What is on the
AP World History exam?

The multiple-choice section, unit by unit

55 questions in 55 minutes.

The shape of it

Four periods from about 1200 to the present. The earliest period carries ten questions and the other three carry fifteen each.

What this covers, and what it does not

No AP exam is entirely multiple choice, and AP World 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. The short answers and the essay need a marker; fifty-five source questions do not, and every wrong option here carries a sentence saying which region or century it would have been right about. We would rather say that plainly than sell you something described as a full AP World History exam that is not one.

What actually moves the score

Every question is attached to a source, and the sources are global. A student who has revised Europe thoroughly and nothing else will feel that in the second period onward, where the land empires and the transoceanic connections sit.

Two exams, calibrated against each other

There are two forms of this exam and they share no questions, and they draw sources from different regions, so the second sitting finds the continent you quietly skipped. Both unlock together for five credits. Every wrong option carries its own explanation saying what the student who picked it was probably thinking.