How Can I Get a 5 in AP World History?

Introduction 👋

Hello! This guide will go over five key steps that you can take to help you get a 5 in AP World History. Of course, there is a lot more to the course than these five steps, but these are some key skills that helped us on APWH: M.

Before we jump in, make sure you know what the exam actually looks like. The AP World History: Modern exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes long. Section I includes 55 multiple-choice questions in 55 minutes and 3 short-answer questions in 40 minutes. Section II includes 1 DBQ in 60 minutes (including a 15-minute reading period) and 1 LEQ in 40 minutes. MCQs are 40% of the score, SAQs 20%, the DBQ 25%, and the LEQ 15%.

more resources to help you study

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Knowing the Rubrics 📋

The single most important thing you can do to improve your score on the essays for AP World is to know the rubrics so your essays can be as effective as possible. We have included the rubrics for each essay below, but check out our AP World Free Response Help guide if you want more information on them.

DBQ Rubric 📜

1. 👩‍⚖️ THESIS: Respond to the prompt with a claim about the prompt. Remember to take a stand on the prompt! An example of this might look like “Railroads supported empire-building by __________ and___________, BUT they undermined it by ________________." Use the categories you developed earlier to help fill in the blanks in your thesis!
2. 🌎 CONTEXTUALIZATION: Describes the broader historical context relevant to the prompt. Think of what happened in the years/centuries leading up to the prompt (big events like global wars, trends, patterns, etc.). You MUST connect this to the prompt.
3. 🔍 EVIDENCE FROM THE DOCUMENTS: Use evidence from the documents to support your argument. Do not quote heavily; instead, explain what the documents show and connect them to your claim, citing them like this: (Doc 2) or (2). You earn 1 point for using the content of at least 3 documents to address the topic of the prompt, and 2 points total if you use at least 4 documents to support an argument in response to the prompt.
4. 🚴‍♀️ OUTSIDE EVIDENCE: Consider people, places, events, and concepts that are NOT discussed anywhere in the documents and connect them to your argument.
5. 🦛 SOURCING/HIPP: For at least 2 documents, explain how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to your argument. Use HIPP as a memory tool, but make sure you connect the sourcing directly to the argument you are making.
6. 🦄 COMPLEXITY: Demonstrate a more sophisticated understanding of the topic. This can happen in different ways, such as explaining nuance, showing both similarity and difference, discussing continuity and change, analyzing multiple causes or effects, or qualifying your argument—not just by adding a counterargument.

LEQ Rubric 🖋️

1. 👩‍⚖️ THESIS: Respond to the prompt with a claim about the prompt. Remember to take a stand on the prompt! An example of this might look like “Railroads supported empire-building by __________ and___________, BUT they undermined it by ________________." Use the categories you developed earlier to help fill in the blanks in your thesis!
2. 🌎 CONTEXTUALIZATION: Describes the broader historical context relevant to the prompt. Think of what happened in the years/centuries leading up to the prompt (big events like global wars, trends, patterns, etc.). You MUST connect this to the prompt.
3. 🔍 EVIDENCE (x2): Provide specific historical examples to support your argument. These are specific people, places, and events. Explain your terms, and then connect it to your argument.
4. 📚 HISTORICAL REASONING: Use the historical reasoning skill required by the prompt—typically comparison, causation, or continuity and change over time (CCOT). Build your argument around that reasoning process rather than choosing a different one.
5. 🦄 COMPLEXITY: Demonstrate a more sophisticated understanding of the topic. This can happen in different ways, such as explaining nuance, showing both similarity and difference, discussing continuity and change, analyzing multiple causes or effects, or qualifying your argument—not just by adding a counterargument.

Answering SAQs Effectively ✍️

SAQs are worth 20% of your score, so do not ignore them. Answer each part directly, usually in 1–3 sentences per part. Make a clear claim, use a specific historical example, and explain it. Q1 uses a secondary source, Q2 uses a primary source, and you choose between Q3 (1200–1750) and Q4 (1750–2001).

A good SAQ answer is usually simple and direct:

1. Answer the question first.
2. Add a specific piece of historical evidence.
3. Explain how that evidence proves your answer.

Don't try to write a mini-essay here. Be clear, specific, and efficient.

Quickly Understanding Primary Sources 🖼️

First off, you might be wondering what on earth a primary source is, and that's OK. AP History courses have a lot of weird terminologies, so it's completely understandable!

A primary source describes or depicts events firsthand, such as a photo, a diary entry/letter, a speech, etc. 📜 We are concerned about the analysis of these first-hand accounts, or of history itself.

We often are already exposed to analyses of primary sources. These are often categorized as secondary sources and include those books or articles about history, including textbooks, that your teacher might have you read to actually learn the history, rather than learning exclusively from original sources. 📚

The attribution is a good place to begin when reading any document in APWH. This is because it will usually give a good idea of what the excerpt is about without having to read ALL of the confusing language that most excerpts typically use. 🧐

This will save you lots of time reading in the future.

Knowing What to Memorize 🧠

When you first start WHAP, you might be overwhelmed by all the dates it seems you have to memorize, but it is really a lot more simple than that. You do not need to memorize every date or every name. Focus on knowing major historical developments and processes, key states and empires, important belief systems, trade networks, revolutions, migrations, and patterns of causation, comparison, and continuity/change over time. Specific evidence matters, but it should support your understanding of broader historical trends.

Doing Multiple Choice Questions Efficiently ✔️

The Stimulus-Based Multiple Choice Questions make up 40% of the weighting for the total exam grade. This means that doing effectively on them is a key step to improving your score. There are some more detailed instructions in our MCQ guide, but here's a sample process from that guide to get you started.

1. Read the source of the stimulus (author, place, year, and any other background they give you). Think about that time and place. What was happening? For example, if it says 1916 in Europe, you should know that WWI was happening. 🤓
2. Read the first question, but always use the stimulus as part of your reasoning. Some questions focus more directly on the document's claim, purpose, or context, while others connect the stimulus to broader historical knowledge. Even when outside knowledge helps, the source usually gives important context or evidence you should use.
3. Read the document looking directly for the answer. 🔍
4. Answer the question. 📝
5. Repeat steps 2-4. 🔁

Not Getting Caught Up in the Details 📚

Finally, don't panic if you are getting stuck out in the weeds of history and can't remember anything! Try to remember that the AP World History: Modern exam is all about thinking big picture, making connections among historical developments and processes, and analyzing broader global historical trends.

Take a deep breath, remember all that you've learned, and go get the score you want on the exam!