• Two Semester Course

     

    About the AP U.S. History Course -  In AP U.S. History, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change. The course also provides eight themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; work, exchange, and technology; geography and the environment; migration and settlement; politics and power; America in the world; American and regional culture; and social structures.

     

    College Course Equivalent -  AP U.S. History is equivalent to a two-semester introductory college course in U.S. history.

     

    Prerequisites -  There are no prerequisites for AP U.S. History. Students should be able to read a college-level textbook and write grammatically correct, complete sentences.

     

    Project Requirement - The required project adds a historical component to the course, engaging students in exploring how they can think like a historian. The project might have students collect data on a teacher-approved historical figure or other approved topic. Students should plan a presentation that relates their experiences or findings to what they are learning in the course.

     

    THEMES

    • AMERICAN AND NATIONAL IDENTITY (NAT)
      • This theme focuses on how and why definitions of American and national identity and values have developed among the diverse and changing population of North America as well as on related topics, such as citizenship, constitutionalism, foreign policy, assimilation, and American exceptionalism.
    • WORK, EXCHANGE, AND TECHNOLOGY (WXT)
      • This theme focuses on the factors behind the development of systems of economic exchange, particularly the role of technology, economic markets, and government.
    • GEOGRAPHY AND THE ENVIRONMENT (GEO)
      • This theme focuses on the role of geography and both the natural and human-made environments in the social and political developments in what would become the United States.
    • MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT (MIG)
      • This theme focuses on why and how the various people who moved to and within the United States both adapted to and transformed their new social and physical environments.
    • POLITICS AND POWER (PCE)
      • This theme focuses on how different social and political groups have influenced society and government in the United States as well as how political beliefs and institutions have changed over time.
    • AMERICA IN THE WORLD (WOR)
      • This theme focuses on the interactions between nations that affected North American history in the colonial period and on the influence of the United States on world affairs.
    • AMERICAN AND REGIONAL CULTURE (ARC)
      • This theme focuses on the how and why national, regional, and group cultures developed and changed as well as how culture has shaped government policy and the economy.
    • SOCIAL STRUCTURES (SOC)
      • This theme focuses on how and why systems of social organization develop and change as well as the impact that these systems have on the broader society

     

    Units Exam Weighting

    • Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607 4–6%
    • Unit 2: Period 2: 1607–1754 6–8%
    • Unit 3: Period 3: 1754–1800 10–17%
    • Unit 4: Period 4: 1800–1848 10–17%
    • Unit 5: Period 5: 1844–1877 10–17%
    • Unit 6: Period 6: 1865–1898 10–17%
    • Unit 7: Period 7: 1890–1945 10–17%
    • Unit 8: Period 8: 1945–1980 10–17%
    • Unit 9: Period 9: 1980–Present 4–6%