AP European History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about European history from approximately 1450 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Five themes of equal importance — interaction of Europe and the world, poverty and prosperity, objective knowledge and subjective visions, states and other institutions of power, and individual and society — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in different times and places. The course also allows teachers flexibility to teach certain topics of their choice in depth.

Click on the text above (Historical Skills and Themes for AP Euro) to learn more about them.