ABOUT AP U.S. HISTORY

AP United States History is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a freshman college course and can earn students college credit. It is a two-semester survey of United States history from the colonial period to the present. Solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to devote considerable time to homework and study, are necessary to succeed. Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, and interpretation of original documents. A college textbook is used in the course and an average assignment consists of 10 to 12 pages. Students will also be trained in note-taking skills as most of the classes are lectures. Throughout the year, students will be introduced to typical questions used on the AP Exam which is administered in May. Several weeks are spent in intensive review preparing students to take the exam. All students enrolled in the course are required to take the AP Exam. A final exam is also given at the end of the course. A practice exam is administered on a Saturday morning prior to the actual exam. There is a charge for the AP Exam (approximately $90.00) but when you consider a passing grade may earn college credit, the cost is minimal. Even if a student fails to achieve a passing score on the AP Exam, the experience of taking a college course is immeasurable.

         FORMAT OF THE AP U.S. HISTORY EXAM

Each AP U.S. History Examination is three hours and ten minutes in length and has both a multiple choice and a free-response section. Fifty-five minutes are allotted for Part I, the multiple choice section, which contains 80 questions and accounts for 50 percent of the composite score. Part II, the free-response section, consists of a required 15-minute reading period, a required document-based question for which 45 minutes are recommended, and an essay section in which students select one question from each of two groups of questions. Thirty-five minutes are allotted for each of the essays. The DBQ and the essays account for 50 percent of the composite score.

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 DBQ INFORMATION

Beginning with the 2003 exam, ETS will no longer announce the time period for the DBQ.

SOME RECENT DBQ TOPICS

2003:  Responses of President Roosevelt to the Great Depression

DOCUMENTS FOR THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

THE AVALON PROJECT: DOCUMENTS IN LAW, HISTORY AND DIPLOMACY

OYEZ PROJECT: SUPREME COURT CASES

SELECTED SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

CONSTITUTION FACTS.COM

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 1860-1884

PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATIONS

HISTORY MATTERS: A GREAT RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY ONLINE

AMERICAN HISTORY AT ABOUT.COM: MANY LINKS

UNITED STATES HISTORY INDEX

FAMOUS TRIALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT: PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY RESOURCES

FEDERALISM IN THE UNITED STATES   

CASES AND MATERIALS ON AMERICAN FEDERALISM (An excellent site from Purdue Unv.)

WHAT IS A DOLLAR WORTH? A SITE TO CALCULATE INFLATION

DON MABRY'S HISTORICAL TEXT ARCHIVE

A WEB SITE ON DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER

ESSAYS ON SEVERAL AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

THE PRESIDENTIAL SITES

     U.S. HISTORY ON THE WEB Many links to other sites

THE BLACK HISTORY DATABASE

BLACK HISTORY QUEST

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

HISTORY NEWS NETWORK

PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS AND DOCUMENT BASED QUESTIONS

BEST OF HISTORY WEB SITES

A RESEARCH GUIDE FOR STUDENTS

EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY (Eyewitness accounts of historical events)

COLONIAL AMERICA TO 1775

COLONIAL AMERICA, 1600-1775

ROANOKE REVISITED

JAMESTOWN VIRTUAL COLONY

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH COLONY

THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

SALEM WITCH TRIALS

SALEM WITCH TRIALS, A CHRONOLOGY

COLONIAL WARS

KING PHILIP'S WAR

THE PEQUOT WAR

NATIVE AMERICANS

BACON'S REBELLION

FIRST GREAT AWAKENING

THE MARYLAND TOLERATION ACT

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

PONTIAC'S REBELLION

PROCLAMATION OF 1763

BOSTON MASSACRE

THE EARLY REPUBLIC, 1775-1820

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

THE AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

SHAY'S REBELLION

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS

THE FOUNDING FATHERS: DELEGATES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

THE WORK OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

THE DEBATES IN THE FEDERAL CONVENTION, 1787

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787

ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

THE RISE AND FALL OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON

COMMON-PLACE: AN INTERACTIVE JOURNAL OF EARLY AMERICAN LIFE

THE WHISKEY REBELLION

THE BURR CONSPIRACY

THOMAS JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON DIGITAL ARCHIVE

THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION: A PBS PRESENTATION

DISCOVERING LEWIS AND CLARK

LEWIS & CLARK, AN INTERNET ARCHIVE (Lots of links to L & C sites)

TECUMSEH AND THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE CREEK

The War of 1812

Report and Resolutions of the Hartford Convention

Francis Scott Key

Era of Good Feelings

Henry Clay on the Web

John C. Calhoun

THE MARSHALL SUPREME COURT CASES

EXPANSION AND REFORM, 1820-1860

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE, 1820

The Monroe Doctrine

The Erie Canal Homepage

The Ordeal of John Quincy Adams and the Election of Andrew Jackson

Jacksonian Democracy

History of the Cherokee

Trail of Tears

 THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF TEARS -1838-1839

The Texas Revolution

Chief Blackhawk, an Autobiography

WWW. Virtual Library: The American West

MOUNTAIN MEN AND THE FUR TRADE

Oregon-Trail Archive

Manifest Destiny

Daniel Webster

Webster-Hayne Debate

Expansion, Reform and Economic Growth: Links

The U.S.-Mexican War, 1846-1848

The Mexican War

The Second Great Awakening

WOMEN AND SOCIAL REFORM, 1820-1940

United States Utopian Communities

The American Immigration Homepage

Hudson River School of Art

Internet History Sourcebook: The Industrial Revolution

DOROTHEA DIX

Seneca Falls Convention

Early Nineteenth Century American Literature

SLAVERY AND ABOLITIONISM

Slave Revolts

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad Site

Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad

An Encyclopedia of Slavery

The Slave Trade and the Abolitionist Movement

Abolitionist Movement

William Lloyd Garrison

"Bleeding Kansas"

Dred Scott Decision

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

THE UNION IN PERIL, 1820-1860

An Outline of American History: Sectional Conflict

Politics and Sectionalism in the 1850s

the kansas-nebraska act

POLITICS AND SECTIONALISM IN THE 1850s

THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 and the FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

THE FREE SOIL PARTY

JOHN BROWN

CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1861-1877

CIVIL WAR INTERACTIVE

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

CIVIL WAR WEB RING: A VIRTUAL ARCHIVE

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR (Dakota State University)

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: TWO COMMUNITIES IN THE CIVIL WAR

THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE

HISTORY ONLINE GUIDE TO CIVIL WAR PRISONS

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR HOMEPAGE

THE CIVIL WAR IN MINATURE

LETTERS TO HOME FROM AN IOWA SOLDIER IN THE CIVIL WAR

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA

CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN RESEARCH SITE

THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN

CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1861-1877

RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS AFTERMATH

THE  WIZARD OF OZ: PARABLE ON POPULISM

HAYES VS. TILDEN: THE 1876 ELECTORAL CONTROVERSY

THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA, 1877-1920

RISE OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA, 1876-1900

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION HOMEPAGE

THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE

PROGRESSIVE ERA TO NEW ERA, 1900-1929

CHILD LABOR IN THE EARLY 1900s

PROHIBITION PARTY CARTOONS

TEMPERANCE AND PROHIBITION

ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE

WEBSITES FOR THE GILDED AGE AND THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

JANE ADDAMS AND HULL HOUSE

THE 1886 HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT

WHO WAS SAMUEL GOMPERS?

THOMAS ALVA  EDISON PAPERS

P.T. BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM

FIVE POINTS (Locale of the film, "Gangs of New York")

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

BLACK PARTICIPATION IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

ANTI-IMPERIALISM IN THE UNITED STATES , 1898-1935

THE HISTORY OF JIM CROW

PROSPERITY, DEPRESSION AND WAR, 1920-1945

THE 1920s WEB SITE

AMERICAN CULTURE IN THE 1920s

CHARLES LINDBERGH

THE SACCO-VANZETTI CASE

THE 1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH

THE CRASH OF 1929

THE SAD TALE OF THE BONUS MARCHERS

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT'S FIRESIDE CHATS

FDR AND THE DEPRESSION

LINKS TO NEW DEAL SITES

THE NEW DEAL NETWORK

A NEW DEAL FOR THE ARTS

WORLD WAR II RESOURCES

WORLD WAR II DOCUMENTS

WORLD WAR II TIMELINE

MODERN HISTORY SOURCEBOOK: THE YALTA CONFERENCE

ATOMIC BOMB: DECISION

AMERICA SINCE 1945

THE ALGER HISS STORY: THE EARLY COLD WAR

COLD WAR POLICIES

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE COLD WAR

BAY OF PIGS INVASION

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS AND ITS AFTERMATH

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, 1955-1965

GREENSBORO SIT INS: LAUNCH OF A CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE ROSA PARKS PORTAL (Web sites about Rosa Parks)

VIETNAM WAR INTERNET PROJECT (Many links to web sites on the war.)

JFK / THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION

 UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY FOR THE 1970s

WATERGATE: THE WASHINGTON POST

WATERGATE: THE SCANDAL THAT DESTROYED PRESIDENT NIXON

AFTER SEPTEMBER 11: AN ONLINE READER (Excellent readings about September 11, 2001)

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SITES USEFUL FOR REVIEW

AMERICAN PAGEANT WEB SITE ACE

REVIEW QUIZZES

PRENTICE  HALL REVIEW QUIZZES

MR. TERRY JORDAN'S REVIEW QUESTIONS

THE AMERICAN NATION, STUDENT RESOURCES

AP U.S. HISTORY NOTE CARDS

AMERICAN HISTORY 102: CIVIL WAR TO PRESENT: LECTURE NOTES

POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL, MR. GREG FELDMETH

U.S. HISTORY OUTLINES AND CHARTS (MR. GREG FELDMETH)

HIGH SCHOOL RESOURCE PAGE FROM SJSU

COLLEGE BOARD ON LINE (INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXAM AND SAMPLE QUESTIONS)

GUIDES FOR WRITING ESSAYS

ESSAY WRITING: THE WRITING DEN

THE FIVE PARAGRAPH ESSAY

A GUIDE TO WRITING A BASIC ESSAY

ESSAY WRITING FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

CITING INTERNET SOURCES IN HISTORY

READING, WRITING, AND RESEARCHING FOR HISTORY

WRITER'S HANDBOOK: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

BIBLIOGRAPHY HELP

DBQ HELP