If you are taking the upcoming AP® World History exam, you might just be feeling a little bit of stress. To say that the material covered in the AP® World History course is extensive might be the biggest understatement of the century. How does one even cover all of the events, places, time periods, epochs, etc. when considering the AP® World History exam? It may seem daunting, but don’t lose hope yet. We’ve created this AP® World History Review of the most important multiple choice strategies to consider when going through your AP® practice tests.
Our AP® World History review will provide you with some of the best insights on how to approach the multiple choice section of the AP® World History exam. This includes tips on how to manage your times while taking the test, the best ways to approach your AP® practice tests leading up to your exam date, and letting you in on some of the best ways to think about the entirety of world history without overworking your brain. On top of this, our AP® World History review on the best multiple choice strategies for the AP® World History exam will provide you with real examples from previous tests to show you these tips in action.
Get to Know the AP® World History Course
What better way to study for a test than to get into the minds of your examiners. Before you get too involved in any AP® World History practice tests, or even get too far into the course material, get onto the College Board website and do some perusing.
What you really are going to want to look for, though, is the AP® World History Course and Exam Description. This lets you know what the AP® World History exam is all about. But it also tells you how to approach the multiple choice questions. It’s important to remember that the AP® World History exam is less concerned with the specifics of dates and names and more interested in themes and historical analysis.
Look at this question on page 142:
Which of the following best describes the significance of legal codes to early civilizations?
A. They granted citizens the right to choose their rulers and representative.
B. They reflected and reinforced existing social and political hierarchies.
C. They facilitated the introduction of monotheistic religions.
D. They effectively settle disputes between pastoralist and agrarian communities.
The question itself relates to the Hammurabi Code (circa 1750 BCE), but notice how it does not ask the specifics of the laws written. Instead, it asks about critically analyzing the role of law in the performance of social and political power. By using critical thinking skills, we can see that the answer is B.
In other words, always try to think big picture.
Watch the Clock
You have 55 minutes to complete 70 multiple choice questions on the AP® World History exam. That’s not much time at all. So, make sure you are keeping your eye on the clock. If you find yourself spending way too much time on a single question, just mark it in the AP® World History booklet and come back to it when you’ve finished the multiple choice section of the exam.
Sometimes it’s best if you allot yourself a specific amount of time for a chunk of questions. You may, for example, want complete 23 questions every 15 minutes. Doing it this way will ensure you get to every multiple choice question and leave you with ten minutes to go back and double-check your work.
Read the Question Thoroughly
We’re sure it seems like AP® World History review on the best multiple choice strategies tell you to read through the questions thoroughly. And they’re right. But there’s something particular about the AP® World History exam that really requires thorough reading.
Increasingly, the College Board is using primary sources in their multiple choice questions. Sometimes four to five questions will revolve around a single document or image. So, make sure that you thoroughly read or analyze each source provided the first time around. It will definitely save you time doing this instead of going back to the source for every single question you encounter.
Eliminate Obvious Answers
After you’ve read any AP® World History question thoroughly, it’s time to check to see if there are any answers that don’t obviously belong. Or for that matter, go for the answer that is obviously right to you as well. If that happens pat yourself on the back and move on to the next questions.
Not every question will have an answer that is obviously right or wrong, so don’t rely on that. Just as a quick example, turn back to the AP® World History Course and Exam Description and take a look at question 7 on page 144. It reads:
Which of the following best explains the change illustrated in the chart after 1650?
A. The influx of European merchants and trading companies into Asia
B. The widespread adoption of American food crops in Asia
C. The increase in Chinese agricultural exports to Europe and Japan
D. The environmental effects of the Little Ice Age.
The “chart” in question highlights the explosive growth of the Chinese population after the year 1500 CE. But just by looking at the possible responses, you should be able to eliminate option D right off the bat. First, the Little Ice Age resulted in population shrinkage and starvation. And second, it happened primarily in Europe. So, you know the answer related to that.
When All Else Fails, Use Your Powers of Deduction
Let’s assume for a moment that you completely forgot to cover Chinese history from 400 BCE to 1500 CE in your AP® World History reviews and studies. But what if this question 7 comes up on your exam? What do you do?
You are not totally at a loss even if you know nothing about the topic because you can use your historical analytic skills to deduce the answer. First, since you’re no pro on China, you already know that answer cannot be D because the Little Ice Age primarily occurred in Europe. That leaves A, B, and C as possible options.
By looking at the graph on page 143, you know it’s about population growth. But option A (The influx of European merchants and trading companies into Asia) has to do with money and the effects of an economy. Option C (The increase in Chinese agricultural exports to Europe and Japan) assumes that agricultural exports correlated to population increases. That doesn’t really make any sense.
You do know, however, that the introduction of American foodstuffs like the potato diversified diets in Europe leading to population growth. So, why not China? Therefore, the answer is B (the widespread adoption of American food crops in Asia).
Just like that, you can deduce your way to the right answer even if you totally forgot to cover the topic in your AP® World History studies.
Think about Time Periods in AP® World History
You can’t fully know everything from your AP® World History studies. Instead of worrying about that, use time periods to compartmentalize your thoughts into easy to remember moments in time. The AP® World History course does it, so why shouldn’t you?
For example, if you run into a question that references a writer that you don’t recognize, but was active in Western Europe in the mid-18th century, you can use your knowledge about the Age of Enlightenment to fill in any gaps. You know that writers of that era were interested in philosophical topics ranging from rationalism, the scientific method, political authority, and the arts.
The AP® World History course itself is often organized into very large periods/eras like “Global Interactions” for the years 1450-1750. We recommend you get a little more specific than that. By putting world history into chunks like the “Age of Enlightenment” or the “Industrial Revolution” will provide you with both a historical context and an opportunity to fill in any informational gaps you might be missing.
Don’t Over-Study a Single Topic
This chart highlights the percentage of multiple choice questions for each time period that the CollegeBoard uses.
| Technological and Environmental Transformations | c. 8000 B.C.E. to c. 600 B.C.E. | 5% |
| Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies | c. 600 B.C.E. – c. 600 C.E. | 15% |
| Regional and Transregional Interactions | c. 600 – c. 1450 C.E. | 20% |
| Global Interactions | c. 1450 – c. 1750 C.E | 20% |
| Industrialization and Global Integration | c. 1750 – c. 1900 C.E. | 20% |
| Accelerating Global Change and Realignments | c. 1900–Present | 20% |
You may find the Paleolithic Era utterly fascinating, but it’s always good to remember that this era in world history will make up only approximately 5% of the entire multiple choice section of the AP® World History exam. So, heed the advice of our AP® World History review, and try not to over-study a certain era or time period too much.
Answer Every Question
Lucky for you, the College Board no longer penalizes those taking the AP® World History exam for getting the wrong answer. They used to encourage students to leave certain multiple choice answers blank if the test-taker had no idea what the answer was.
But since that’s no longer the case, leaving any possible answers blank will only hurt you in the end. Even if you have no idea what’s going on the question, just hazard a guess. What’s the worst that could happen; you could accidentally get it right?
Leave Yourself Five to Ten Minutes at the End
We did briefly mention this in the Watch the Clock section in this AP® World History review, but it does deserve a section of its own. You are really going to want to leave yourself ten minutes at the end of the multiple choice section of the AP® World History Exam.
Your goal should be to finish the entire multiple choice section within 45 to 50 minutes. In order to do this, you may have to skip some of the harder questions that are taking you too long to answer with the intent of coming back to them later.
This way, you will have enough time to double-check your work. But it also allows you the double benefit of going through every other question in the meantime. Doing this may end up jogging your memory and something you were stuck on. Or maybe even another multiple choice question will contain a hint towards the answer of another. It’s always a good idea to leave time for double, or even triple, checking your work.
Practice, Practice, Practice
When it comes to the AP® World History exam, the phrase, practice makes perfect, should be your mantra. Take as many AP® practice tests as you possible can as you study. This is a good exercise to do even if you aren’t all caught up on your material, since the more you work on the AP® practice exams, the more familiar you will be getting with how it works.
One of the primary reasons going through AP® practice exams is so effective, is that you will begin to master the clock. And this is true not only of the multiple choice section, but the essays as well. The more you work on these sections with practice exams, the more comfortable you are going to get with the format, the timing, and the expectations. You can never take too many AP® World History practice tests.
Prepare both Body and Mind
We know that this AP® World History review on the best multiple choice strategies is not the only thing you’ve read in your studies for the AP® World History exam. Between textbooks, AP® World History practice exams, and internet resources you’re probably prepping your mind the best you can. But have you been taking care of your body?
One of the best things you can do in order to ace the multiple choice section of the AP® World History exam is to make sure that you are getting enough sleep and eating well every day. This is especially true of the night before and the morning of the exam. Take care of yourself.
Try not to stress out too much, either. Take pride in your work and have the confidence that you will get every single one of those 70 multiple choice questions correct. And dare we say it? Try and have a little fun too!
Now, go and take everything you’ve learned from this AP® World History Review of the best AP® World History multiple choice strategies and go get that 5 on your exam.
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