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, events, themes,
trends and/or ideas from
1920-1992
Political, Economic, Social
• Analyze the effects of the Vietnam War on
TWO of the following in the US from the
period 1961 to 1975:
– The Presidency
– Youth Between 18-35
– Cold War Diplomacy
Analyze the international and
domestic challenges the United
States faced between 1968 and
1974, and evaluate how President
Richard Nixon’s administration
responded to them.
Between 1945 and 1975 various groups in
the United States engaged in protest.
Analyze the reasons that protest emerged in
this period for TWO of the following groups.
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African Americans
College Students
Latino Americans
Women
“Landslide presidential victories do not ensure
continued political effectiveness or legislative
success.” Assess the validity of this statement
by comparing TWO of the following
presidential administrations.
Franklin Roosevelt (1936)
Lyndon Johnson (1964)
Richard Nixon (1972)
Ronald Reagan (1984)
Discuss, with respect to TWO of the
following to what extent the 1960’s
were a period of profound cultural
change:
Gender Roles
Music
Race Relations
• How did the African American Civil Rights
movement of the 1950s and 1960s
address the failures of Reconstruction?
• Compare and contrast the women’s rights
movement of the 1840s-1860s with the
women’s rights movement of the 1960s1980s.
• Compare and contrast the Cold War
foreign policies of TWO of the following
presidents.
– Harry Truman (1945-1953)
– Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
– Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
• To what extent does the decade of the
1950s deserve its reputation as an age of
political, social, and cultural conformity?
• How do you account for the appeal of
McCarthyism in the era following WWII?
• Analyze the home-front experiences of
TWO of the following groups during the
Second World War.
– African Americans
– Japanese Americans
– Jewish Americans
– Mexican Americans
Analyze the responses of Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s administration to the
problems of the Great Depression.
How effective were these responses?
How did they change the role of the
federal government?
• To what extent and why did the US adopt
an isolationist policy in the 1920s and
1930s?
How did TWO of the following
help shape the American
national culture in the 1920’s?
Advertising
Entertainment
Mass Production