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AP World History: Modern Sample DBQ

The AP World History: Modern Exam requires you to complete a document-based question , which is why we have provided example DBQ’s and tips for writing reponses below.

Sample AP World History Document-Based Questions

Evaluate the extent to which the processes of empire-building affected political structures in the period 1500–1900.

Step 1: Analyze the Prompt

Spend the 15-minute reading period analyzing the documents themselves, thinking for each document about its authorship/historical situation, main idea, and why it was written.

Begin grouping the documents into categories that you can use to help organize your essay. A sample high-scoring writer’s notes on the documents appear below:

• King of Kongo asks king of Portugal for help because Portuguese trade is upset- ting the vassal system
• Cortes uses weapons and allies to kill Mexica
• Puerto Rico population trends: native population ↓, European ↑, mixed ↑
• French letter describes Mughal use of rajah system in India
• British governor in India’s letter to East India Company says British policies better for economy
• Churchill describes effectiveness of guns in Sudan
• Japanese cartoon describes Russian expansion as “black octopus” during time of Russo-Japanese War over territory

Groups of empire-building processes:

• Military: 2, 6, 7
• Colonization: 3
• Economic: 1, 4, 5

Step 2: Plan Your Response

Since the prompt asks for how empire-building affected political structures, the writer will organize the essay by explaining multiple causes (processes) that impacted political structures.

• Context: Native American governments (villages and empires)
• military and colonization destroyed political structures in Americas where disease played a role
• combination of processes allowed infiltration of political structures in Asia and Africa
• ( complex understanding: multiple causes)

Cause ¶1: military conquest → destruction

• Spanish advantages: horses, guns, local support
• Sourcing 1: viewpoint: Cortes justifies actions by attributing victory to God
• Additional evidence: Pizarro defeat of Inca; Spanish set up viceroys and social hierarchy
• Sourcing 2: viewpoint: perhaps exaggerated, but shows British expect weapons will win

Cause ¶2: colonization → replace native populations’ governments

• Stats of native peoples, Europeans
• Additional factor of disease

Cause ¶3: military + colonization + economic influence → gradual political power

• Describes political system of rajahs, hints at instability
• British merchants would gain power
• Br. didn’t have “fixed plan,” but “destroyed” native populations’ economic policies
• Br. gov. made India a colony
• Port. merchants undermining king’s power
• Sourcing 3: purpose: submission may not be genuine

Step 3: Action! Write Your Response

Step 4: proofread.

[RELATED: AP World History: Modern Sample Long Essay Question ]

Sample High-Scoring Response

The extremes of military conquest sometimes resulted in the destruction of the native populations’ political structures. Document 2 references the Mexica people’s violent devastation at the hands of the Spanish, with a hundred falling “at each discharge of guns.” While Cortes attributes his victory to God’s favor due to fight- ing for his faith and king, tangible factors gave him the practical advantage: horses (which were not native to the Americas), guns, the Mexica’s unfamiliarity with such weapons, and the support of local allies. Cortes, perhaps seeking to impress the king, likely exaggerates in the claim that the victory was “without ourselves sustaining any injury”; still, the claim indicates both the strength of the Spanish military technology and their attitude of superiority that they used to justify their takeover of the existing Mexica government. Also using military technology and the support of other tribes, the Spanish under Pizarro took control of the Inca empire in the Andes. In both locations, the Spanish essentially destroyed the empires and installed their own political systems, with viceroys who served under the Spanish crown and a hierarchical class system that gave preference to those of European ancestry. The effectiveness of military conquest for destroying political structures is also demonstrated in Document 6, an account of a battle in Sudan that demonstrates the awesome firepower of machine guns to leave the Sudanese fighters in “tangled heaps.” Although the document, written by the British Churchill, might provide a glorified account of the battle that exaggerates the British advantage, the fact that Churchill expected their weapon technology would automatically give victory is indicated in the disbelieving sentence: “ It appeared to our cavalry commander that the [Sudanese fighters] would actually succeed.”

Countries sending large numbers of settlers was another effective method of empire-building. This process enabled European nations to replace native governments in the Americas. For instance, Document 3 indicates that from 1530 to 1795, the proportion of Native Americans in the population of the colony of Puerto Rico dropped dramatically from 36.4 percent of the population to just 2.5 percent. At the same time, Europeans as a share of the population rose from 10 percent to 51.5 percent by 1860. The increase in the proportion of Europeans and blacks corresponds with the Spanish overrunning the native populations and instituting plantations. The spread of diseases among the native populations made it easier for the Spanish to do away with long-standing native governments and establish their own political structures in the Americas.

In India and Africa, Europeans utilized the old strategies of military force and colonization, but unlike in the Americas, newly introduced diseases did not have such a devastating effect on native populations. Thus, the process of empire-building also involved longer-term economic policies that caused a more gradual build-up of political power. European merchants gradually expanded their power in India, aided by the decline of the Mughal empire, as explained in Document 4. A French physician describes the emperor’s practice of “nourish[ing] jealousies” among the local rajahs, many of whom commanded armies larger than those of the emperor, to distract the rajahs from ever threatening his power. By describing this potential threat to the emperor, the document hints at the potential for outsiders to take advantage of the political instability, as indeed the British merchants extended their economic influence into political control. Indeed, in Document 5 a governor of the East India Company affirms that British control happened through “fortunate and unforeseen occurrences” rather than a “fixed plan.” He also confirms the power of economics in gaining political control, praising the economic policies of the British and celebrating the “destroyed” economic policies of the “natives.” Eventually, the British government would take over the East India Company’s holdings and rule India as a colony. Document 1 also affirms the potential of economics to provide inroads to political power: King Afonso I of Kongo in Africa appeals to the King of Portugal about the behavior of Portuguese merchants, who are undermining King Afonso’s power by enrich- ing his vassals, making them no longer “content and subjected under our control.” King Afonso’s highly submissive tone (“I kiss your hand many times”) may indicate not genuine submission to the King of Portugal, but rather an understanding of the threat that economic power has on his political power. His letter could be part of a calculated approach to get help restoring his political power by appealing to the Europeans’ attitude of superiority.

Overall, the empire-building processes of conquest, colonization, and economic influence allowed empire-builders to exert power over territories. When additional factors, such as epidemic disease, also played a role, as they did in the Americas, the empire-builders could sometimes briskly overthrow and replace the original political structures. In locations such as India, empire-building involved a more complex interplay of economics with the pre-existing political structures, though the Europeans were still able to eventually gain control.

For more help prepping for the AP World History: Modern exam, check out our  AP World History: Modern Prep Plus Book .

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Document-Based Question (DBQ)

What is a dbq, how to read the documents:, written documents, how to answer the prompt:, compare & contrast, cause & effect, change & continuity over time, how to earn all 7 points:.

Contextualization

Analysis & Sourcing

How to start writing the dbq, how to write a dbq:.

Attached below is a worksheet with an outline organizer for your DBQ. When practicing for your DBQ, feel free to download & print this to use:

7 documents

You are given 7 documents, and you are given a prompt, similar to an LEQ prompt. You need to write an essay, responding to the prompt, using evidence from the documents. ​You have 60 minutes in total, but of those 15 minutes are recommended for reading. The sections below describe the types of documents, types of prompts, and the rubric and how to earn each point. 

You are given 7 documents. The different types are described below:

Excerpt / Written Document

Graphic, Diagram, Map, Cartoon

General Tips

Look at the sourcing before you read each doc to get an idea of what the doc might say

Write a quick summary (~3 bullet points) to summarize the content of each doc

Write a note of how each doc fits in with the prompt

Does it support or refute your thesis?

Which side of the prompt does it cover?

Which aspect (which body paragraph) of your prompt / thesis does it cover?

Any document with written paragraphs

Newspaper, letter, speech, historian's interpretation, constitution, religious text, etc.​

Special tips:

Before you read, read the sourcing & title and try to get an idea of what the doc might say

Take your time to understand the content of the doc; no need to rush​​

Write a few notes summarizing the doc

Figure out how the doc relates to the prompt

Does it argue one side or another?

Does it provide evidence for a specific geographical region?

Does it refute your thesis?

Which sub-category of the prompt does it answer?

Any document that is a photo

Any photo that a photographer might take, or an artist's depiction of a historical event

NOT a diagram, map, or something manmade or designed by historians

Read the sourcing & title to try to figure out what the photo might depict

Look at all aspects of the photo, get an idea of what it depicts

Does it represent a historical development?​

Does it represent an artistic movement?

Look for all signs of bias in the photo

Is it depicting a specific point of view?

Does it portray a certain culture as superior?

Does it portray a certain culture as inferior?​

Does it represent a military victory?​​​

This would mean one side is better than the other​

Does it portray something as bigger or exaggerated?

Means that the exaggerated thing is depicted as superior

Does it portray something as smaller?

Means that the thing that's depicted smaller is portrayed as inferior

Based on the point of view (bias) and the content, figure out how it relates to the prompt

Does it support / refute your thesis?

What aspect of the prompt does it answer?​

Any document that is a man-made photo

Graphic, diagram, political cartoon, map, etc.

Before you read, read the sourcing & title and try to get an idea of what the doc might depict

Look at the doc and try to figure out what it represents, or what topic it depicts

Think about the bias or point of view of the doc:

Does it represent the views of one side or another?

Is it depicting one side as exaggerated or superior to another?

Cartoons are generally biased

If it's a map, what is it representing?

Is it representing the map of industrial factories, trade routes, westward expansion, deciphered wind patterns, etc.?​

Once you figure this out, understand the historical context of the map

If it's a graphic or a diagram, what information does it detail?

If it's a population growth map, what allowed for population growth?​

Think of what the diagram depicts, and what allowed for that, and what's the historical context of that historical development?

Involves comparing & contrasting 2 different things

Most important thing is the argument: Not what the differences/similarities were, but HOW THEY WERE SIGNIFICANT

How to use the documents:

Some docs might explain the features of one of the comparand (the thing you compare), other docs may explain the other comparand

Some docs might cover both comparands

Figure out what the docs are saying for each comparand, and write your thesis based on that

What are they saying are similar & different about the 2?​

Involves examining what a certain historical development, and what were its causes & effects

What's more important is examining the significance of the causes, or how one cause/effect was more important than other causes/effects

Generally, 2 causes and 1 or 2 effects

Some docs might explain the event

Some docs might explain the causes, others might explain the effects

Draft a thesis based on the info about the causes & effects mentioned in the docs

Try to mention which causes were more significant than other causes

Involves examining what changed & what remained the same as a result of one event​

Some docs might explain the catalyst (the event that caused the changes/continuities) you write about

Some docs might describe the changes

Some docs might describe the continuities

Draft a thesis based on what the docs say about the changes & continuities

How to Earn all 7  Points:

Contextualization (1 point).

Examine the historical context of the story

Kind of like a "recap" or a "flashback"

Like at the beginning of a TV show, it shows a recap of the previous episode

How to write one

Always include the time period & possibly the location​

"In Europe in the period 1450 - 1750, ..."

Provide a brief 3-5 sentence recap of how the world arrived at the situation you are writing about in your essay

The contextualization should finish with how the world arrived at the historical development you write about in your thesis, so that there is a smooth transition from contextualization to the thesis

Sample Contextualizations

Topic: Related to the industrial revolution​

Before the 1750s, people were performing manual labor, making items by hand, which was very inefficient. From 1750-1900, Europe and the rest of the world underwent an economic transformation called the Industrial Revolution. Starting in Britain due to its abundance of raw materials & strong financial support, industrial capitalists built factories powered by waterwheels or coal that artificially produced goods such as textiles, eliminating the need to make them by hand. This brought a lot more people from the countryside to the cities, where they worked in factories for low wages. From Britain, the industrial revolution spread throughout Europe as well as to US, Egypt, Russia, and Japan. [Insert Thesis Here]

Topic: Related to imperialism​

In the period 1750-1900, Europe underwent an economic transformation known as the industrial revolution, where people would use artificial power to cheaply & efficiently manufacture goods in commercial factories in the cities, rather than making goods by hand at home. In order for these factories to produce goods, they needed raw materials, which is why they had to look to other nations like those in Africa and Asia to supply raw materials to them. Thi​s led to European imperialism, a development where Europeans started colonizing other nations throughout the world, especially in Africa and Asia, to establish export-oriented economies to get raw materials to supply to their factories. [Insert Thesis Here]

Thesis (1 point)

This is your argument

Must be something that can be opposed​

Someone else has to be able to write an essay whose thesis is the opposite of yours

Must contain an argument, and generally 2-3 examples (topics for body paragraphs)

Better to have a concession

Useful for complexity point

Format of Thesis & Examples

Color Key: 

Concession / Counterargument*

Similarities / Continuities / Causes

Difference for Comparand 1 / Changes / Effects

Differences for Comparand 2

*Concession is always optional. Described in the analysis section, it can be used to get the extra complexity point

Prompt: Compare & Contrast

Although some may believe [counterargument]* , w hile [comparand 1] and [comparand 2] both [insert similarities] , [comparand 1] was [insert difference for comparand 1], and [comparand 2] was [insert difference for comparand 2], which [is why / allowed for] [insert argument]. 

Although the Delhi Sultanate had very strict religious authority, while the Delhi Sultanate and the Chola Kingdom both used religion to maintain stability , the Delhi Sultanate was attempting to impose Islam on a Hindu-majority population , and the Chola Kingdom imposed Hindu on a Hindu population , which allowed for the Chola Kingdom to be more successful than the Delhi Sultanate. 

Prompt: Change & Continuity over Time

Although some may believe [counterargument]* , as a result of [catalyst],  while [continuity] stayed the same , [change] changed,   which [is why / allowed for] [insert argument]. 

Although some may believe the Catholic church actually became more powerful, as a result of the Protestant Reformation, while women still maintained strictly subordinate roles , there were more religious wars, and more monarchs were able to consolidate more power for themselves , which caused the Catholic church to decline in power.  

Prompt: Cause & Effect

Although some may believe [counterargument]* are the most important causes of [event] ,  [causes] were the main causes** , which caused [effects].  

Although some may believe that the desire to spread Christianity was the main cause of European imperialism , the desire to get raw materials and the need for more markets were the main causes , which led to a more integrated global economy and the development of technological infrastructure in the colonies. 

**Here, the argument is that the causes you described in the blue section are more important than the causes in the yellow section. There is no need for an extra argument at the end

Evidence (3 points)

This is where you put examples / pieces of evidence to support your thesis​

To get 1 point : Use evidence from 3 of the docs

To get 2 points : Use evidence from 6 of the docs, and put an extra analysis to connect it to the thesis

It's always better to use all 7 docs in case you use one incorrectly

To get 3 points : Use an extra piece of evidence (from your own knowledge, not from the docs), and put an extra analysis to connect it to the thesis

Examples of How to Write your Evidence

How to earn the first point:

To earn the 1st point, you need to describe / state evidence from 3 docs without connecting it to the thesis

According to document 3, the Chola Empire used Hinduism as the state religion. 

According to document 7, there were more factories in Britain than in France. 

How to earn the second point:

To earn the 2nd point, you need evidence from 6* docs, and you also need to connect it to the thesis

According to document 3, the Chola Empire used Hinduism as the state religion. Because the population was also mostly Hindu, the Chola Empire was able to maintain stability by using a common belief in Hinduism to stabilize its rule. 

According to document 7, there were more factories in Britain than in France. Thus, Britain had a larger industrial output than France, which is why it was able to manufacture more weapons during World War 1 and why France relied on Britain for support. 

*Always use all 7 docs to in case you use one doc incorrectly

How to earn the third point:

To earn the third point, you need to include one piece of evidence that is not in the documents and is from your own knowledge. 

Think of what evidence or what viewpoint is missing

If it's a compare & contrast: is there any other similarity or difference? Do you have any other evidence to support the topics of your thesis?

If it's a change & continuity over time: Is there any other evidence to support one of your changes or continuities?

If it's a cause & effect: Is there any other evidence or historical content that can support your causes or effects?

Analysis (2 points)

This is the hardest part

For 1 point, you need to explain how the source of 3 documents affects either your argument or what the document has to say

There are 4 parts of sourcing, and you ONLY NEED TO CHOOSE ONE

Explained in more detail below​

For the 2nd point, you need to use complex analysis in your argument

This is the most confusing

The easiest way is to weave a counterargument through your essay, which the concession already sets you up for

The best way is to not think about it too much and just put a bit more complex arguments into your essay rather than sticking to a strict format

Historical Context

Point of View

You need to choose ONE of the above and follow the instructions below. Each of the sections below has information about each aspect of sourcing. 

You need to do this for THREE different sources to earn full points (we recommend you do 4 in case one is wrong)

Historical Context:

Explain how the historical context of any document affects what the document argues

This document was written after WW1 when everyone was feeling depressed and economically poor, which explains why the priest is talking about a revival of religion and cheerful spirits. 

This document was written in a time after the Protestant Reformation when there were a lot of religious wars, which is why the document argues that Lutheranism is better than Calvinism. 

Explain how the intended audience of any document affects what the document argues

This document was written for the Armenians of the Ottoman empire, a Christian minority that was believed to conspire with the Allies, which is why the document is very aggressive toward them in asserting Ottoman dominance. 

This speech was written to the American people to gain support for the Treaty of Versailles, which is why it intends to boost nationalist sentiment and promote American power. 

Explain how the purpose of any document affects what the document argues

This speech was written by the Republic party with the purpose of convincing its audience to vote for them, which is why it argues that Free Silver, a democratic idea, is bad. 

This speech was written by John of Montecorvino, the Archbishop of Khanbaliq who sought to convert the Mongol boys to Christianity, which is why he emphasizes how Christianity allows one to achieve salvation. 

Point of View:

Explain how the point of view of any document affects what the document argues

This speech was written from the point of view of an Indian cotton farmer, which is why he writes that the British completely destroyed the Indian handmade textile industry. 

This document was written from the point of view of Grover Cleveland, an anti-imperialist president, which is why he writes about the harms of annexing Hawaii. 

The Complexity Point

The final point is the complexity point. This is given if you have a complex argument, and it is hard to achieve. The best way to think about this is do more than the prompt asks, and add a bit of extra analysis into the essay. 

The easiest way to do this is weave a counterargument through the essay. In our thesis samples above, we already set you up for this with our concession clause. 

How to Start Writing the DBQ:

First step is to outline your essay. Follow the steps below:

Read through each document, write a brief summary, and figure out how it relates to the prompt (which side/aspect does it argue?)​

Write your thesis. Write each aspect of the thesis (concession/counterargument, evidence 1, evidence 2, argument), and combine them

Write the outline for your body paragraphs. Write the topic for each body paragraph, and which docs you'll use in each. Also, denote where you'll use your outside evidence

Write an outline for your sourcing. Choose 4 different documents, and write the sourcing sentence following the guidelines in the sourcing section above

Start writing. Good luck!

AP® World History

How to answer ap® world history saqs, dbqs, and leqs.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

If you’re taking AP® World History, you probably already know just how important the free response section can be for making or breaking your AP® score. This post will help give you the best tips and tricks for answering AP® World History free response questions including but not limited to short-answer questions, document-based questions, and long essays. 

We’ll go over things like must-know tips for how to write perfect score SAQs, DBQs, and LEQs, mistakes students often make on the AP® World exam, and how to use past AP® free response questions to start practicing for your upcoming exam. 

Read on to get the scoop on everything you need to make the most of your AP® World History: Modern exam review. 

What We Review

5 Steps on How to Write Effective AP® World History: Modern Free Responses

Regardless of whether you’re answering a SAQ, DBQ, or LEQ, there are a few key steps when it comes to putting your best foot forward in your AP® World free response section.

1. Knowing what you’re being asked and answering that specific question.

All too often, students enter the AP® World History: Modern exam suffering from two key weaknesses in their exam prep: not understanding the rubric or not answering the question asked. 

You need to know exactly how you earn your points. This way, you can write your response to directly address what you’re being asked. 

Here is a link for AP® World History past released exams

These past exams include scoring guidelines PDFs which outline how points were distributed for each respective question. 

Here’s a screenshot from the second question of the 2019 released exam:

Source: College Board

You can gather a lot from these scoring guidelines. In the example above, you can see that points are distributed based on the student’s ability to answer the prompt. One point was given for identification from data in a chart, another from identifying a similarity, and a final point for explaining how longer life expectations impacted society on a political, economic, or social level. 

There are commonly used directive words to be wary of when reviewing past AP® World History free response questions. We’ll cover what some of those are later. 

When it comes to the AP® World History DBQ, know where each of your points will come from. Most importantly, keep in mind how to use the documents to advance your argument and don’t just rehash what is already known from the documents provided. This means knowing for example that you’ll receive one point for successfully connecting documents to the prompt, knowing you have to argue with the documents to earn more points, or using at least six (if not seven) documents to support your thesis.

For now, just make sure you go over at least two years worth of released exam scoring guidelines so you understand how everything is weighted and distributed.

2. Flag every directive word or key phrase in the question prompt. 

Now that you know how points are earned, you need to start to develop a habit for mentally confirming you’re getting all of the points possible in each question. 

Let’s take a look at the first SAQ from the 2019 AP® World History exam:

What you can tell here is that oftentimes for SAQs, you will be asked to identify in part A (and sometimes B, as is the case here), followed by explain in part B and/or C. 

To properly identify , you must provide 1-2 sentences where you directly answer the question, within the proper time period.

When asked to explain , these responses often will be three sentences. One sentence to answer the question, and then two sentences to provide specific facts that support your answer. Teachers often refer to these questions as ones where you want to “show the why”. 

Take note of what we highlighted above. We not only flag for ourselves what the key directive word is, but we also mark how many things we need to identify or explain and the time period being asked of us. 

Students often make the mistake of bringing in historical examples that are outside the scope of the time period asked. If you do this, you will miss out on valuable AP® World History SAQ points. 

Here’s how we might flag the DBQ from that same 2019 AP® World History free response section:

When you’re flagging the key directives or phrases, the things to keep in mind are: 

• Typically when it comes to the DBQs or LEQs, you’ll be asked to compare, explore causes, discuss change or continuity over time.
• What’s the time period? 

To answer the first question, you must understand that AP® World History: Modern develops students to have these six historical thinking skills: 

The four core historical reasoning skills from the College Board are:

3. Plan out your response BEFORE you start writing.

Taking just a few minutes to map out your response to each AP® World History free response question can make a big difference in the cohesion of your responses. 

Too often, students jump right into answering questions and as a result either simply regurgitate what was already given to them, or fail to answer the question they’re being asked directly. 

To serve as a “compass”, always remember:

• What’s the historical reasoning skill being asked of me?
• What’s the time period? What do I know about this time period?

Then, when it comes to specifics to the DBQ, ask yourself questions such as:

• What type of DBQ is this? Is it asking me a social, political, or economic question? 
• How can the documents I’ve been provided be grouped together? 
• What is the sourcing of the document? 
• What’s my thesis? Can it be agreed with or disagreed with and have I put everything into historical context? 
• Have I planned to use at least six documents? 
• Is my intended outside evidence specific and relevant to the question and time period?
• Have I planned how I’ll introduce complexity? (We’ll give you tips on this final point later)

For the AP® World LEQ, be sure to ask:

• Do I have a defensible thesis? Is there a clear line of reasoning? 
• Is it clear how I’ll place things into historical context?
• Do I have specific evidence that is relevant to the question and time period?
• Have I planned how I’ll introduce complexity?

The College Board uses the free response section to test your ability to connect the dots between historical time periods and to be able to fluidly navigate historical time periods with accuracy. 

This means planning is essential. Really think hard on what the question is asking you and if you’re giving a direct answer to that question. 

AP® Readers often express frustration with not being able to give students points because students simply got distracted by a catch phrase from the text, or wrote about something not relevant to the question of the prompt.

4. Double check you’ve made explicit references to connections in your writing.

One of the common pitfalls of student responses for AP® World History: Modern FRQs is not using documents or evidence to advance an argument. 

It isn’t enough in your response to simply demonstrate you understand what the document is. You have to also show how that document serves as evidence to support your thesis. 

In the past, Chief Readers of the exam have expressed that students often understand historical content, but aren’t able to present the evidence in a way that will earn points for the response. 

The easiest way to check yourself here is to remember the word “therefore”. Make your argument, describe your evidence from what’s provided (or what you know), and then say “therefore” followed by the argument you are trying to make. 

In other AP® subjects, teachers tell their students that this is the equivalent of “showing the why” or “closing the loop”. 

Closing the loop in AP® World History can be made into more of a habit using words like “because” or “therefore” to help bridge two concepts together and solve for the “why” this matters. 

5. Practice, practice, and then practice some more

When you really think about what are the keys to AP® free response success, it boils down to mastering the rubrics and crafting responses to fit those rubrics. 

It’s not uncommon for students to walk into the exam and to have never seen an AP® World History: Modern SAQ, DBQ, or LEQ rubric. Don’t be that student. 

The College Board provides a plethora of past released exams to help you navigate the preparation process, so use them! 

Try one of the past released exams and then have a friend grade your responses with the scoring guidelines. See how you might have done without any deliberate practice. Then, review your mistakes, log them in a study journal, and keep working through the other prior years. 

After a while, you’ll develop your own internal checklist of questions for yourself such as:

• Do I have a thesis? Does it include evidence and a clear line of reasoning?
• Have I explained what happened before this time period to earn the contextualization point?
• Is the evidence I’ve used supporting my thesis? Have I included bridge words like “therefore” or “because” to demonstrate this alignment? Have I used at least six of the documents?
• Have I discussed sourcing? Is it clear who the documents were written for and how that might impact the author’s point of view? 
• Is there an attempt at earning the complexity point and evidence to support my complexity?

Return to the Table of Contents

37 AP® World History and Politics FRQ Tips to Scoring a 4 or 5

Alright! Now that we’ve reviewed a 5-step process for writing grade ‘A’ worthy AP® World History: Modern free responses, we can review some test taking tips and strategies to keep in mind. 

We recommend you read through a few of these every time you start and end your AP® World FRQ practice. Then, in the days leading up to your exam, read the entire list so they stay fresh in your mind. 

11 AP® World History SAQ Tips and Test Taking Strategies

• Be smart about how you review your textbook for your FRQs. There is so much content that it can often be more practical to look over your outlines and notes from when you were in class, or to find online teacher notes that are free to build notes on top of. 
• Prioritize chronology and periodization over dates. You should have a strong sense of the overall timelines but not have to rely on specific dates to position your responses. Students often force specific dates to memory without more broadly understanding what happened during that time period. 
• Focus on understanding how the AP® World History themes intersect with one another. This directly relates to the ability to discuss and explain continuity and change over time. 
• Answer the question.
• Cite your supporting evidence.
• Explain how your evidence proves your point. 
• Familiarize yourself with the common categories of analysis: economic, demographic, political, cultural, and social developments are commonly assessed not just in the SAQ, but in all the AP® World FRQs. 
• Readers have often mentioned that students struggle with periodization. As a result, they make mistakes mentioning things that are outside the scope of the time period given. 
• Student struggles with periodization are often exacerbated when the test asks you about two different time periods. Be prepared for this scenario — it happened as recently as 2019 and led to many students writing outside the specified time period. 
• Be wary of what the College Board calls “catch phrases” in the text. These are popular terms like “checks and balances” or “serial murderers”. These phrases have led students to write about topics not relevant to the question in the past such as the death penalty, school shootings, or the criminal justice system. 
• Practice your ability to link secondary sources to course content. This is a skill that students often struggle with and the premise of doing well on a number of the SAQs.
• Focus much of your prep time on the E in ACE . Students often are not effective at earning the point for explaining because they simply restate a fact and fail to show how that fact supports comparison, causation, or continuity and change over time. 
• To help you score points in demonstrating your historical reasoning skills, use words like whereas, in contrast to, or likewise when drawing comparisons. 

22 AP® World History DBQ Tips and Test Taking Strategies

• Before you start planning out your DBQ, double check the time period. 20th century means anything that happened between 1901 and 2000, 18th century means anything between 1701 and 1800, etc. You’d be surprised that students sometimes write about the wrong time period just due to test day stress. 
• For the AP® World History DBQ, understand that you’ll only earn a point for your thesis if there is a historically defensible thesis that establishes a line of reasoning. In other words, you cannot just restate or reword the prompt.
• X is your counterargument or counterpoint
• ABC are your strongest supporting points for your argument.
• And Y is your argument. 
• If you don’t like the above formula, another common way to form a thesis is to remember to include the word “because” — the claims you make after you state “because” will be your argument. 
• Gut check your thesis by asking yourself, “Is this something someone can or cannot agree to? If so, then it’s a good enough thesis because it needs to be defended.
• Some AP® World History teachers recommend placing context in your opening paragraph. This way you don’t forget about it later. 
• Historical Context
• Point of View
• Remember that you only get one point to describe how at least three documents from the documents provided relate to the prompt. Don’t spend your entire DBQ simply describing documents. 
• The other points when it comes to the evidence section of the DBQ come from arguing with the documents. In other words, remember to use the documents as evidence to support your thesis. 
• If you use six documents to support the argument of your thesis, you can earn the second point for the evidence section. If you’re unsure about how you interpreted one document, try to use all seven to give yourself a backup. Past Chief Readers of the exams have even given this tip as a good tip for responding to DBQs. 
• XYZ, therefore ABC
• XYZ is the description of the document
• ABC is the implication and support of how what you described relates to your thesis. 
• To earn the final point for evidence, the contextualization point, you need to bring in at least one piece of specific historical evidence from what you know that is relevant to the prompt and your thesis . The last part is very important. 
• An easy way to earn your contextualization point is to explain what happened immediately before the time period being tested. 
• In document 1, XYZ
• In document 2, XYZ
• Refer to the authors of the documents and not just the document numbers — this can serve as a helpful reminder to remember the HAPP acronym. 
• Make sure your DBQ supporting paragraphs have topic sentences. Doing so helps build a cohesive argument instead of just jumping your reader from one document or one group of documents to the next.
• To earn the sourcing point in analysis and reasoning, ask yourself, “Who was this document written for? What’s their intent or what might this document have accomplished? Why did the writer say what he said in the way he said it?” Then, link what you’ve considered to your thesis. 
• You must demonstrate sourcing for at least three documents to earn the point. Try to do more than the minimum of three.
• Do not ask for additional documents. This is an outdated tip that AP® World History teachers have continued sharing with students over the years that no longer is applicable. As recently as 2018, 15-20% of essays requested more documents when this hasn’t been part of the rubric. 
• The College Board rubric describes this as “explaining relevant and insightful connections within and across periods” 
• The College Board describes this as “explaining both similarity and difference”
• If you’re writing about causation, discuss the effects. 
• If you want another way to earn this point, you can earn it by applying your argument to another time period and drawing a connection. If you do this, keep in mind you must apply your entire argument to another time period. 
• When aiming to score your complexity point, remember it needs to be integrated into your argument and not just a brief phrase or reference. Always explain why you’re including something in your response. 
• A series of possible stems to signal to your grader you are attempting complexity is to say use one of the following phrases: another time, another view, or another way.

4 AP® World History LEQ Tips and Test Taking Strategies

• Understand and be comfortable with all forms of the LEQ: causation, comparison, or change and continuity over time questions.
• One point comes from having a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning (see above tips for how to make sure this is covered).
• One point is awarded for contextualization. The easiest way to do this is to start with specificity on what was happening two to five decades before the time period you’re writing about. Be specific as you do not earn points for just citing a phrase or reference.
• Two points are given for evidence. One is earned for just naming two pieces of evidence that are relevant to the prompt. The second is given when you use those pieces of evidence to support your argument in response to the prompt. 
• Finally, two points are given for analysis and reasoning. One point is given for doing what is asked in the prompt (i.e. comparing, evaluating causation, exploring change and continuity over time). The second point is earned by having complexity in your response. See the above tip #31 from the DBQ section for the easiest ways to earn this point. 
• When practicing your LEQs, try writing your response. Then, give yourself a dedicated time to reference your class notes and resources and add in specific facts that could have helped support your LEQ. This will help you gain confidence in being specific in your supporting evidence. 
• If you’re often forgetting to bring in contextualization, try going through the last five years of LEQs and just answering how you would have tried to earn the contextualization point. 

Wrapping Things Up: How to Write AP® World History and Politics FRQs

We’ve reviewed so much in this AP® World History study guide. At this point, you should feel pretty confident when it comes to answering either your short answer questions, document-based questions, or long-essay questions. 

As we wrap up, here are a few things to remember:

• Good AP® World History free response scores are only achieved when you know how you’re being assessed. Understand the point breakdowns for the SAQ, DBQ, and LEQs.
• Form a mental checklist for yourself for each type of AP® World FRQ — for example, for SAQs, remember ACE: answer the question, cite your evidence, and explain how your evidence proves your point. 
• Always take note of what time period is being asked of you. Students miss so many points by simply writing about something outside of the time period asked. 
• Be specific in your responses. It is not enough to simply describe what’s going on in documents for example. You need to use the documents to support your thesis. Close the loop or “show the why” to your reader. 
• Focus the bulk of your time on commonly tested AP® World History time periods. See the curriculum and exam description for the period breakdowns. Units 3-6 are typically weighted more than other time periods (12-15% respectively).  
• Make sure your thesis includes a clear line of reasoning. Remember the model: Although X, ABC, therefore Y.
• Put an attempt at contextualization in your introduction and then another when wrapping up your evidence to support your thesis. Explain what happened immediately before the time period being tested. 
• Make sure to source at least three documents in your DBQ. Address HAPP (historical context, audience, purpose and point of view).
• The easiest way to earn complexity is to do the opposite historical reasoning skill of what’s being asked of you. See tip #31 for how to do this. 

We hope you’ve taken away a lot from this AP® World review guide.

If you’re looking for more free response questions or multiple choice questions, check out our website! Albert has tons of original standards-aligned practice questions for you with detailed explanations to help you learn by doing and score that 4 or 5.

If you found this post helpful, you may also like our AP® World History tips here or our AP® World History score calculator here .

We also have an AP® World History review guide here .

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Where to Find the Best DBQ Examples

Advanced Placement (AP)

One of the best ways to prepare for the DBQ (the "document-based question" on the AP European History, AP US History, and AP World History exams) is to look over sample questions and example essays. Doing this will help you to get a sense of what makes a good (and what makes a bad) DBQ response.

That said, not all DBQ essay examples are created equal. We'll briefly cover what makes a good DBQ example and then provide a list of example essays by course. Lastly, we'll give you some helpful tips on how to best use sample essays in your own preparation process.

What's a Good DBQ Example?

Without a doubt, the best sample resources come from the College Board . This is because they are the ones who design and administer the AP exams . This means the following:

Any DBQ essay example that the College Board provides will include a real DBQ prompt

All samples are real student responses from previous years , so you know they were written under the same conditions you'll have when you write your DBQ—in other words, they're authentic!

They not only have scores but also explanations of each essay's score , in accordance with the rubric

Each prompt includes several sample essays with a variety of scores

Some DBQ examples outside those available from the College Board might be worth looking at, particularly if they highlight how a particular essay could be improved. In general, though, a superior example will do the following:

Include the prompt and documents: It will be much easier for you to see how the information from the documents is integrated into the essay if you can actually look at the documents themselves!

Have a score: Seems simple, but you'd be surprised how many DBQ examples out there in the uncharted internet don't have one. Without a real, official score, it's hard to gauge how trustworthy a sample actually is.

With that in mind, I have compiled lists, organized by exam, of high-quality example DBQs below.

Don't spend all your study time on false starts with your practice DBQs. 

Every DBQ Example Essay You Could Ever Need, by Exam

Here are your example essays! We'll start with AP US History, then move to AP European History, and finally wrap up with AP World History.

AP US History: Official College Board Examples

The APUSH test was redesigned in 2015 and again in 2018, so right now there are eight  official College Board sets of sample essays you can use in your studies . Make sure to give yourself a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes to write your answer. In addition, don't forget to use the current scoring guidelines when grading your own practice responses.

• 2023 Free-Response Questions | Scoring Guidelines 2023
• 2022 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2022
• 2021 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2021
• 2019 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2019
• 2018 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2018
• 2017 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2017
• 2016 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2016
• 2015 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2015

If you want additional sample question sets, you can look at older College Board US History DBQ example response sets . To look at these, click "Free-Response Questions" for a given year. For the corresponding DBQ examples and scoring guidelines, click "Sample Responses Q1."

Note that these examples use the old rubric (which is integrated into the Scoring Guidelines for a given free-response section). General comments on the quality of the essay, outside information, and document analysis still apply, but the score is on a 9-point scale instead of the current 7-point scale, and some of the particulars will be different. Older DBQs had up to 12 documents, while the current format has seven documents.

If you do look at older DBQ examples, I recommend using the current rubric to re-grade the essays in the sample according to the 7-point scale. I'll also give more advice on how to use all these samples in your prep later on.

Mr. Bald Eagle is an AP US History DBQ grader in his spare time.

AP European History: Official College Board Examples

Unfortunately, there aren't as many sample resources for the AP Euro DBQ compared to the other AP history tests because 2016 was the first year the AP Euro test was administered in the new format . Since then, more minor changes have been made in terms of time (you now have an hour on the DBQ) and individual parts of the rubric (you can view the current scoring guidelines here ).

This means there are seven sets of official samples graded with the current 7-point rubric:

The rest of the existing available samples were graded in the old 9-point format instead of the 7-point format implemented in 2016.

In the old format, there were 6 "core" points and 3 additional points possible. The old rubric is integrated with the sample responses for each question, but we'll highlight some key differences between the old and current formats :

With the old format, you were given a brief "historical background" section before the documents

There were more documents—up to 12—but the current format has seven

There was an emphasis on "grouping" the documents that is not present in the current rubric

There was also explicit emphasis on correctly interpreting the documents that is not found in the current rubric

While the essential components of the DBQ are still the same between the two test formats, you should definitely refer to the current rubric if you decide to look at any old AP European History samples . You might find it useful to look at old essays and score them in accordance with the current rubric.

Here are the old sample DBQ questions and essays, organized by year:

• 2014 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2014
• 2013 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2013
• 2012 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2012
• 2011 Free-Response Questions | Sample DBQ Responses 2011

You can get samples in the old format all the way back to 1999 from the College Board . (Click "Free -Response Questions" for the questions and "Sample Response Q1" for the samples.)

Consider how you might integrate this castle into the DBQ that is your life.

AP World History: Official College Board Examples

The World History AP exam transitioned to a new format to more closely resemble AP US History and AP European History for the 2017 test. This means that there are six past exams available that use the current DBQ format:

Note that starting with the 2020 exam, AP World History will only cover the years 1200 to the present instead of thousands of years of history. As a result, both the course and exam have been renamed AP World History: Modern (a World History: Ancient course is in the works). What this means for you is that previous DBQs might have to do with time periods you're no longer required to study, so just keep this in mind.

In the old format, there were 7 "core" points and 2 additional points possible. The old rubric is integrated with the sample responses for each question, but we'll highlight some key differences between the old and current formats :

There were more documents—up to 10—but the current format has seven

There was an emphasis on "grouping" the documents on the old rubric that is not present in the current rubric

• In the old rubric, you needed to identify one additional document that would aid in your analysis; the new rubric does not have this requirement

The essential components of the DBQ are still the same between the two formats, though you should definitely look at the current rubric if you study with any old AP World History questions and samples. You might find it useful to look at the old essays and score them according to the current rubric.

Here are old AP World History questions and DBQ sample responses , organized by year:

Don't worry, the old format isn't as old as this guy right here.

How Should I Use DBQ Examples to Prepare?

Now that you have all these examples, what should you do with them? In this section, we'll give you some tips on how to use example DBQs in your own AP history prep , including when to start using them and how many you should plan to review.

What Should I Do With These DBQs?

Official sample essay sets are a great way to test how well you understand the rubric. This is why we recommend that you grade a sample set early on in your study process—maybe even before you've written a practice DBQ .

Then, when you compare the scores you gave to the official scores and scoring notes given to the samples, you'll have a better idea of what parts of the rubric you don't really understand . If there are points you are consistently awarding differently than the graders, you’ll know those are skills you'll need to work on.

Keep giving points for the thesis and then finding out the sample didn't get those points? This tells you to work more on your thesis skills. Not giving points for historical context and then finding out the AP grader gave full credit? You need to work on recognizing what constitutes historical context according to the AP.

Check out my tips on building specific rubric-based skills in our guide on how to write a DBQ .

Once you've worked on some of those rubric skills you're weaker in, such as evaluating a good thesis or keeping track of how many documents were used, grade another sample set. This way you can see how your ability to grade the essays like an AP grader improves over time!

Obviously, grading sample exams is a much more difficult process if you're looking at examples in an old format. The old scores as awarded by the College Board will be helpful in establishing a ballpark —a 9 is still going to be a good essay using the current 7-point scale—but there may be some modest differences in grades between the two scales. (For example, maybe that perfect 9 is now more like a 6 out of 7 due to rubric changes.)

For practice grading with old samples, you might want to pull out two copies of the current rubric, recruit a trusted study buddy or academic advisor (or even two study buddies!), and have each of you re-grade the samples .

You can then discuss any major differences in the grades each of you awarded. Having multiple sets of eyes will help you determine whether the scores you're giving are reasonable, since you won’t have an official 7-point College Board score for comparison.

How Many Example DBQs Should I Be Using?

The answer to this question depends on your study plans.

If it's six months before the exam and you plan on transforming yourself into a hard diamond of DBQ excellence, you might do practice grading on a sample set every few weeks to a month to check your progress to being able to think like an AP grader. In this case, you would probably use six to nine official sample sets.

If, on the other hand, the exam is in a month and you're just trying to get in some extra skill-polishing, you might do a sample set every week to 10 days . It makes sense to check your skills more often when you have less time to study because you want to be sure that you are focusing your time on the skills that need the most work. For a short time frame, expect to use somewhere in the range of three to four official sample sets.

Either way, you should be integrating your sample essay grading with skills practice and doing some practice DBQ writing of your own .

Toward the end of your study time, you could even integrate DBQ writing practice with sample grading. Read and complete a timed prompt and then grade the sample set for that prompt, including yours! The other essays will help give you a sense of what score your essay might have received that year and any areas you might have overlooked.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to using sample sets, but in general they are a useful tool for making sure you have a good idea what the DBQ graders will be looking for when you write your own DBQ on test day.

Hey, where can we find a good DBQ around here?

Closing Thoughts: Example DBQs for AP History Tests

Example DBQ essays are a valuable resource in your arsenal of study strategies for the AP history exams. Grading samples carefully will help you get a sense of your own blind spots so you'll know what skills to focus on in your prep.

That said, sample essays will be most useful when integrated with your own targeted skills prep . Grading 100 sample essays won't help you if you aren't practicing your skills; rather, you'll just keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

Make sure you aren't using sample essays to avoid writing practice DBQs either—you'll want to do at least a couple, even if you only have a month to practice.

And there you have it, folks. With this list of DBQ examples and tips on how to use them, you are all prepared to integrate samples into your study strategy!

What's Next?

Still not sure what a DBQ is? Check out my explanation of the DBQ to learn the basics.

Want tips on how to really dig in and study for AP history tests? We've got a complete how-to guide on preparing for and writing the DBQ .

If you're still studying for AP World History, check out our top AP World History study guide , or get more practice tests from our complete list .

Want more study material for AP US History? Look into this article on the best notes to use for studying from one of our experts. Also, read our review of the best AP US History textbooks !

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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How do you write a Thesis for a DBQ in AP World History

A step by step process to getting the Thesis point

1 Expert Answer

Kevin B. answered • 01/21/21

Effective History Tutor Specializing in AP World History LEQ and DBQ

The first thing you need to do is make sure you understand the question.

Assume possible answers to the question or prompt.

Analyze the documents as to how each one answers the prompt.

Group documents, (if possible) into logical ways to address the prompt.

Use the documents collectively to address the prompt in your opening statement. (ATDQ) Answer the darn question) in the Thesis statement. Create an argument in miniature.

Although X, (counterargument) A&B (some evidence) Therefore Y (argument)

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Score Higher on AP World History 2024: Tips for DBQs

12 min read • june 18, 2024

Document Based Question

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

• Students will be presented with seven documents that give various perspectives on a historical development or process and asked to develop an argument based on these documents and their own knowledge.
• 25% of Exam Score
• Recommended Time: 1 Hour (Includes a 15-minute reading period)
• Thesis/Claim (1)
• Contextualization (1)
• Evidence from 6 documents (2)
• Evidence beyond documents (1)
• Analyze 3 documents (1)
• Complexity (1)

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• You will technically have the DBQ and LEQ at the same time with 1 Hour and 40 Minutes total. However, the DBQ is worth more than the LEQ, so make sure to give yourself enough time to write your DBQ.
• A lot of students stress out over a DBQ because it has so many documents and seems so complex! To help mitigate this, try to think of this way the documents are helpful tools. You don't need to remember content, it's all right there for you! Don't stress over the outside evidence because it will come to you as you are using the documents and interacting with historical content.
• First, Source your documents in the thesis statement (ex: ...and resulted in a growth in capitalism (3, 4, 5), horrible working conditions (1, 2)... etc.).
• Do the same in your topic sentence of each body paragraph, and then, of course, source them when you refer to them the passage. Overall, you should source each document a total of 3 times.
• Secondly, include each source analysis "keyword" in your essay (ex: ...the POV of this document is.../the intended audience of this document is.../the historical context of this document is.../the purpose of this document is... ).
• Lastly, include the "keyword" of anything else you need to include in your essay (ex: "some outside historical evidence/knowledge that supports this is...").
• Make it clear to the reader/grader that you know what you are talking about and make it easy for them to check off every item from the rubric. This also helps you know if you completed everything you needed to get full points.
• Do a little extra in the essay as insurance. For example, instead of doing only 1 outside history evidence, do 2 or 3 in case you get one of them wrong. Do extra source analysis in case one of them isn't good enough, etc.
• It is essentially the "What?" and "Why?". Using a document's general idea to make your point not only helps organize your essay but makes it faster while writing it as well because most of the documents are linked in some way (same time period, about the same event, or an event that impacted another). So they will all often have a similar "What" and "Why," or any of the other big W's (who, what, when, where, why).
• Take a deep breath! Take your time reading through the documents and making the connections between each of them. You know more than you think!

🕛 Before You Write the DBQ

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Before you even look at the documents, you have to annotate the prompt! Make sure you know what it is asking, like is it an extent question? What’s the topic or the time period?
• Circle or underline certain different parts of the prompt just to make sure you understand.
• Skill of the prompt (what are they asking you to do with the topic?) This may be direct or vague - are they asking you to compare or contrast? Are they asking for a change or continuity? Are they asking for a cause or effect?
• READ THE PROMPT FIRST!!! You spend a lot of time reading through all of the documents and you NEED to know what you're looking for right from the start.
• Categorize the documents as you read. Based on the question, sort the documents based on their relevancy to your position or in any other way you see fit.
• When grouping/categorizing your documents ask yourself this question: Do those documents share the same value as the first document? If not, put them into a separate category and if they do put them in the same category as the first document! This will be the gateway into making your thesis with contrasting examples.
• Or if you’re a visual person, similar to the advice above, make a chart with two columns: one that is for the argument presented in the prompt and one that is against. It can be as simple as a check and and X. Organize the sources into which side they demonstrate best, then use the side that has more sources for your thesis and associated evidence, while the other side can be used in your counterclaim.
• While you're reading them, jot down ideas next to them. If you notice that Document 1 focuses on one perspective while Document 2 and 3 focus on another perspective, WRITE IT DOWN!!!
• Other things that you can note down is the purpose, perspective, biases, and context.
• Adding onto the above, being able to condense and re-express the documents is crucial to support whatever claim or main topic your essay will be about.
• When you are reading the documents, your eyes should ALWAYS go to the SOURCE FIRST!!! The source is so important. Many times the author, title, and especially the time period can tell you so much about the document BEFORE you even start reading.
• Take a few deep breaths and look at the documents. Make sure to comprehend the question first and then branch off on what possible controls can be used. If you have no idea what to do, gather evidence from the docs immediately and go from there.
• When reading look for key words in each document. Anything that sticks out to you can be underlined, such as who the document is addressed to, if it’s stated.

💡 Tips for Each DBQ Rubric Point

Thesis/claim.

• You can score up to 1 point for having this in your DBQ!
• After reading the question, take 30 seconds to think about how you plan to respond to the prompt.
• Before starting writing your introduction, write your claim off to the side so that you know what to write leading up to it.
• If time constraint is an issue for you, you can reduce it to 2 points as long as you make them strong. This is the foundation for the rest of your paper, so the thesis should be very clear on what it's about.
• Pick something defensible. You should be making your thesis after a strong understanding of what each of the documents says. Create a thesis that can be supported by at least 3 of the documents and don't be afraid to really flesh it out with the 'why' of your claim.
• “Within TIME PERIOD OF DBQ, three significant SKILL AND TOPIC OF PROMPT were the ARGUMENT/BP #1, ARGUMENT/BP #2 and ARGUMENT/BP #3.

Contextualization

• Before even looking at the documents, you need to brainstorm your contextualization! Nothing from the docs counts as context so it’s best to do it before, based on what the prompt is asking. Try to make a flow chart of at least 3 events that led up to the topic of the prompt and your context will already be done!
• If you get stuck/start blanking out about the time period, work backwards! First pick a year and then start jotting down key historical events/figures of that time. From there, you will be able to remember a lot of important topics that are relevant to the contextualization. Make sure that it is complete but do not spend too much time on it or going too far back. 2 sentences is plenty for contextualization.
• One thing: if you use information in your contextualization, you are no longer allowed to reuse it for outside evidence.
• Go 50-100 years back from the time of the prompt, but make sure that the information is relevant and does not go back further than a century.
• If you have been doing vocab lists throughout the year try and use some of those words (around 3-4) in this section. Think about the era of the DBQ and what major shifts had occurred or are in the process of occurring during that time period. This means that for this point periodization is an important skill to have for each unit. However, if you are extremely lost on the DBQ there are ways to try and earn the contextualization point by picking up on cultural norms or political tensions from the sources.
• When coming up with contextualization, you need to really think about telling a story. What major events led to the event/topic that is the focus of my essay?
• One way to think about it was like an upside-down pyramid where your most broad evidence goes at the top and your most specific evidence goes at the bottom, right before your thesis. Ideally, one should have about 3-4 good pieces of information in contextualization. 4 is recommended in case something is not correct. It's the same reason why you'd want to do extra HIPPs just in case you mess up.
• Another way to think of this is if it was a 'on last weeks episode' recap. So what happened to cause this or what were some developments that contributed to this topic? Or it’s similar to a lawsuit, there are a series of events that lead to the trial. There are always a set of factors or events that create the path to a certain development, which is easily applicable to the content in AP World.
• Context should never be more than two sentences. Pay attention to the time period given in the prompt and make a general statement describing what was going on before or during this time period. Don’t be too general and instead focus on information relevant to the prompt. For example, if the prompt asks about the Ottomans in the 1800s, you can contextualize by mentioning the Ottomans in the 1700s and how they had changed by the 1800s.
• As far as organization, contextualization can fit nicely after your thesis and before evidence since it offers background information. To write a more complex essay it is critical that your context matches the theme within the argument you are making.

Evidence from the Documents

• You can score up to 2 points for having this in your DBQ!
• Briefly review the documents prior to starting the essay and label which specific documents will support your thesis.
• Make note of the date!! If you misattribute a document to an incorrect time period, you will lose a lot of points.
• Remember to condense each document into a 1-2 sentence commentary in your own words, which will make drawing from each document much easier.
• Then you need to connect it to your argument. You can accomplish by saying “This shows or this illustrates” and then how it connect a to your argument. This is a format that you can use “Document X explains blah blah blah. This shows that blah blah blah”.

Evidence from Beyond the Documents

• Study and learn as much general knowledge as you can about Women’s’ Suffrage, WWI and WWII and big, HUGE events and timeframes like those because when it comes to their evidence, it will be a lot easier to connect it to topics like this in order to get points.
• There's not much to this other than knowing each of your units really well. If you have a solid foundation of the entire curriculum, this will not be particularly difficult. It is always worth the time to work backward and write down the key events/figures from a given period and then use that to support your claim.
• Cram sheets helps a lot for this because if you’re on a time crunch, knowing basic knowledge can help a lot on DBQ’s. With the help of a mentor (teacher), remember key units that are mentioned in the exam a lot like the Industrial Revolution or Pre-Modern Era. If you have more time in your hands, take a practice DBQ from the previous years found in college board and try to think of outside evidence on the spur of the moment to train yourself.
• If you know quite literally anything about the topic, just shove it in. The only requirement is that it must be relative to the prompt! Don't know what's going on with women in Cuba? Then say what's going on with women in America! It's much better than nothing. The good thing about AP World is that your range of usable information is much broader than in AP Euro or APUSH.

Document Analysis

• FRAME OF REFERENCE This is influenced by a person's gender, occupation, class, education, religion, personal interests, and other aspects of their being.
• HISTORICAL SITUATION This is made up of society's influences on a person. It can be societal values, economic pressures, political conditions, or other things which influence society. Examples: gas prices, war, theocratic government, revolution, etc.
• Having some kind of paper aside can help you the most on my exam. Write what your claim is, your 2/3 points, and the document you’d like to use. Then list 1-7 for each document provided on this aside and write POV, Purpose, Context, and Intended audience per document. This makes it clear on how to set up your essay and when to use what document.
• Remember, you don't need these specific analysis points for every single document. Usually, you unconsciously think through things like POV, purpose, context, and intended audience while reading. If one factor jumps out at you while reading, WRITE IT DOWN! It shouldn't be a stretch to make these analysis points work, most of the time they just make sense to include while paraphrasing evidence or when providing explanation.
• The idea is to put it in the form of "While [counter argument], it was ultimately [main argument]".
• For example, "While the Mongols played a large role in spreading the bubonic plague, it was ultimately trade routes such as the Silk Roads that were the main cause of the Black Death". Then, you can easily add a paragraph at the end discussing your counterargument, which counts as considering multiple perspectives!
• The easiest ways to get complexity is by introducing counterarguments and weaving together multiple pieces of evidence to create a narrative. The documents are intentionally supposed to contain views from many points, and by comparing the documents and doing sourcing to assess their validity, you have a very good shot of earning the complexity point.
• Adding onto the point above, if you have enough time, try to write a counterargument against your thesis that you then disprove. You can do this by bringing up the counterargument and then saying "while this and this may be true, my point is better due to this and this." If the rest of your DBQ is solid, then you have a very good shot of getting the complexity point with this format.

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