all units 236
unit 1 3
unit 2 35
unit 3 54
unit 4 51
unit 5 13
unit 6 12
unit 7 11
unit 8 21
unit 9 9
unit 10 27
236 questions
sorted by unit
Neolithic ceramic animal representation and symbolism
Unit 1
Neolithic rock art, cultural transition, horned figures
Unit 1
Neolithic monumental stone architecture and social organization
Unit 1
Palette of King Narmer: Egyptian unification and dynastic power
Unit 2
Sumerian royal artifact depicting hierarchy and warfare
Unit 2
Egyptian Old Kingdom sculptural realism and conventions
Unit 2
Sumerian votive figures, religious continuity and social change
Unit 2
Egyptian pyramid construction and funerary practices
Unit 2
Egyptian temple architecture: continuity and transformation
Unit 2
Hammurabi's Code: law, art, political authority
Unit 2
Old Kingdom Egyptian royal sculpture conventions
Unit 2
Akhenaten royal family artistic innovation Amarna period
Unit 2
Egyptian mortuary temple: continuity and innovation
Unit 2
Archaic Greek kouros sculpture tradition
Unit 2
Egyptian funerary practices and religious beliefs
Unit 2
Ancient Egyptian funerary art continuity and change
Unit 2
Neo-Assyrian Lamassu: tradition and imperial power
Unit 2
Archaic Greek sculpture: Egyptian influence and departure
Unit 2
Persian palatial architecture, continuity and change
Unit 2
Etruscan sarcophagus, Greek artistic influence, cultural differences
Unit 2
Etruscan Apollo sculpture, Greek artistic influence
Unit 2
Etruscan tomb art: Greek influence and adaptation
Unit 2
Classical Greek sculptural ideals and evolution
Unit 2
Classical Greek vase painting: tradition and innovation
Unit 2
Hellenistic sculpture: continuity and innovation
Unit 2
Classical Greek temple architecture and cultural power
Unit 2
Hellenistic sculpture: Greek tradition and cultural transformation
Unit 2
Hellenistic realism, boxer portraiture, Greek sculptural evolution
Unit 2
Roman portrait sculpture, realism, Greek tradition
Unit 2
Augustus of Prima Porta: Greek influence, Roman power
Unit 2
Alexander Mosaic: Hellenistic influence on Roman art
Unit 2
Classical Greek funerary art and gender representation
Unit 2
Roman amphitheater architecture and imperial power
Unit 2
Roman imperial architecture, continuity and innovation
Unit 2
Athenian agora: urban planning and democratic space
Unit 2
Roman architectural innovation: Greek tradition and empire
Unit 2
Roman domestic architecture: Republican to Imperial transition
Unit 2
Roman Imperial battle sarcophagus sculpture
Unit 2
Late Antique catacomb frescoes: continuity and change
Unit 3
Merovingian fibulae: Roman tradition and innovation
Unit 3
Early Christian basilica architecture and Roman tradition
Unit 3
Hagia Sophia's Byzantine architecture and imperial patronage
Unit 3
Early Byzantine religious iconography and artistic traditions
Unit 3
Early Byzantine architecture: continuity and innovation
Unit 3
Hiberno-Saxon manuscript illumination and cultural synthesis
Unit 3
Umayyad architectural synthesis of Roman and Islamic traditions
Unit 3
Romanesque pilgrimage church architecture and design
Unit 3
Vienna Genesis biblical narratives and visual traditions
Unit 3
Bayeux Tapestry, Romanesque historical narrative art
Unit 3
Umayyad ivory carving: tradition and innovation
Unit 3
Gothic and Romanesque cathedral architectural evolution
Unit 3
Gothic illuminated manuscript royal patronage depiction
Unit 3
Giotto's humanistic religious imagery, medieval to Renaissance transition
Unit 3
Late medieval Pietà: continuity and change
Unit 3
Medieval Jewish manuscript illumination and artistic traditions
Unit 3
Early Northern Renaissance altarpiece depicting sacred and domestic space
Unit 3
Renaissance architecture revival of classical Roman forms
Unit 3
Renaissance palazzo design and Classical Roman architecture
Unit 3
Flemish portraiture: continuity and artistic innovation
Unit 3
Renaissance sculpture, Classical tradition revival
Unit 3
Renaissance Madonna and Child artistic evolution
Unit 3
Botticelli's Birth of Venus: Classical revival and humanist ideals
Unit 3
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper: innovation and tradition
Unit 3
Renaissance art, Classical references, religious subjects
Unit 3
Michelangelo's Renaissance frescoes, Classical influence and innovation
Unit 3
Renaissance humanism and Classical Greek philosophy
Unit 3
Mannerism, Renaissance transition, religious art evolution
Unit 3
Grünewald's Isenheim altarpiece: Gothic continuity and innovation
Unit 3
Religious allegory and Reformation Protestant theology
Unit 3
Codex Mendoza: indigenous and colonial visual synthesis
Unit 3
Renaissance female nude: Classical continuity and departure
Unit 3
Nasrid Dynasty palace, Islamic architectural evolution
Unit 3
Northern European Renaissance landscape painting traditions
Unit 3
Ottoman mosque architecture: Byzantine continuity and adaptation
Unit 3
Caravaggio's dramatic light and religious narrative
Unit 3
Rubens' Baroque portraiture of Medici political power
Unit 3
Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa: Baroque sculptural innovation
Unit 3
Baroque architecture, Renaissance tradition continuity
Unit 3
Colonial Andean religious art, cultural synthesis
Unit 3
Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Saskia: tradition and innovation
Unit 3
Baroque religious architecture and illusionistic ceiling fresco
Unit 3
Las Meninas: Renaissance continuity and artistic innovation
Unit 3
Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance: secular domesticity and religious symbolism
Unit 3
Colonial racial hierarchy and mestizo identity
Unit 3
Palace at Versailles: Classical continuity and absolutist power
Unit 3
Dutch still life painting: continuity and innovation
Unit 3
Virgin of Guadalupe: colonial religious syncretism and artistic adaptation
Unit 3
Hogarth's satirical narrative of aristocratic marriage
Unit 3
Enlightenment scientific inquiry and dramatic illumination
Unit 3
Colonial Mexican portraiture and cultural identity
Unit 3
Rococo aesthetics and eighteenth-century French society
Unit 3
Colonial New Spain decorative arts and cultural synthesis
Unit 3
Neoclassical painting, classical themes, political allegory
Unit 4
Neoclassical portraiture, classical tradition, American identity
Unit 4
Vigée Le Brun's self-portrait, artistic identity, and neoclassical transition
Unit 4
Orientalism, classical tradition, female idealization
Unit 4
Thomas Cole's American landscape and Romantic tradition
Unit 4
Romantic revolution and allegorical liberty
Unit 4
Goya's war imagery challenging heroic artistic tradition
Unit 4
Daguerreotype still life: tradition and innovation
Unit 4
Romantic painting challenging academic conventions and slavery
Unit 4
Victorian Gothic Revival parliamentary architecture
Unit 4
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Classical Roman architecture
Unit 4
Courbet's realism and working-class subject matter
Unit 4
Photographic motion study, artistic innovation, scientific documentation
Unit 4
Photography and art status in 19th-century society
Unit 4
Manet's Olympia and Renaissance nude tradition
Unit 4
Monet's industrial landscape painting and modernization
Unit 4
Mexican landscape painting, European artistic traditions
Unit 4
Rodin's sculptural innovation in civic commemoration
Unit 4
Van Gogh's departure from Impressionist painting traditions
Unit 4
Mary Cassatt's engagement with Japanese ukiyo-e aesthetics
Unit 4
Expressionism, psychological anxiety, artistic modernism
Unit 4
Cézanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire: Impressionism to Post-Impressionism
Unit 4
Gauguin's existential painting and artistic modernism
Unit 4
Picasso's modernist departure from classical female nude tradition
Unit 4
Stieglitz's modernist photography and artistic innovation
Unit 4
Sullivan's architectural innovations and Classical tradition transitions
Unit 4
Brancusi's modernist sculpture and classical tradition
Unit 4
Klimt's The Kiss: Byzantine mosaic tradition reinterpretation
Unit 4
Cubism, visual fragmentation, artistic modernism
Unit 4
Abstract expressionism and early modernist painting innovation
Unit 4
Matisse's Goldfish: tradition and modernist departure
Unit 4
Modernist architecture: Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye
Unit 4
Weimar grief and Christian lamentation imagery
Unit 4
Expressionism, WWI, artistic identity transformation
Unit 4
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and International Style
Unit 4
Soviet modernism, industrialization, artistic propaganda
Unit 4
Surrealist object art, readymade tradition evolution
Unit 4
Frida Kahlo's self-portraiture, tradition and innovation
Unit 4
Diego Rivera's mural fresco technique and Mexican identity
Unit 4
Duchamp's readymade: challenging sculpture conventions
Unit 4
Abstract Expressionism and female nude representation
Unit 4
Warhol's Marilyn Diptych and Christian iconographic tradition
Unit 4
African American migration narrative through modernist visual storytelling
Unit 4
Modernist skyscraper design and classical architectural principles
Unit 4
Abstract landscape painting and artistic innovation
Unit 4
Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden: tradition and innovation
Unit 4
Mondrian's abstract composition: Cubism to pure abstraction
Unit 4
Oldenburg's monumental sculpture subverting traditional commemorative forms
Unit 4
Land art, environmental engagement, prehistoric earthwork traditions
Unit 4
Wifredo Lam's Jungle: modernism, surrealism, Cuban identity
Unit 4
Postmodern architecture referencing Classical traditions
Unit 4
Mexica ruler regalia, featherwork, artistic tradition
Unit 5
Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling architectural evolution
Unit 5
Maya lintel art: power and dynastic continuity
Unit 5
Templo Mayor: Aztec architecture and Mesoamerican traditions
Unit 5
Great Serpent Mound: Mississippian earthwork traditions and change
Unit 5
Inka architectural innovation and political power expression
Unit 5
Colonial overlay of indigenous sacred architecture
Unit 5
Lenape beadwork: tradition and cultural adaptation
Unit 5
Kwakwaka'wakw transformation mask, continuity and change
Unit 5
Inka All-T'oqapu tunic materials and techniques
Unit 5
Plains Indian hide painting traditions and evolution
Unit 5
Pueblo pottery: tradition, innovation, and cultural identity
Unit 5
Inka maize cobs: materials, tradition, power
Unit 5
Great Zimbabwe architecture and Shona cultural evolution
Unit 6
Great Mosque of Djenné architecture and cultural synthesis
Unit 6
Benin Kingdom palace art, cultural continuity and change
Unit 6
Kongo Power figures: materials, traditions, and change
Unit 6
Ashanti Golden Stool: tradition, power, cultural evolution
Unit 6
Kuba royal portraiture, tradition and innovation
Unit 6
Baule portrait masks: tradition and innovation
Unit 6
Bamileke elephant mask: materials, traditions, social change
Unit 6
Yoruba royal sculpture, continuity and innovation
Unit 6
Luba memory boards: tradition and social change
Unit 6
Sande Society, Bundu mask, gender performance
Unit 6
Chokwe Female (Pwo) mask traditions and evolution
Unit 6
Nabataean architecture blending Hellenistic Greek influences
Unit 7
Gandharan Buddha sculpture: Greco-Roman cultural synthesis
Unit 7
Jowo Rinpoche: Buddhist sculpture, cultural transmission, Tibetan adaptation
Unit 7
Umayyad architecture: Byzantine continuity and Islamic innovation
Unit 7
Architectural evolution through Islamic dynasty modifications
Unit 7
Islamic metalwork: tradition and cultural exchange
Unit 7
Safavid manuscript illumination, Persian artistic traditions
Unit 7
Abbasid Qur'an manuscript traditions and transitions
Unit 7
Ilkhanid manuscript art, Persian cultural synthesis
Unit 7
Safavid carpet design, Islamic artistic tradition continuity
Unit 7
Kaaba: Islamic sacred site and pre-Islamic continuity
Unit 7
Great Stupa at Sanchi: Buddhist architecture and continuity
Unit 8
Han Dynasty funeral art: tradition and innovation
Unit 8
Jowo Sakyamuni sculpture: Indian Buddhist tradition and evolution
Unit 8
Tang Dynasty Buddhist cave temple sculpture
Unit 8
Terra cotta warriors, Qin Dynasty funerary practices
Unit 8
Borobudur Temple, Buddhist architecture, cultural synthesis
Unit 8
Chinese landscape painting: tradition and innovation
Unit 8
Chola Dynasty Hindu sculpture and religious practice
Unit 8
Angkor Wat: Hindu temple architecture evolution and adaptation
Unit 8
Japanese medieval court art and political conflict
Unit 8
Yuan Dynasty ceramic vases and traditions
Unit 8
Chandella Dynasty temple architecture and religious expression
Unit 8
Joseon court portraiture and Chinese artistic traditions
Unit 8
Ming Dynasty imperial architecture and tradition
Unit 8
Zen rock garden aesthetics and Buddhist philosophy
Unit 8
Mughal court art, spiritual authority, cultural values
Unit 8
Taj Mahal: Islamic architecture continuity and innovation
Unit 8
Japanese plum blossom painting traditions and innovations
Unit 8
Mao iconography in socialist realist art
Unit 8
Hokusai's Great Wave: tradition and innovation
Unit 8
Japanese Buddhist architecture: continuity and adaptation
Unit 8
Moai statues, Polynesian cultural evolution
Unit 9
Hawaiian feather capes: tradition and social hierarchy
Unit 9
Saudeleur Dynasty monumental architecture and Pacific traditions
Unit 9
Polynesian bark cloth continuity and cultural change
Unit 9
Māori portraiture, cultural continuity and change
Unit 9
Fijian mats, tapa cloths, colonial ceremony
Unit 9
Malagan masks: tradition and cultural transformation
Unit 9
Torres Strait Islander Buk masks, tradition and adaptation
Unit 9
Marshall Islands navigation charts and cultural traditions
Unit 9
The Gates: Contemporary public art intervention
Unit 10
Vietnam Veterans Memorial design and commemoration
Unit 10
Basquiat's neo-expressionism and departure from abstraction
Unit 10
East Asian ink painting tradition and modernization
Unit 10
Abakanowicz's figurative sculpture tradition and innovation
Unit 10
Xu Bing's subversive reinterpretation of Chinese calligraphy
Unit 10
Jeff Koons's Pink Panther sculpture and Classical tradition
Unit 10
Cindy Sherman's appropriation of Old Master painting traditions
Unit 10
Aboriginal Australian art: tradition and innovation
Unit 10
Islamic artistic tradition and contemporary identity
Unit 10
Indigenous artistic tradition and colonial exchange critique
Unit 10
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: Modernism and postmodern architectural innovation
Unit 10
Bill Viola's video art and religious symbolism
Unit 10
Pacific Island art, colonial influence, cultural resistance
Unit 10
Digital media reimagining cartographic representation traditions
Unit 10
Faith Ringgold's African American presence at Louvre
Unit 10
Contemporary digital art referencing Buddhist traditions
Unit 10
Kara Walker's silhouette art and racial representation
Unit 10
Contemporary reinterpretation of Rococo painting and colonialism
Unit 10
Female nude representation, tradition and subversion
Unit 10
El Anatsui's recycled materials and textile traditions
Unit 10
Julie Mehretu's abstraction: continuity and contemporary commentary
Unit 10
Ai Weiwei's porcelain sunflower seeds, tradition and subversion
Unit 10
Puerto Rican barbershop culture and contemporary identity representation
Unit 10
Contemporary museum architecture and modernist evolution
Unit 10
Shibboleth: monumental sculpture redefining commemoration
Unit 10
Mutu's subversion of classical female nude tradition
Unit 10
Beaker with ibex motifs. Susa, Iran. 4200-3500 bce. Painted terra cotta
In your response you should do the following:
Describe two visual characteristics of the Beaker with ibex motifs .
Using specific visual or contextual evidence, explain how the work shown demonstrates continuity with earlier Paleolithic artistic traditions.
Using specific visual or contextual evidence, explain how the work shown demonstrates change from earlier Paleolithic artistic traditions.
Using specific visual or contextual evidence, explain why this work might be interpreted as a demonstration of social or cultural change.
What the Continuity and Change Essay asks The continuity and change essay is FRQ 6 on the AP Art History exam, the last of four short essays. You see a work from the 250-work image set and explain how it continues and changes an artistic tradition.
15 min suggested time
5 points across parts A to E
50% of your score, across all six FRQs A
Part A: Description One visual characteristic of the work
1 pt
B
Part B: Description A second visual characteristic of the work
1 pt
C
Part C: Continuity How the work continues an earlier tradition
1 pt
D
Part D: Change How the work departs from that tradition
1 pt
E
Part E: Significance Why the work references or departs from the tradition, using context
1 pt
How Continuity and Change Essay practice works Each question follows the exam’s format, from the full prompt to a score on every part.
1
Study the image and question The image of the work and each part of the question, laid out the way the exam shows them.
2
Write on a 15-minute timer The time to plan for on exam day. Pause it or turn it off, and your response saves as you go.
3
Submit for a score out of 5 Your response is scored against the scoring guidelines written for that question. Your first score is included.
Feedback on every part A summary at the top tells you what to work on next. Below it, each part shows whether you earned the point and what the scoring guidelines were looking for.
Earned the point. You correctly identified the depiction of a gun as a visual characteristic of the work.
Did not earn the point. You needed to describe a second visual characteristic of the painting. While you mentioned it shows an angel, you needed to describe a specific visual feature of the angel or the painting, such as the feathered wings, the elaborate gold-embroidered clothing, or the wide-brimmed hat.
Earned the point. You successfully explained that the depiction of an angel demonstrates continuity with the European Catholic tradition of featuring angels and saints in religious art.
Detailed feedback on a practice Continuity and Change Essay Questions about the Continuity and Change Essay How many responses can I get scored? You can read every question without a plan. Your first scored response is included. A plan unlocks unlimited scoring.
Do I need to write about both continuity and change? Yes. Separate parts ask how the work continues a tradition and how it departs from it. A sentence like “it continues X while changing Y” covers both, with evidence for each.
Will I know the work? You should. On the exam, FRQ 6 shows a work from the 250-work image set, so knowing each work’s context pays off directly.
Can I answer in bullet points? On the exam, responses must be in essay form, and outlines or bulleted lists don’t earn full credit. Practice in short, complete sentences that answer each part.
Can I write my answer by hand? Yes. Switch the editor to handwrite, write on paper, and add a photo of your page.
More AP Art History practice Comparison Essay practice Comparison essay prompts with the required work’s image and the list to select from.
Visual/Contextual Essay practice Visual/contextual analysis prompts with the full question and the list of works.
Visual Analysis Essay practice Visual analysis short essays with the work’s image and every part of the question.
Contextual Analysis Essay practice Contextual analysis short essays with the work’s image and every part of the question.
Attribution Essay practice Attribution short essays with the work’s image and every part of the question.
AP Art History FRQs Every FRQ type for AP Art History, with practice for each.
AP Art History study guides Unit-by-unit review for the whole course.
