AP World History
Multiple Choice Exam
General Facts
• The Advanced Placement World History exam
consists of two equally weighted sections.
• Section one is the Multiple Choice section with
70 questions that must be completed in 55
minutes.
• Section Two is a Free Response or essay
section consisting of three essays that must be
written in 120 minutes after a 10 minute reading
period.
– There is one Document Based Question (DBQ), one
Change over Time (COT) and one Comparative
essay (COMP).
Facts
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Multiple choice is 50% of the total score
70 questions in 55 minutes
There is no penalty for guessing
Each year the College Board uses a sliding
scale and changes the number of correct
questions and overall score needed to make
each of the 5 broad marks.
• Set a goal to get at least 35 questions correct
– This will probably get you a 3 or higher
Coverage
• The multiple choice questions will cover the curriculum
as outlined in the course description
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Unit 1&2 Foundations (8000 BCE – 600 CE) (19-20%)
Unit 3 Regional Interactions (600 – 1450) (22%)
Unit 4 Global Interactions (1450 – 1750) (19-20%)
Unit 5 Industrialization and Integration (1750 – 1900) (19-20%)
Unit 6 Global Realignment (1900 – Present) (19-20%)
• Questions will go in chronological order from 1 – 35, then
repeat for 36-70.
• Many questions will be also be cross period and
compare different civilizations, or how they changed over
time.
Read the Question Carefully
• Rephrase the question in your own words
• What are they asking?
– What time period are you in?
– Who is involved?
– What is going on?
• Do this before you look at the answers
– Call up any relevant history that you know
– If you know a lot, focus on correct answer
– If not, still try and get rid of wrong answers
• Sometimes other questions can help you find the
answer on another question.
Strategies
• In order to receive a score high enough to earn
college credit, you do not have to answer all the
questions correctly.
• Some questions are designed for most students
to miss. They range from 10 – 90% correct
• Many students don’t show what they know
because they don’t know how to work the
questions
– Get rid of bad answers
– Find correct answer in short period of time.
How to Show What you Know
• Remember
– Do not spend to much time on any one question.
– 4 out of 5 answers you read are wrong.
– Usually one or two answers are obviously wrong, try
to find those.
– If you do not know the answer right away, or if the
question looks too difficult, skip it and come back to
it later.
Four out of Five are Bad
• AP Exam writers first formulate the question, then craft
the correct answer.
• Still must come up with 4 incorrect answers
• They try to come up with distracters
– Closely related facts, partly correct
• Usually one or two wrong answers are obviously wrong.
• Usually one or two answers are close, but incorrect.
• If you don’t recognize the correct answer quickly,
assume each answer is wrong and try to cross it off, use
the process of elimination.
• Then you can make a better guess!
Guessing
• There is no penalty for guessing!
• Smart guesses can increase your score
• Try to eliminate at least two incorrect
answers.
• Each wrong answer you can eliminate
improves your odds.
• A good score means intelligent guessing.
Skipping
• Skipping saves you time
– 70 questions in 55 minutes
• Use the whole time, more time for harder questions
• Look for the easy questions first
– Don’t spend too long deliberating
• Don’t answer harder questions first time through
– Skip to get to the questions you know
– Come back later to make a good guess on the more difficult
questions.
• If you have extra time, don’t take a nap! Go back and
work the hard questions to see if you can eliminate
wrong answers.
• Use the entire 55 minutes.
Finishing
• Find the pace you work efficiently without sacrificing
accuracy
– Don’t dawdle or zip through
• You set the pace
– 70 questions in 55 minutes is a good pace if you can
maintain accuracy.
• Remember you will go back to check the questions
you skip later.
• Many top students go through the questions 3 or 4
times.
• Question 70 might be the easiest question on the test!
Make sure you get to it.