What's Important in AP US History?

If you were walking through a forest, you could spend your time looking at each tree.  You could look at each tree's leaves, branches, and bark.  You could spend time memorizing the name of each tree, and where it is located in the forest.  There's nothing wrong with that.  But when you spend all your attention on individual trees, you may miss the forest.  You might not look at bigger patterns.  For example, do some trees grow in different places than other trees?  Do some animals only live in some types of trees?  These bigger issues require us to zoom out and look at things happening in more than once place.

The goal of taking and introductory course in any topic is to understand the forest, not the trees.  AP US History is an introductory course.  So, we're going to spend most of our time looking at patterns, and less time looking at individual events.

Luckily, the College Board provides three big patterns for the course content.  By focusing on the patterns, we can identify the key things to know about US History.  We can also identify which events help show these patterns in action. ​

Causation allows us to connect separate events together by creating a chain of events.  When we think about history in this way, it allows us to see how Event A led to Outcome B.  In turn, Outcome B leads to Result C (and so on).  Information is important if it helps you create these strings of events.  

Think of this like chapters in a book.  Each chapter only gives part of the story.  If you read the sixth chapter in a random book, it would be hard to understand what the characters were doing.  If you read all the chapters in order, then the story should make more sense.  You could probably recount the story to another person in a way they could understand.  Even if you missed some important moments in the book, they could get the gist.

We're interested in the whole story, so it's not the individual events that matter.  It's the sequence of events and what they tell us about history.  The date the Stamp Act was passed is trivia.  This is where the gold is: The Stamp Act helped cause the American Revolution because it fanned the flames of a debate about political rights.  We've linked two events together in time, and thus created a pattern.

You'll typically run into causation in two places.  First, you'll want to understand the causes of major wars in US History.  Second, you want to know the effects of major events.  This includes wars, certainly, but it also includes other points in history where things changed in a significant way.  For example, it's important to understand the effects of the Industrial Revolution.  This is not a war, but it is a thing that happened in history that had lasting consequences.  ​

Continuity and change allows us to consider periods of time.  When we think about history in this way, we can see how the economy, or politics, or social relationships changed in a period of time.  History is also shaped by continuities.  These are things that stay the same during a period of time.  Continuities help give periods of history a distinct character.  There are things we expect in certain time periods that we don't expect in other time periods.

Like before, this forces us to step back.  It's the pattern that tells us something interesting about a given period of history.  This is like when your English teacher keeps pointing out all the symbols in a book.  The whale in Moby Dick keeps showing up.  The blood in Macbeth keeps showing up.  The green light in The Great Gatsby keeps showing up.  A green light by itself doesn't mean anything.  But when it keeps showing up, or changes suddenly, that's meaningful.

History doesn't have an author.  But it does have patterns.  In AP US History, these patterns often deal with specific themes.  This includes political developments, economic changes, social relationships (especially gender and race), American culture, and the impact of new technology.  (If you're a little fuzzy on the AP US History themes, check out this article.)  Aspects of these themes reappear in different time periods in new and different ways.  That's continuity and change.  ​

So, if you're puzzled about what to focus on, consider these points.  If you've got a series of events, or a big change, or a trend that characterizes a time period, or a list of how things are alike and different, that's not just fun trivia.  That's an important aspect of history.

Also, please note that it's impossible to understand these items by studying events, people, or vocabulary terms in isolation.  You can spend 10 billion years flipping a flashcard deck and not see any of this.  All of these types of thinking require connection between topics.  If you are just studying vocabulary, or just studying events, or just memorizing dates, you aren't looking at the pattern.  

Please do not skip reading the textbook or taking notes on lectures.  That's where you they will tell you that a big change is happening.  Or they'll put a chart in showing the differences between the North and South.  Those signs are there, if you know what to look for.  And, now you do!

Which brings us to the next topic, where to find what's important.  ​

When I work with students, I ask them how they are studying for exams.  I often get an answer that sounds like this:

"First, I copy all of my notes onto another piece of paper, and then I read through all the PowerPoints on the class webpage.  Then I ask ChatGPT to summarize the key points.  Then I watch all the videos I can find on YouTube, and I reread the textbook.  Then I make flashcards for all the vocabulary on Quizlet."

I'm already exhausted. I hear from so many parents who are concerned that their students are spending hours studying, but not getting great scores.  And I hear from students who are overwhelmed by the prospect of having to do more to get a better score.  And, honestly, I cannot imagine doing all of this before a major exam.  

Luckily, the solution here is to do fewer things better.

I can already hear the protests.  "But the secret to success is hard work!  If you do all the things, then you'll get a top score."

This is absolutely, categorically, not true.  Like, yes, you need to do work.  But you don't need make it any harder than it needs to be.  And one way that you might making it harder than it needs to be is by using a zillion different sources of information.  More is not always better, and actually, it's often bad.  Because those sources will necessarily contradict each other, they may have errors, and they may not be for an AP US History class.

Luckily, there are solutions!  Part of that is using active recall to study.  But the other part is creating one reliable, easy place to find everything you need to know. ​

So, where do you find the important information?

Consider everything else supplemental.  In other words, you spend most of your time creating and reviewing your notes from your class and your textbook.  You would only go to an outside text if a topic was unclear.  Note, understanding is different than memorizing.  If it makes sense, but it's not stored in your brain, it's not time to look for more information.  It's time to memorize.  (See here for a better strategy.)

This may seem counterintuitive.  After all, the whole internet is there.  So why not use it?  Well, there are reasons.

First, every AP class must use a textbook that's approved by the College Board.  That means that the head honchos themselves have determined that your book has the information you need to succeed in the class.  That's not true for any other resource that exists anywhere.

Furthermore, all of those textbooks are rigorously revised and fact-checked.  ChatGPT does not know anything, and it will mislead you to keep you happy.  You could be using a flashcard deck made by a middle school student.  Most history sites are not for AP, so they emphasize other things.  Most YouTube videos cover the topic at a surface level at best.  You know that won't cut it.

Second, your teacher is in charge.  They get to pick what you study, what you don't study, and what's on your unit exam.  Nobody covers everything that could possibly be on the AP US History exam.  Instead, they select topics that are most likely to appear, and they try to help you master those topics.  

If your teacher spends a whole class period talking about Thomas Jefferson, you should expect questions about Thomas Jefferson on the exam.  If you use your notes from that class period, then you will have an edge over everyone else who is trying to get ChatGPT to read your teacher's mind.  Please note, this not a supported feature.  ​

The students who I see getting top scores consistently all have one thing: a single, reliable source of truth.

They consistently create a record of what happened in class on a given day.  This meanings taking their own notes during lecture and saving handouts from class.  They also take notes on assigned readings from the textbook.  They do these things even when it's not graded or required.  Critically, they put all of those things in one place that's easy to access, like a three-ring binder or notebook.

When it's time to study, these students just have to pull out the notebook that has everything they need.  They don't need to go find things that look (but might not actually be) useful.  That saves them so much time and stress.  The clock is ticking when it's time to start studying.  You don't have time to find things that you could already have.

Yes, this does require some upfront work, but it also eliminates that frantic search for random things.  The important stuff is covered in class or in the reading.  Write it down.  Go there first.

(Not sure what to do with those notes?  Start here!)  ​

Most aren't!  Some are!

I know, that's completely unhelpful.  Let's dive into it in a little more detail.

First, you do not need to know most of the years mentioned in AP US History.  Remember our guiding principles: if it doesn't illustrate a pattern, then it's not important.  You'll never get asked a trivia question on the AP US History exam.  (When was the Stamp Act passed?  I have no idea!)  It's not worth listing out tons of dates and trying to commit them to memory.

But, some dates are really important.  Some dates show up on the exam.  But which ones?

I think about this as an extension of continuity and change over time. 

I want to know the dates where something dramatic changed.  This includes the creation of important documents, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  New countries and new governments are kind of a big deal.  Change also includes the start of major wars.  All major wars in US History have come with major changes, so go ahead and memorize those dates.

Second, I want to know the bookends of my time periods.  There are nine major time periods in AP US History.  The years within a period reflect times that have specific, relatively consistent characteristics.  A period ends when something happens which makes the next period significantly different.  For example, Period 2 ends with the start of the French and Indian War.  The French and Indian War was a direct cause of the American Revolution, so it marks the start of a significant change in US History.  It's helpful to memorize these dates AND the events they correspond with.  For example, I would memorize 1754 and Start of French and Indian War.

These are the dates that will show up on the exam.  You won't be asked specifically for them because this is not a trivia class.  But you will have many questions where your response is limited to specific time periods.  Those periods are typically defined by moments in history where something major occurred.  Like, the start of a war, a new period in the course, etc.  If you know those, it's much easier to determine what information is fair game.

In addition, knowing dates of change help you place primary sources in the right time period.  If I get a document that's dated 1770, that's a big clue if I know my dates.  I know that's after the end of the French and Indian War (1763), and before the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776).  Therefore, that document must have something to do with the causes of the American Revolution.  ​

I have no idea if a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  What I do know is that just like dates, names vary in their importance.

Like before, we are not interested in trivia.  I do not know who the fourteenth president of the United States is, and I'm in no rush to find out.  Let's take a step back and look for patterns.

It's good to know the names of people who keep reappearing, especially across time periods.  George Washington is a good example.  First, he's starting the French and Indian War in Period 2.  Then he's leading the American troops during the American Revolution in Period 3.  Next, he's presiding over the Constitutional Convention.  He's the first president of the United States.  He's not even done until Farewell Address is over.  I mean, seems important, no?

Yes.  Yes is the answer.

It's also worth memorizing a small number of people who illustrate key concepts in the course.  For example, a major topic in Unit 4 is social reform movements.  It's helpful to know a few people who led those movements.  You may get a huge list in your textbook, but don't feel pressured to know them all.  You want enough that you could invoke their names and accomplishments to help support a key point in a Long Essay Question, Document Based Question, or Short Answer Question.

I help ambitious students improve their skills and master the AP exam.  Learn more here!

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This material is based on my experience working in education for the past decade and my interpretation of the AP US History Course and Exam Description.  The views expressed on this page are my own.  AP® and Advanced Placement® are trademarks registered and owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this site.