| AP American History Mrs. Catalano Email: ushistorycat@optonline.net tcatalano@shufsd.org Topics of study: For a complete outline of the topics covered in the course, visit http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/repository/05822apcoursdescushis_4331.pdf 1. Discovery and Settlement of the New World 2. America and the British Empire 3. Colonial Society in the Mid 18th Century 4. Road to Revolution 5. The American Revolution 6. Constitution and New Republic 7. The Age of Jefferson 8. Nationalism and Economic Expansion 9. Sectionalism 10. Age of Jackson 11. Territorial Expansion and Sectional Crisis 12. Creating an American Culture 13. The 1850s: Decade of Crisis 14. Civil War 15. Reconstruction to 1877 16. New South and the Last West 17. Industrialization and Corporate Consolidation 18. Urban Society 19. Intellectual and Cultural Movements 20. National Politics 1877-1896: The Gilded Age 21. Foreign Policy 1865-1914 22. Progressive Era 23. The First World War 24. New Era: The 1920s 25. Depression, 1929-1933 26. New Deal 27. Diplomacy in the 30s 28. The Second World War 29. Truman and the Cold War 30. Eisenhower and Modern Republicanism 31. Kennedy’s New Frontier; Johnson’s Great Society 32. Nixon 33. The United States since 1974 II. About the AP Exam (This year the exam will be given on Friday 5/8 at 8AM) The AP exam is 3 hours and 5 minutes in length, and consists of 2 sections: a 55 multiple choice section (80 questions) and a 130 minute “free response” (essay) section. Scores earned on the multiple choice section and free response sections each account for ˝ of the student’s examination grade. The multiple choice questions are designed to test students’ factual knowledge and analytical skills. The exam covers the period from the first European explorations of the Americas to the present, but the majority of the questions are on the 19th and 20th centuries. The approximate breakdown of questions on the multiple choice section is as follows: Up to 1789: 15% 1790-1914: 50% 1915-present: 35% The free response (essay) section consists of a total of 3 essays: one is a DBQ (documents based question) and two are standard essay questions. Essay questions are designed to allow students to demonstrate their mastery of historical interpretation and their ability to express their views and their knowledge in writing. The essays will be graded on the strength of the thesis developed, the quality of the historical argument and the evidence offered in support of the argument. The DBQ essay will emphasize the ability to analyze and synthesize historical data and assess a variety of documents as historical evidence. Like the standard essays, however, the DBQ will also be graded on its thesis, argument, and supporting evidence. |