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Last Updated: November 18, 2023

Advanced Placements- History and Social Sciences

The Advanced Placement Program offered by the College Board provides students with the option of choosing from 38 different courses that are equivalent to introductory-level college courses. Clearing these exams can make a student qualify better for their college admission and at the same time saves them a lot of money since they will not have to re-do these courses while in college.

Students can choose to do as many courses as they want with no limitations as long as they have enough time for their high school activities. The courses range from subjects like European History and Music Theory to Spanish Language and Culture thereby providing students the option to choose a thematically similar course from the subject they want to pursue higher studies. The exams are graded on a scale of 1-5 where the passing grade is 3.

Courses Offered in AP History and Social Sciences

The AP History and Social Sciences section of the Advanced Placement program contains 9 courses all of which are-

AP Comparative Government and Politics

This course deals with major political concepts that the student must be aware of also making them capable of analyzing patterns in political processes and their consequences. Students will be required to compare political structures from across 6 different countries as part of their study. The course is equivalent to a semester of an introductory college course in comparative government and politics.

The course framework has 2 sections which are disciplinary practices and the course content-

Disciplinary Practices of AP Comparative Government and Politics

Course Content for AP Comparative Government and Politics

There are 5 units in all in the course which are-
  1. Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments
  2. Political Institutions
  3. Political Culture and Participation
  4. Political Cultural and Participation
  5. Party and Electoral Systems and Citizen Organizations
  6. Political and Economic Changes and Development

Prerequisites for the AP Comparative Government and Politics

There are no prerequisites for the course except that the student should be able to read and understand college-level texts and articulate their thoughts into accurate statements.

Exam Structure of AP Comparative Government and Politics

Section 1- Multiple-Choice
There are 55 questions in all in this section with a time limit of 60 minutes. This section has a 50% exam weightage. This is split into 40-44 individual questions and 11-15 set-based questions. The set-based questions can be of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis.

Section 2- Free Response
This section contains 4 questions in all and is given a time limit of 1 hour and 30 minutes. It has a 50% exam weightage in all. The question format will be as follows- NOTE-Although the Supreme Court recently overturned Roe v. Wade, it remains required course content and is part of Topic 3.9, “Amendments: Due Process and the Right to Privacy” along with two additional cases, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022).

AP European History

This course deals with all the significant events, developments, and progress made from 1450 to the present times. Students will be required to create historical arguments and historical connections between the facts they assimilate. This course is equivalent to an introductory college course in modern European History.

The course framework contains historical thinking skills and reasoning skills along with the course content which can be elaborated as follows-

Historical Thinking Skills and Reasoning Processes

Course Content in AP European History

The course contains 9 units in all which are-
  1. Renaissance and Exploration
  2. Age of Reformation
  3. Absolutism and Constitutionalism
  4. Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments
  5. Conflict, Crisis, and Reaction in the Late 18th Century
  6. Industrialization and its Effects
  7. 19th-Century Perspectives and Political Developments
  8. 20th-Century Global Conflicts
  9. Cold War and Contemporary Europe

Prerequisites for AP European History

The course has no prerequisites except that the student should be able to comprehend college-level texts and should also be able to articulate their thoughts into well-structured sentences.

Exam Structure for AP European History

Section 1
Section 2-

AP Human Geography

This course deals with the study of patterns and processes of using and altering the Earth’s surface. Students will have to use spatial concepts and landscape analysis to understand the environmental consequences of the actions that have been performed. This course is equivalent to an introductory college-level course in Human Geography.

The course framework includes course skills and course content where the former deals with the skills students should develop and the latter deals with the different units that the course contains.

Course Skills for AP Human Geography

Course Content for AP Human Geography

The units present in this course are-
  1. Thinking Geographically
  2. Population and Migration Patterns and Processes
  3. Cultural Patterns and Processes
  4. Political Patterns and Processes
  5. Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes
  6. Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes
  7. Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

Prerequisites for AP Human Geography

There are no prerequisites for the exam except that the student should be able to understand college-level texts and articulate sentences in grammatically accurate ways.

Exam Structure for AP Human Geography

Section 1- Multiple-Choice
This section will have 60 questions in all and is given a duration of 1 hour. It holds 50% of the exam weightage. There will be individual questions and set-based questions.
Section 2- Free-Response
This section will have only 3 questions but is given 1 hour and 15 minutes. It holds 50% of the exam weightage.

AP Macroeconomics

This course deals with the principles of the economic system and emphasizes concepts like national income and price-level determination. Students will be required to learn about economic performance measures, financial sector, economic growth, etc. The course is equivalent to a one-semester college introductory course in economics.

The course framework contains course skills and course content where the former is the skills students have to develop during the duration of the course and the latter is the units they have to study in the course.

Course Skills in AP Macroeconomics

Course Content in AP Macroeconomics

There are 6 units in all in the course which are-
  1. Basic Economic Concepts
  2. Economic Indicators and the Business Cycle
  3. National Income and Price Determination
  4. Financial Sector
  5. Long-Run Consequences of Stabilization Policies
  6. Open Economy-International Trade and Finance

Prerequisites of AP Macroeconomics

There are no prerequisites for AP Macroeconomics, but students are recommended to take the course only if they have basic mathematic and graphing skills.

Exam Structure for AP Macroeconomics

Section 1-Multiple-Choice
This section contains 60 questions and is given 1 hour and 10 minutes. It takes up 66% of the exam weightage. Section 2- Free-Response
This section contains 3 questions that have to be completed in an hour and holds 33% of the exam weightage. The question pattern is as follows-

AP Microeconomics

The course deals with the principles of economics but only those that concern the functions of individual economic decision-makers. Students will be familiarized with product and factor markets, distributions of income, market failure, etc. The course is equivalent to a one-semester course in economics in a college.

The course framework contains course skills that students ought to develop during the course and course content that deals with the subjects that are taught during the course.

Course Skills in AP Microeconomics

Course Content in AP Microeconomics

There are 6 units in all in the course which are-
  1. Basic Economic Principles
  2. Supply and Demand
  3. Production, Cost, and the Perfect Competition Model
  4. Imperfect Competition
  5. Factor Markets
  6. Market Failure and the Role of the Government

Prerequisites for AP Microeconomics

There are no prerequisites for AP Microeconomics but it is recommended that students have basic mathematic and graphing skills to do the course.

Exam Structure for AP Microeconomics

Section 1-Multiple-Choice
This section contains 60 questions and is given 1 hour and 10 minutes. It takes up 66% of the exam weightage. Section 2- Free-Response
This section contains 3 questions that have to be completed in an hour and hold 33% of the exam weightage. The question pattern is as follows-

AP Psychology

The AP Psychology course deals with the scientific study of human behavior and students will have to learn about psychological theories, key concepts like learning and cognition, motivation, developmental psychology, etc. The course is equivalent to an Introduction to Psychology course in colleges.

The course framework contains the course skills that students have to develop and the course content.

Course Skills in AP Psychology

Course Content in AP Psychology

There are a total of 9 units in this course which are-
  1. Scientific Foundations of Psychology
  2. Biological Bases of Behavior
  3. Sensation and perception
  4. Learning
  5. Cognitive Psychology
  6. Developmental Psychology
  7. Motivation, Emotion, and Personality
  8. Clinical Psychology
  9. Social Psychology

Prerequisites for AP Psychology

There are no prerequisites for the course.

Exam Structure for AP Psychology

Section 1- Multiple-Response
There are 100 questions in the section with a duration of 1 hour and 10 minutes in all. This section takes up 66.7% of the exam weightage. Section 2-Free-Response
This section contains 2 questions and has to be completed in 50 minutes. It takes up 33.3% of the exam weightage.

AP United States Government and Politics

This course deals with political concepts, ideas, policies, etc. that are related to the constitutional system of the U.S. Students will have to learn about the foundational documents, Supreme Court decisions, and other information all the while reading and interpreting data and developing evidence-based arguments. Students will also have to complete political science research or applied civics projects.

The course framework includes disciplinary practices and reasoning processes along with the course content.

Disciplinary Practices and Reasoning Processes

Course Content in AP United States Government and Politics

There are a total of 5 units in the course which are-
  1. Foundations of American Democracy
  2. Interactions Among Branches of Government
  3. Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
  4. American Political Ideologies and Beliefs
  5. Political Participation

Prerequisites of AP United States Government and Politics

There are no prerequisites for the course.

Exam Structure for AP United States Government and Politics

Section 1- Multiple-Choice
There are 55 questions in the section and the time duration given is 1 hour and 20 minutes. It takes up 50% of the exam weightage. The question format includes individual questions and set-based questions where the set-based questions are split into- Section 2- Free- Response
This section has 4 questions with a duration of 1 hour and 40 minutes in all. It takes up 50% of the exam weightage. The question format is-

AP United States History

The course contains information relating to significant events, individuals, and developments in the U.S. from 1491 to the present. Students are required to analyze primary and secondary sources all the while creating historical arguments and making historical connections. The course is equivalent to any introductory U.S. history course in colleges.

The course framework includes historical thinking skills and reasoning processes along with the course content.

Historical Thinking Skills and Reasoning Processes

Course Content in AP United States History


Below is the exam weighting for each of the course's nine units:
UnitWeightage
Period 1: 1491"1607 4"6%
Period 2: 1607"1754 6"8%
Period 3: 1754"1800 10"17%
Period 4: 1800"1848 10"17%
Period 5: 1844"1877 10"17%
Period 6: 1865"1898 10"17%
Period 7: 1890"1945 10"17%
Period 8: 1945"1980 10"17%
Period 9: 1980"Present 4"6%

Prerequisites of AP United States History

There are no prerequisites for the course.

Exam Structure for AP United States History

Section 1
Section 2

AP World History: Modern

This course deals with significant events that shaped the world from 1200 to the present. The course contains 6 themes humans and the environment, cultural developments, etc. which the student has to analyze using skills that are used by historians. The course is equivalent to a college survey of modern world history.

The course framework deals with historical thinking skills and reasoning processes and the course content.

Historical Thinking Skills and Reasoning Skills

Course Content of AP World History: Modern

This course has 9 units in all which are-
  1. The Global Tapestry
  2. Networks of Exchange
  3. Land-Based Empires
  4. Transoceanic Interconnections
  5. Revolutions
  6. Consequences of Industrialization
  7. Global Conflict
  8. Cold War and Decolonization
  9. Globalization

Prerequisites of AP World History: Modern

There are no prerequisites for the course.

Exam Structure for AP World History: Modern

Section 1
Section 2


2025 Advanced Placement Test Dates

Understanding Advanced Placement

Courses Offered in AP

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