The Blog @ TomRichey.net

AP US History Free-Response Sample Responses (2022)

5/15/2022

The 2022 AP US History Free-Response Questions have been released to the public! Click here to view the questions on the College Board's website.

2022 APUSH SAQ Sample Responses

Click here to view my sample responses to the 2022 APUSH SAQ items.

2022 APUSH DBQ Sample Response(s)

Click here to view my sample response(s) to the 2022 APUSH DBQ. This file will be updated to include several sample responses that would earn different point values.

2022 APUSH LEQ Sample Responses

This year's LEQ 2 asked students to assess the relative importance of causes for the settlement of the British colonies. Click here to see a set of sample responses I've put together for LEQ 2.

Take a look at my analysis of the 2022 APUSH Free-Response Questions on Marco Learning's YouTube channel:

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2021 AP European History DBQ (Sample Essay)

6/25/2021

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The topic of this year's AP Euro DBQ threw us all for a loop, as the setting wasn't even in Europe! The 2021 DBQ required students to evaluate whether or not liberalism was the guiding principle of British imperialism in India.

Click here to view the 2021 AP Euro DBQ prompt and documents.

Although the topic was unexpected, the 2021 DBQ was actually quite accessible to AP Euro students - at least, for students who understand European concepts of liberalism (which are quite different than the current American understanding as someone who is generally left of center and tends to support the Democratic Party).

Click here to download the AP Euro DBQ Rubric.

Given that most of the points on the AP Euro DBQ Rubric are dependent on analytically using the documents as evidence, a student can get full credit knowing absolutely nothing about British India, in particular. In my sample response, I used Darwinism and Social Darwinism to illustrate the illiberal relationship between the British and their colonized subjects.

Click here to download a sample
full-credit essay.

my apwh dbq: tell us about colonialism in india baby

me: ok fine, whatever i hate you but it’s fine that’s fair

my ap euro dbq: hey bb tell us about colonialism in india pic.twitter.com/4w3zu2Rlbg
— jess (@Jessica53773427) May 7, 2021

A few days after the 2021 free-response questions were released, I solved the 2021 DBQ within the one-hour time limit. I found that while the topic was not equally easy to argue from both sides, it was very easy to craft an argument against liberalism in British India while also making a counter-argument that liberalism was present in British India to an extent. Although this did not occur to me during the first pass, there is a way to create an argument for liberalism being the driving influence of British governance in India if one would take the critical newspaper articles and point out how they show a lack of censorship.

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Italian and Northern Renaissance (AP Euro LEQ)

9/20/2018

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In 2016, I recorded a video explaining how to set up an LEQ comparing the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance. The LEQ requires students to write an essay on a given topic focusing on one historical reasoning skill: comparison, continuity and change, or causation. The comparison format has been a favorite of the test makers and that is a good thing for students because it is fairly easy to do.

In order to provide further clarity, I have created a set of sample essays in response to an LEQ prompt comparing the Italian and the Northern Renaissance. Each sample essay includes a detailed explanation of how each point has been earned. Included in the packet are one essay that would receive a maximum score and three essays that would receive middling scores that would put a student on the path to passing an exam.

This set of sample responses is completely free, but please consider supporting my annual 8 Month Writing Clinic if you would like to see more sample essays like this. The 8 Month Writing Clinic is a subscription-based course that provides teachers and students with videos, sample essays, and other resources to help prepare for the writing sections of the AP US History, AP European History, and AP World History exams.

click here to download free sample essays

If you are a teacher who has participated in a recent AP Euro Reading, your feedback is always appreciated if you take issue with how I have awarded any of the points, please don't hesitate to contact me. Teachers with questions are more than welcome to contact me with questions, as well.

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