Essay Questions for AP World History Unit 1

Teachers
1

Every year around this time I used to scramble to prepare homework essay questions for my AP World History students around this time. Not this year!

Over summer, I got to work early and prepared questions ahead of time! If you’re scrambling right now, take my essay questions for homework assignments and adapt them to your class!

  • How did political structures in Song China, the Islamic Caliphates, and Post-Classical Europe compare around 1200 CE? This question builds the comparison historical thinking skill and asks students to identify similarities and differences in government systems.
  • To what extent did religion shape political authority in the Islamic World between 1200 and 1450? This rather open question lets students practse the “extent to which” reasoning, asking the kids to weigh several factors instead of giving a single-cause answer.
  • Compare the methods used by the Mongols to rule China, the Middle East, and Russia. Another comparison question: Same empire, different geographic locations. We can use this knowledge later to analyse Mongol trade.
  • How did gold and salt shape the rise of states such as Ghana and Mali in West Africa between 1200 and 1450? Here we’re asking students to link economic resources directly to state formation. It’s also a preview for the trade network focus of Unit 2.
  • Compare the political and social organization of the Aztec and Inca empires around 1450. Another compare and contrast qustion, but this time looking at New World empires.

I’m still not entirely sure which questions I will actually use. Which ones do you think are best?

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I think these are excellent questions. For me, in dealing with the nature of secondary school students with whom I was faced, I like your 1st, 3rd and 5th question best, in terms of teaching how to answer with long written submissions. It allows for them use a broad sample of what you would have taught, it helps structure their study, and it is conducive to teaching how to develop an organized essay with clear paragraph groupings and such.
Just my 2 cents on the matter - I was just a high school teacher, so it’s not a university professor reply with that quality of input.

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Thanks for your feedback. Yes, history is great for also teaching how to structure an essay, isn’t it? And I’m not looking for university professor input, but high school teachers! That’s where I teach.