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AP U.S. History Past Exam Questions

Free-Response Questions

Below are free-response questions from AP U.S. History Exams administered before the course and exam were initially redesigned in 2014-15.

If you require an accessible version of any documents on this page, please email [email protected]. We will respond to your email within 3 business days.

Looking for free-response questions and scoring information from the 2015 exam and later? Visit The AP U.S. History Exam. See also: AP U.S. History Document-Based Questions, 1973-1999 (.pdf/32.2MB)

Note about "Form B" Exams

Prior to the May 2012 exam administration, for selected AP subjects, another version of the exam called "Form B" was administered outside of North, Central, and South America.

2024: Free-Response Questions

2024: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples and Commentary

Free-Response Questions - Set 1

Free-Response Questions - Set 2

Scoring Guidelines Set - 1

Scoring Guidelines Set - 2

Chief Reader Report – Set 1

Chief Reader Report – Set 2

Scoring Statistics – Set 1

Scoring Statistics – Set 2

Score Distributions

Sample Responses - DBQ - Set 1

Sample Responses - DBQ - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 2 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 2 - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 3 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 3 - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 4 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 4 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 1 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 1 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 2 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 2 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 3 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 3 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 4 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 4 - Set 2

2023: Free-Response Questions

2023: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples and Commentary

Free-Response Questions - Set 1

Free-Response Questions - Set 2

Scoring Guidelines Set - 1

Scoring Guidelines Set - 2

Chief Reader Report – Set 1

Chief Reader Report – Set 2

Scoring Statistics – Set 1

Scoring Statistics – Set 2

Score Distributions

Sample Responses - DBQ - Set 1

Sample Responses - DBQ - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 2 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 2 - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 3 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 3 - Set 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 4 - Set 1

Sample Responses - LEQ 4 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 1 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 1 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 2 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 2 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 3 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 3 - Set 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 4 - Set 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 4 - Set 2

2022: Free-Response Questions

2022: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples and Commentary

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Chief Reader Report

Scoring Statistics

Score Distributions

Sample Responses - DBQ

Sample Responses - LEQ 2

Sample Responses - LEQ 3

Sample Responses - LEQ 4

Sample Responses - SAQ 1

Sample Responses - SAQ 2

Sample Responses - SAQ 3

Sample Responses - SAQ 4

2021: Free-Response Questions

2021: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Response - DBQ Sample Response - LEQ 2 Sample Response - LEQ 3 Sample Response - LEQ 4 Sample Response - SAQ 1 Sample Response - SAQ 2 Sample Response - SAQ 3 Sample Response - SAQ 4

2020: Free-Response Questions

The 2020 free-response questions are available in the AP Classroom question bank.

2019: Free-Response Questions

2019: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distribution	Sample Responses DBQ Sample Responses Q1 SA Sample Responses Q2 LEQ Sample Responses Q2 SA Sample Responses Q3 LEQ Sample Responses Q3 SA Sample Responses Q4 LEQ Sample Responses Q4 SA

2018 :Free-Response Questions

2018: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 DBQ Sample Responses Q1 SA Sample Responses Q2 LEQ Sample Responses Q2 SA Sample Responses Q3 LEQ Sample Responses Q3 SA Sample Responses Q4 LEQ Sample Responses Q4 SA

2017: Free-Response Questions

2017: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 DBQ Sample Responses Q1 SA Sample Responses Q2 LEQ Sample Responses Q2 SA Sample Responses Q3 LEQ Sample Responses Q3 SA Sample Responses Q4 SA

2016: Free-Response Questions

2016: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Student Performance	Samples, Scoring Guidelines, and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 DBQ Sample Responses Q1 SA Sample Responses Q2 LEQ Sample Responses Q2 SA Sample Responses Q3 LEQ Sample Responses Q3 SA Sample Responses Q4 SA

2015: Free-Response Questions

The 2015 sample response PDFs (.pdf/32.8MB) were updated to reflect changes to the rubrics that took effect with the 2016 AP U.S. History Exam.

2015: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Student Performance	Samples, Scoring Guidelines, and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Introduction and Preface Short Answer Question 1 Short Answer Question 2 Short Answer Question 3 Document-Based Question 1 Long Essay Question 2 Long Essay Question 3

Resources

Download

AP U.S. History Document-Based Questions, 1973-1999

PDF
32.21 MB