Advanced Placement (AP) World History: Modern (also known as AP World History, AP World, APWH, or WHAP) is a college-level course and examination offered to high school students in the United States through the College Board's Advanced Placement program. AP World History: Modern was designed to help students develop a greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts as well as interactions between different human societies. The course advances understanding through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills.
Students formerly studied all of prehistory and history, reviewing material from 8000 BCE to the present day. In June 2015, the exam was changed to AP World History: Modern.[1] The new exam only includes material from 1200 CE onwards. Students first took the new course in the 2019–20 school year. The College Board announced the development of AP World History: Ancient, which focuses exclusively on earlier periods, including prehistory.[2] Students in the United States usually take the course in their sophomore year of high school, although they are not generally required to do so, as some take it in senior and freshman year.
The course is organized around four eras and nine units:
Unit 1: The Global Tapestry
Unit 2: Networks of Exchange
Unit 3: Land-Based Empires
Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections
Unit 5: Revolutions
Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization
Unit 7: Global Conflict
Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization
Unit 9: Globalization
| Section | Number of Questions | Time allotted | Exam Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice Questions | 55 questions | 55 minutes | 40% | |
| Section I, Part B: Short-Answer Questions | 3 questions (2 required questions + 1 chosen from 2 others) | 40 minutes | 20% | |
| Section II Part A: Document-Based Question | 1 question | recommended 60 minutes (includes 15-minute reading period) | 25% | |
| Section II, Part B: Long Essay Question | 1 question (3 options) | recommended 40 minutes | 15% |
| Unit | Period | Exam Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: The Global Tapestry | c. 1200 to c. 1450 | 8–10% |
| Unit 2: Networks of Exchange | 8–10% | |
| Unit 3: Land-Based Empires | c. 1450 to c. 1750 | 12–15% |
| Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections | 12–15% | |
| Unit 5: Revolutions | c. 1750 to c. 1900 | 12–15% |
| Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization | 12–15% | |
| Unit 7: Global Conflict | c. 1900 to the present | 8–10% |
| Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization | 8–10% | |
| Unit 9: Globalization | 8–10% |
In 2011, the College Board removed penalties for incorrect answers and reduced the number of answer choices from five to four per question.[3]
The AP World History exam was first administered in 2002. The test underwent a major overhaul for the 2017 exam; however, due to the prodigious number of students that struggled with the free response section, the College Board decided to initiate yet another round of sweeping reform, to be put in effect in May 2018. Currently, it has the same format as Advanced Placement United States History and Advanced Placement European History. The exam features a new section (Section I Part B) that requires three short answer questions, one of which is selected from two options. Each question has three parts, making for a total of 9 parts within the SAQ section. Students have forty minutes to answer these questions, and they count for twenty percent of the exam score.
Section II lasts for a total of 100 minutes, and it includes a document-based question (DBQ) and a long essay question (LEQ). Students are allowed to work on either essay within this total time period. The section begins with a 15-minute reading period where students are advised to read both the documents for DBQ. However, students may begin writing during this time; most students take notes on the documents in order to plan out the DBQ. Students are advised to spend 45 minutes writing the DBQ and then 40 writing the LEQ, but there are no rules on when each essay must be worked on. There are three prompts for the LEQ, but only one needs to be chosen. Each LEQ prompt addresses a different period, with one addressing periods 1 and 2, another addressing periods 3 and 4, and a third addressing periods 5 and 6.
The DBQ accounts for 25% of the total exam score, and the LEQ is 15%. The essays are graded out of seven points and six points, respectively. Students are required to analyze and synthesize provided documents for the DBQ, but some outside information is still needed. The LEQ only provides a prompt and no sort of stimulus, so a large amount of outside information is necessary.
| Final Score | 2007[4] | 2008[5] | 2009[6] | 2010[7] | 2011[8] | 2012[9] | 2013[10] | 2014[11] | 2015[12] | 2016[13] | 2017[14] | 2018[15] | 2019[16] | 2020[17] | 2021[18] | 2022[19] | 2023[20] | 2024[21] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 11.2% | 8.9% | 11.1% | 9.8% | 9.5% | 6.9% | 5.9% | 6.6% | 6.6% | 6.6% | 8.5% | 8.9% | 8.6% | 9.2% | 9.7% | 13.2% | 15.3% | 12% |
| 4 | 16.9% | 16.1% | 16.0% | 15.5% | 16.0% | 15.7% | 13.7% | 16.0% | 14.2% | 15.6% | 19.9% | 19.9% | 18.8% | 22.8% | 18.5% | 21.9% | 21.9% | 32% |
| 3 | 26.1% | 23.4% | 23.4% | 23.8% | 23.0% | 30.5% | 29.4% | 31.9% | 31.4% | 29.4% | 26.7% | 27.4% | 28.0% | 28.2% | 24.0% | 27.0% | 27.4% | 20% |
| 2 | 24.3% | 25.7% | 24.6% | 24.2% | 25.5% | 29.4% | 30.2% | 27.8% | 29.9% | 28.7% | 29.6% | 28.5% | 28.8% | 26.1% | 28.9% | 23.7% | 22.3% | 28% |
| 1 | 21.5% | 25.8% | 24.9% | 26.7% | 26.0% | 17.4% | 20.9% | 17.7% | 18.0% | 19.7% | 15.4% | 15.4% | 15.8% | 13.7% | 19.0% | 14.3% | 13.0% | 9% |
| % of Scores 3 or Higher | 54.2% | 48.4% | 50.5% | 49.1% | 48.4% | 53.1% | 48.9% | 54.5% | 52.1% | 51.6% | 55.0% | 56.2% | 55.3% | 60.2% | 52.2% | 62.1% | 64.7% | 64% |
| Mean Score | 2.72 | 2.56 | 2.64 | 2.57 | 2.57 | 2.65 | 2.53 | 2.66 | 2.61 | 2.61 | 2.76 | 2.78 | 2.75 | 2.88 | 2.71 | 2.96 | 3.04 | |
| Standard Deviation | 1.28 | 1.27 | 1.31 | 1.29 | 1.29 | 1.14 | 1.14 | 1.14 | 1.13 | 1.16 | 1.18 | 1.19 | 1.18 | 1.18 | 1.24 | 1.25 | 1.25 | |
| Number of Students | 101,975 | 124,638 | 143,426 | 167,789 | 188,417 | 210,805 | 230,107 | 245,699 | 265,308 | 285,351 | 298,475 | 303,243 | 313,317 | 302,942 | 302,232 | 314,716 | 350,353 | |
In 2012, the head of AP Grading, Trevor Packer, stated that the reason for the low percentages of 5s is that "AP World History is a college-level course, & many sophomores aren't yet writing at that level." 10.44 percent of all seniors who took the exam in 2012 received a 5, while just 6.62 percent of sophomores received a 5.[22]