1. Short-Answer Questions
For the Redesigned
AP United States History Curriculum Framework and Exam
Louisville, KY June 2013
Prepared by Educational Testing Service
Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.
5/31/2013

2. Topics Basic item structure About short-answer questions
Item models and examples
Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.

3. Short-Answer Questions Basic Item Structure
Stimulus Material*
Prompt
Scoring Notes
*Not all short-answer questions use a stimulus.
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4. About Short-Answer Questions
Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best
Directly target particular historical thinking skills
Require students to respond to general propositions about United States history
Sometimes require students to respond to primary source texts, secondary source texts, or other stimuli such as charts, graphs, tables, maps, or images
Require students to employ historical evidence or examples relevant to the source or question
Always have three score points
Do NOT require students to develop and support a thesis statement
Require that responses be in complete sentences
Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.

5. Redesigned AP US History Curriculum Framework
Stresses use of historical thinking skills (HTS)
Employs outline organized chronologically and around key concepts (KC)
Uses thematic learning objectives (LO) across periods
Targets a HTS, a KC, and a LO in every short-answer question
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6. Up Next: Item Models and Examples*
*The following represent select short-answer question item models and examples. It is not an exhaustive list of every model or item type that may appear on the redesigned AP US History exam.
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7. Item Models and Examples
Section I:
Items without a Stimulus
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8. Item Model: Periodization
Answer parts a and b.
Briefly explain why ONE of the following periods best marks the beginning of X. Provide ONE example of an event or development from the same period to support your explanation.
Option 1 time period/development within a period Option 2 time period/development within a period Option 3 time period/development within a period
Briefly explain why ONE of the other periods is not as useful to mark the beginning of X as your choice in part a.
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9. Item Example: Periodization
United States historians have proposed various events to mark the beginning of an American identity. Answer parts a and b.
Briefly explain why ONE of the choices below best represents the beginning of an American identity.
End of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War) in 1763
Signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776
Ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788
Provide at least ONE example of an event or development from the same period to support your explanation.
c)Briefly explain why ONE of the other options is not as useful to mark the beginning of an American identity as your choice in part a.
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10. Item Model: Comparison
1. Answer parts a, b, and c.
Statement about historical trend or development X in [two time periods]. Briefly explain ONE important similarity in the reasons why X emerged in these two time periods.
Briefly explain ONE important similarity in the effects of X in these two time periods.
Briefly explain ONE critical response to X in either period.
*Item example not available for release 10
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11. Item Model: Continuity and Change (CCOT)
Model: CCOT*
1. Statement about historical trend or development X. Answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain ONE important social or political response to X in the period to__.
Briefly explain ONE important social or political response to X in the period to [later time period than a].
Briefly explain ONE important reason for the change or continuity in response from part a to part b.
*Item example not available for release
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12. Item Model: Comparison
Example: CCOT 10
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13. Item Model: Comparison
Example: CCOT
Use the previous image to answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain the point of view expressed through the image about ONE of the following.
Emancipation
Citizenship
Political participation
Briefly explain ONE outcome of the Civil War that led to the historical change depicted in the image.
c) Briefly explain ONE way in which the historical change you explained in part b was challenged in the period between 1866 and 1896. 10
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14. Item Model: Causation Model: Causation*
1. Identify THREE aspects of X and briefly explain ONE way X changed/led to/resulted in Y.
*Item example not available for release
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15. Item Model: Causation Example: Causation* 1. Answer (a), (b), and (c).
Briefly explain why ONE of the following was the most significant factor in the decline of public confidence in the United States government during the 1970s.
Foreign policy
Economy
Politics
Provide ONE example of a specific historical event or development that supports your explanation in (a).
Provide specific historical evidence for why ONE of the other options is less convincing than your choice in (a) as the most significant factor in the decline of public confidence in the United States government during the 1970s.
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16. Item Models and Examples
Section II: Items with a Stimulus
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17. Item Model: Use of Evidence
Stimulus: Image/painting/cartoon as stimulus
1. Using the image, answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain the point of view expressed by the artist/photographer about ONE of the following.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Briefly explain ONE development in the period from to that led to the point of view expressed by the artist/photographer.
Briefly explain ONE development in the period from to [usually later time period] that challenged or supported the point of view expressed by the artist/photographer.
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18. Item Example: Use of Evidence
Question 1 is based on the following image.
John Gast, American Progress, 1872 Courtesy of Library of Congress
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19. Item Example: Use of Evidence (cont’d)
Example (cont’d): Use of Evidence
1. Using the image, answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain the point of view expressed by the artist about ONE of the following: Migration
Technology American Indians
Briefly explain ONE development from the period 1800 to 1845 that led to the point of view expressed by the artist.
Briefly explain ONE way in which developments in the period following 1845 challenged or supported the point of view expressed by the artist.
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20. Item Model: Interpretation
Stimulus: Two selected excerpts from historians (secondary sources) that offer contrasting viewpoints
1. Using the excerpts, answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain ONE major difference between X and Y’s historical interpretation of [topic addressed in excerpt].
Briefly explain how ONE development from the period to not directly mentioned in the excerpts supports X’s argument.
Briefly explain how ONE development from the period to [same time period] not directly mentioned in the excerpts supports Y’s argument .
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21. Item Example: Interpretation
“Massachusetts did not have a social order before the American Revolution that would breed sharp internal class conflicts. The evidence does not justify an interpretation of the Revolution in Massachusetts as an internal class conflict designed to achieve additional political, economic, and social democracy. Although democracy was important as a factor in the conflict, it was a democracy which had already arrived in the colony long before [B]efore 1776, [democracy was] a reality which interfered with British policies. If the British had been successful, there would undoubtedly have been much less democracy in Massachusetts—hence [my] interpretation that the Revolution was designed to preserve a social order rather than to change it.”
Robert E. Brown, Middle-Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts, 1691–1780, 1955
“Those who have asserted that the Revolution aimed only at separation from Great Britain are quite right, but only insofar as they have described the attitudes of the elite: what the common people and articulate radicals made of the Declaration of Independence may have been quite a different matter [P]oor people in early America expressed discontent in some way against the rich. During the period of the American Revolution there was just such an expression from below: the powerless refused to stay in the places to which a theory of deference and subordination assigned them. Among the most blatant cases are those of Negroes who petitioned for that freedom to which they claimed they had a natural right.”
Jesse Lemisch, “The American Revolution Seen from the Bottom Up,” 1968
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22. Item Example: Interpretation (cont’d)
Example (cont’d): Interpretation
1. Using the excerpts, answer parts a, b, and c.
Briefly explain ONE major difference between Brown and Lemisch’s historical interpretations of the American Revolution.
Briefly explain how ONE development from the period 1763 to 1781 not directly mentioned in the excerpts supports Brown’s argument.
Briefly explain how ONE development from the period 1763 to 1781 not directly mentioned in the excerpts supports Lemisch’s argument.
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23. Final Points
Typical task language in short-answer questions is “Briefly explain…”
Short-answer questions in US History always have three score points
Short-answer questions do NOT require students to develop and support a thesis statement
Short-answer questions do require that responses be in complete sentences
This presentation does not represent an exhaustive list of all short- answer question item models and types that may appear on the redesigned AP US History exam. 20
Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.