COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

AP U.S. History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college or university U.S. history course. In AP U.S. History, scholars investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present. Scholars develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods historians employ: analyzing primary and secondary sources, developing historical arguments, making historical comparisons, and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, continuity, and change over time. The course also provides seven themes that scholars explore throughout the course to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; migration and settlement; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; geography and the environment; and culture and society. Scholars are preparing to take the AP exam for US History, which may lead to college credit.