The Ultimate Guide on How to Get a 5 on APUSH

The AP United States History exam (a.k.a. APUSH) can be intimidating because of the amount of content covered and the analysis and writing involved. However, if you study the right way and use the right resources, you can guarantee a 5 on this AP exam.

In this article, I provide details on everything you need to know to get a 5 on the APUSH exam. From the exam format to scoring guidelines to step-by-step strategies to approach each question type, you will know precisely how to succeed in APUSH by the time you finish this article.

Let’s jump in!

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APUSH Exam Format

Before we get into how to prepare for the APUSH exam, it’s important to understand what is on the APUSH exam.

How long is the APUSH exam?

The APUSH exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes.

APUSH Exam Breakdown

Section IA: Multiple Choice

This section provides 55 minutes for 55 questions and accounts for 40% of the overall exam score. The questions are all stimulus-based. This means you will be provided with several sources and 3-4 questions associated with each source.

Each stimulus may be a primary or secondary source. (A primary source is a source taken directly from the period that something occurred. A secondary source interprets a primary source—usually a historian’s perspective on a historical development.)

Additionally, the stimulus may be written or visual.

Section IB: Short Answer Questions (SAQs)

This section provides 40 minutes for 3 questions and accounts for 20% of the overall exam score. 

SAQ #1 focuses on the time period 1754-1980 (Periods 3-8). For this question, you will need to analyze a secondary source. 

SAQ #2 also focuses on the time period 1754-1980. For this question, you will need to analyze a primary source. 

Then, you have the option to answer either SAQ #3 or SAQ #4 (do NOT answer both!). SAQ #3 focuses on the time period 1491-1877 (periods 1-5), and SAQ #4 focuses on the time period 1865-present (Periods 6-9). No sources are provided for these SAQs, as they simply test your knowledge of the historical context.

Section II: Essays

This section provides 100 minutes for 2 questions and accounts for 40% of the overall exam score. You will need to answer a Document-Based Question (DBQ) and a Long Essay Question (LEQ). 

Document-Based Question (DBQ)

In the DBQ, you will need to write an argumentative essay using evidence from the historical documents provided. You have a recommended 60 minutes, which includes 15 minutes of reading time, to write the essay. This essay accounts for 25% of the overall exam score.

Long Essay Question (LEQ)

In the LEQ, you will need to write an argumentative essay using your historical knowledge. You have a recommended 40 minutes to write this essay, which accounts for 15% of the overall exam score.

Additionally, you’ll have the ability to choose from three options (only answer 1 prompt!). The first prompt focuses on the time period 1491-1800, the second one focuses on 1800-1898, and the third one focuses on 1890-present.

General Tips on How to Study for APUSH

Tip #1: Know the APUSH Time Periods

Knowing the APUSH time periods is essential because you will need to pull specific concepts from each time period to answer questions.

Period 1 (1491-1607)

This period covers the original Native American settlements, the first European explorations, and the resultant Columbian Exchange and Spanish American Empire.

Period 2 (1607-1754)

This period covers English and French colonization of the Americas and resultant conflicts between European powers.

Period 3 (1754-1800)

This period covers American independence, the construction of the new nation, and the first presidencies. 

Period 4 (1800-1848)

This period covers territorial expansion, and various political, economic, and social developments in the young nation.

Period 5 (1844-1877)

This period covers the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Period 6 (1865-1898)

This period covers industrialization, imperialism, and various political and social developments in the rapidly-growing nation.

Period 7 (1890-1945)

This period covers WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII.

Period 8 (1945-1980)

This period covers the Civil Rights Movement and various international conflicts.

Period 9 (1980-present)

This period covers the social, cultural, political, and technological developments in the past few decades.

Tip #2: Know the APUSH Key Concepts from Each Time Period

There are a few major details and overarching trends you must know from each time period. These key concepts are listed in the official College Board APUSH course description.

For example, one of the key concepts from Period 1 is as follows:

“As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time, they developed distinct and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse environments.”

Unfortunately, there is no way to do well on the APUSH exam without learning and memorizing the historical facts. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, scanning the key concepts is a helpful way to know what you need to study.

You may also like “How to Take Notes in APUSH—Improve Speed, Memory, and Grades”

Tip #3: Learn details within each APUSH key concept

Once you know what the key concepts are, you need to study details that fall under each key concept. For example, for the Period 1 key concept mentioned earlier, you would need to know different Native American settlements, their culture, and technology they used.

Tip #4: Don’t get bogged down by details

This probably sounds contradictory to Tip #3, but while it’s very important to know the details, you shouldn’t lose sight of the overarching trends.

Only focusing on the details makes history seem like a bunch of disjointed segments that don’t relate to each other.

Instead, you need to figure out how details fit into larger trends and patterns. 

For example, in Period 1, it’s important to know a few major Native American settlements and their practices. However, it’s also important to understand overarching trends, like how the spread of maize cultivation from Mexico led to more complex, sedentary settlements in the South, as opposed to the North.

Tip #5: Understand the major historical reasoning skills

There are a few major historical reasoning skills that are tested on the APUSH exam. You must know them because many of the stimulus-based questions and SAQs will ask you to employ them. Additionally, the two essays you need to write—the DBQ and LEQ—must both be structured around a specific historical reasoning skill. 

The skills you’ll be tested on are as follows:

Causation and Effect

You should be able to understand the causes leading up to a particular historical development, as well as the effects of the development. Additionally, you should be able to identify short-term and long-term causes and effects.

Please not that this is not a realistic example of cause and effect for the APUSH exam.

For example, you should know that one of the long-term causes of the American Revolution was salutary neglect. This was when the British government was lax with the colonies, causing the colonists to grow used to autonomy.

On the other hand, a short-term cause would be the Boston Massacre, in which British troops fired into a crowd, killing five people and amplifying American resentment dramatically.

Continuity and Change

You should be able to recognize trends that have persisted over time and those that have changed. 

For example, in the 1840s and 1850s, there was an influx of immigrants to the United States. Immigration led to the development of a nativist movement that opposed immigration. In the period from 1890 to 1920, there was also an influx of immigrants, who similarly faced discrimination and nativist opposition. Thus, this is an instance of historical continuity.

Periodization (Turning Point)

Periodization refers to the ability to group historical developments into logical time periods. It is usually based on turning points in history.

For example, WWII was a turning point in American history that propelled the U.S. into a major entity on the global scene. In the decades that followed, the U.S. became increasingly involved in international affairs.

Comparison

You should be able to identify similarities and differences between different time periods. Additionally, you should be able to evaluate different perspectives on a historical development. 

For example, different historians have differing perspectives on the effectiveness of Reconstruction (the period following the Civil War). You should be able to evaluate their perspectives and make your own conclusion about the effectiveness of Reconstruction.

Contextualization

Contextualization is the ability to situate a historical event or development into broader, relevant circumstances. You’ll need to contextualize stimuli in the APUSH multiple choice and SAQ sections. Also, you’ll need to include contextualization in your APUSH DBQ and LEQ essays, making it a very important skill to master.

For example, if an essay prompt were to be about the effectiveness of Reconstruction, you could talk about the Civil War and the relationship between the North and the South at the time.

Argumentation

Argumentation is the ability to create a historical argument that can be supported by historical evidence. In fact, this is exactly what you have to do in the thesis of the DBQ and LEQ essays.

Also, it is important to note that an argument should be something that can be supported or opposed—it cannot be something that is considered objectively factual.

Going back to the Reconstruction example, you could create the assertion that Reconstruction wasn’t effective. Then, you would need to support it with historical evidence, like how segregation continued in the South.

Use of Historical Evidence

You should be able to analyze historical evidence and use it to draw conclusions and corroborate historical arguments.

A helpful mnemonic for analyzing historical evidence is CHAPP.

CHAPP

C: content—What is the source about? Be able to summarize it in your own words. 

H: historical situation—What is the context in which the source was created in? 

A: audience—Who is the source directed towards? 

P: point of view—What background does the speaker/writer/cartoonist come from? How might this affect what they’re saying, writing, or drawing? 

P: purpose—Based on the audience and point of view, what can you conclude about the intention of the source? What goal is it trying to achieve?

Why should I use CHAPP?

CHAPP will help you better understand stimuli on the multiple choice and SAQ sections. 

Additionally, it’ll help you significantly on the DBQ essay. Not only will it help you do sourcing for the documents (if you don’t know what sourcing is, I explain later in this article), but it will also help you evaluate the reliability and limitations of each source. By mentioning these details in your essay, you’ll be on your way to earning the complexity point! (less than 2% of students earn this point!)

Interpretation

You should be able to analyze different historical interpretations and evaluate how they’re affected by contextual or cultural bias. This is an extremely important skill because you’ll often be presented with sources that have contradictory views on the same historical development.

For example, many sources from the South leading up to the Civil War denounce the North for trying to repress individual rights. On the other hand, sources from the North denounce the South for trying to rip apart the nation.

It’s important to understand how these contradictory perspectives were influenced by the context in which they were created.

Synthesis

Finally, you need to integrate all the historical skills to make conclusions about historical developments. After all, these skills are not disjoint elements with no relation to one another.

Here are the components of doing historical synthesis successfully:

1. Use contextualization, CHAPP, and interpretation to fully understand and evaluate historical sources.
2. Identify historical patterns like causation and effect, continuity and change, periodization, and similarities and differences.
3. Make a historical argument that can be supported by using historical sources.

Tip #6: Practice, practice, practice!

There’s a lot of content on the APUSH exam, and the only way to get better is to do lots of practice. 

For multiple choice practice, your teacher may assign questions on AP Classroom, which are about the same difficulty as the actual questions on the exam. It’s important to practice multiple choice frequently, as the allotted time doesn’t allow for any dawdling.

Here is a full released practice exam from the College Board for additional multiple choice practice.

As SAQs are short and fast, you should try to practice using prompts from past APUSH exams.

If you don’t have time to write full DBQs and LEQs, you should still practice by reading past prompts and quickly outlining essays (if you’re not sure how to outline these essays, I provide a step-by-step guide later in this article).

Section 1A: APUSH Stimulus-Based Multiple Choice Questions

The APUSH stimulus-based multiple choice questions can seem intimidating because of the serious time crunch (55 minutes for 55 questions!) and the prospect of interpreting historical sources on the spot.

However, if you follow certain strategies, you can learn to master the multiple choice section.

Here are effective APUSH multiple choice strategies:

Step #1: Read the attribution

Before doing anything else, you should read the attribution. The attribution tells you about where the source came from, the author, and the date. You should use these elements to quickly develop a general idea of the historical context of the source.

Step #2: Skim over the questions

Before reading the stimulus, you should skim over the questions. Firstly, sometimes the stimulus isn’t necessary for answering a question, and reading it could divert your attention from the obvious answer. 

Secondly, skimming the questions gives you an idea of what to focus on when reading the stimulus.

Step #3: Read the stimulus

After reading the questions, you can finally read the stimulus. As you’re reading it, be thinking about the historical context, audience, point of view, and purpose (basically CHAPP!) to help you quickly understand what it’s about.

Step #4: Use process of elimination

If a correct answer doesn’t immediately jump out at you, using the process of elimination can be very helpful. Here are four main strategies to eliminate answer choices:

POE Strategy #1: Eliminate if it’s outside of the time period

If an answer choice makes a correct statement, but that statement has to do with something that occurred outside of the time period of the question, eliminate it right away.

To do this, you must know the major APUSH time periods, key concepts, and details within those key concepts (Tips #1-#3 of the general tips section—unfortunately, you can’t expect to get a 5 on APUSH without learning the material!).

For example, if a multiple choice question is asking about immigration during the 1840s and 50s, and an answer choice mentions immigrants from Eastern Europe, it’s not correct. (Immigrants from the 1840s and 50s were mostly from Germany and Ireland. Immigrants from Eastern Europe didn’t start coming until the late 1800s.)

POE Strategy #2: Eliminate if it’s irrelevant 

If an answer choice is completely irrelevant to the historical development being discussed, you should also eliminate it immediately.

For example, if a multiple choice question is asking about the Vietnam War, and you see an answer choice about the Revolutionary War, it’s clearly wrong.

POE Strategy #3: Eliminate if it uses a different historical skill

If the answer choice makes a correct statement but doesn’t relate to the historical reasoning skill being tested, then you should eliminate it. 

For example, if a multiple choice question is asking about a continuity between two time periods, and there’s an answer about change between the time periods, it’s wrong.

POE Strategy #4: False information 

Lastly, if an answer choice provides false information, then it should immediately jump out to you as wrong. (Again, this means that you need to learn the historical facts to realize that it’s wrong.)

For example, if an answer states that Theodore Roosevelt did not support the Progressive Movement of the early 1900s, it’s clearly wrong. (He was a champion of the Progressive Movement and spearheaded many of its reforms himself.)

Step #6: Don’t overthink and focus on the bigger picture

You don’t have much time for each question. As such, you shouldn’t dwell too long on each question. Just choose the answer choice that seems most correct and can’t be eliminated via POE. 

Nine times out of ten, if you consider changing your answer choice, you’re overthinking the question and are more likely to get it wrong.

Also, as I’ve mentioned already, it’s important not to get lost in the details. The multiple choice questions test your ability to recognize broader historical trends. 

Of course, to understand these trends, you need to know some specific details. However, you shouldn’t know details for the sake of knowing them—you must understand how they fit into broader historical trends.

Section IB: APUSH SAQs

Although the SAQs may seem difficult if you’re not familiar with them, they’re actually one of the easiest parts of the exam. As long as you follow a certain formula, you’ll be on your way to earning full credit on them. 

Here are steps to ace the APUSH SAQs:

Step #1: Contextualize the sources

You will be given primary and secondary sources to analyze for SAQs #1 and #2. Before reading the sources, you should read the attribution (just like in the multiple choice section). 

Doing so will help you understand the context in which the sources were created. What was going on at the time this source was created? What could it be about? 

Additionally, the attribution line may even help you draw preliminary conclusions about the POV and biases of the sources.

Step #2: Read the sources

After contextualizing the sources, you need to read them. While reading them, don’t get caught up in small details or difficult language—focus on the main idea.

Step #3: Follow this SAQ format

Here is the format for writing a successful SAQ (I didn’t make this up—most APUSH teachers and graders use this): 

1. Topic Sentence: Answer the question directly. 
2. Historical Evidence: Provide one factual example from history that supports the claim made in your topic sentence. 
3. Explain: Relate the historical evidence back to the topic sentence.

Your response should be short and concise—only about 2-4 sentences.

Step #4: Stick to the right time period!

Oftentimes, SAQs will ask you to identify a historical event or development that occurred during a given time period. Make sure that the example you provide actually occurred in the given time period!

This probably sounds like an obvious piece of advice right now, but when you’re under pressure, it’s easy to forget.

Section II: APUSH DBQ

The APUSH DBQ is one of the most difficult parts of the exam. However, if you thoroughly understand what the graders are looking for, you can earn full credit on this section of the exam. 

Here are strategies to ace the APUSH DBQ:

Step #1: Understand the DBQ rubric

In order to meet the requirements of the APUSH DBQ, you first need to understand the elements of the rubric.

Here is a breakdown of the 7 points that can be earned on the DBQ:

Step #2: Read the DBQ prompt carefully

This probably sounds like another obvious piece of advice, but like I said before, we tend to miss details when we’re under pressure. To prevent this, you should identify and mark a few important components of the DBQ prompt. 

Here are the essential components of any DBQ prompt:

Historical Reasoning Skill

Each prompt will require you to either analyze causation, similarities and differences, or continuity and change. It’s important to make sure that you structure your essay around the given historical reasoning skill.

Time Period

The DBQ prompt will also reference a specific time period. Make sure to underline this, as this is the rough time period you should be pulling your outside evidence from!

Historical Development

This is pretty self-explanatory, but you need to know what the documents will be about before reading them.

Step #3: Quickly read the documents

Unfortunately, you don’t have time to micro-analyze every document—you only have 15 minutes to go through 7 sources. Therefore, you should get the general gist of each document before moving on.

Here are the main things to do when reading each document:

Read the Attribution Line First

As with any historical source provided on the exam, reading the attribution line is helpful for having a preliminary idea about what the document will be about.

Identify the Main Idea

After reading each document, jot down a few words about what the document is about. That way, when you write your essay, you can scan these notes and quickly remember the general content of each document.

Recognize Sourcing Opportunities

Remember the first analysis and reasoning point on the DBQ rubric? You need to source at least 3 documents.

Therefore, as you’re reading each document, be thinking about the elements of CHAPP. If any of the elements stand out to you, make a quick note. It’s surprisingly easy to forget about sourcing when you’re under pressure (I’ve been guilty of this before…), so doing this will help you remember.

Additionally, although the rubric only requires sourcing for 3 documents, you should try to do it for as many documents as you can. That way, if you don’t do sourcing properly for a particular document, you can still earn the sourcing point.

Step #4: Outline your essay before writing

In order to write a successful, coherent essay, you must create an outline before writing.

Here is what you need to do to create a good outline:

Group the Documents

Grouping the documents is exactly what it sounds like—organizing the documents into 2-3 categories based on similarities. For example, some documents may be focused on social developments, while others may be focused on political developments.

Also, although the DBQ rubric only requires you to reference 6 documents, you should reference all 7 in case you don’t earn the evidence point for a particular document.

Write a Thesis

Having a strong thesis is extremely important because your entire essay will be structured around it. It needs to directly answer the prompt and be an argument, not a fact. 

Remember how you grouped the documents in the previous step? In your thesis, you should mention the 2-3 groups. For example, your thesis could look something like this: “[Your argument] is supported by [group 1] and [group 2] during [time period].” 

If you want to weave in a counter argument for the complexity point, you should do it in the thesis. For example, your thesis could look like this: “Although [counter argument], [your argument] is supported by [group 1] and [group 2] during [time period].”

Still confused about how to write a thesis? Check out this post for a DBQ thesis formula that will earn you the thesis point consistently and for strong DBQ thesis examples!

Plan the Body Paragraphs

After writing your thesis statement, you need to plan out your body paragraphs. The topic sentence of each body paragraph should be about one of the groups.

Then, in each body paragraph, you should reference the documents that fall in the associated group (you should already know which ones do because you grouped the documents earlier).

Section II: APUSH LEQ

After writing the DBQ, you’ll probably be ready to finish. However, you still have another essay to go: the APUSH LEQ. Luckily, the LEQ is not as intensive, as you won’t need to analyze any historical sources.

As with the DBQ, you can earn full credit on the APUSH LEQ if you thoroughly understand what graders are looking for. 

Here are strategies to ace the APUSH LEQ:

Step #1: Understand the LEQ rubric

In order to meet the requirements of the APUSH DBQ, you first need to understand the elements of the rubric.

Here is a breakdown of the 6 points that can be earned on the LEQ:

Step #2: Read the LEQ prompt carefully

Just like with the DBQ prompt, you need to identify and mark a few important components of the LEQ prompt.

The essential components of an LEQ prompt are the same as the ones for a DBQ prompt. They are:

• Historical reasoning skill
• Time period
• Historical development

Step #3: Outline your essay before writing

Just like with the DBQ, it’s essential to outline your LEQ essay before writing. The steps for creating an outline for the LEQ essay are quite similar, so I won’t go into as much detail.

Here is what you need to do to create a good LEQ outline:

• Brainstorm historical evidence that relates to the prompt
  • Group the evidence
• Write a strong thesis statement that directly answers the prompt and refers to the groups
• Structure your body paragraphs based on the groups

Basically, the LEQ is the same as the DBQ, except instead of having historical documents to reference, you need to pull from your knowledge.

Final Takeaways on the APUSH Exam

The APUSH exam is not an easy AP exam to take, but like any other standardized exam, there is an exact curriculum you need to know and the exact standards you’ll be graded by.

As long as you understand these two components thoroughly, you’ll know exactly what to study and how to study.

For the APUSH exam, it’s extremely important to start reviewing the material early, as there is a lot of curriculum. However, while you’re reviewing the material, it’s essential to not get caught up in small details—you still need to recognize the larger historical trends. 

Additionally, you need to practice analyzing historical sources regularly, as they show up on the multiple choice and free response questions. Using the strategies detailed in this article, you should now have a better idea of how to analyze historical sources.

Finally, you need to apply your knowledge to actual questions. The APUSH exam does not provide a generous amount of time on each section. As such, you need to practice frequently to increase your speed.

I hope this article was helpful and taught you exactly how to get a 5 on the APUSH exam! Let me know if there are any sections you want to be covered more in-depth in the comments below!

Also, make sure to check out these other posts on AP classes:

• Most Impressive AP Classes (+Useful Tips to Succeed in Them)—math and science
• Most Impressive AP Classes (+Useful Tips to Succeed in Them)—humanities and social sciences
• The Ultimate Guide to Get a 5 on AP Spanish Language and Culture
• How to Take Notes in APUSH—Improve Speed, Memory, and Grades
• DBQ Thesis Formula (With AP World & APUSH Thesis Examples!)