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AP® World History: Modern

A Contemplanda online course.

This course follows the College Board's published AP World History: Modern framework.

AP® World History: Modern is a course in world history from about 1200 to the present. The College Board's framework asks students to investigate the significant events, individuals, developments, and processes of that period and to use the methods of historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources, developing historical arguments, making historical connections, and reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time.

The College Board describes AP World History: Modern as the equivalent of an introductory college or university survey of modern world history.

The College Board's AP World History: Modern framework has nine units in a logical sequence often found in college courses and textbooks, and the AP Exam assesses all nine. The framework describes what colleges and universities expect students to know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.

This course teaches all nine College Board units, with a lesson for every topic.

Course at a glance

Course title
AP World History: Modern
Publisher
Contemplanda
Framework
Follows the College Board's published AP World History: Modern framework
Structure
16 units over two semesters
Lessons
105 lessons
Credit
Not awarded by Contemplanda
Enrollment
Purchasing is not open yet
Course page
www.contemplanda.com/courses/ap-world-history

Credit and enrollment

Contemplanda does not award high school credit. A student who wants credit for the course should ask their own school whether it will accept it.

Under College Board rules, a course may carry the AP designation on a student's transcript only if it is authorized through the College Board's AP Course Audit.

Purchasing is not open yet. Questions about enrolling can go to info@contemplanda.com.

Students who are already enrolled sign in at direct.contemplanda.com.

How the course works

  • Practice comes one question at a time and continues until the student answers four in a row correctly. After a wrong answer, the practice keeps drawing questions.
  • Many questions have hints that open one step at a time. When a question has one, the next hint is offered after a wrong answer. An answer given after opening a hint counts in full toward the practice streak and the mastery levels, but the top level, mastered, also requires at least one graded question answered correctly without opening a hint.
  • Answers take many forms: items matched in pairs; sentences and paragraphs completed from given choices; and multiple-choice answers.
  • Every figure has a written text description.

Recommended preparation

The College Board sets no prerequisites for AP World History: Modern. It expects students to be able to read a college-level textbook and to write grammatically correct, complete sentences.

Units and lessons

Every published lesson, by semester and unit.

Topic numbers are the College Board's: topic 5.10 is unit 5, topic 10.

Semester 1

Enrichment

Foundations before 1200

Outside the College Board framework and not on the AP Exam.

It is graded: one of its six lessons has a graded check, and the semester 1 midterm and final include questions on it.

  1. 0.0 Early humans, farming, and the state
  2. 0.1 Early agrarian societies to c. 600 BCE
  3. 0.2 The classical era, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE
  4. 0.3 Postclassical civilizations, c. 600 to c. 1200
  5. 0.4 Regional webs and the fall of empires
  6. Unit 0 review

College Board unit 1: The Global Tapestry

Assessed on the AP Exam

Afro-Eurasia and the Americas from c. 1200 to c. 1450: the government, cultural traditions, and commercial economy of Song China and the influence of Chinese traditions and Buddhism in East Asia; the Islamic states that emerged as the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, the spread of Islam, and intellectual innovation in Dar al-Islam; the belief systems and states of South and Southeast Asia; state building in the Americas and in Africa; religion, political decentralization, and agricultural society in Europe; and comparison of state formation across these regions.

1
The global tapestry
Topics 1.1 to 1.7
  1. 11.1 Developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  2. 21.2 Developments in Dar al-Islam from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  3. 31.3 Developments in South and Southeast Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  4. 41.4 State building in the Americas
  5. 51.5 State building in Africa
  6. 61.6 Developments in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  7. 71.7 Comparison in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  8. 8Unit 1 reviewUnit test10 questions

College Board unit 2: Networks of Exchange

Assessed on the AP Exam

Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450: the Silk Roads and the growth of trading cities, new commercial practices, and money economies; the Mongol Empire and its effects on trade, communication, and technological and cultural transfers; exchange in the Indian Ocean, including the use of the monsoon winds, diasporic merchant communities, and the maritime activity led by Zheng He; the trans-Saharan trade routes and the empire of Mali; the cultural consequences of connectivity, including the writings of travelers; the environmental consequences, including the spread of crops and of the bubonic plague; and comparison of these networks of exchange.

2
Networks of exchange
Topics 2.1 to 2.7
  1. 12.1 The Silk Roads
  2. 22.2 The Mongol Empire and the making of the modern world
  3. 32.3 Exchange in the Indian Ocean
  4. 42.4 Trans-Saharan trade routes
  5. 52.5 Cultural consequences of connectivity
  6. 62.6 Environmental consequences of connectivity
  7. 72.7 Comparison of economic exchange
  8. 8Unit 2 reviewUnit test10 questions
Exam

Semester 1 midterm

  1. Semester 1 midterm exam32 questions

College Board unit 3: Land-Based Empires

Assessed on the AP Exam

Land-based empires from c. 1450 to c. 1750: the expansion of the Manchu, Mughal, Ottoman, and Safavid empires through gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade; the ways rulers legitimized and consolidated their power through bureaucratic elites and military professionals, religious ideas, art and monumental architecture, and tribute and tax collection; continuity and change in belief systems, including the Protestant and Catholic reformations, the split between Sunni and Shi'a Islam, and the development of Sikhism; and comparison of the ways these empires increased their influence.

3
Land-based empires
Topics 3.1 to 3.4
  1. 13.1 Empires expand
  2. 23.2 Empires: administration
  3. 33.3 Empires: belief systems
  4. 43.4 Comparison in land-based empires
  5. 5Unit 3 short-answer workshop
  6. 6Unit 3 reviewUnit test10 questions

College Board unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

Assessed on the AP Exam

The Eastern and Western Hemispheres from c. 1450 to c. 1750: the technological innovations that made transoceanic travel and trade possible; the causes and events of state-sponsored maritime exploration by the Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, and Dutch; the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases; the establishment and growth of maritime empires, including trading posts, mercantilism and joint-stock companies, the global flow of silver, and labor systems such as chattel slavery, indentured servitude, and the encomienda and hacienda systems; the Atlantic trading system; internal and external challenges to state power, including resistance by enslaved persons; and changing social hierarchies.

4
Transoceanic interconnections
Topics 4.1 to 4.8
  1. 14.1 Technological innovations from 1450 to 1750
  2. 24.2 Exploration: causes and events from 1450 to 1750
  3. 34.3 Columbian Exchange
  4. 44.4 Maritime empires established
  5. 54.5 Maritime empires maintained and developed
  6. 64.6 Internal and external challenges to state power from 1450 to 1750
  7. 74.7 Changing social hierarchies from 1450 to 1750
  8. 84.8 Continuity and change from 1450 to 1750
  9. 9Unit 4 long essay question workshop
  10. 10Unit 4 reviewUnit test10 questions
Exam

Semester 1 final

  1. Semester 1 final exam41 questions

Semester 2

College Board unit 5: Revolutions

Assessed on the AP Exam

The world from c. 1750 to c. 1900: the Enlightenment and the reform movements it influenced; nationalism and the revolutions against existing governments; the environmental and other factors behind the Industrial Revolution and the spread of industrialization to other parts of Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan; the technology of the industrial age, including steam engines, railroads, steamships, and the telegraph; the role of governments in industrialization, including Japan in the Meiji Era; the move away from mercantilism in western Europe as theories of laissez-faire capitalism gained acceptance, and the growth of transnational businesses; the reactions to the industrial economy, including labor unions, socialism and communism, and reform efforts in the Ottoman Empire and Qing China; and the new social classes and the challenges of rapid urbanization.

5
Revolutions
Topics 5.1 to 5.10
  1. 15.1 The Enlightenment
  2. 25.2 Nationalism and revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900
  3. 35.3 Industrial Revolution begins
  4. 45.4 Industrialization spreads in the period from 1750 to 1900
  5. 55.5 Technology of the industrial age
  6. 65.6 Industrialization: government's role from 1750 to 1900
  7. 75.7 Economic developments and innovations in the industrial age
  8. 85.8 Reactions to the industrial economy from 1750 to 1900
  9. 95.9 Society and the industrial age
  10. 105.10 Continuity and change in the industrial age
  11. 11Unit 5 document-based question workshop
  12. 12Unit 5 reviewUnit test10 questions

College Board unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization

Assessed on the AP Exam

The world from c. 1750 to c. 1900: the ideologies used to justify imperialism, including Social Darwinism and the civilizing mission; the expansion of empires in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, and of the United States, Russia, and Japan into neighboring territories; indigenous responses to state expansion, including anticolonial movements and rebellions; the growth of a global economy and of export economies based on raw materials; economic imperialism in Asia and Latin America; the causes and effects of migration, including coerced and semicoerced labor migration, ethnic enclaves, and the responses of receiving societies; and the effects of imperialism.

6
Consequences of industrialization
Topics 6.1 to 6.8
  1. 16.1 Rationales for imperialism from 1750 to 1900
  2. 26.2 State expansion from 1750 to 1900
  3. 36.3 Indigenous responses to state expansion from 1750 to 1900
  4. 46.4 Global economic development from 1750 to 1900
  5. 56.5 Economic imperialism from 1750 to 1900
  6. 66.6 Causes of migration in an interconnected world
  7. 76.7 Effects of migration
  8. 86.8 Causation in the imperial age
  9. 9Unit 6 source and stimulus workshop
  10. 10Unit 6 reviewUnit test10 questions

College Board unit 7: Global Conflict

Assessed on the AP Exam

The world from c. 1900 to the present: the collapse of the Ottoman, Russian, and Qing empires and other challenges to the existing order, including the Mexican Revolution; the causes of World War I and the methods governments used to conduct a total war; government responses to economic crisis after World War I and during the Great Depression, including the Five Year Plans in the Soviet Union; the tensions left unresolved after World War I and the colonial holdings of the interwar years; the causes and conduct of World War II; mass atrocities, including the Holocaust; and the causes of global conflict.

7
Global conflict
Topics 7.1 to 7.9
  1. 17.1 Shifting power after 1900
  2. 27.2 Causes of World War I
  3. 37.3 Conducting World War I
  4. 47.4 Economy in the interwar period
  5. 57.5 Unresolved tensions after World War I
  6. 67.6 Causes of World War II
  7. 77.7 Conducting World War II
  8. 87.8 Mass atrocities after 1900
  9. 97.9 Causation in global conflict
  10. 10Unit 7 reviewUnit test10 questions
Exam

Semester 2 midterm

  1. Semester 2 midterm exam32 questions

Covers units 5 to 7.

College Board unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization

Assessed on the AP Exam

The world from c. 1900 to the present: the historical context of the Cold War and decolonization after World War II; the ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, its military alliances, nuclear proliferation, and proxy wars; the spread of communism, including the communist revolution in China, and movements to redistribute land and resources; decolonization, by negotiation and by armed struggle; the newly independent states, the redrawing of political boundaries, and the migration of former colonial subjects; resistance to established power structures, including the practice of nonviolence; the end of the Cold War; and the effects of the Cold War and decolonization.

8
Cold War and decolonization
Topics 8.1 to 8.9
  1. 18.1 Setting the stage for the Cold War and decolonization
  2. 28.2 The Cold War
  3. 38.3 Effects of the Cold War
  4. 48.4 Spread of communism after 1900
  5. 58.5 Decolonization after 1900
  6. 68.6 Newly independent states
  7. 78.7 Global resistance to established power structures after 1900
  8. 88.8 End of the Cold War
  9. 98.9 Causation in the age of the Cold War and decolonization
  10. 10Unit 8 reviewUnit test10 questions

College Board unit 9: Globalization

Assessed on the AP Exam

The world from c. 1900 to the present: advances in communication, transportation, energy, agriculture, and medicine; disease and the limitations of technological advances; debates about the environment, including climate change; the global economy, including economic liberalization and knowledge economies; calls for reform in matters of race, class, gender, and religion, and the responses to them; globalized culture; resistance to globalization; new international institutions, including the United Nations; and continuity and change in a globalized world.

9
Globalization
Topics 9.1 to 9.9
  1. 19.1 Advances in technology and exchange after 1900
  2. 29.2 Technological advances and limitations after 1900: disease
  3. 39.3 Technological advances: debates about the environment after 1900
  4. 49.4 Economics in the global age
  5. 59.5 Calls for reform and responses after 1900
  6. 69.6 Globalized culture after 1900
  7. 79.7 Resistance to globalization after 1900
  8. 89.8 Institutions developing in a globalized world
  9. 99.9 Continuity and change in a globalized world
  10. 10Free-response practice set: three short answers and two essays
  11. 11Unit 9 reviewUnit test10 questions
Exam

AP practice exam 1

  1. Practice exam 1, part 1: multiple choice
  2. Practice exam 1, part 2: short-answer questions
  3. Practice exam 1, part 3: document-based question
  4. Practice exam 1, part 4: long essay question
  5. Practice exam 1, part 5: scoring and corrections10 questions

Covers units 1 to 9.

Exam

AP practice exam 2

  1. Practice exam 2, part 1: multiple choice
  2. Practice exam 2, part 2: short-answer questions
  3. Practice exam 2, part 3: document-based question
  4. Practice exam 2, part 4: long essay question
  5. Practice exam 2, part 5: scoring and corrections10 questions

Covers units 1 to 9.

Exam

Semester 2 final

  1. Semester 2 final exam43 questions

Covers all of semester 2, units 5 to 9.

Historical thinking skills and reasoning processes

The College Board names six historical thinking skills for AP World History: Modern, which it expects students to develop throughout the course and which form the basis of the tasks on the AP Exam.

1Developments and Processes

Identifying and explaining historical developments and processes.

1.A
Identify a historical concept, development, or process.
1.B
Explain a historical concept, development, or process.

2Sourcing and Situation

Analyzing the sourcing and situation of primary and secondary sources.

2.A
Identify a source's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience.
2.B
Explain the point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience of a source.
2.C
Explain the significance of a source's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience, including how these might limit the use(s) of a source.

3Claims and Evidence in Sources

Analyzing the arguments in primary and secondary sources.

3.A
Identify and describe a claim and/or argument in a text-based or non-text-based source.
3.B
Identify the evidence used in a source to support an argument.
3.C
Compare the arguments or main ideas of two sources.
3.D
Explain how claims or evidence support, modify, or refute a source's argument.

4Contextualization

Analyzing the context of historical events, developments, or processes.

4.A
Identify and describe a historical context for a specific historical development or process.
4.B
Explain how a specific historical development or process is situated within a broader historical context.

5Making Connections

Using the reasoning processes of comparison, causation, and continuity and change to analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes.

5.A
Identify patterns among or connections between historical developments and processes.
5.B
Explain how a historical development or process relates to another historical development or process.

6Argumentation

Developing an argument.

6.A
Make a historically defensible claim.
6.B
Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence.
6.C
Use historical reasoning to explain relationships among pieces of historical evidence.
6.D
Corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument using diverse and alternative evidence in order to develop a complex argument.

The College Board also names three reasoning processes, the ways of thinking that students apply when they use the historical thinking skills on the AP Exam.

1Comparison

1.i
Describe similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes.
1.ii
Explain relevant similarities and/or differences between specific historical developments and processes.
1.iii
Explain the relative historical significance of similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes.

2Causation

2.i
Describe causes and/or effects of a specific historical development or process.
2.ii
Explain the relationship between causes and effects of a specific historical development or process.
2.iii
Explain the difference between primary and secondary causes and between short- and long-term effects.
2.iv
Explain how a relevant context influenced a specific historical development or process.
2.v
Explain the relative historical significance of different causes and/or effects.

3Continuity and Change

3.i
Describe patterns of continuity and/or change over time.
3.ii
Explain patterns of continuity and/or change over time.
3.iii
Explain the relative historical significance of specific historical developments in relation to a larger pattern of continuity and/or change.

Six themes run through the College Board's framework and connect developments across the units: humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.

Assessment

Each of the nine content units closes with a unit test of 10 questions.

Each semester has a midterm exam and a final exam.

Unit tests and semester exams are graded automatically, and all graded work counts toward the student's mastery record, which shows each skill as attempted, familiar, proficient, or mastered.

Contemplanda publishes no grade weighting for this course. A school that decides to grant credit for it also decides how the work counts toward a grade.

Academic integrity

Work in the course must be the student's own.

Answer keys for graded questions are never sent to the student's device.

The AP Exam

The AP World History: Modern Exam assesses all nine units. It lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes and has two sections.

Section I, Part A: Multiple-choice questions

Questions
55
Time
55 minutes
Share of score
40%

Section I, Part B: Short-answer questions

Questions
3
Time
40 minutes
Share of score
20%

Section II, Question 1: Document-based question

Questions
1
Time
60 minutes
Share of score
25%

Section II, Question 2: Long essay question

Questions
1
Time
40 minutes
Share of score
15%

Students answer all three short-answer questions: the first includes a secondary text source, the second a primary text source, and the third a primary or secondary non-text source. The three questions cover historical developments and processes between 1200 and 2001, each focused on a different historical period. The document-based question presents seven documents on a topic drawn from historical developments or processes between 1200 and 2001, and its 60 minutes include a 15-minute reading period. The long essay question is required and covers about half of the chronological scope of the course.

The exam is fully digital: students answer the multiple-choice and the free-response questions in the College Board's digital testing app.

Scores are reported on a scale of 1 to 5.

This is the exam format in effect from the May 2027 exam, as set out in the College Board's clarifications and corrections to the course and exam description for fall 2026.

The AP Exam is given in schools in May.

A student who takes the AP Exam at a school other than the one where they take the course, or who takes the exam without taking the course, gets a join code from the AP coordinator at the school where they will test and joins an exam-only section there.

Materials and technology

Where the course runs
In a web browser, through Contemplanda Direct
Textbook
None required. The course's own lessons are the text.
Course framework
apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-world-history

Published at www.contemplanda.com/courses/ap-world-history/syllabus

Units, lessons, and counts in this syllabus are generated from the published course.

Questions: info@contemplanda.com

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