ADVANCED
PLACEMENT
UNITED
STATES
HISTORY
THE
MULTIPLECHOICE
SECTION
1
THE BASICS
• THE DIRECTIONS FOR THE
MULTIPLE CHOICE SECTION ARE
PRETTY SIMPLE
• ESSENTIALLY YOU WILL SELECT
THE BEST ANSWER THAT FITS THE
QUESTION AND RECORD ON YOUR
ANSWER SHEET
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BREAKDOWN BY ERA
1600 TO 1789
PERCENT OF
QUESTIONS
17
NUMBER OF
QUESTIONS
13 OR 14
1790 TO 1914
50
40
1915 TO
PRESENT
33
26 OR 27
ERA
3
BREAK DOWN BY GENERAL
SUBJECT MATTER
SUBJECT
PERCENT OF
QUESTIONS
# OF
QUESTIONS
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
AND BEHAVIOR AND
PUBLIC POLICY
SOCIAL CHANGE
35
28
35
28
DIPLOMACY AND
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
ECONOMIC CHANGE
15
12
10
8
5
4
CULTURAL AND
INTELLECTUAL
DEVELOPMENTS
4
EXPLANATION OF CHARTS
• A BIAS TOWARD THE CONSTITUTION
THROUGH WWI
• POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
EMPHASIZED
• LITTLE ABOUT ECONOMIC AND
CULTURAL TRENDS
• AT MOST TWO OR THREE QUESTIONS
PAST 1975
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TYPES OF QUESTIONS
THE MAJORITY OF QUESTIONS ARE PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD.
Roger Williams was exiled from the Salem Bay settlement
because he
a. endangered the colony by negotiating with Native
Americans’
b. championed the abolition of private property
c. questioned Parliament’s authority to tax the colonists
d. disputed the authenticity of the Mayflower compact
e. argued for the separation of church and state
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THE ANSWER IS
E
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SOMETIMESQUESTIONS HAVE 4
CORRECT ANSWERS AND 1 INCORRECT
ANSWER. THESE ARE CALLED
“NOT/EXCEPT” QUESTIONS
The New deal included programs for achieving all of the following goals
EXCEPT
a. developing an interstate highway system
b. stabilizing agricultural prices
c. insuring bank deposits
d. eliminating industrial overproduction
e. providing employment for the unemployed
8
THE ANSWER IS
A
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ONCE OR TWICE DURING THE
M/C SECTION, YOU WILL BE
ASKED TO INTERPRET AN
ILLUSTRATION, OFTEN A MAP
OR A POLITICAL CARTOON.
THE KEY IS NOT TO TRY TO
READ TOO MUCH BETWEEN
THE LINES.
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Hanna: That man Clay was
an ASS. It’s better to be
president than to be right!
The political cartoon
implies that
a. Mckinley was the first president to favor big business interests openly
b. by the 1890s, Henry Clay’s political approach had lost favor with the electorate
c. McKinley’s presidential campaign was masterminded by Marcus Hanna
d. Marcus Hanna single-handedly controlled all three branches of the federal
government
e. McKinley was too young to be an effective president
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THE ANSWER IS
C
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THERE WILL BE ONE OR TWO
QUESTIONS ASKING TO
INTERPRET A GRAPH OR CHART.
DO NOT OVERINTERPRET THE
DATA. THE CORRECT ANSWER
WILL BE INDISPUTABLY
SUPPORTED BY THE
INFORMATION IN THE CHART
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Average, Highest, and Lowest Approval Ratings, by percentage of all eligible voters,
for American Presidents, 1953 to 1974
Average
High
Low
Eisenhower
65
79
48
Kennedy
70
83
56
Johnson
55
79
35
Nixon
49
67
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Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the information presented in the chart
above?
a. Eisenhower was the most consistently popular president in the nation’s history
b. Kennedy received greater Congressional support for his programs than did any other president
during the period in question.
c. Nixon’s lowest approval rating was the result of the Watergate scandal
d.The difference between Johnson’s highest and lowest approval ratings was the greatest for any
president during the period in question
e. Eisenhower and Johnson were equally well liked by all Americans.
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THE ANSWER IS
D
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NO MILITARY HISTORY AND
TRIVIAL PURSUIT
•THE APUSH EXAM DOESN’T ASK ABOUT MILITARY
HISTORY
•WHEN IT ASKS ABOUT WAR, THE QUESTIONS
CONCERNS THE POLITICAL OR SOCIAL
IMPLICATIONS OF A WAR RATHER THAN THE
DETAILS OF WARFARE
•APUSH QUESTIONS NEVER TEST ROTE
MEMORIZATION ONLY. WHILE YOU HAVE TO KNOW
YOUR FACTS TO DO WELL ON THIS TEST, THE
QUESTIONS ALWAYS ASK FOR INFORMATION IN THE
CONTEXT OF LARGER HISTORICAL TRENDS.
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ORDER OF DIFFICULTY
•Each group of questions will be a little bit more
difficult than the group that preceded it.
•The questions generally go in order of
difficulty, with the easiest questions appearing at
the beginning of the multiple-choice test and the
most difficult appearing at the end.
•Think of the first 20 questions as easy,
questions 21 through 60 as being medium
difficulty, and 61 through 80 as difficult.
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ORDER OF DIFFICULTY
•Easy questions have easy answers. Do not
choose an obscure or trivial answers for an easy
question.
•Remember also that all the questions are worth
an equal amount toward your final score.
•Go slowly enough at the beginning to avoid
careless mistakes on the easier questions.
•The points you lose early in the test will be
much harder to make up later on.
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THE BIG PICTURE
•M/C questions will NOT ask about exceptions to
historical trends; the test ignores these, because the test
makers are trying to find out whether you have mastered
the important generalizations that can be drawn from
history.
•Keep the big picture in mind when you take the exam.
Even if you cannot remember the specific event or
concept being tested, you should be able to answer the
question by remembering the general social and political
trends of the era.
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THE BIG PICTURE CON’T
53. During the Harding and Coolidge administrations, the
Federal Trade Commission
a. greatly increased the number of court cases it brought
against unethical businesses.
b. controlled the rationing of food, rubber, and gasoline
c. generally worked to assist businesses, rather than to regulate
them
d. was permanently eliminated
e. saw its regulatory powers expanded
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Here’s how to crack it
•At first glance, this question appears to require you to remember the
history of the FTC. But, to answer all you need is the BIG PICTURE.
•What was the attitude of the 1920s presidents towards business?
•They pursued policies favorable to business.
•Since pro-business governments weaken regulations, you should be able
to eliminate answer choices A and E
•Rationing did not occur until WWII, so eliminate B
•FTC is still around today so eliminate D
•The correct answer is C, which illustrates a BIG PICTURE principle,
the 1920s were a pro-business era
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Try This Question
68. “[This legislative body declares] that it views the power
of the Federal Government as resulting from the compact
to which the states are parties, as limited by plain sense
and intention of the instrument constituting that
compact…and that, in case of deliberate, palpable, and
dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the
said compact, the states…have the right, and are duty
bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil,
and maintaining…the authorities rights, and liberties,
pertaining to them.”
The quotation above appears in
a. the Halfway Covenant
b. The Wealth of Nations
c. Common Sense
d. Virginia Resolutions of 1798
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e. The Liberator
Here’s how to crack it
•Question 68 - therefore difficult
• If you key on the big picture the question is not that hard if you have
done some preparing for the test
•The central concept of the quotation is nullification (states have the right
try and stop the federal gov’t when it tries exercise too much power)
•You can eliminate answers by knowing what each answer represents
•the Halfway Covenant - baptism of Puritans
•Wealth of Nations - treatise on capitalism
•Common Sense - written before there were states
•The Liberator - an abolitionist newspaper
That leaves Virginia Resolutions of 1798
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THE GUESSING PENALTY AND
PROCESS OF ELIMINATION
•Each wrong answer is worth - .25 points
•Each blank answer is worth 0 points
•Each correct answer is worth +1.00 points
•The question is, “Does guessing have any
value towards your score?”
•The answer is YES
•Why is the answer yes??
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THE GUESSING PENALTY AND
PROCESS OF ELIMINATION con’t
•Statistically speaking, once you eliminate at least one
or more incorrect answers choices, guessing will
improve your final score.
•For example, take five questions of which you
guessed. The probability is that you will get at least
one right (+1), 4 wrong 4 x .25 (-1) netting a total of
zero.
•That’s the same if you left all of them blank and
skipped them.
•Random guesses cancel each other out in the long run
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THE GUESSING PENALTY AND
PROCESS OF ELIMINATION con’t
•You will be rarely faced with a question on which you can’t
eliminate at least one of the answers.
•In many cases you will be able to eliminate at least two if not
three answers.
•Whenever you get this far, you must guess from the
remaining answers.
•Does this mean you should take a guess on every question on
the test?
•No. Because you only have a limited amount of time to spend
on the m/c section.
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THE GUESSING PENALTY AND
PROCESS OF ELIMINATION con’t
•The first thing you want to do is answer all the
questions to which you know the answer.
•Then go through a process of elimination to
whittle down your answer choices to one on the
1- 20 (easy section), the the 21 - 60 (medium
section) and finally 61 - 80 (difficult section)
•This strategy will help you find the correct
answer and improve your overall score.
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COMMON SENSE CAN HELP
• Sometimes an answer on the m/c section contradicts
common sense. Eliminate those answers. Common sense
works on the APUSH exam
26. Which of the following best explains the most important effect tobacco
cultivation had on the development of the Chesapeake Bay settlements during
the 17th century?
A. Because tobacco cultivation requires large tracts of fertile land, it led to rapid
expansionism in the region.
B. The immediate commercial success of tobacco forced the settlers to defend
against attacks by Spanish and French settlers, who wanted to take control of
the tobacco trade.
C. Tobacco provided the settlers a lucrative crop to trade with nearby native
American tribes.
D. Dependence on tobacco as their only cash crop brought the settlements to
financial ruin in the early 1600s.
E. British customs houses established in the region to regulate tobacco trade28led to
widespread resentment of the British by the colonists.
How to apply common sense.
• What would the first answer choice to be eliminated?
• C - Because why would the Indians trade for something
they could easily grow?
• Was there ever an attack by the French or Spanish during
the 17th century? If there was that would have been big
news. It didn’t happen, so eliminate that answer.
• If tobacco was the main crop, wouldn’t that help the
finances of the settlement rather than ruin it. Eliminate D
• The period of colonial resistance was still a hundred years
away. Eliminate E
• That leaves us with the correct answer of A
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Context Clues
• Some questions contain clues or vocabulary words that will
either lead you to the correct answer or at least help you
eliminate an incorrect answer.
60) The confiscation act of 1861 authorized the Union to
a. divert commercial production toward the war effort
b. negotiate a settlement to the Civil war with ambassadors
from the Confederacy
c. liberate those slaves used by the Confederacy “for
insurrectionary purposes”
d. stop merchant ships headed for Europe and seize their cargo
e. arrest those advocating secession and hold them without a
writ of habeas corpus
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Context Clues
• If you don’t remember the confiscation act of 1861, the
word confiscation might give you enough of a context clue
to answer the this question correctly anyway.
• Which answers don’t deal with confiscation?
• b - negotiate
• e - arrest
• a - diverting commercial production
• d - does not mention WHOSE ships are to be seized
• c - this is correct because slaves are considered private
property. In order to liberate them they had to confiscate
private property.
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SUMMARY
§ Familiarize yourself with the different types of
questions that will appear on the m/c section.
§ Be aware that you will see many questions about
political and social history, some questions about
international relations, and relatively few about
economic and cultural trends. Tailor your studies
accordingly.
§ Look for “big picture” answers. Correct answers on
the m/c section confirm important trends in
American History
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SUMMARY - con’t
§ The test will not ask you about weird exceptions that
contradict those trends.
§ It also will not ask you about military history.
§ You will not be required to perform miraculous feats
of memorization.
§ However, you still must study and become familiar
with all the basics of American History. (There’s a
lot of basics to know though)
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SUMMARY - con’t
§ Use process of elimination on all but the easiest
questions.
§ Once you have worked on a question, eliminate some
answers, and convinced yourself that you cannot
eliminate any other incorrect answers, you should guess
and move on the next question
§ Use common sense. Look for context clues.
34
Final Conclusion
It is your responsibility to prepare for the
test. Studying the night before for a few
hours will not do any justice. You have
spent an entire year in this class to
prepare you for this test. Don’t blow it!
Seize the opportunity to earn college
credit and demonstrate success.
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