AP World History: Modern · Exam guide
AP World History Evidence Bank: Specific Examples by Unit for the LEQ and DBQ
The evidence points on the DBQ and LEQ reward specific facts used to support a claim. Use this table to build a short bank of dated, concrete examples for each unit. For each one, be ready to say what it was, when it happened, and which claim it proves.
How to use the bank
- Learn two or three examples for each unit, not all of them.
- Practice a one-sentence description for each: what happened, when, and the effect.
- Match each example to an argument. Evidence only helps when it supports a claim.
The bank
| Period or unit | Specific evidence you can use | Good for arguments about |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 (c. 1200 to c. 1450) | Song China's paper money and the Grand Canal. Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca, 1324. The Delhi Sultanate. The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, founded about 1325. The Inca system of mit'a labor service. | State building, trade wealth, religion, and the role of rulers. |
| Unit 2 (c. 1200 to c. 1450) | The Mongol Empire and the Pax Mongolica. Ibn Battuta's travels, 1325 to 1354. The Black Death, 1347 to 1351. The Swahili city-states such as Kilwa. | Networks of exchange, the spread of disease, technology, and religion. |
| Unit 3 (c. 1450 to c. 1750) | Ottoman capture of Constantinople, 1453. The Safavid adoption of Shia Islam, 1501. Akbar's policy of toleration in Mughal India. The Tokugawa shogunate's closing of Japan. | Land-based empires, legitimacy, and religious policy. |
| Unit 4 (c. 1450 to c. 1750) | Vasco da Gama reaches India, 1498. Silver mined at Potosi. The Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch East India Company, 1602. The Columbian Exchange. | Maritime empires, the movement of silver and people, labor systems. |
| Unit 5 (c. 1750 to c. 1900) | The American Revolution, 1776. The French Revolution, 1789. The Haitian Revolution, 1791 to 1804. Latin American independence. The Meiji Restoration, 1868. The Opium War, 1839 to 1842. | Enlightenment ideas, revolutions, reform, and responses to Western pressure. |
| Unit 6 (c. 1750 to c. 1900) | Steam power and factories in Britain. Britain's abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in 1833. The Suez Canal, 1869. Indentured labor from India. The Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885. | Industrialization, new labor systems, and imperial expansion. |
| Unit 7 (c. 1900 to present) | World War I, 1914 to 1918. The Russian Revolution of 1917. The Treaty of Versailles, 1919. The Great Depression. World War II, 1939 to 1945, and the Holocaust. | Total war, state power, ideologies, and the collapse of empires. |
| Unit 8 (c. 1900 to present) | Indian independence and partition, 1947. The Chinese Revolution, 1949. The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. Ghana's independence, 1957. The fall of the Soviet Union, 1991. | The Cold War, decolonization, and new nations. |
| Unit 9 (c. 1900 to present) | The Green Revolution. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. The World Trade Organization, 1995. The Arab Spring, 2010 and 2011. The Paris climate agreement, 2015. | Globalization, technology, environment, and human rights. |
Turning an example into evidence
It names the example but says nothing specific about its effect.
It describes the example, dates it, and ties it to the argument.
Common mistakes
- Naming an event with no description of what it did.
- Using only European examples when the prompt is global.
- Using evidence from outside the period.
- Memorizing dates without learning the effect.
Frequently asked questions
How many examples should I memorize for each unit?
Two or three that you can describe in a sentence are better than ten you can only name.
Do I need examples from every region?
It helps. Comparison and continuity prompts reward evidence from more than one region.
Can I use one example in different essays?
Yes, if it supports the claim in each.
Is this list complete?
No. It is a starting bank. Build your own from the lessons.
Where can I find the official scoring rules?
Exam formats change a little from year to year, so check the current course and exam description on the College Board site before test day.
Keep practicing
The AP World History course has practice prompts for the DBQ, LEQ and short-answer questions, with a writing space that scores your response against the 7-point and 6-point rubrics. These free lessons also build the skills the free-response section tests:
See the AP World History: Modern course Free lessons and lesson list
More AP World History: Modern guides (7)
Start here
- AP World History DBQ Rubric Explained: How the 7 Points Are Scored
- AP World History LEQ Rubric Explained: How the 6 Points Are Scored
- AP World History SAQ Explained: How the Short-Answer Questions Are Scored
Free-response and writing
- AP World History Thesis and Contextualization: Two Points You Can Plan Before You Write
- AP World History Sourcing and Complexity: How to Earn the Last Analysis Points
- AP World History Mini-DBQ: Ideas of Rights and Equality, 1750 to 1900
Multiple choice
AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this site. This guide is our own explanation of the question types and scoring. For the official scoring guidelines, see the College Board.