1914 C.E: 19-20% of Questions
– 1914-Present: 19-20% of Questions
DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION
OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES
• Gender roles and relations
• Family and kinship
• Racial and ethnic constructions
• Social and economic classes
This theme is about relations among human
beings. All human societies develop ways
of grouping their members, as well as
norms that govern interaction between
individuals and social groups.
Social Classes
Foot Binding in China
STATE BUILDING, EXPANSION, AND
CONFLICT (POLITICAL)
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Political structures and forms of governance
Empires
Nations and Nationalism
Revolts and Revolutions
Regional, transregional, and global structures
and organizations
This theme encourages the comparative study of
different state forms (city-states, kingdoms,
empires, and nation-states)
City-States
Alexander the Great’s Empire
INTERACTION BETWEEN HUMANS AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
• Demography and disease
• Migration
• Patterns of settlement
Focuses on how the environment shaped
human societies, but also how human
societies have affected the environment.
The Peopling of the Earth
The Black Death
Global Warming
DEVELOPMENT AND INTERACTION OF
CULTURES
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Religions
Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
Science and technology
The arts and architecture
Relates to how the study of the dominant belief
system (s) or religions, philosophical interests,
and technical and artistic approaches can reveal
how major groups in society view themselves
and others, and how they respond to multiple
challenges.
World Religions
Architecture
Technology
Art
CREATION, EXPANSION, AND
INTERACTION OF ECONOMIC
SYSYTEMS
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Agricultural and pastoral production
Trade and commerce
Labor systems
Industrialization
Capitalism and Socialism
This theme surveys the diverse patterns and
systems that human societies have developed
as they exploit their environments to produce,
distribute, and consume desired goods and
services across time and space.
Indian Ocean Trade
Communism
Atlantic Slave Trade
WHAT DOES THAT SPELL?
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Social
Political
Interaction
Cultural
Economic