Chapter 1

What You Need to Know About the AP World History: Modern Exam

Congratulations—you have chosen Kaplan to help you get a top score on your AP World History: Modern exam. Kaplan understands your goals and what you’re up against: conquering a tough exam while participating in everything else that high school has to offer. 

You expect realistic practice, authoritative advice, and accurate, up-to-date information on the exam. And that’s exactly what you’ll find in this book. To help you reach your goals, we have conducted extensive research and have incorporated insights from an AP Expert who has over 15 years of experience with AP World History.

About the AP Expert

Christina Gentile Giangrandi earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in History and Secondary Education from Hofstra University and Master of Arts from Stony Brook University. She has taught AP World History in the Smithtown Central School District since 2004, in addition to teaching the New York State Global History course and a Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights elective course. She has served as an AP Reader for the College Board and has attended numerous professional development courses and study tours to further her knowledge of world history. She is also the author of Barron's AP Q&A World History, published in 2018.

About This Book

In preparing for the AP exam, you build a solid foundation of knowledge about world history in the years 1200 to the present. While this knowledge is critical to your learning, keep in mind that just being able to recall isolated facts, dates, and events does not ensure success on the exam. World history is about big ideas, such as how various civilizations developed and how different regions of the world are interconnected. The College Board (the maker of the AP exam) asks you to apply the knowledge you’ve learned at a higher level in order to show evidence of college-level abilities. 

That’s where this book comes in. This guide offers much more than a review of basic content. We’ll show you how to put your knowledge to brilliant use on the AP exam through structured practice and efficient review of the areas you need to work on most. We’ll explain the ins and outs of the exam structure and question formats so you won’t experience any surprises. We’ll even give you test-taking strategies that successful students use to earn high scores.

Are you ready for your adventure in the study and mastery of everything AP World History: Modern? Good luck!