What is on the
AP US History exam?

The multiple-choice section, unit by unit

55 questions in 55 minutes.

The shape of it

Four periods, near enough fourteen questions each. The coverage is deliberately even, so a gap in one period costs the same wherever it falls.

What this covers, and what it does not

No AP exam is entirely multiple choice, and AP US History is no exception. The multiple-choice section is 40% of your total score. The rest is three short answers, a document-based question and a long essay.

Our practice exam is the multiple-choice section only. A document-based question is marked by a human against a rubric; fifty-five source questions can be marked exactly, and each wrong option explains which period or argument it belongs to instead. We would rather say that plainly than sell you something described as a full AP US History exam that is not one.

What actually moves the score

Questions come in sets attached to a source, so the skill being tested is reading a document you have never seen and placing it. Memorized dates help less than knowing what an argument of that period would sound like.

Two exams, calibrated against each other

There are two forms of this exam and they share no questions, and no sources, so the second sitting tests reading a document you have never seen — which is the actual skill. Both unlock together for five credits. Every wrong option carries its own explanation saying what the student who picked it was probably thinking.