Free response essays, in many ways, are the very heart of the AP exam. They measure your reasoning ability as well as your historical knowledge.
To succeed with these essays, you must understand the prompts, organize your information, and write a clear and accurate response.
Free response essay prompts put a lot of responsibility on the writer:
Some prompts are very open. Here is an example of this type of prompt:
The government under the Articles of Confederation has been considered a failure. Describe three actions of the Confederation government and explain how these actions may or may not be considered failures.
These prompts require you to define the terms, specify the time period, and understand the task.
The government under the Articles of Confederation has been considered a failure. Describe three actions of the Confederation government and explainhow these actions may or may not be considered failures.
To address the prompt, he following questions must be answered:
What time period does this question address? [1781-1789]
What were 3 (no more) actions of the Confederation Congress that you are going to discuss?
How are you defining “failure” or “success”?
Some prompts provide clear time periods to be addressed:
For instance, here are two prompts that specify very clearly the time periods to be discussed:
Compare and contrast United States foreign policy after the First World War and after the Second World War. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945-1950.
How did the African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s address the failures of Reconstruction?
These prompts require you to limit your evidence and to define certain terms.
With the first prompt–
Compare and contrast United States foreign policy after the First World War and after the Second World War. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945-1950.
