Description
AP courses sponsored by the College Board in the United States. These AP courses are equivalent to first-year college/university courses and are intended for students who have demonstrated the academic ability, individual interest and required motivation to handle the extra workload and study requirements.
Students enrolled in AP courses take the AP College Board exam at the end of the course. Depending on the exam score and the college/university, students can qualify for course credit, course exemption or advanced standing. These exams are scored on a 1-5 scale. Depending on the school, scores of 3, 4 or 5 can result in college or university awarding credit, exemption from courses or advanced standing. Students should research individual colleges/universities to understand their policies in awarding AP credit.
Students who enroll in an AP course are required to take the AP exam in the month of MAY.
ABOUT – Advance Placement U.S. History
The content for the AP U.S. History exam is organized into nine periods. This isn’t strictly chronological, as you’ll notice some of the time periods overlap. Instead, the periodization has both chronological and thematic organization.
Period 1: 1491-1607
This period is basically everything that happened prior to the arrival of the English. The start of the period, 1491 (the year before Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue”), is really shorthand for “before the Europeans showed up.” The end of the period is 1607, the year that the English landed in Jamestown, Virginia and founded the first permanent English settlement in the New World. In a nutshell, this period focuses on Native Americans and on early, non-English exploration of the New World, especially that of the Spanish.
Period 2: 1607-1754
The next period is largely focused on European (including the British this time) exploration and settlement. The beginning date is the founding of Jamestown, as discussed above. The end date is the start of the French and Indian War, which totally changed the game in the British colonies.
Period 3: 1754-1800
Here we start to focus exclusively on the British colonies that will turn into the United States. The starting year, 1754, is the beginning of the French and Indian War. This marked the end of salutary neglect and the beginning of growing tensions between the colonies and Great Britain. The period takes you through the tumultuous revolution and its aftermath to the year 1800, in which the new democracy is solidified by its first official peaceful transfer of power between two political parties.
Period 4: 1800-1848
The U.S. was growing in territory and strength, but faced internal threats to its stability.
Period 5: 1844-1877
Period 5 centers on the Civil War—its causes, events, and aftermath.
Period 6: 1865-1898
This is the Gilded Age, where America was bright and shiny on the outside (industrial growth, wealth, railroads, big cities, population growth) and dark and grimy underneath (terrible working conditions, socioeconomic stratification, racism, political corruption).
Period 7: 1890-1945
This period sees the United States starting to get pulled onto the world stage in a big way for the first time.
Period 8: 1945-1980
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States emerged as one of two major world powers. The Cold War dominated foreign policy, while domestically, the U.S. went through many social changes.
Period 9: 1980-Present
This is the modern, post-Cold War era until present day.
