WHAP Exam Info

The AP World History Exam will be Thursday, May 15th at 8a.m. and will cost $89 to take. For more information about the cost of the exam you can go to  http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ap/about/fees


The AP World History Exam is 3 hours and 5 minutes long and includes both a 55-minute multiple-choice section and a 130-minute free-response section. The multiple-choice section of the examination accounts for half of the student's exam score, and the free-response section for the other half.

Question Type Number of Questions Timing
Multiple-choice 70 questions 55 minutes
Document-based question 1 question 50 minutes
(includes a 10-minute reading period)
Continuity and change-over-time essay 1 question 40 minutes
Comparative essay 1 question 40 minutes


Multiple-Choice Section
Section I consists of 70 multiple-choice questions designed to measure the student's knowledge of world history from Period 1 to the present. This section follows the percentages listed below; questions will draw from individual or multiple periods:

Periods Period Weights
1 Technological and Environmental Transformations to c. 600.B.C.E. 5%
2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies c. 600.B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E. 15%
3 Regional and Transregional Interactions c. 600 C.E. to c.1450 20%
4 Global Interactions c. 1450 to c. 1750 20%
5 Industrialization and Global Integration c. 1750 to c. 1900 20%
6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments c. 1900 to Present 20%


Multiple-choice questions will also measure various geographical regions, with no more than 20 percent of multiple-choice questions focusing solely on Europe.

Free-Response Section
In Section II, the free-response section of the exam, Part A begins with a mandatory 10-minute reading period for the document-based question. Students should answer the document-based question in approximately 40 minutes. In Part B students are asked to answer a question that deals with continuity and change over time (covering at least one of the periods in the concept outline). Students will have 40 minutes to answer this question, 5 minutes of which should be spent planning and/or outlining the answer. In Part C students are asked to answer a comparative question that will focus on broad issues or themes in world history and deal with at least two societies. Students will have 40 minutes to answer this question, 5 minutes of which should be spent planning and/or outlining the answer.