Important Updates
AP European History Updates and New Resources for 2019-20
To help more students prepare for—and succeed on—the AP European History Exam, we've clarified the course’s focus starting with the 2019-20 school year and are introducing new resources for your classroom. We've also moved exam registration to the fall, a best practice that improves students’ chances of earning college credit and placement.
Download the new course and exam description (CED)
New AP Resources
AP Classroom is now available. Designed with AP educators, it helps you provide students daily practice and personalized feedback throughout the year. Sign in to access AP unit guides with aligned resources, topic questions, personal progress checks, the progress dashboard, and your question bank.
Course Overview
AP European History is an introductory college-level European history course. Students cultivate their understanding of European history through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like interaction of Europe and the world; economic and commercial developments; cultural and intellectual developments; states and other institutions of power; social organization and development; national and European identity; and technological and scientific innovation.
-
AP European History Course at a Glance
Excerpted from the AP European History Course and Exam Description, the Course at a Glance document outlines the topics and skills covered in the AP European History course, along with suggestions for sequencing.
-
AP European History Course and Exam Description—Fall 2019
This is the core document for this course and is updated for the 2019-20 school year. New unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year. The CED also more clearly outlines how material will be assessed on the exam, provides instructional strategies, and gives information on the AP Program in general.
-
AP European History CED Scoring Guidelines
This document details how each of the sample free-response questions in the 2019-20 CED would be scored.
Course Content
Influenced by the Understanding by Design® (Wiggins and McTighe) model, this course framework provides a description of the course requirements necessary for student success.
The AP European History framework is organized into nine commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. As always, you have the flexibility to organize the course content as you like.
| Unit | Exam Weighting |
| Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration | 10%–15% |
| Unit 2: Age of Reformation | 10%–15% |
| Unit 3: Absolutism and Constitutionalism | 10%–15% |
| Unit 4: Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments | 10%–15% |
| Unit 5: Conflict, Crisis, and Reaction in the Late 18th Century | 10%–15% |
| Unit 6: Industrialization and Its Effects | 10%–15% |
| Unit 7: 19th-Century Perspectives and Political Developments | 10%–15% |
| Unit 8: 20th-Century Global Conflicts | 10%–15% |
| Unit 9: Cold War and Contemporary Europe | 10%–15% |
Historical Thinking Skills
The updated AP European History framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to think and act like historians.
| Skill | Description |
| 1. Developments and Processes | Identify and explain historical developments and processes. |
| 2. Sourcing and Situation | Analyze sourcing and situation of primary and secondary sources. |
| 3. Claims and Evidence in Sources | Analyze arguments in primary and secondary sources. |
| 4. Contextualization | Analyze the context of historical events, developments, or processes. |
| 5. Making Connections | Using historical reasoning processes (comparison, causation, continuity and change) analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes. |
| 6. Argumentation | Develop an argument. |
AP and Higher Education
Higher education professionals play a key role developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education site features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.
This chart shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the AP Credit Policy Search.
Meet the Development Committee for AP European History.