AP U.S. HISTORY EXAM
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Scoring Guidelines for
Short-Answer Question —
Period 1
Learning Objective
Historical
Thinking Skill
Key Concepts in
the Curriculum
Framework
WXT-1: Explain how patterns
of exchanging commodities,
peoples, diseases, and
ideas around the Atlantic
World developed after
European contact and
shaped North American
colonial-era societies.
Interpretation
1.2.I, 1.2.II
Scoring Scale and Guide
0–3 points
Score 3
Response accomplishes all three tasks set by the question.
Score 2
Response accomplishes two of the tasks set by the question.
Score 1
Response accomplishes one of the tasks set by the question.
Score 0
Response accomplishes none of the tasks set by the question.
Scoring Notes
a. Briefly explain ONE specific historical difference between
Richards’s and Nunn and Qian’s interpretations.
Possible differences of interpretation:
i
Richards argues the negative effects of trans-Atlantic
contacts whereas Nunn and Qian explore the positive
effects.
i
Richards describes the effects of trans-Atlantic contacts
with a focus on people in the Americas, whereas Nunn and
Qian detail the effects with more focus on Europe.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
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AP U.S. HISTORY EXAM
i
Richards examines the more immediate effects of transAtlantic contacts, whereas Nunn and Qian take a more
long-term view.
i
Richards looks at social effects of trans-Atlantic contacts
on native societies, whereas Nunn and Qian take a more
economic-focused approach.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
b. Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development
not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support
Richards’s interpretation.
A student may employ a wide variety of evidence drawn from
the particular content of their AP U.S. History course and
materials. What follows is an extensive list of possibilities found
in many AP U.S. History textbooks and course materials. It is
important to note that a student only earns a point for part b.
If they provide evidence and explain how the evidence provided
might be used to support Richards’s interpretation. Due to the
first excerpt’s focus on Spanish colonialism, the best evidence
a student offers in support of Richards draws upon Spanish
colonial history.
i
Demographic collapse of people indigenous to the
Caribbean; the Great Dying; tainos, Arawaks,
and/or Caribs.
i
Diseases killing natives such as smallpox, common cold,
flu, etc.
i
Specific information about specific conquests by the Spanish
including: conquistadores, Cortez, Pizarro; conquest of
Aztecs, Tenochtitlan, Incas, etc.
i
Specific information about land and labor systems used
by Spanish in the Americas including: repartimiento,
encomienda, asiento, and mission systems.
i
Quotas for gold for Indians on Hispaniola.
i
Spanish mining operations for silver in what becomes
Mexico and at Petosi in South America.
i
Spanish extirpation of American religious cultures
i
Reduction of local peoples leading to importation of
African labor.
c. Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development
not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support
Nunn and Qian’s interpretation.
As in part b above, a student may employ a wide variety of
evidence drawn from the particular content of their AP U.S.
History course and materials to answer part c. A student may
only earn a point, however, if they provide evidence and
explain how the evidence provided might be used to support
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
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AP U.S. HISTORY EXAM
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Richards’s interpretation. Nunn and Qian write about broad
“Old World” and “New World” processes, so evidence drawn
from a wide range of sources might be used in support of their
interpretation.
i
New World crops used in the Old World such as maize
(corn), potato, cassava, tomato, tobacco, etc.
i
Old World crops brought to and grown in the New World,
including wheat, sugar, coffee, etc.
i
Evidence related to the growth of transoceanic trade such as
triangular trade, systems of mercantilism, Navigation Acts
from England, the annual fleets, Spanish Armada, pirates or
privateers, quinto real or the royal fifth tax for the Spanish
crown.
i
Efforts to make money in the New World, such as the trade
in furs, joint-stock corporations, colonization, the Virginia
Company efforts.
i
A student might also provide historical specifics related
to the Industrial Revolution such as Britain’s leading
role or mechanization of the English textile industry,
or the beginnings of steam engines for production and
transportation.
i
Examples of European colonial expansionism into South
Asia, Southeast Asia, or East Asia in the early 19th century,
such as Spain in the Philippines, the British East India
Company into India, and the Dutch East India Company
into Indonesia could be used as evidence of how Europe
grew more powerful after contact through the Columbian
Exchange.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
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