Founded by two Stanford University graduates, Mindfish serves students in the nearby Denver and Boulder area by offering AP tutoring and test prep for all exams. Through a customized curriculum and personalized attention, the Mindfish team can help you confidently prepare for the AP U.S. History exam and earn a 4 or 5. A top score on your AP U.S. History exam can entitle you to college credit, skipping standard introductory courses, and lowering your tuition bill.
The key to Mindfish’s success comes from our enthusiastic and talented tutors. To that end, every Mindfish tutor has significant teaching experiencing, having graduated from top universities like MIT, Stanford, Oxford, and Cornell. Before tutoring begins, our Mindfish senior tutors will analyze your student’s strengths, obstacles, learning style, and goals to establish a baseline for the AP U.S. History syllabus.
Mindfish’s AP U.S. History tutors can accommodate your student at every stage in the preparation process, delivering expert study techniques, effective test-taking strategies, and reviewing complex topics.
What Content Appears on the AP U.S. History Exam?
Administered in May each year, the AP U.S. History exam measures your student’s ability to analyze historical data, assess historical evidence, analyze significant issues in U.S. history, and understand historical sources, images, graphs, and maps. The AP U.S. History exam covers seven main themes and challenges students to make connections among historical developments in different times and places:
- American and National Identity: Focuses on fundamental concepts of American democracy, the Constitution, and liberty
- Politics and Power: Reviews the history of American government and party systems
- Work, Exchange, and Technology: Explores the way labor and economic forces have impacted the American market
- Culture and Society: Investigates how religion, arts, and culture have all impacted American society
- Migration and Settlement: Revisits history of colonialism and immigration in America
- Geography and the Environment: Identifies the way the environment has impacted American communities
- America in the World: Challenges students to consider how America impacts other nations
Moreover, the AP U.S. History exam tests each student’s knowledge on how these main themes pertain to various historical periods:
- 1607–1754 (Colonialism)
- 1754–1800 (The Revolutionary War)
- 1800–1848 (Early America)
- 1844–1877 (The Civil War and Reconstruction)
- 1865–1898 (The Gilded Age)
- 1890–1945 (The Great Depression and World Wars)
- 1945–1980 (The Cold War)
- 1980–Present (Modern Times)
How is the AP U.S. History Exam Formatted?
This AP U.S. History Exam lasts three hours and 15 minutes and consists of two main sections, with each divided into a Part A and a Part B.
Section 1, Part A: Multiple-Choice
The first section of the test is the multiple-choice section, which is worth 40% of your score. Students will have 55 minutes to 55 questions. You will earn 1 raw point for each question you answer correctly for a max score of 55 points. No points are taken off for incorrect answers.
Section 1, Part B: Short Answer
Worth 20% of the final score, you must complete three short-answer in 40 minutes. The exam will list four writing prompts. The first two questions are required, but you get to choose between question 3 and question 4 for your third short answer. Each of the three short-answer questions is worth 3 points, with 9 points possible in this section.
Section 2, Part A: Document-Based Question
The Document-Based Question, or DBQ, is worth 25% of your final score. In this section, you must craft an essay passed on a prompt that is accompanied by seven historical documents. You will have a 15-minute reading period followed by 45 minutes to write your response.
The DBQ is scored out of 7 points using the following criteria:
- Thesis: 1 point
- Contextualization: 1 point
- Evidence from the documents: 2 points
- Evidence beyond the documents: 1 point
- Sourcing: 1 point
- Complexity: 1 point
Section 2, Part B: Long Essay
For the final component of the AP U.S. History Exam, you must choose one of three prompts and write an essay on the selected topic. Each of the three prompts revolves around a different era in U.S. history. Counting for 15% of your final AP score, you’ll have 40 minutes to write a response to the prompt.
The Long Essay is worth 6 raw points based on the following criteria:
- Thesis: 1 point
- Contextualization: 1 point
- Evidence: 2 points
- Analysis and reasoning: 2 points
To earn full credit on the long essay, you must present a clear and logical argument and defend your thesis with relevant historical evidence.