This course can help prepare students who wish to continue their social studies education after high school, as well as students who wish to perform exceptionally well on the SAT exam. The level of aptitude in this subject will assist students wishing to excel on the SAT and in college courses.
While there is no prerequisite for AP World History, students should make sure that they are prepared for the course load associated with an Advanced Placement History course. Most social studies classes include extensive readings of both textbooks and case studies. Students should be prepared to both read and analyze what they read in order to apply it to the class. They should also be somewhat familiar with general world history and geography so as not to fall behind when discussing deeper subject matter and current political problems around the world.
The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with deifferent types of human socities. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. AP World History highlights the nature of changes in international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. AP World World History emphasizes relevant factual knowledge used in conjunction with leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence. The course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage. Periodization, explicatity discussed, forms an organizing principle for dealing with change and continuity throughout the course, along with consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study.
According to the College Board’s website, AP World History focuses primarily on developing the four History Thinking Skills, and teaching students to analyze history form there. From taking AP World History, students will be able to:
- Craft Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence- developing the ability to make inferences based on different information and crafting arguments about of that information.
- Use Chronological Reasoning- understanding that sequences of events play a key role in understanding and analyzing history. Students will be able to differentiate between long term effects and isolated incidents, and the different impacts of the two.
- Use Comparison and Contextualization- Comparison and contextualization are useful to more than just World History. Learning hose to do both will help students to solve problems in their everyday life as well as in an academic setting.
- Conduct Historical Interpretation and Synthesis- developing the ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate interpretations of the past as revealed through primary and secondary sources.
Student will also study four separate themes of world history:
- Theme 1: Interaction between Humans and Environment. Students will learn about diseases and the demographics the affect, the migration of humans across time, patterns of settlement around the world, and the importance of technology in developing civilizations.
- Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures. Students will develop an understanding of religions, belief systems, science and technologies effect on government, and the arts and architecture’s effect on the general population.
- Theme 3: State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict. Students will learn about political structures and their forms of governance, empires, nationalism, and revolutions across different types of government.
- Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems. Students will gain an appreciation for agricultural and pastoral production, trade and commerce patterns, labor systems, and industrialization.
Students will also learn to use study notes and various other study techniques in conjunction with such textbooks as World Civilization, Traditions and Encounters, and The Earth and its Peoples.
Students considering taking AP World History or any other Advanced Placement course should remember how much time and energy they require. Students that commit themselves to AP classes will see a dramatic improvements in their SAT scores as well as their college preparedness.
Students that wish to get accepted into more selective schools should definitely look into taking AP courses, since they not only look great on students’ transcripts, but they can also give students the jumpstart their high school and college educations need. They can also earn college credit while still in high school, saving valuable time and money in the process. AP courses will also help students develop the skills they need to succeed in the sometimes rigorous college atmosphere and give students valuable knowledge that they can use in college and beyond.
Here you will find AP World History outlines, vocabulary terms, unit notes, topic notes, study questions, regional outlines, and glossary terms. We are always adding more AP World History resources so if you have any requests, please use the Contact Us form to let us know what we can do to help.
