In 2016, thousands of students took the AP® European History Exam. This number, however, represents only about 2.7 percent of all AP® tests taken! Lots of schools don’t teach European history anymore, so you are part of an elite group and need a targeted and tailored AP® European study plan. This AP® European study guide is sure to give you confidence as you approach exam day.
What’s on the AP® European History Exam
The AP® European History Exam covers the period of “approximately 1450 to the present” according to the College Board. The course description divides the material into four periods:
• 1450 to 1648
• 1648 to 1815
• 1815 to 1914
• 1914 to Present
Let’s consider why some of these dates are used as dividers in the AP® European History course.
Period One 1450-1648: The class begins in what is known as the High Renaissance, about 1450. The end of the first period, 1648, is the year the Peace of Westphalia was signed. This treaty ended the Thirty Years War, but it also marks the end of European wars over religious differences between Protestants and Catholics. After 1648, conflict in Europe would be driven by politics and nationalism, not by competing religious ideas.
Period Two 1648-1815: During this period, several strong European nations underwent massive internal changes, reform, and revolution. 1815 is an important year because it marks the end of Napoleon dominance over continental Europe.
Period Three 1815-1914: This period saw the nations of Europe attempts to modernize regarding industry. As the established nations of Europe, England, France, and the Netherlands grew stronger economically and politically, they expanded their markets all over the world. Italy and Germany became modern nation-states during this period. The competition and rivalry led to a series of entangling alliances that resulted in WWI in 1914.
Period Four 1914-Present: The final period of study begins with the first World War, moves into the second World War and the rise of totalitarian governments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and concludes with the rise of international bodies such as the European Union.
All four periods are covered equally by the exam. It’s important that you don’t avoid the period that you know the least about! Honestly assess your knowledge of each period and concentrate your earliest AP® European History study plan on that period. This strategy will pay off in two ways. It will help you to feel more confident on exam day, but it will also be necessary for you to relate one period of history to another when the exam calls for synthesis or identifying continuity and change over time.
AP® European History Exam Format
In 2016, The College Board used a new format of the AP® European History exam for the first time. If you have taken the new version of the AP® US History exam (first administered in 2015), good news! The AP® European History exam format is the same as the AP® US History Exam. The exam has four sections:
Section 1: Stimulus-based multiple choice
In this section of the exam, you will between two and five questions are presented after reading and analyzing a short reading, map, graph, etc. The stimulus for a multiple-choice question might be from a primary source, like an excerpt from a King’s proclamation, a secondary source, where you are reading a historian’s take on a particular period or issue, or it may be a chart comparing production levels before or after the Industrial Revolution in multiple countries. On the multiple-choice section of the test, you will need to have the ability not only to analyze the stimulus but to use the knowledge you have gained in your AP® European history review to put the stimulus in context and answer the question correctly. This section of the exam is weighted most heavily, at 40% of the total AP® European History exam grade. See more on the Multiple-Choice Section in AP® European History Tips below.
Section 2: Short- Answer Questions
In the Short Answer Essay section of the test, you will need to answer four questions on topics in AP® European History. These questions are also stimulus based and designed for you to show your ability to think about both sides of an issue or proposition. When you answer a short-answer essay question, you do not need to develop a thesis. Instead, your concentration on the SAEs should be answering each part of the three-part question.This section of the exam is pretty weighty, accounting for 20% of the total exam grade. The short answer is scored by giving one point for each successful answer, for a maximum of 12 points in this section. We’ll talk more about how to earn all 12 points in this section in AP® European History Tips below.
Section 3: Document Based Question
The document-based question also appeared on the previous version of the AP® European History exam, but the format has changed. For the DBQ, there are seven documents (which may include primary or secondary sources as well as graphs, maps, charts, political cartoons, etc.). You will use these documents as historical evidence to support a well-developed thesis in answer to the question prompt. The document-based question will always ask you to think about the topic regarding either comparison, causation, change or continuity over time, or periodization (showing that you know why specific events or ideas belong to one era of history rather than another). When you get to the AP® European History Tips section below, be sure you carefully read how to construct an answer to the DBQ as it usually proves to be one of the most difficult parts of the exam for the students to master. Since the DBQ counts for 25% of the total exam grade, you’ll want to keep reading!
Section 4: Long Essay
The long essay is probably the most straight-forward section of the AP® European History exam. Here, there is a choice between two different topics(as opposed to the short answer essays, where you must answer all four questions). Again, as with the DBQ, you must develop comprehensive thesis when answering the long essay question. What type of questions might appear in the long essay section? The College Board states “questions will be limited to topics or examples specifically mentioned in the concept outline, but framed to allow student answers to include in-depth examples of large-scale phenomena, drawn either from the concept outline or additional topics discussed in the classroom.” Though the long essay portion of the exam counts for only 15% of the total exam grade, you shouldn’t discount it! This 15% is only one question, so you need to be sure you know what you are doing. We’ll discuss some specific ways to succeed on the long essay in the AP® European History Tips later in this AP® European History study guide.
The Concept Outline in AP® European History
The concept outline in AP® European History is what your teacher should be following in considering the objectives for your AP® European History course. All AP® European History teachers are required to submit a syllabus to the College Board that shows how their instruction will meet the requirements for presenting the objectives listed in the concept outline. These are also important because, as the AP® European History Course Description explains, “the outline details key concepts that colleges and universities typically expect students to understand in order to qualify for college credit and/or placement.” Use the concept outline, then, to make sure you are familiar with the topics listed.
In the rewrite of the exam, the College Board decided to empower teachers to design the specific materials that would be taught in a course, as long as it meets the course objectives. For example, the course requires that you have a knowledge of the visual artists of the Renaissance, but your course may have emphasized the works of Raphael, Michelangelo, or Durer more than Bruneschelli, Donatello, or Jan van Eyck. As long as you can link the concept with specific and accurate examples, you will be prepared for the exam.
Historical Thinking Skills
Both the AP® US History and AP® European History exams require you to demonstrate a specific number of historical thinking skills on the test. These thinking skills are not something that you will specifically designate a day or week for in your AP® European History Study Plan. Instead, as you follow this AP® European History study guide and review the questions from past exams as described below, you will be “forced” to employ and practice the nine historical thinking skill below:
1. Describe, select, and evaluate relevant evidence about the past from diverse sources — Analyzing historical documents and evidence
2. Develop coherent written arguments that have a thesis supported by relevant historical evidence. — Historical argumentation
3. Identify and evaluate diverse historical interpretations. — Interpretation
4. Analyze evidence about the past from diverse sources, such as written documents, maps, visual sources, and quantitative data. — Appropriate use of historical evidence
5. Examine relationships between causes and effects of events or processes. — Historical causation
6. Identify and analyze patterns of continuity and change over time and connect them to larger historical processes or themes. — Patterns of continuity and change over time
7. Explain and analyze different models of historical periodization. — Periodization Compare historical developments across or within societies in various chronological and geographical contexts. — Comparison
8. Evaluate ways in which historical circumstances of time and place connect to broader regional, national, or global processes. — Contextualization
9. Recognize and explain disparate, sometimes contradictory evidence from primary sources and/or secondary works about the past. — Synthesis
• To be clear: You will not be asked to define or list the historical thinking skills, or even to use these specific terms as part of your exam answers, but rather display your ability to use these skills in building arguments to support your thesis and in analyzing stimuli that appear on the exam. The AP® Course description gives a very extensive explanation and a list of examples of how to do this. An explanation that is briefer, and likely more easy to digest, however, can be found here.
An AP® European History Study Plan: Gathering Your Resources
As you prepare for your AP® European History Review, you will benefit from gathering resources that are specifically targeted to help you succeed. Some students attempt to re-read the entire text for the course, along with reviewing their class notes. While this can work, it is likely not the most efficient use of your time, energy, and efforts —especially as the exam draws near! Instead, consider the following resources as potential help:
• The AP® European History Course Description At 227 pages, it is a long read, but if you are looking for specific information, you can use the pdf’s “find” feature to search for a specific term or topic. One of the best things about the course descriptions provided by the College Board is that it includes examples and test-taking tips for each type of question you will encounter on the exam. You’ll be able to see a sample multiple-choice question, an example of DBQ documents, instructions, and a prompt, as well as sample short and long answer essay questions. This is also where you will find the concept outline that we discussed above.
• AP® European History Sample Questions This is possibly the most helpful source you can consult in your AP® European History review. The College Board houses 18 years worth of study questions on this page! It is important to note here that the AP® European History exam format has changed. This means that when you use the questions located on this page, you should consider the content being tested and the skills you are being asked to use rather than seeing these questions as simulating the conditions of the actual test. For example, if you use the DBQs housed here, you will notice that in the previous format of the test, students were asked to consider 10,11, or 12 documents per DBQ, whereas today’s exam requires only 7. In the end, these sample questions can be an invaluable help in review and in learning to develop a comprehensive thesis.
→ Please note that when using this resource, past rubrics are outdated and you should keep in mind that your answers will be scored using these rubrics instead.
• AP® European History Review Books An old-fashioned book can be a very helpful review tool. It will generally provide information about the test itself, AP® European History Tips to help you prepare, a European history study plan to help you best use your time, and sample tests and answers. Most books offer multiple practice tests, but see if you are able to find one that offers an explanation of multiple choice answers, not only why an answer is the right answer, but one that explains why wrong answers are incorrect. You’ll be surprised at how helpful this is in cementing not only the concept that the question covers, but in helping you straighten out your thinking can recall when you make an error.
• Topical reviews If you missed a specific section of your AP® European History class, it’s important to make that part of your AP® European History study plan. Whether you physically missed class time, mentally checked out for a day or two, or are just having trouble recalling the details about a particular topic, AP® review books, videos, and review websites can offer a quick way to review the need-to-know details about particular period or event. Albert Blog offers review posts on its European History blog on everything from the Commercial Revolution to Otto Von Bismarck, so search the site if you are looking to review a particular topic.
• Videos for AP® European History Content There are several sources for European History videos. Tom Richey, an AP® History teacher from South Carolina, has put together a large collection of topical AP® European history review videos, usually between 4 and 20 minutes long. If you need to review a specific type of art, music, or general history topic, this is a good place to search. With over 6,000 videos on YouTube, the Khan Academy offers reviews on European history topics as well.
Managing Your Time on the AP® European History Exam
You won’t have unlimited time on the AP® European History test, but with practice, you can learn to manage it well. First, let’s breakdown the time allotments for each section:
Multiple Choice:55 questions/55 minutes
Short Answer Essay: 4 questions/50 minutes
Document-based Question: 1 question/55 minutes
Long Essay: 1 question/35 minutes
Part I of the test includes the multiple choice and short answer questions. You will be stopped after the multiple choice time is up, and again after the short answer essays. Part II is an uninterrupted 90 minute period. You will not be stopped during this time and told to move on to the next essay, so it is important that you pay attention to the clock and leave enough time to select and answer the long essay.
Another tip for time management involves how to approach multiple choice and short answer questions that include a graph or chart. These types of questions can be huge time-wasters if not approached properly. While you will want to spend some time contemplating your response before you look at the answer selections on regular multiple-choice questions, you can end up using a lot of time in unnecessary analysis if you don’t scan the potential answers first.
You could spend 5 to 10 minutes working with the available information in the line graphs above. Rather than try to digest all that the graph can tell you, do to things. First, quickly read the titles and dates of the graphs. By doing so, you will gather that they report first the typical number of hours worked by wage earners between 1500 and 2000, and secondly, the GDP numbers for the same period, adjusted for inflation. Resist the temptation to analyze more right now! Instead, go immediately to the question and answer choices.
A student following this advice on the exam would find out that what he or she needed to know from the graph was — not much. Truthfully, students just needed to use the graph between particular years and see whether the trends were up or down, then offer an explanation as to why based on their knowledge of the period, not on extensive analysis of the graph. Though this will not always be true, spending significant minutes on analyzing this graph in detail would have been a waste of time. It is better to find out (after you have oriented yourself to what the graph is) what the question is asking and then go back and do the analysis to the extent necessary for these types of questions.
This advice also holds true for political cartoons, which intimidate many students. First, ask yourself what the cartoon appears to be advocating, mocking, etc. Then move to the question to see what it is the exam is asking of you.
Answering Exam Questions: AP® European History Tips
Anyone who has been watching students take the AP® European History exam for years can tell you certain pitfalls that students should avoid, that is, tips to know when taking the exam. Let’s look at the following insider tips that can help you score high.
Multiple Choice Question Tips
• Use wrong answers to your advantage
As you prepare for the exam, you will likely get the opportunity to answer many multiple choice questions about AP® European History. When you take a quiz in class, in a practice book, or on a review website, the tendency is to get frustrated with your wrong answers. Trust me, wrong answers are the ones you can learn most from if you take the right approach. While other AP® students crumple up the low quiz, you should take yours home and look at your incorrect answers. For each incorrect answer you put down, search your text or another resource for the right answer. Before you move on, though, you should do one more thing.
Successful students take the time to find out what flaw in their thinking led to the incorrect answer. For each multiple choice answer that you get wring, write two sentences. They should look like this:
□ The correct answer to the question is ____________. This is because …
□ My answer was ___________. This answer is incorrect because…
Yes, sometimes the reason for your incorrect answer is simply an error in recall or that you did not know the information. More often, though, you’ll find that the error is in the way you reasoned through the question. For example, maybe you answered “B” because you failed to note that the question specifically asked about Protestant countries, southern Europe, or the 19th century rather than something more general. By forcing yourself to review your wrong answers, you will sharpen your test-taking skills as well as compiling additional knowledge for test day.
• Improve your success rate on “except” questions.
Questions that feature the word “except” are the most consistently missed on the exam. You can get excited when you see a “right” answer in the list, feel pressured by time, and just want to move on to the next question. Instead, practice by circling the word “except” when it comes up in any multiple choice scenario. Then, when answering the question, say to yourself “I am looking for the answer that isn’t…”.
For this question, mentally say the phrase “I’m looking for something that did NOT affect the trend in typical working hours between 1850 and 1980…” In this case a,b, and d all did have an effect, whereas C did not.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can skip this simple tip! Build a habit of doing this on every “except” question that you encounter. Under time pressure, even the best test-takers tend to miss “except” questions.
Know what the question is asking!
Experienced AP® teachers know that whether or not the student understands the question is the greatest predictor of success on the exam. Even if it sounds silly, you should rephrase every single question on the exam into terms that you understand before you attempt to answer the question. Amongst students who prepare, more students perform poorly on the exam from a lack of understanding what is being asked that from a lack of knowledge.
After reading the question, reword it as follows:
“So, I am looking for the country’s whose teachers ideas concerning geography education look similar to those in the stimulus passage…which country’s teachers would have thought like this?”
At first, it can take some time (time that you won’t have on the actual AP® exam) but as you practice this skill, you will become a better and faster interpreter of questions, or as some people like to call it, “a good test taker”!
Short-Answer Essay Tips
Remember, No thesis here! You need to be sure to earn each point on each question. The best way to do this is to limit yourself to a brief answer and go back and write more on the section if time allows. Many students are excited to have a response and go into far greater detail than the question requires, but will run out of time on this section. The whole point of the short answer section is to see if you can supply points on multiple sides of an issue, so don’t get bogged down. 50 minutes for four questions means 12.5 minutes per question and only 4 minutes for each point to be made!
Long Essay Answer Tips
The long essay answer is the place for your outside knowledge to shine! Since you get to choose your question, pick the one you know most about, develop a thesis and get writing! The long essay allows for the most freedom in constructing an answer, but carries the most responsibility for sticking to the topic and time period and supporting your well-developed thesis. A lot of students want to know just “how long” should the long essay be? The answer to this question is not a word count or a number of pages, but “However long it needs to be to show the AP® grader that you can adequately support a well-developed thesis that answers the question being asked.”
Now that you’ve combed through this AP® European History study guide, let’s put everything into practice. Try this AP® European History Exam practice question. After that, check out Albert.io’s AP® European History Section for additional practice problems.
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