The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide the same level of content and instruction that students would face in a freshman-level college survey class.
It generally uses a college-level textbook as the foundation for the course and covers nine periods of U.S. history, spanning from the pre-Columbian era to the present day.
In 2015, a bill to replace the course framework was passed by the Oklahoma House Committee on Common Education, but later withdrawn.
In 2014, student protests in Colorado were held over plans by the Jefferson County Public Schools district board to revise the AP U.S. History curriculum to emphasize citizenship, patriotism, and respect for authority.
Students are expected to write an essay responding to the prompt in which they use the sources in addition to outside information.
[5] Each long essay question on the exam may address any one of three possible historical reasoning processes: patterns of continuity and change, comparison, or causation.