Ap Us History 2005 An Apex Learning Guide

Chapter One: Inside the AP U.S. History Exam Congratulations! You should be proud of yourself for deciding to take the Advanced Placement U.S. History exam. If you have taken Advanced Placement U.S. History in high school or have a good foundation in American history, taking the AP exam can help you earn college credit and/or placement into advanced coursework. In addition to getting a head start on your college coursework, you can improve your chances of acceptance to competitive schools since colleges know that AP students are better prepared for the demands of college courses.This book is designed to help you prepare for the AP exam in U.S. History. We've included information about the format of the exam, test-taking strategies, and an extensive review of essential topics. Each chapter includes review questions, which will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and help you to establish a plan for preparing for the exam. Also included are two practice tests with answers and explanations. With Kaplan's proven test-taken strategies, hundreds of practice questions, and guidelines for writing your essay responses, you will be able to take the exam with confidence.An Overview of the Test StructureThe Advanced Placement U.S. History exam is designed yearly by the AP Test Development Committee. The exam is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that you have mastered skills equivalent to those typically found in introductory college U.S. History classes.The AP United States History Exam is three hours and five minutes long and has two sections: a 55-minute, multiple-choice section and a 130-minute, free-response essay section.Section I consists of 80 multiple-choice questions. The majority of the questions are on the 19th and 20th centuries. Approximately one-sixth of the questions will deal with the period through 1789, one-half with the period from 1790 to 1914, and one-third with the period from 1915 to the present.Section II consists of the document-based essay question (DBQ) and two standard essays. Although the multiple-choice section may include a few questions on the period since 1980, none of the free-response questions will deal specifically with this period. Test-takers must answer two standard essay questions; usually they can select two questions from a total of four questions provided.The free-response section begins with a required 15-minute reading period. Students are encouraged to spend most of the 15 minutes analyzing the documents and outlining their response to the document-based essay question (DBQ). The required DBQ is different from the standard essays because it emphasizes that the student both analyzes and synthesizes historical information. The DBQ will require students to relate documents as well as verbal, quantitative, or pictorial materials to a historical theme or period of time. It is important to remember to incorporate outside knowledge into the writing of the DBQ.The multiple-choice and free-response sections cover a wide range of topics, including social and economic change, political institutions, behavior, and public policy. In the multiple- choice section these topics account for approximately 35 percent of the questions; social change accounts for another 35 percent. The remaining questions are spread over such topics as diplomacy and international relations, economic developments, and cultural developments. A number of the social and economic history questions deal with such traditional topics as the impact of legislation on social groups and the economy, or pressures created by the political process.Exam TopicsThe AP U.S. History exam covers the major topical areas of a standard college level United States history course. The following outline is only to be used as a guide. As the AP exam covers the time period from discovery and the first European explorations to the present day, the student is remindKaplan Publishing Staff is the author of 'Ap Us History 2005 An Apex Learning Guide', published 2005 under ISBN 9780743260619 and ISBN 0743260619.