PREVIEW: YOUR KNOWLEDGE, YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Your route to a high score on the AP World History Exam depends a lot on how you plan to use this book. Start thinking about your plan by responding to the following questions.

1. Rate your level of confidence about your knowledge of the content tested by the AP World History Exam:
   1. Very confident—I know it all
   2. I’m pretty confident, but there are topics for which I could use help
   3. Not confident—I need quite a bit of support
   4. I’m not sure
2. If you have a goal score in mind, circle your goal score for the AP World History Exam:
   
   
3. What do you expect to learn from this book? Circle all that apply to you.
   1. A general overview of the test and what to expect
   2. Strategies for how to approach the test
   3. The content tested by this exam
   4. I’m not sure yet

YOUR GUIDE TO USING THIS BOOK

This book is organized to provide as much—or as little—support as you need, so you can use this book in whatever way will be most helpful for improving your score on the AP World History Exam.

• The remainder of Part I will provide guidance on how to use this book and help you determine your strengths and weaknesses, plus a diagnostic test, so you can see what areas you should focus on in your AP World History review.
• Part II of this book will

• provide information about the structure, scoring, and content of the AP World History Exam.
• help you to make a study plan.
• point you towards additional resources.

• Part III of this book will explore various strategies:

• how to attack multiple-choice questions
• how to write effective essays
• how to manage your time to maximize the number of points available to you

• Part IV of this book covers the content you need for your exam. The content has been split into the six periods that the College Board tests on the AP World History Exam. This section contains drills for each period, plus detailed answers and explanations. If you are taking an AP World History course at your high school, your teacher may not have time to cover all topics in every period. Since our drills are divided by period, you can hone in on any topics that you may not have had time to explore and discuss in class. In addition, Part IV contains a final chapter that is comprised entirely of practice essays. We also provide detailed explanations and scoring rubrics for these practice essays.

You may choose to use some parts of this book over others, or you may work through the entire book. Your approach will depend on your needs and how much time you have. Let’s now look at how to make this determination.

HOW TO BEGIN

1. Take a Test
   
   Before you can decide how to use this book, you need to take a practice test. Doing so will give you insight into your strengths and weaknesses, and the test will also help you create an effective study plan. If you’re feeling test-phobic, remind yourself that a practice test is a tool for diagnosing yourself—it’s not how well you do that matters but how you use information gleaned from your performance to guide your preparation.
   
   So, before you read further, take the AP World History Diagnostic Test starting on this page of this book. Be sure to do so in one sitting, under realistic testing conditions, following the instructions that appear before the test.
2. Check Your Answers
   
   Using the answer key on this page, count how many multiple-choice questions you got right and how many you missed. Don’t worry about the explanations for now, and don’t worry about why you missed questions. We’ll get to that soon.
3. Reflect on the Test
   
   After you take your first test, respond to the following questions:
   • How much time did you spend on the multiple-choice questions?
   • How much time did you spend on each free response question?
   • How many multiple-choice questions did you miss?
   • Do you feel you had the knowledge to address the subject matter of the essays?
   • Do you feel you wrote well-organized, thoughtful essays?
4. Read Part II and Complete the Self-Evaluation
   
   Part II of this book (About the Exam) will provide information on how the test is structured and scored. It will also set out areas of content that are tested.
   
   As you read Part II, re-evaluate your answers to the questions above. At the end of Part II, you will revisit and refine the questions you answer above. You will then be able to create a study plan, based on your needs and time available, that will allow you to use this book most effectively.
5. Engage with Parts III and IV as Needed
   
   Strategy chapters will help you think about your approach to the question types on this exam. Part III will open with a reminder to think about how you approach questions now and then close with a reflection section asking you to think about how/whether you will change your approach in the future.
   
   Part IV is comprised entirely of drills (both multiple-choice and essay) and detailed answers and explanations. As we mentioned earlier, these drills are divided by period (per the College Board’s breakdown of the six periods tested on the AP World History Exam). In addition to doing content review on your own (in your AP World History class and/or books from your local library or school), you should test your knowledge in context. That is, practice for the AP World History Exam by tackling drills and practice tests.
6. Keep Working
   
   There are other resources available to you, including a wealth of information on AP Central. You can continue to explore areas that can stand to improve and engage in those areas right up to the day of the test.