Studying for the AP US History course is an exercise in memorization and critical thinking. Multiple-choice questions ask you to read and analyze documents based on your historical knowledge. Essay questions require similar skills but with the added challenge of synthesizing your ideas into a coherent argument that incorporates both outside knowledge and evidence given to you.
In this comprehensive AP US History study guide, we will provide all the resources and strategies you need to prepare for the AP exam and any other test that comes your way in this course!
This guide will help you prepare for the AP US History test and other assessments you encounter throughout the school year in your AP US History class. It includes instructions for creating an effective study plan, a few helpful study tips, an overview of the content covered in the AP course, and a list of resources for practice questions.
This article is a one-stop-shop for all the information you need to master the AP US History curriculum.
You should start studying sooner rather than later for the AP US History exam because there's so much information to remember. Ideally, you'll build on knowledge throughout the year and regularly review to avoid forgetting earlier parts of the course.
We recommend doing a holistic review after each in-class test that covers everything you've learned up to that point. You can then begin your final review for the AP test in March or April, which will give you an entire month or two to spread out your studying.
Below are the steps we recommend following to prep for the AP US History test. The whole process should take you about 11 hours and 30 minutes.
Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
The first step is to take a full, official AP US History practice test under realistic conditions. Time yourself in accordance with the actual test and write out both essays (DBQ and Long Essay) completely. Mark any multiple-choice questions you had to guess on—it's crucial to go over this information later even if you happen to guess correctly.
When you're done, score your practice test to see how well you would do on the real AP exam if you were to take it right now.
Depending on how much you're hoping to improve your AP US History test score, you might have to budget for more or less study time. If you're already scoring close to 5 (or a low 5), you might complete these steps once and find that you're satisfied with your results.
If you're scoring 2 or more points lower than you'd like, plan on going through this process several times.
Time: 1 hour
After you score your practice AP US History test, go through your mistakes and lucky guesses. Try to categorize the mistakes by content area so you can look for patterns and determine which parts of the course you need to study the most.
Once you've identified what you need to learn, move on to reviewing the actual content. Make a list in descending order of the topics that correspond to the highest number of missed multiple-choice questions and missed points on short-answer and free-response questions.
Time: 2 hours
Use the list you made in the previous step to guide your review of the AP US History content. Start with the areas for which you need a little refresher, and work your way up to the big issues you had on the diagnostic test.
When you're satisfied that you've fixed the gaps in knowledge that led to your errors, you should do some practice APUSH multiple-choice questions to make sure you really know your stuff (you can find them in review books or on one of the sites listed later in this article).
Time: 2 hours
You'll need to practice writing essays before taking the AP US History test so you feel comfortable with the time constraints and requirements. This is especially true for the Document-Based Question, which has a unique format.
After examining the problems with your essays from the original diagnostic test, practice your skills on additional free-response questions. For the sake of saving time, you don't necessarily need to write out entire essays, but you should at least make rough outlines that include all the components of a successful essay.
If you struggled a lot with time on your initial AP practice test, then we'd recommend going through another timed free-response section in full, so you can practice moving more quickly.
Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Once you've gotten more familiar with the APUSH material, take a second full AP practice test to assess your progress. If you find that you've improved to a satisfactory level, you might stop there and just do some light review until the exam.
If you're still not happy with your results, repeat this process, and make sure that you're really absorbing the material as you study.
Always time practice tests to the specifications of the AP exam! You have to get used to thinking and writing quickly.
The following tips for AP US History will help you make the most of your time as you work your way through the process outlined above. The APUSH exam assesses your historical knowledge differently than other tests you might have taken in the past do. Make sure your study methods lend themselves to the format!
The ultimate goal of AP US History is for you to be able to connect individual events to the main themes of the course and draw conclusions about historical trends based on your analysis.
As you study, don't just look at events in isolation—examine how they relate to other events of the time and how they might've resulted from different cultural and political attitudes. What were the outcomes of particular events, and how and why did they feed into other, larger trends?
Ask yourself to dig deeper. Doing so help you on both in-class assessments and the AP test.
When you read content notes for AP US History, you might think you have a fact committed to memory but forget it when it appears on a test. The best way to combat this is to pause every couple of minutes and try to remember the facts that you just reviewed without looking back at your notes; you'll immediately know whether you're absorbing the information or not.
If you're having trouble remembering a particular fact, try to make a distinctive connection with something else that's easier to remember.
For example, say you were trying to remember which items were taxed by the Townshend Acts. (It was glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.) You could think of the mnemonic GuLPP iT to remember them. It also makes sense because all the taxes were repealed except for the one on tea, which you can gulp!
Maybe this sounds super weird, but we often find that the weirder the method of remembering something is, the more likely it will stick in your mind.
The free-response section is the biggest challenge on the AP US History exam because you have to plan and write two coherent essays (one DBQ and one Long Essay) in less than two hours. It's imperative that you do lots of practice before the AP test to prevent your essays from being disorganized or lacking in focus. You can consult the College Board site for links to past AP US History free-response questions.
Make sure you always have a strong thesis statement and all the points in your essay relate directly back to it. Plan out your essay before you start writing to keep yourself on track.
You should also try to include relevant outside knowledge but only if it pertains directly to your argument and the question itself. Don't just spew out everything you know about the topic!
Write your practice essays in illegible cursive with a fountain pen. It's what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.
AP US History covers history in what is now the United States from 1491 to the present. There are eight main themes in the course separated into nine units, or time periods. For each of these themes, we'll go over the main historical topics associated with it.
Before that, though, here's a quick overview of the AP US History units and what percentage of the AP exam they each make up:
| AP US History Unit/Period | % of Exam |
| Unit 1: 1491-1607 | 4-6% |
| Unit 2: 1607-1754 | 6-8% |
| Unit 3: 1754-1800 | 10-17% |
| Unit 4: 1800-1848 | 10-17% |
| Unit 5: 1844-1877 | 10-17% |
| Unit 6: 1865-1898 | 10-17% |
| Unit 7: 1890-1945 | 10-17% |
| Unit 8: 1945-1980 | 10-17% |
| Unit 9: 1980-Present | 4-6% |
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.
Focuses on the factors behind the development of systems of economic exchange, particularly the role of technology, economic markets, and government.
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.
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.
Focuses on how different social and political groups have influenced society and government in the United States and how political beliefs and institutions have changed over time.
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.
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.
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.
Look at all these themes! It's like being at a theme park minus the scents of fried food and despair! Also, I HIGHLY doubt this roller coaster could pass a safety inspection.
In this section, we'll give you notes on the AP US History course content so you can study the facts and connect them to the themes above.
The content is divided into nine units and historical periods. Under each time period, we'll list important topics with links to notes you can use. Every period also includes a link to at least one timeline of significant events. It's helpful to have these handy, so you get a better grasp of the chronology (which will be very helpful for free-response questions).
The timelines are from AP Study Notes, while the rest of the notes are from a different site called APnotes.net, which gives a more succinct overview of the content, with key dates and major events in bold. Overall, this resource is great for a quick review.
We recommend looking at the chapter outlines on AP Study Notes to see a longer, more detailed description of historical trends and events in the United States.
