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PREPARE WITH CONFIDENCE
Excelling on the AP U.S. History Exam
If you're looking for a true edge on Test Day...
If you're slogging through the textbook, struggling to boil it all down...
And if you're not willing to settle for second best...
...then this new edition of REA's AP U.S. History test prep is for you.
REA gives you all the tools you'll need to master the Advanced Placement Examination in United States History:
-Unrivaled detailed review of all the facts in a context that will sharpen classroom discussion and keep you from having to continually check your textbook for citations as you study.
-Handy timelines that clearly summarize each period's major events.
-Photographs and other carefully chosen artwork that bring critical events and personalities to life.
-Sidebars that highlight key historical figures and issues.
-Comprehensive index that speeds specific referencing.
-Six full-length, true-to-format practice exams-with 480 multiple-choice items in all-that prepare you for the actual AP exam like no other book.
-Full explanations of every practice-exam answer.
-Complete array of sample essay questions and answers.
Beginning with the 2006 exam, the AP Program's U.S. History Development Committee has embraced the trend on college and university campuses to view United States history through the prism of social change on the one hand, and cultural and intellectual developments on the other. Our book does likewise.
In choosing REA, you're putting yourself in the company of tens of thousands of AP students who have benefited from our total preparation package year after year. Moreover, teachers across the nation and beyond find that this book offers a clear-eyed, no-nonsense perspective on the history of the United States of America. In fact, many AP instructors use it to supplement their classroom text and lectures precisely because it so comprehensively supports specific curriculum objectives for the AP course and exam.
ABOUT THE EXAM
The Advanced Placement Program is designed to allow high school students to pursue college-level studies while attending high school. The three-hour five-minute AP U.S. History exam is usually given to high school students who have completed a year's study in a college-level U.S. History course. The test results are then used to determine the awarding of course credit and/or advanced course placement in college.
According to the College Board, students taking this exam are called upon to demonstrate "systematic factual knowledge" and bring to bear critical, persuasive analysis of the full sweep of U.S. history. This is why we make every effort to establish and build upon context for you, rather than encouraging rote memorization of disconnected facts.
FORMAT. The AP U.S. History Exam is divided into two sections as follows:
1) Multiple-Choice Items: This section is composed of 80 multiple-choice questions designed to gauge your ability to understand and analyze U.S. history from the Pre-Columbian period to the present. The majority of the questions, however, are based on nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. This section tests factual knowledge, scope of preparation, and knowledge-based analytical skills. You'll have 55 minutes to complete this section, which accounts for 50 percent of your final grade.
2) Free-Response Items: This section is composed of three essay questions designed to measure your ability to write coherent, intelligent, well-organized essays on historical topics. The essays require you to demonstrate mastery of historical interpretation and the ability to express views and knowledge in writing. The essays may relate documents to different areas, analyze common themes of different time periods, or compare individual and group experiences that reflect socioeconomic, racial, gender, and ethnic differences. Part A consists of a mandatory 15-minute reading period, followed by 45 minutes during which you must answer a document-based question (DBQ), which changes from year to year. In Part B and Part C, you'll be directed to answer one of two questions presented in each section. You will have 70 minutes to write your essays. The free-response section counts for 50 percent of your final grade.
CONTENT. Subject coverage and time-period allotments are shown below.
Topics covered on the exam Approx. %
Political institutions, behavior, and public policy 35%
Social change and cultural and intellectual developments 40%
Diplomacy and international relations 15%
Economic developments 10%
Time periods covered on the exam * Approx. %
Pre-Columbian through 1789 20%
1790-1914 45%
1915-present 35%
*Multiple-choice section only
ABOUT THE REVIEW SECTION
This book begins with REA's 375-page review of U.S. history designed to acquaint you with the exam's scope of coverage. Our review covers these topics and historical time periods, with handy historical timelines at the end of each chapter to serve as a ready reference for each period's key events:
Pre-Columbian Cultures (12,000 B.C.E. -1492 C.E.)
European Exploration and the Colonial Period (1492-1763)
The American Revolution (1763-1787)
The United States Constitution (1787-1789)
The New Nation (1789-1824)
Jacksonian Democracy and Westward Expansion (1824-1850)
Sectional Conflict and the Causes of the Civil War (1850-1860)
The Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1877)
Industrialism,, War, and the Progressive Era (1877-1912)
Wilson and World War I (1912-1920)
The Roaring Twenties and Economic Collapse (1920-1929)
The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929-1941)
World War II and the Postwar Era (1941-1960)
The New Frontier, Vietnam, and Social Upheaval (1960-1972)
Watergate, Conservatism's Rise, and Post-Cold War Challenges (1972-2005)
