Lesson One:

Specificity, Detail,

&

Short Answer Questions

the AP US History Test As you are probably aware, the goal of taking AP US History (APUSH) class is to prepare yourself for the AP US History test in May so you can earn college credit. In order to best prepare you, I will give you assessments (quizzes, tests, and essays)that are like the APUSH test throughout the year.

Here is a short breakdown of all of the parts of the APUSH test:

Specificity and Detail In whatever kind of historical writing you are doing, you willneed to present an argument (thesis) and prove it with evidence. The more specific and detailed your evidence is, the more convincing your thesis will be.

Let’s imagine your mom is going to the grocery store, and she asks you if you want anything, and you want some junk food.

Extremely vague you: Mom, can you be sure to get some snacks at the store, please?

Analysis: That’s not very specific. Your mom might bring back kale chips and unidentifiable fruits.

Question Type Number of

Questions Timing

Percentage of

Total Exam

Score

Multiple-choice questions 55 55 minutes 40 %

Short-answer questions 3 40 minutes 20 %

Document-based essay question 1 60 minutes 25 %

Long essay question 1 (from a choice of 3) 40 minutes 15 %

Slightly-more-specific you: Mother dear, could you please get me something sweet and crunchy while you’re at the store?

Analysis: This is better … but your mom could still interpret your request differently than you intended. Baby carrots are sweet and crunchy, and they’re pretty good with some hummus… but you wanted JUNK food.

Awesomely detailed you: I would really like to have some of those Flamin’ Hot Cheetos that come in an orange-and-black 20 ounce bag with a picture of Chester Cheetah on it, and a also a family-sized package of Double-stuf Oreos, please. Remember I don’t like the puffy, non-hot Cheetos in the blue bag or those emaciated single-stuf oreos in the yellow package. Thanks, Ma!

Analysis: Very nice. Your m om m ay not w ant to get those snacks for you, because PRESERVATIVES, but at least you made your request clear by using the names of items and by clearly describing them. Also you said please and thank you, which moms like.

Now let’s look at some historical statements at different levels of specificity.

Vague statement: Back then, the Indians and the white people didn’t get along.

Analysis: I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. W hen? W hich Indians? W hich white people? Why didn’t they get along? When was an example of a time they didn’t get along? How did it get resolved?

Slightly-less-vague statement: In the 1600s, the Pueblo Indians revolted against the Spanish.

Analysis: Better … but was it for the entire 1600s? Who were these Pueblo Indians? Where did they live? Why did they revolt? How did the Spanish respond? What was the outcome?

Specific, detailed statement: In 1680, Pueblo Indians in modern-day New Mexico revolted against Spanish colonists because the Spanish had forced the Indians to pay them tribute in both goods and labor and destroyed or outlawed many of the Indians’ religious objects. The rebels killed about 400 Spanish and drove the rest of the Spanish settlers out of the area until 1692.

Analysis: Fantastic. You nam ed nam es, described, and thoroughly explained. A+.

Activity 2A: Specificity and Detail Re-write each of the following vague statements to include lots of specificity and detail. Remember to name names and describe! Use your textbook for reference if necessary. Write the new, more specific statements on your own paper.

1. Before the Europeans came, the Indians did a lot of stuff.

2. When the Europeans got there in the 1500s, there was an exchange.

3. The Spanish colonies were pretty different from the English andFrench ones.

4. Economic theories affected colonization.

Intro to Short-answer Questions

Short-answer questions will likely appear on some of your quizzes in class this year, so we’ll cover them first. Lesson Three will address multiple-choice questions, and Lessons Four through Ten will address the essays.

The short-answer question section will have fhree short-answer question sets, and youwill have a total of 40 minutes to answer all three.

Activity 2B: Characteristics of Short Answer Question Sets & Responses Read over the example sets of short-answer questions and the sample responses on the next three pages. Discuss the following with a partner, and record your responses on your own paper.

1. What do all three question sets have in common?

2. What are the three types of question sets?

3. Make a T- chart on your paper that looks like the one below.Determine what the good sample responses have in commonand how they differ from the poor sample responses, and fillin the chart.

Characteristics of Good Responses Characteristics of Poor Responses

e

Sample Question Set 1. Using the excerpts below, answer a, b, and c.

“As to the natives of this country, I find them entirely savage and wild, strangers to all decency, yea, uncivil and stupid as garden stakes, proficient in all wickedness and ungodliness, devilish men who serve nobody but the devil… They have so much witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and wicked arts that they can hardly be held in by any bands or locks. They are as thievish and treacherous as they are tall, and in cruelty they are altogether inhuman.”

--Jonas Michaelius, letter, 1628

“I confess I think no great good will be done until they [Indians] be more civilized. But why may not God begin with some few to awaken others by degrees? Nor do I expect any great good will be wrought by the English… because God is wont to convert nations and peoples by some of their own countrymen who are nearest to them and can best speak, and, most of all, pity their brethren and countrymen.”

--John Eliot, ‘the Day-breaking of the Gospel with the Indians,’ 1646

a. Briefly explain Jonas Michaelius’ point of view.

b. Briefly explain John Eliot’s point of view.

c. Provide and explain one piece of evidence from the colonial period that supportsONE of the points of view expressed in the excerpts.4

Sample Responses to Question Set 1:

The first response is anti-native, and the second response is pro-native, sort of,

and there were a lot of massacres and battles to prove the first one.

a. Michaelius’ viewpoint regarding the Native Americans is very negative, andcharacterizes them as naturally evil, stupid, and thoroughly uncivilized. He makesno mention of any redeeming qualities they might have had or any attempts theymay have made at ‘improving’ their level of civilization.

b. Eliot’s viewpoint casts the Native Americans as less civilized than Englishmen, butexpresses some optimism that they might at least be converted to Christianity. Hepoints out that the Europeans might convert a few natives, and then those nativeswould be better able than would the Europeans at Christianizing larger numbers ofnatives.

c. Various massacres of colonists by Native Americans would serve as evidence toprove Michaelius’ point of view. Specific examples include an incident during KingPhilip’s War called ‘the Nine Men’s Misery’ during which nine colonists were rituallytortured by Narragansset Indians, and Pontiac’s Rebellion, during which aconfederacy of Great Lakes-area tribes attacked several British forts andsettlements.

Sample Question Set 2. Using the map below, answer a, b, and c.

a. Briefly explain ONE specifichistorical development thatcontributed to the emergenceduring the 18th century of thepatterns depicted in the map.

b. Briefly explain ONE specifichistorical effect that resulted fromthe patterns depicted in the map.

c. Briefly explain ANOTHER specifichistorical effect that resulted fromthe patterns depicted in the map.3

Sample Responses to Question Set 2:

Trans-Atlantic Trade in the 18th Century

a. mercantilismb. Navigation Actsc. smuggling

a. In the 18th century, the economies of the Chesapeake and southern BritishAmerican colonies depended on labor-intensive crops, such as tobacco in Virginia and rice in South Carolina. Originally colonists had attempted to enslave Native Americans or used indentured servants as a source of labor, but African slaves proved to be hardier and less expensive, creating a high demand for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

b. According to the theory of mercantilism, colonies existed solely for the benefit oftheir mother countries, and all trade should be controlled by the government. Great Britain passed a series of laws called the Navigation Acts in order to regulate colonial trade (to its own benefit) that restricted the types of items that could be imported into the colonies (usually only items that had come from Britain or passed through Britain) and forbade colonies from trading directly with each other.

c. Another effect of triangular trade and mercantilism was a rise in smuggling.Colonial Americans saw smuggling as a way to evade high excise taxes and customs duties and to assert their independence against the restrictive laws passed by Parliament.

Sample Short-Answer Question Sets & Responses

Sample Question Set 3: Answer a, b, and c.

a. Choose any TWO of the countries listed below and briefly explain one common traitin their treatment of Native Americans in the 16th and 17th centuries.

England France Spain

b. Choose any TWO of the countries listed above and briefly explain one difference intheir treatment of Native Americans in the 16th and 17th centuries.

c. Briefly explain ONE reaction of Native Americans to European policies in the 16th

and 17th centuries. 2

Sample Responses to Question Set 3:

England and Spain both treated Native Americans badly, though the Spanish were meaner, which led to a revolt.

a. Both England’s and Spain’s treatments of Native Americans in the colonialperiod were characterized by the attitude that European culture was far superior to that of the Native Americans, whom they considered to be uncivilized. For example, English missionaries founded the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, one goal of which was to convert Indians to Christianity, and the Spanish established the Franciscan Missions of New Mexico, which were headed by Father Alonso de Benavides.

b. French colonists’ treatment of Native Americans was affected by theirdesire to participate in the fur trade, leading to the creation of alliances and attempts by the French to understand the Indians’ language and culture, as exemplified by Samuel de Champlain’s alliance with the Huron. In contrast, English colonists were more concerned with fishing and agriculture, and often had conflicts with the Indians, such as the Pequot War and King Philip’s War, as English colonists pushed further and further west.

c. In 1622, a Powhatan Confederacy led by Chief Opechancanoughmassacred about ¼ of the population of the English colony of Jamestown, as well as colonists in other settlements along the James River. The massacre was partially caused by the Chesapeake colonies’ dependence on land-intensive tobacco cultivation, which led the colonists to encroach on Powhatan land.

Lesson ONE: Specificity, Detail, and SAQs

Characteristics of Short-Answer Question Sets

There will be three question sets, each of which has three parts (a, b, and c). You will have 40 minutes to complete. 20% of your exam score. Students will choose between two options for the final required question.

Question 1 will cover periods 3-8. The first required question set will have two secondary source excerpts presenting varying points of view on some topic, and the questions will have to do with those interpretations.

The second required question set will be about either a visual or a primary source document. Will also cover periods 3-8.

Last required question students will choose between question 3, periods 1-5, and question 4, periods 6-9.

Requirements for Answering Short Answer Questions

Write in complete sentences. Bulleted lists or hastily-scribbled sentence fragments won’t earn credit.

Label each part of the question (a, b, and c).

Write 1-3 sentences for each part of each question (a, b, and c). You have 40 minutes total, which is about 13 minutes per question set, so you have time for a thorough response.

Activity 2C: Short-Answer Practice Write specific, thorough, detailed responses to the following question sets on your own paper. Reference the sample responses listed above.

1. Answer parts a, b, and c.a. Briefly explain how ONE of the following groups had the

greatest impact on establishing a European presence in theAtlantic World. Spanish English French

b. Provide an example of an event or development to supportyour explanation.

c. Briefly explain why ONE of the other groups was not asinfluential in establishing a presence in the Atlantic World.

2. Answer parts a, b, and c.a. Briefly explain the impact of ONE of the following on the

colonial economy: agriculture monetary system transportation

b. Briefly explain the British policy of mercantilism.

c. Briefly explain how the policy impacted the colonies.

Lesson Two Endnotes:

1 "AP Exam Information--the AP US History Exam." AP Central. College Board, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.

2 adapted from Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. New York, N.Y: Amsco School Publications, 2014. 20. Print.

3 “AP US History Practice Exam.” AP Central. College Board, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.

4 adapted from Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. New York, N.Y: Amsco School Publications, 2014. 44. Print.

AP US History Writing and Skills Handbook 1 Teacher Ancillaries for Lesson Two: Specificity, Detail, and SAQs