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.