AP® World History: Modern 2025 Scoring Guidelines - Sample Student Responses and Scoring Commentary Set 1 - Short-Answer Question 1

Sep 20, 2026

AP® World History: Modern 2025 includes scoring guidelines and sample student responses for Short-Answer Question 1 (Secondary Source), focusing on the effects of the discovery of the Americas. The materials explain how points are earned independently, what counts as accurate historical content, and how to assess description versus explanation. They provide answer criteria for claims about Africa, economic changes in the Americas, and reasons American Indians became victims, with examples and scoring commentary for sets A, B, and C.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Short-Answer Question 1

Scoring Guidelines

General Scoring Notes

Answer Criteria (A, B, C)

Student Samples and Commentary

2025 AP® World History: Modern Sample Student Responsesand Scoring Commentary Set 1 Inside: Short-Answer Question 1 ☑ Scoring Guidelines ☑ Student Samples ☑ Scoring Commentary © 2025 College Board. College Board, Advanced Placement, AP, AP Central, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of [College Board. Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org](College Board. Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org). AP Central is the official online home for [the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org](the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org). AP® World History: Modern 2025 Scoring Guidelines | Question 1: Short Answer Secondary Source 3 points | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | 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timed nature of the exam, responses may contain errors that do not detract from their overall quality, as long as the historical content used to advance the argument is accurate.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 practices 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. | | | | | | | | A | Identify one claim that the author makes in the first paragraph about the effect of the discovery of the Americas on Africa.
Examples of acceptable responses may include the following:
• The African gold markets were destroyed.
• It resulted in the decline of cities and empires in Africa.
• It caused the abandonment of ancient trade routes. | 1 point | | B | Describe one economic change in the Americas that occurred as a result of the developments discussed in the second paragraph.
Examples of acceptable responses may include the following:
• The plantation system in the Americas became widespread.
• The increased availability of enslaved labor from Africa further developed the pattern of triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
• The decrease in Indigenous labor in the Americas created a demand for an increased number of enslaved laborers from Africa. | 1 point | © 2025 College Board C Explain one reason why “American Indians” “became victims of the discovery of America,” as suggested by the author in the last sentence of the passage. Examples of acceptable responses may include the following: 1 point • The Columbian Exchange resulted in a high death rate for Native Americans due to the introduction of diseases originating in Afro-Eurasia. • With the arrival of the Spanish and the introduction of new labor systems, such as the encomienda and hacienda systems, Native American labor was exploited. • Native American tribes lost their ancestral homelands as European colonists took overland for economic gain. • Europeans often forced Christianization on Native Americans that resulted in the loss of cultural traditions. © 2025 College Board Sample 1A Page 1 of 1 a) One claim is that Africa suffered because Europeans no longer needed the gold that they traded. This is because the European powers now had access to much more gold in the Americas, so it was no longer nesccesary to trade with Africa. As a result, Africa and especially the Trans-Saharan Route suffered because one of its main exports, Gold, was no longer profitable. b) One economic change would be the focus on agricultural/cash crop production. The Americas were large and contained fertile land, with many natural resources. As a result, labor/slaves were needed for the ma

FAQs

How are points awarded for Short-Answer Question 1?

Each point is earned independently. Responses are evaluated for historically defensible content knowledge and clear demonstration of description or explanation requirements.

What is required for Part A about the effect of the discovery of the Americas on Africa?

Identify one claim made by the author in the first paragraph regarding the effects on Africa, such as disruption of gold markets, decline of African cities and empires, or abandonment of trade routes.

What reason should students give for why American Indians became victims of the discovery of America?

Provide one reason suggested by the author’s last sentence, such as disease from the Columbian Exchange, exploitation through labor systems like encomienda, loss of homelands due to colonization, or forced Christianization that disrupted cultural traditions.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Genevieve