This course explores American history while building the analytic skills and content knowledge necessary to deal critically with issues and events in the development of the United States. Commensurate to the rigor of a freshman level college US history course, AP US History prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses. Through simulations, debate, discussion, and inquiry- based projects, students learn to assess historical materials—their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance—and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. AP US History also helps students prepare for decision-making beyond the classroom by developing the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in a variety of written formats. Students will be prepared to take the AP exam in May.

Students must take a US History course in order to graduate.