Advanced Placement United States History

Advanced Placement United States History

Course Description:

  AP® U.S. History is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a freshman college course and can earn students college credit. It is a two-semester survey of American history from the age of exploration and discovery to the present. Solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to devote considerable time to homework and study, are necessary to succeed. Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, interpretation of original documents, and historiography.

Course Objectives

Students will:

        • master a broad body of historical knowledge

        • demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology

        • use historical data to support an argument or position

        • differentiate between historiographical schools of thought
        • examine how political institutions, social and cultural developments, diplomacy, and economic trends are interweaved throughout history

        • interpret and apply data from original documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters, etc.

        • effectively use analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, compare and contrast

        • work effectively with others to produce products and solve problems

        • prepare for and successfully pass the AP U.S. History Exam

Historical Themes:

In addition to the course objectives listed above, the course will emphasize a series of key themes throughout the year. The themes will include discussions of American diversity, the development of a unique American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic changes over the course of America’s history, economic trends and transformations, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in the making of the United States and its impact in a multicultural... [continues]

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