Part I of the AP Exam requires you to write three Short Answer Questions or SAQs.
Part II of the AP Exam requires you to write one complete Document Based Question or DBQ as well as choose one prompt from three to write one Long Essay Question or LEQ.
Here you will find materials related to both essays as there is some overlap in the AP Rubrics and expectations of both essays as well as help on how to approach the short answer questions.
Heimler's History Videos
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Steve Heimler is a current AP History teacher who has read essays at the national level exam scoring.
He has created a series of videos to help explain how to comprehend the written portion of the AP exam. Click HERE for the playlist of all the AP History Essay tutorials. https://heimlershistory.com/ |
Writing Resources
Even though Short Answer Questions are well… short, they are still a significant portion of the exam because they can highlight your knowledge and understanding of history.
They provide an excellent opportunity to practice historical thinking skills and to quiz your content knowledge of history. The Document Based Question requires you to analyze the documents in addition to bringing outside information to bear on the question. This is a difficult task, and you have only 15 minutes to plan before you begin writing. However, using our document analysis training will keep you on track.
The Long Essay Question is designed to test your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytic manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would.
This process is called HISTORIOGRAPHY— the skills and strategies historians use to analyze and interpret historical evidence to reach a conclusion. |