AP United States History

 

The Advanced Placement Program (AP) offers a course and exam in AP United States History to qualified students who wish to complete studies in secondary school equivalent to an introductory college course in U.S. history. The AP U.S. History Exam presumes at least one year of college-level preparation, as is described in this book.

 

The inclusion of material in the Course Description and exam is not intended as an endorsement by the College Board or ETS of the content, ideas, or values expressed in the material. The material contained herein has been selected and periodically revised by high school and university instructors of history who serve as members of the AP U.S. History Development Committee. It reflects the content of an introductory college course in U.S. history and is based on survey data from more than 100 colleges and universities. The exam tests skills and knowledge gained from an introductory survey in U.S. history.

 

The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students should learn to assess historical materials—their relevance to a given interpretive problem, reliability, and importance—and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. An AP U.S. History course should thus develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format.