ABSTRACT
Document-based questions (DBQ) can be framed as multiple-choice, short-answer, or long essay questions. In advanced placement (AP) World History, AP US History, and AP European History, 40 percent of students' exam scores is based on how well they can respond to DBQs framed as multiple-choice questions. These multiple-choice questions require students to synthesize content knowledge they have acquired from class activities and discussions with information they have gleaned from one or two historical documents. These documents can be either visual or nonvisual, primary or secondary. For the tenth-grade students in AP World History classes, these questions can admittedly be pretty daunting. The level of sophisticated thinking these questions require has left some of students a bit shell-shocked. Having students hunt and find an answer that is explicitly stated in the document does not promote critical thinking and does not require students to situate documents within their historical context.
