Test Structure
Periods 1 and 2
Periods 3 and 4
Periods 5 and 6
Periods 7 and 8
Key Documents
200

How many MCQs appear on the APUSH exam?

55 questions

200

The exchange of goods, diseases, and ideas between the Old and New Worlds after 1492.

What is the Columbian Exchange?

200

This war between Britain and France led to massive debt and new taxes on the colonies.

What is the French and Indian War?

200

The belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent.


What is Manifest Destiny?

200

This war marked the emergence of the U.S. as a global power in 1898.


What is the Spanish-American War?

200

First form of American governance that was critically ineffective; inability to tax, raise an army, coin money

Articles of Confederation

400

How many Short-Answer Questions do students have to respond to on the APUSH test?

3 written responses.

1 and 2 are mandatory, 3 and 4 are the choice. You should pick 4!

400

This labor system involved workers exchanging several years of labor for passage to America.


What is indentured servitude?

400

This document justified independence using Enlightenment ideas like natural rights.


What is the Declaration of Independence?

400

This compromise admitted California as a free state and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act.

What is the Compromise of 1850?

400

This New Deal program provided jobs building public infrastructure during the Great Depression.


What is the Works Progress Administration (WPA)?

400

Essays written by Hamilton and other key figures to promote the Federalist perspective to pass the Constitution

The Federalist Papers
600

What time periods DO NOT appear as an LEQ or DBQ on the APUSH test?

Period 1 and 2

600

This event exposed tensions between wealthy landowners and poor settlers in colonial Virginia, collapsing indentured servitude and leading to the proliferation of African slavery in the American Colonies.


What is Bacon’s Rebellion?

600

This plan created a stronger federal government after the failure of the Articles of Confederation.

What is the Constitution?

600

This amendment granted citizenship and equal protection under the law.

What is the 14th Amendment?

600

This policy aimed to stop the spread of communism during the Cold War.

What is containment?

600

Supreme Court decision that ruled that segregation was legal as long as facilities were "separate, but equal"; overturned by 1954's Brown v. Board of Education

Plessy v. Ferguson

800

How long does a student have to draft their response to the Document Based Question?

60 minutes (includes 15 minute reading phase)

800

This concept describes Britain’s loose enforcement of colonial trade laws before 1763.


What is salutary neglect?

800

This economic transformation included canals, railroads, and factory production in the early 1800s.

What is the Market Revolution?

800

This economic philosophy favored minimal government interference in business during industrialization.

What is laissez-faire capitalism?

800

This Supreme Court case ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.


What is Brown v. Board of Education?

800

Supreme Court decision handed down by Chief Justice Roger Taney that ruled that African-Americans were not considered citizens and allowed the unchecked expansion of slavery in the United States

Dred Scott Decision
1000

What is the recommended pattern for students to respond to short-answer questions?

ACE

Answer the question

Cite evidence

Explain evidence

1000

This religious movement emphasized emotional preaching and challenged established churches in the colonies.


What is the First Great Awakening?

1000

This policy warned European nations against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere.

What is the Monroe Doctrine?

1000

This movement of farmers in the late 1800s called for currency reform and regulation of railroads.

What is Populism?

1000

This conflict escalated under Lyndon B. Johnson and led to widespread protest at home.


What is the Vietnam War?

1000

Book written by Betty Friedan in the 1950s to voice women's dissatisfaction with gender-norms, homemaking, and their status in American society.

The Feminine Mystique

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