AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the “AP” designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.

The AP World History course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of an introductory college course in world history. The purpose of your course should be to understand the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of human societies. Your course should highlight the nature of changes and continuities over time and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. Students develop analytic skills through exposure to historical documents, visual and statistical evidence and conflicting interpretations.

There are no specific curricular prerequisites for students taking AP World History.

All students who are willing and academically prepared to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.

High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration resources described in the AP Coordinator’s Manual