APUSH Writing Guide: How to Write Winning Responses to DBQs, LEQs, and SAQs on the AP U.S. History Exam

Writing for the AP U.S. History exam isn’t easy, but it’s critical to your success: Your written responses represent 60% of your APUSH exam score. Stampede Learning Systems is here to help with a book packed with tips, techniques, and exercises to help you CRUSH it on the writing sections of the APUSH exam.

With over half of your score on the Advanced Placement U.S. History exam being based on your written responses, it’s a great opportunity to score big for those who are proficient in writing. However, it may seem daunting to understand how to gain proficiency in the technical form of writing that is expected for the AP exam. Additionally, a tremendous amount of information is covered in an American history course. These facts can add up to big challenges as you work through your AP U.S. History class and prepare for the exam.

This writing guide gives you a to-the-point breakdown of the types of essay questions that appear on the APUSH exam. We help you learn solid writing techniques to use in your responses to the Short Answer Questions (SAQs), Long Essay Questions (LEQ), and Document-Based Questions (DBQ) on the APUSH test.

This APUSH writing guide includes: A description of SAQ, LEQ, and DBQ writing prompts, including similarities and differences, and a rundown of what AP readers are looking for when they read your responses Summaries of the events, trends, and people that are essential to know for the exam Exercises to help reinforce your understanding of key dates and events, and how they relate to the exam question Step-by-step guidance in how to analyze DBQ documents systematically Practice questions with sample answers that can be used as a model or to compare your answers to after you complete them

INFORMATION FOR INSTRUCTORS

How are Stampede Learning Guides Different from Other Test Prep Books?

Our books aren’t like the run-of-the-mill APUSH test prep guides on the market. We don’t include multiple-choice practice test and answer keys. Instead, we focus on high-quality content and exercises to help students develop their critical thinking and historical writing skills.

Because our APUSH Writing Guide is in workbook format, each student should obtain her own copy. This book is best used as an instructor-guided resource, but it can more easily be used for self-guided test prep by independent learners.Writing effectively in the technical style required for historians is challenging (especially with the DBQ, due to the numerous requirements expected within this form of writing), especially for young writers. Our book breaks down the components of the skills involved in this kind of writing and then guides students to put the skill elements back together to complete a coherent essay.

Instructors love using this book in the classroom because grading and offering feedback on student writing is a time-consuming process; and the faster students become strong writers, the more manageable the teacher’s essay-grading workload becomes.

ABOUT STAMPEDE LEARNING SYSTEMS

We are an alliance of experienced writing professionals and AP instructors who have a solid track record of student achievement on AP Exams. Our instructors and authors hold Master’s degrees, giving them deep knowledge in their respective subject areas. The primary author of our AP U.S. History books has been teaching APUSH for 12 years; his students’ exam scores consistently outpace the national average (85% of his students pass each year vs. 50% nationwide). We keep our materials current to reflect the most recently published official AP Exam questions and AP course outlines published by the College Board.