AP US HISTORY - Scoring Guidelines - Part B - Short-Answer Question with Secondary Source

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Finn

AP U.S. History scoring guidelines for Part B (Short-Answer Question with Secondary Source) define how students should respond to a prompt using two historical excerpts by Kathy Peiss and Nan Enstad. The document specifies scoring criteria for three tasks: comparing interpretations, using an unmentioned 1880–1929 development to support Peiss, and using an unmentioned 1880–1929 development to support Enstad. It also provides general exam notes on accuracy and clarity, including description and explanation expectations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

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Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

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Part B: Short-Answer Question with Secondary Source

General Scoring Notes

Scoring Guidelines (3 points)

Learning Objectives

Question (A): Difference in Interpretations

Question (B): Support Peiss’s Argument

Question (C): Support Enstad’s Argument

AP US HISTORY Scoring Guidelines Part B: Short-Answer Question with Secondary Source 1. “Of all the amusements that bedazzled the single working woman, dancing proved to be her greatest passion. After a long day laboring in a factory or shop, young women dressed themselves in their fanciest finery, put on their dancing shoes, and hurried out to the neighborhood hall, ballroom, or saloon equipped with a dance floor. . . . By the 1910s, over five hundred public dance halls opened their doors each evening throughout greater New York. . . . “New ballrooms and dance palaces offered a novel kind of social space for their female patrons, enhancing and legitimizing their participation in a public social life. The commercial culture of the dance halls meshed with that of working-class youth in a symbiotic relationship, reinforcing emergent values and ‘modern’ attitudes.” Kathy Peiss, historian, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York, 1986 “As strikers thronged the public streets of New York City [in 1909], demonstrated in parades and mass meetings, and picketed in front of factories, they challenged established assumptions about the identity and appearance of political actors and access to public space. These working-class, largely immigrant women comprised a subordinated group long denied an active voice in recognized political forums. By occupying the arena of labor politics through a mass strike, they demanded a voice.” Nan Enstad, historian, Ladies of Labor, Girls of Adventure: Working Women, Popular Culture, and Labor Politics at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, 1999 Using the excerpts above, answer (a),(b), and (c). (A) Briefly describe ONE important difference between Peiss’ and Enstad’s historical interpretations of women’s emergence in the public sphere at the turn of the twentieth century. (B) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event, development, or circumstance from the period 1880–1929 that is not specifically mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Peiss’ argument. (C) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event, development, or circumstance from the period 1880–1929 that is not specifically mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Enstad’s argument AP US History Course and Exam Description | SG 1 | 00762-123-CED-US History-Scoring Guidelines_Q1.indd 1 | 6/5/19 3:37 AM | | --- | --- | General Scoring Notes • Each point is earned independently. • Accuracy: These scoring guidelines require that students demonstrate historically defensible content knowledge. Given the timed nature of the exam, responses may contain errors that do not detract from their overall quality, as long as the historical content used to advance the argument is accurate. • Clarity: Exam responses should be considered first drafts and thus may contain grammatical errors. Those errors will not be counted against a student unless they obscure the successful demonstration of the content knowledge, skills, and reasoning processes described below. • Describe: Provide the relevant characteristics of a specified topic. Description requires more than simply mentioning an isolated term. • Explain: Provide information about how or why a historical development or process occurs or how or why a relationship exists. AP US History Course and Exam Description | SG 2 | 00762-123-CED-US History-Scoring Guidelines_Q1.indd 2 | 6/5/19 3:37 AM | | --- | --- | Scoring Guidelines for Part B: Short-Answer Question with Secondary Source 3 points Learning Objectives: Unit 6, Learning Objective I Unit 7, Learning Objective G (A) Describe one important difference between Peiss’s and Enstad’s historical interpretations of women’s emergence in the public sphere at the turn of the twentieth century. Examples that earn this point include the following: • Peiss argues that pursuits of entertainment in dance halls by working class women created new, leg

FAQs

What does Part B require students to do using the secondary sources?

Students answer three short questions (a), (b), and (c) using the provided excerpts by Peiss and Enstad, including a comparison and two applications of an 1880–1929 development not mentioned in the excerpts.

How should Question (A) be answered?

Question (A) asks students to briefly describe one important difference between Peiss’s and Enstad’s historical interpretations of women’s emergence in the public sphere at the turn of the twentieth century.

What are acceptable examples for supporting Peiss’s or Enstad’s arguments in Questions (B) and (C)?

Question (B) and (C) require students to briefly explain one relevant historical event, development, or circumstance from 1880–1929 not specifically mentioned in the excerpts. The document lists examples such as commercial culture opportunities, the New Woman, the Nineteenth Amendment, and broader civic movements.

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Finn