AP United States Government and Politics

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Advanced Placement (AP) United States Government and Politics (often shortened to AP Gov or AP GoPo and sometimes referred to as AP American Government or simply AP Government) is a college-level course and examination offered to high school students through the College Board's Advanced Placement Program. This course surveys the structure and function of American government and politics that begins with an analysis of the United States Constitution, the foundation of the American political system. Students study the three branches of government, administrative agencies that support each branch, the role of political behavior in the democratic process, rules governing elections, political culture, and the workings of political parties and interest groups. [1]

Contents

Topic outline

The material in the course is composed of multiple subjects from the Constitutional roots of the United States to recent developments in civil rights and liberties. The AP United States Government examination covers roughly six subjects listed below in approximate percentage composition of the examination. [2]

Foundations of American Democracy (15–22%)

Interactions Among Branches of Government (25–36%)

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (13–18%)

American Political Ideologies and Beliefs (10–15%)

Political Participation (20–27%)

Public Policy (Part of the Units, embedded within all five units)

Required Supreme Court cases and Foundation Documents

Supreme Court cases

Starting from 2019 Administration of the Test, the College Board requires students to know 15 Supreme Court cases. [3] After the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , Roe v. Wade was removed from the required case list. [4] The 14 required Supreme Court cases are listed below:

Supreme Court caseYearSignificanceLaw Applied
Marbury v. Madison 1803Established the principle of judicial review empowering the Supreme Court to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that violates the Constitution U.S. Const. art. I; U.S. Const. art. III, § 2; Judiciary Act of 1789 § 13
McCulloch v. Maryland 1819Established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1, 18
United States v. Lopez 1995Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3
Engel v. Vitale 1962School sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause U.S. Const. amend. I
Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the free exercise clause U.S. Const. amend. I; Wis. Stat. § 118.15 (Wisconsin Compulsory School Attendance Law)
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 1969Public school students have the right to wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C.   § 1983
New York Times Co. v. United States 1971Bolstered the freedom of the press, establishing a “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security U.S. Const. amend. I
Schenck v. United States 1919Speech creating a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the First Amendment U.S. Const. amend. I; 50 U.S.C.   § 33
Gideon v. Wainwright 1963Guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent in a state felony case U.S. Const. amends. VI, XIV
McDonald v. Chicago 2010The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is applicable to the states U.S. Const. amend. II, XIV
Brown v. Board of Education 1954Race-based school segregation violates the equal protection clause U.S. Const. amend. XIV
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 2010Political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment U.S. Const. amend. I, Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
Baker v. Carr 1961Opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and the development of the “one person, one vote” doctrine by ruling that challenges to redistricting did not raise “political questions” that would keep federal courts from reviewing such challenges U.S. Const. amend. XIV; U.S. Const. art. III; 42 U.S.C.   § 1983; Tenn. Const. art. II
Shaw v. Reno 1993Majority-minority districts, created under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, may be constitutionally challenged by voters if race is the only factor used in creating the district U.S. Const. amends. XIV

Foundation Documents

College Board requires students to memorize foundational documents. [5] The nine documents are listed below:

Foundation DocumentYear
Federalist No. 10 1787
Brutus No. 1
The Declaration of Independence 1776
The Articles of Confederation 1781
The Constitution of the United States 1789
Federalist No. 51 1788
Federalist No. 70
Federalist No. 78
Letter from Birmingham Jail 1963

Exam

The Multiple-Choice section is analytical and the Free-Response questions are as follows. [6]

Question #1234
Question TypeConcept ApplicationQuantitative AnalysisSupreme Court Case(s) ComparisonArgument Essay
Time Suggested20 minutes20 minutes20 minutes40 minutes
Percentage of Total Exam ScoreEach free response question counts as 12.5% of the exam score.

Grade distribution

The grade distributions since 2007 were:

Final Score2007 [7] 2008 [8] 2009 [9] 2010 [10] 2011 [11] 2012 [12] 2013 [13] 2014 [14] 2015 [15] 2016 [16] 2017 [17] 2018 [18] 2019 [19] 2020 [20] 2021 [21] 2022 [22] 2023 [23] 2024 [24]
56.0%12.1%13.1%12.5%12.6%12.5%11.3%11.9%9.7%12.3%11.1%13.3%12.9%15.5%12.0%12.0%12.8%24%
418.9%13.1%17.0%13.3%13.9%14.9%14.3%12.5%13.5%13.5%12.4%13.3%12.4%16.5%11.6%10.9%11.3%25%
326.9%25.2%25.4%25.4%25.1%24.8%26.1%26.4%24.7%24.9%25.7%26.4%29.8%25.5%26.9%25.8%25.1%24%
232.1%25.8%24.2%24.0%24.3%24.5%24.8%24.7%25.0%24.0%24.6%24.4%24.8%22.0%25.8%25.7%24.0%18%
116.1%23.7%20.3%24.7%24.1%23.3%23.5%24.6%27.0%25.2%26.1%22.6%20.1%20.5%23.8%25.7%26.8%9%
% of Scores 3 or Higher51.8%50.5%55.5%51.3%51.6%52.2%51.6%50.7%48.0%50.8%49.3%53.0%55.1%57.5%50.4%48.6%49.2%73%
Mean Score2.672.642.782.652.672.692.652.622.542.642.582.702.732.852.622.582.593.37
Standard Deviation1.131.301.301.321.321.321.291.301.281.321.301.311.271.341.291.301.331.27
Number of Students160,978177,522189,998211,681225,837239,513255,758271,043282,571296,108319,612326,392314,825293,196283,353298,118329,132330,000

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References

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  2. "Government and Politics United States Comparative Course Description" (PDF). The College Board. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
  3. "AP® U.S. Government and Politics Course And Exam Description" (PDF). The College Board. pp. 48–49. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  4. Schwartz, Sarah (August 4, 2022). "'Roe v. Wade' Won't Be on Next Year's AP Government Test". Education Week. ISSN   0277-4232 . Retrieved December 19, 2022.
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  6. "AP® U.S. Government and Politics Course And Exam Description" (PDF). The College Board. p. 80. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
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