We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We created a study plan to help you crush your AP European History exam. This guide will continue to update with information about the 2024 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you do your best on test day.
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Format of the 2024 AP European History exam
Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:
Section 1A: Multiple Choice (40% of score)
Section 1B: Short Answer (20% of score)
Section 2: Free Response (40% of score)
Document-Based Question (25% of score)
Long Essay Question (15% of score)
Total time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Scoring Rubric for the 2024 AP European History exam
Multiple Choice: Earn a point for each correct answer. There is no penalty for incorrect answers.
Short Answer Question: 1 point is received for each correct piece of information. There are three parts labeled A-C and 1 point for each part, totaling a maximum of 3 points for each short answer question.
Document-Based Question:
Long Essay Question:
Check out our study plan below to find resources and tools to prepare for your AP European History exam.
When is the 2024 AP European History Exam and How Do I Take It?
The tests will be taken in person at your school unless your AP Coordinator has indicated otherwise. Here is what we know from College Board so far:
The exam will be on paper, Friday, May 10, 2024, at 8:00 AM local time.
Activate Cram Mode to get updates on the latest 2024 exam news.
Pre-Work: Set Up Your Study Environment
Before you begin studying, take some time to get organized.
🖥 Create a study space.
Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space.
📚 Organize your study materials.
Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also, create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get yourself set up!
📅 Plan designated times for studying.
The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.
🏆 Decide on an accountability plan.
How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First, set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!
Big takeaways:
Unit 1 covers three main areas of content. First, it introduces us to Europe and briefly covers the end of the Middle Ages. This first area of content predominantly focuses on the crises of the Late Middle Ages (Bubonic Plague, 100 Years War, and Peasant Revolts) and sets the stage for the birth of the Modern Era. Secondly, this unit covers the Italian and Northern Renaissance. Not only is this focused on artistic developments, but also social and political changes. Finally, this unit covers the Age of Exploration and the broad impacts that it has on the continent.
Content to focus on:
🖼 Renaissance
Have a good understanding of the differences between the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance. Pay close attention to Italian Humanists vs Christian Humanists.
Have a good understanding of the major themes of the Renaissance including:
Artistic change is important, but be sure to focus on artistic themes and developments
Resources to use:
🎥 Watch These Videos:
📖 Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
Unit 2 covers two bigger topics: the Protestant Reformation and the Wars of Religion. We can break down those two topics into some smaller topics. The Protestant Reformation covers Luther’s Reformation, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and Counter-Reformation. The Wars of Religion mostly look at the political and social responses to Reformation. There are several engagements that are focused on: the French Wars of Religion, the wars of Philip II, and the 30 Years War.
Content to focus on:
💒Protestant Revolution
🔫Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion
The specific details of the French Wars of Religion are less important than the effects of it.
Definitely study the tension between Hugeonots and French Catholics and the general reasons why war broke out.
Focus most of your attention on Henry IV and the Edict of Nantes.
The Conflicts of Philip II
There are two specific conflicts that should be studied with Philip II. The first is the Spanish Armada and the attempted invasion of England. And the second is the response to the Dutch independence movement.
Both of these have religious undertones that should be focused on.
The 30 Years War
This is arguably the most important war of the Wars of Religion. Like with all of these wars, the cause and effects outway the specific details of the war.
For the causes, focus on the continued conflicts between Lutherans and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire.
You can study the specific details of the war. Typically, it’s divided up into four periods:
Bohemian Period
Danish Period
Swedish Period
French Period
The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the war, is the biggest aspect that needs to be focused on. While you should do a deep dive into it, the big takeaway is that it ended all future religious wars in Europe.
Resources to use:
📖 Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
This unit focuses on the development of monarchical power in Europe during the 17th century. The overarching theme is the comparison of absolutism and constitutionalism. However, the unit also covers several important historical developments that do not necessarily fall specifically within this larger theme; these will be mentioned as we work through the unit. Here are the big takeaways for the unit. Focus on the development of absolutism in France (Henry IV, Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIV) and Russia (Peter the Great). You should also focus on the use and development of mercantilism. Constitutionalism focuses mostly on England by analyzing the rule of James I and Charles I, the English Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution. You should also make sure you look at the Dutch Golden Age during this unit.
Content to focus on:
👑 Absolutism
French Absolutism
Henry IV is a good place to start here. Focus on he developed the power of the French monarchy.
Cardinal Richelieu laid the foundation for Louis XIV, so make sure to focus on how he did that. You can also pay attention to his role in the 30 Years War and how he became one of the examples of a politique.
Louis XIV is the model absolutist in European History. When you study him, pay attention to how he solidified power for himself and created the cult of personality that surrounded him. You should also pay attention to his foreign policy and his wars. The war to focus on most is the War of Spanish Succession. Lastly, think about whether he was truly a successful absolute monarch and where his shortcomings were.
This is also a good place to study up mercantilism and the impact it had on European economies and the development of colonies throughout the world.
Russian Absolutism
Russian absolutism is really focused on Peter the Great and the advancements he made for Russia
Focus on the establishment of a warm water port, the Table of Ranks, and his westernization of Russia
📜 Constitutionalism
Focus first on the rule of James I, why he wanted to be an absolute king, and why he couldn’t. This is a good place to review the Magna Carta.
When tackling Charles I, study why he feuded with Parliament and what eventually led to the outbreak of the English Civil War.
Like most wars that we study, the specific details of the war are not important, but instead, understand the causes of it and how it ended. It would be good to understand why it’s significant that Charles I was executed.
Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan dictatorship should be the next thing that you look at. The biggest thing to focus on, though, would be understanding why England allowed Cromwell to rule as a dictator for ten years.
The last thing that you should study is the Glorious Revolution and the establishment of the English Bill of Rights. Here, I would focus on why Parliament wanted James II gone and why they appealed to William and Mary. Understand the basic premise of the English Bill of Rights and how it established a constitutional monarchy in England.
🇳🇱 The Dutch Golden Era
Resources to Use
🎥 Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
Unit 4 might be the simplest unit to tackle because there is not a heavy amount of content to cover. The overarching theme of unit 4 is the advancement in scholarly thought in Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. It focuses on two major developments: the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. For both of these, it’s important to understand major themes and how it will impact future European events. This is probably the most important thing to focus on. You could also study Absolute Despots, but I would recommend studying that in unit 5.
Content to focus on:
🤔 Enlightenment
The Enlightenment is much denser to study than the Scientific Rev. I would not try to tackle all Enlightened thinkers, instead I’ll give recommendations of a few to know. You should also study the causes of it. Why did the Enlightenment happen here and now? Also, look into Enlightenment-era Salons and the impact that they had.
Enlightenment philosophers to know:
Voltaire: Religious Toleration
Montesquieu: Political separation of powers
Diderot: Equal access to knowledge
Rousseau: The dangers of society
Beccaria: Criminal reform
Wollstonecraft: Women’s rights in society
Resources to Use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
This is probably the heftiest unit in the course and definitely deserves a lot of your attention. There are three main components that make up this unit: the Old Regime (Europe in the 18th Century), the French Revolution, and the reign of Napoleon. The Old Regime has a lot of important content that helps build the foundations of the French Revolution and Europe moving into the 19th century. Below, I’ll cover the important aspects of each.
Content to focus on:
🤴🏻 Old Regime:
There are several specific pieces of content to focus on here. The biggest takeaway from the Old Regime is that Europe experienced systematic change throughout the century. I’ll highlight some of that change below:
But there are also some “Europe up to their old shenanigans” aspects of the Old Regime:
Partitioning of Poland
Peasant Revolts in Russia
🇫🇷The French Revolution
You can spend A LOT of time on the French Revolution, but I really don’t think you need to. Instead, I would focus mostly on the causes and effects, while looking at the important changes that are made in France during the Revolution.
Causes:
Changes made in France
Effects
The overthrow of the monarchy
Abolition of the Estates
Wars of the French Revolution
The Spread of Revolutionary Ideas
Notable People and Events
👀Napoleon
Napoleon is another rabbit hole you can fall down. Instead, have an understanding of how he rose to power and his domestic and foreign policies.
Domestic Changes
Foreign Policy
Congress of Vienna can also be lumped in here. Make sure to know the goals of the Congress and its impacts on Europe going into the 19th century.
Resources to use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
We can really think about this unit as the first half of the 19th century. A lot of the stuff we’ll be talking about here will continue to be mentioned in Unit 7 as well. I like to break up this unit into three sections: Industrialization, Competing Ideologies, and Reactions to Social and Political Change. You really want to study this unit and unit 7 thematically and not chronologically.
Content to focus on:
Resources to use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
As I mentioned in Unit 6, I like to think about Unit 7 as covering the second half of the 19th century. In this unit, there are two big pieces of content to cover: the unification of Italy and German, as well as New Imperialism. Some other pieces of content that you need to review are the rise of socialism, societal changes, scientific, and medical advancement.
Content to focus on:
Resources to use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
We are covering the major 20th-century conflicts that are happening on a global scale. The major events in this unit are World Wars I and II, Russian Revolution, Versailles Conference and Peace Settlement, Great Depression, fascism and totalitarianism, Europe during the interwar period, Holocaust, and 20th-Century cultural, intellectual, and artistic developments.
Content to focus on:
🔫World War I
Understand the differences between the western and eastern front in the development of WWI
Look into the events leading into WWI (such as the Moroccan Crisis and Bosnian Crisis) and its immediate cause (assassination Archduke Franz Ferdinand)
Look into the effects of the Industrial Revolution and increased militarism
Know the different types of alliances and how they formed
Look into the Schlieffen Plan
Dig deeper into how nationalism and imperialism play a role in WWI
Understand the conditions in the Treaty of Versailles and the formation of the League of Nations
⚔Russian Revolution
Understand the rise of socialism and how the Bolshevik Party formed
Look into what sparks the February/March Revolution
Understand how Bolshevik Party takes over the provisional government and Lenin enacts New Economic Policy
Look into the Civil War between the Red Army and White Army
🥖Great Depression
Look into what the Dawes Plan was and the consequences of the US stock market crash
Understand how the Great Depression led to the rise of authoritarian leaders.
Be able to explain what fascism and totalitarianism is and how these ideologies played a role in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union
👉🏽Interwar Period
Look into how Germany remilitarized the Rhineland (between France and Germany)
Check out the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Understand the Anschluss of Austria by Germany
Look into the appeasement of Hitler and the German annexation of the Sudetenland
Understand the Nazi and Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Look into the economic modernization of the Soviet Union
🤺World War II
Understand the gradual and immediate causes of WWII
Look into the economic modernization of the Soviet Union
Recognize how the war took place in the Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Understand how the beginning of the Holocaust and its impact on Jewish people and how they were liberated.
Learn how the world changed after WWII (socially, culturally, artistically, economically, etc.) and what the Lost Generation was.
Resources to use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Big takeaways:
This final unit focuses on rebuilding Europe after World War II, the Cold War, the emergence of two superpowers, mass atrocities since 1945, postwar economic developments, the fall of communism, decolonization, European Union, technological developments since 1914, globalization, 20th- and 21st-Century culture, arts, and demographic trends, and continuity and change in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Content to focus on:
Resources to use:
🎥Watch these videos:
📖Read these study guides:
Thematic Guides:
Exam Guides:
Other Resources: