AP World History: Modern · History & Social Science

AP World History: Modern: free lessons and course outline

c. 1200 to the present across the whole globe, argued from the documents themselves, not a survey of one continent with the others added on. Every unit is taught through the sources historians actually use, every unit ends with a stimulus-based review, and the essay sections let you write DBQs and LEQs against the real College Board rubrics with a top-score response to compare against.

3H 15M EXAM 55 MCQ 3 SAQ 1 DBQ 1 LEQ 84 LESSONS 108 REVIEW QUESTIONS 10 ESSAY PROMPTS NO PREREQ

AP World History: Modern follows the nine units of the College Board course framework, running from about 1200 to the present, in 84 lessons. Each lesson follows one or two CED topics, quotes the learning objectives and key concepts in a Required content box, reads a primary source (or a labeled description of one) with attention to point of view, purpose, situation, and audience, and ends with an Exam focus box and six practice items. The middle units carry the most weight (Units 3 through 6 are each worth 12–15% of the exam, against 8–10% for Units 1, 2, and 7 through 9), so the period from 1450 to 1900 deserves the most attention. The exam is 3 hours 15 minutes: 55 multiple-choice questions, 3 short-answer questions, a document-based question drawn from 1200–2001, and a long essay question. Every unit ends with a stimulus-based review, and the essay sections at the bottom of the outline hold DBQ and LEQ prompts with a writing space that scores against the official rubric.

U1Unit 1: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200–c. 14508–10%
U2Unit 2: Networks of Exchange, c. 1200–c. 14508–10%
U3Unit 3: Land-Based Empires, c. 1450–c. 175012–15%
U4Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections, c. 1450–c. 175012–15%
U5Unit 5: Revolutions, c. 1750–c. 190012–15%
U6Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization, c. 1750–c. 190012–15%
U7Unit 7: Global Conflict, c. 1900–present8–10%
U8Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization, c. 1900–present8–10%
U9Unit 9: Globalization, c. 1900–present8–10%

Writing the DBQ? Read the World History DBQ guide.

Writing the LEQ? Read the World History LEQ guide.

Writing the SAQ? Read the World History SAQ guide.

Every lesson, unit by unit

U1 is free to read below. The other units open with a free month or a paid plan.

U1 Unit 1: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200–c. 1450 8–10% of the examFREE

U2 Unit 2: Networks of Exchange, c. 1200–c. 1450 8–10% of the exam

2.1 The Silk Roads and the growth of trade
2.2 The Mongol Empire and the making of the modern world
2.3 Exchange in the Indian Ocean
2.4 Trans-Saharan trade routes
2.5 Cultural consequences of connectivity
2.6 Environmental consequences of connectivity
2.7 Comparison of economic exchange

U3 Unit 3: Land-Based Empires, c. 1450–c. 1750 12–15% of the exam

3.1 Gunpowder empires: the Ottomans and Safavids
3.2 The Mughal, Qing, Russian, and Songhai expansions
3.3 How rulers legitimized power
3.4 Bureaucrats, soldiers, and taxes
3.5 Belief systems in an age of empires
3.6 Comparison in land-based empires

U4 Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections, c. 1450–c. 1750 12–15% of the exam

4.1 Technology and the age of exploration
4.2 Exploration: causes and events
4.3 The Columbian Exchange
4.4 Maritime empires established
4.5 Labor systems and the Atlantic slave trade
4.6 Mercantilism, silver, and the first global economy
4.7 Society, belief, and rivalry in the age of oceans
4.8 Challenges to state power, 1450 to 1750
4.9 Changing social hierarchies, 1450 to 1750
4.10 Continuity and change from 1450 to 1750

U5 Unit 5: Revolutions, c. 1750–c. 1900 12–15% of the exam

5.1 The Enlightenment and its reach
5.2 The American and French revolutions
5.3 The Haitian and Latin American revolutions
5.4 Nationalism and new nations
5.5 How the Industrial Revolution began
5.6 Industrialization spreads
5.7 The technology of the industrial age
5.8 The state and industrialization
5.9 Capitalism, free trade, and global business
5.10 Workers, unions, and the rise of socialism
5.11 Reform and modernization in the Ottoman and Qing empires
5.12 Society in the industrial age
5.13 Continuity and change in the industrial age

U6 Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization, c. 1750–c. 1900 12–15% of the exam

6.1 Rationales for imperialism
6.2 European empires in Africa and Asia
6.3 Settler colonies and expanding land empires
6.4 Responses to imperial expansion
6.5 Export economies and the global market
6.6 Economic imperialism
6.7 Causes of migration in an interconnected world
6.8 The effects of migration
6.9 Causation in the imperial age

U7 Unit 7: Global Conflict, c. 1900–present 8–10% of the exam

7.1 Shifting power and the fall of old empires
7.2 The causes of World War I
7.3 Conducting World War I: the first total war
7.4 The interwar economy and the state
7.5 Unresolved tensions after World War I
7.6 The causes of World War II
7.7 World War II: the course of the war
7.8 World War II: mobilization and technology
7.9 Mass atrocities and genocide
7.10 Causation in global conflict

U8 Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization, c. 1900–present 8–10% of the exam

8.1 Setting the stage for the Cold War and decolonization
8.2 The Cold War: an ideological struggle
8.3 Superpower influence: alliances, aid, and nuclear weapons
8.4 Proxy wars
8.5 China's turn to communism
8.6 Movements to redistribute land and wealth
8.7 Decolonization: nationalist leaders and independence
8.8 Decolonization: armed struggle and separatist movements
8.9 Newly independent states
8.10 Resistance to power structures, violent and nonviolent
8.11 The end of the Cold War
8.12 Causation in the age of the Cold War and decolonization

U9 Unit 9: Globalization, c. 1900–present 8–10% of the exam

9.1 Communication, transportation, and energy technologies
9.2 Food, medicine, and birth control
9.3 Disease and the limits of technology
9.4 Debates about the environment
9.5 Economics in the global age
9.6 Calls for reform and the response
9.7 Globalized culture
9.8 Resistance to globalization
9.9 International institutions in a globalized world
9.10 Continuity and change in a globalized world

Keep going in the full AP World History: Modern course

All of U1 (Unit 1: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200–c. 1450) is free to everyone, with no account. The course has 84 lessons, each with worked examples and practice problems that come with full solutions. A free account can also start a free month of the whole course, with no card.

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