About the AP World History Course

AP World History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about world history from approximately 8000 BCE to the present and apply historical thinking skills. Five themes of equal importance — focusing on the environment, cultures, statebuilding, economic systems, and social structures — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation across different periods and regions.

AP World History encompasses the history of the five major geographical regions of the globe: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, with special focus on historical developments and processes that cross multiple regions.

How AP exams Are Scored

AP Exam Readers are thoroughly trained, and their work is monitored throughout the Reading for fairness and consistency. In each subject, a highly respected college faculty member fills the role of Chief Reader, who, with the help of AP Readers in leadership positions, maintains the accuracy of the scoring standards.
Scores on the free-response questions are weighted and combined with the results of the computer-scored multiple-choice questions, and this raw score is converted into a composite AP score of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1. In general, an AP Exam score of 5 is equivalent to the average score among college students earning grades of A in the college course. Similarly, AP Exam scores of 4 are equivalent to college grades of A−, B+, and B. AP Exam scores of 3 are equivalent to college grades of B−, C+, and C.

Using and interpreting AP Scores

The extensive work done by college faculty and AP teachers in the development of the course and the exam and throughout the scoring process ensures that AP Exam scores accurately represent students’ achievement in the equivalent college course. While colleges and universities are responsible for setting their own credit and placement policies, AP scores signify how qualified students are to receive college credit or placement.

College Course equivalent

Each AP History course corresponds to two semesters of a typical introductory college history course.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisite courses, although students should be able to read a college level textbook and write grammatically correct, complete sentences.

Additional resources
Visit apcentral.collegeboard.org
for more information about the AP Program.

Enrichment Projects