AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Period 2 Short-Answer Question
Suggested time: 12 minutes
Directions: Read each question carefully and write your responses
in the Short-Answer booklet on the lined pages provided for that
question.
Answer all parts of every question. Use complete sentences:
an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable. You may plan
your answers in this exam booklet, but no credit will be given
for notes written in this booklet. Only your responses on the
designated pages of the Short-Answer booklet will be scored.
Sources have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.
Use your knowledge of European history to answer all parts of
the question that follows.
Historians have debated the role of ideas in bringing about the
French Revolution.
a) Identify and explain ONE cause of the French Revolution
that would support the argument that ideas were a
significant factor in the Revolution.
b) Identify and explain ONE effect of the French Revolution
that would support the argument that ideas were a
significant factor in the Revolution.
c) Identify and explain ONE cause of the French Revolution
that would undermine the argument that ideas were a
significant factor in the French Revolution.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
© 2015 College Board
1
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Scoring Guidelines and Notes
Curriculum Framework Alignment
Learning Objective
Historical
Thinking Skill
Key Concepts in
the Curriculum
Framework
SP-1: Explain the emergence
of civic humanism and
new conceptions of
political authority during
the Renaissance as well as
subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the
political importance and
rights of the individual.
Causation
2.1 IV; 2.3 I
SP-4: Analyze how new
political and economic
theories from the 17th century
and the Enlightenment
challenged absolutism and
shaped the development
of constitutional states,
parliamentary governments,
and the concept of
individual rights.
Scoring Guidelines
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) Identify and explain ONE cause of the French Revolution that
would support the argument that ideas were a significant factor
in the Revolution.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
© 2015 College Board
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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Students may employ a wide variety of evidence drawn from
the particular content of their AP European History course and
materials. What follows is a brief list of possible answers:
i
The Enlightenment spread new ideas about citizenship
and/or politics.
i
The American and English revolutions made it possible to
think about how the monarchical regime could be reformed.
i
One of the first acts that the National Assembly took was to
write “The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.”
b) Identify and explain ONE effect of the French Revolution that
would support the argument that ideas were a significant factor
in the Revolution.
Students may employ a wide variety of evidence drawn from
the particular content of their AP European History course and
materials. What follows is a possible answer:
i
While the social reforms of the Revolution didn’t all last, some
of the ideas that were important, such as citizenship, human
rights, the right to political representation, remained central
to French political life.
c) Identify and explain ONE cause of the French Revolution that
would undermine the argument that ideas were a significant
factor in the French Revolution.
Students may employ a wide variety of evidence drawn from
the particular content of their AP European History course and
materials. What follows is a brief list of possible answers:
i
The financial bankruptcy of the crown was a primary cause of
the French Revolution.
i
Food shortages in winter leading up to Revolution was a
primary cause of the French Revolution.
i
Abolition of privileges and even Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen were more about allowing upward social
mobility for the middle class than about any grand principles.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
© 2015 College Board
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