ABSTRACT
The 100-page course description for advanced placement (AP) World History published by the College Board told author that document-based questions (DBQ) consisted of an historical question based on four to ten documents. While most, if not all, of these documents consisted of primary sources, each of these sources could either be visual (such as drawings, paintings, photographs, maps, charts, graphs, political cartoons, or diagrams) or nonvisual. When it came time for the AP exam at the end of the school year, students would have 50 minutes to analyze and evaluate each one of the documents and then formulate a response to the historical question. Students' responses, the course description said, should consist of a solid thesis statement supported by textual evidence. For example, it no longer requires students to suggest an additional document, but it does require them to connect the topic to broader historical processes.
