And yet another blog entry about changes to the AP World History Course. With the current revision of the revision of the revision, several teachers have asked me the same questions I have been wondering about as well. After attending consultant training in March 2019 and having several conversations with College Board individuals who made these changes, I decided to answer some FAQs regarding the course we will teach in the Fall. I hope you find this helpful.
Since the course covers considerably fewer years than before, will students be expected to know more details about the shorter time under consideration ?
Having lobbed off 9,200 years from the AP World History course (the new “AP Modern History Course” begins at 1200 C.E.) it only seems natural to assume that students will be required to have more detailed knowledge of the mere eight centuries for which they will now be assessed. This is not the case. The content is, with a few minor exceptions, the same as the current course but from 1200 CE to the present.
What about the history of everything that happened before 1200 CE? Will there be an AP Ancient History class?
The College Board is determining the viability of an AP Ancient History course by assessing the level of interest among high schools and the likelihood that universities would grant credit for it. The course itself is currently not a work in progress. However, if a student uses content from before 1200 CE to contextualize their argument, source a document, or provide an illustrative example that is relevant to a prompt, it will still be counted.
Will the exam change?
The exam format and the generic rubrics are unchanged. It’s the same one we have taught for 2 years now.
Does this change require teachers to undergo another audit or submit a new syllabus?
No. Teachers whose syllabi have been approved and have successfully passed through the audit will not have to do this again. Instead, they will need to download the unit guide and click an “attestation” box on the Course Audit form confirming they are aware of the new 1200 beginning to the course. Once confirmed by the school’s AP Coordinators, they are good to go. Brand new teachers to the course in the 2019-2020 school year will not have to be audited this year at all as the College Board is suspending the audit process for a full year as everyone adapts to the new course and learns their way around the new resources.
How will the Course and Exam Description (CED) be different?
Quite frankly, it is much improved. Not only is it aesthetically more pleasing, but the layout is simplified and less intimidating. Also, those learning modules that were so difficult to find on AP Central will be linked directly to the relevant portions of the electronic pdf version of the CED. One click on the CED and you’re there. There are also recommended numbers of days to devote to content units, something beginning teachers will appreciate as they sequence the course for the first time.
Teachers who have taught the course will recognize the vast majority of the Key Concept statements nearly verbatim under the label “Historical Developments.” These HDs are coded to the former Key Concept numbers to help teachers situate lessons we already have in the new CED structure.
In addition to Historical Developments, which are the lowest item in the CED’s hierarchical structure, are tiers labelled Learning Objective and Thematic Focus. So each Unit’s structure is:
Unit
↓
Topics
↓
Thematic Focus
↓
Learning Objective
↓
Historical Development (with Illustrative Examples)
The varying levels of specificity evident in the structure above lend themselves to assessment items we already know. For example, the broad based Thematic Focus statements are most conducive for the creation of LEQ prompts. The more specific Learning Objectives are well served by SAQs, while the Historical Developments–formerly known as Key Concepts–are fodder for Stimulus Based Multiple Choice Questions.
Each Topic in the CED lists a “Suggested Historical Thinking Skill.” Does this mean the content of a Topic will primarily be assessed in a way requiring students to employ its suggested Skill?
No it does not. The Topic’s associated skill is only a suggestion to aid teachers in covering all the required skills. The assessing of any portion of required content is not anchored to any single skill; any skill might be required in the assessing of any content.
Why the heck is the College Board now requiring students to register and pay for their exams in the Fall?
This bothered me quite a bit when I first learned about it, but after some reflection I realized the timing is not that different from many other procedures at my school. STEM students pay their lab fees upfront, my Model UN Club dues are collected at the start of the year, and football players throw down about $1000 each as a prerequisite to even be on the team.
These anecdotes aside, it seems schools that already impose these early deadlines for exam registration (and there are many of them) experience increased student retention in AP classes and greater exam participation. According to the CB, data from schools that piloted early registration last year bears this out. Moreover, where patterns of attrition in AP classes do occur, they are disproportionate with the schools’ demographic constitution. This goes against the grain of a policy that is dear to the College Board: AP Equity and Access.
So there’s the rationale from the CB. It’s important to note that Fall registration is not required in schools that teach AP World History in a single Spring Semester. Also, the fees formerly charged for the late version of the test will be done away with.
I hope this helps teachers who have been wondering what’s coming at us next Fall.