Important Updates
New AP Course Pacing Guide
This pacing guide (.pdf/160.35 KB), designed for classrooms that have only completed approximately 25% of typical course content by January, can help students develop their knowledge and skills by May. If your students are ahead of this pace, you’ll be able to incorporate additional days or weeks to spend more time on challenging topics, practice course skills, or begin reviewing for the exam.
AP Daily and AP Classroom
Short, searchable AP Daily videos can be assigned alongside topic questions to help you cover all course content, skills, and task models, and check student understanding. Unlock personal progress checks so students can demonstrate their knowledge and skills unit by unit and use the progress dashboard to highlight progress and additional areas for support. As the exam approaches, assign AP practice exams in the AP Classroom question bank and encourage students to take advantage of live online review sessions April 19–30.
Course Overview
AP U.S. Government and Politics is an introductory college-level course in U.S. government and politics. Students cultivate their understanding of U.S. government and politics through analysis of data and text- based sources as they explore topics like constitutionalism, liberty and order, civic participation in a representative democracy, competing policy-making interests, and methods of political analysis.
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AP U.S. Government and Politics Course at a Glance
Excerpted from the AP U.S. Government and Politics Course and Exam Description, the Course at a Glance document outlines the topics and skills covered in the AP U.S. Government and Politics course, along with suggestions for sequencing.
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AP U.S. Government and Politics Course and Exam Description
This is the core document for this course. Unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year. The CED was updated in the summer of 2020 to include scoring guidelines for the example questions.
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AP U.S. Government and Politics CED Scoring Guidelines
This document details how each of the sample free-response questions in the course and exam description (CED) would be scored. This information is now in the online CED but was not included in the binders teachers received in 2019.
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AP U.S. Government and Politics CED Scoring Rubric: Argument Essay
This document features general scoring criteria that apply to Free-Response Question 4: Argument Essay, regardless of specific question prompt. This information is now in the online CED, but was not included in the binders teachers received in 2019.
Course Content
Based on the Understanding by Design® (Wiggins and McTighe) model, this course framework provides a description of the course requirements necessary for student success. The framework specifies what students should know and be able to do, with a focus on big ideas that encompass core principles and theories of the discipline. The framework also encourages instruction that prepares students for advanced political science coursework and active, informed participation in our constitutional democracy.
The AP U.S. Government and Politics framework is organized into five 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 (Multiple-Choice Section) |
Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy |
15%–22% |
Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government |
25%–36% |
Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights |
13%–18% |
Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs |
10%–15% |
Unit 5: Political Participation |
20%–27% |
Disciplinary Practices
The AP U.S. Government and Politics framework included in the CED outlines distinct skills, called disciplinary practices, that students should practice throughout the year—practices that will help them learn to think and act like political scientists.
Skill |
Description |
1. Concept Application |
Apply political concepts and processes to scenarios in context. |
2. SCOTUS Application |
Apply Supreme Court decisions. |
3. Data Analysis |
Analyze and interpret quantitative data represented in tables, charts, graphs, maps, and infographics. |
4. Source Analysis |
Read, analyze, and interpret foundational documents and other text-based and visual sources. |
5. Argumentation |
Develop an argument in essay format. |
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 U.S. Government and Politics.