how long is an leq essay

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How to LEQ | AP US History Study Guide

Learn how to respond to the Long-Essay Question.

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The 6 Best Ways to Prepare for the LEQ APUSH Section

What Is the LEQ APUSH Section?

The LEQ APUSH section (a.k.a. the long essay question section) is worth 15% of your overall score. It asks you to choose one of two prompts. Then, you need to write a solid essay within the 35 allotted minutes. The essay should demonstrate one of the historical thinking skills . Here are the 6 best ways that you can prepare in order to ace the LEQ APUSH section.

1. Dissect the Question

Start by analyzing the question. Find out what the question is asking you to do. You need to make sure that you answer every part of it.

Go through the question and circle all the directive words, such as analyze , compare/contrast , or assess .

There may be a few trick directives in the question. These are there to distract you from the topics you really need to address. Pay attention, and read closely to determine what the question is really asking you to answer.

2. Craft a Solid Thesis

One of the most important parts of any essay is the thesis. Why? Because it is the outline to your paper. Your thesis tells the reader what your stance is on the issue, what you’re going to compare and contrast, etc. Then, it tells the reader which supporting details you will discuss further.

Practice crafting a thesis that won’t just reiterate the question. Be prepared to answer every part of the question, with relevant evidence to support your ideas.

3. Create an Outline

Once you have your thesis, you have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to discuss throughout your essay. Take a minute to brainstorm ideas. It could be a cluster, bulleted list, or other way to get your ideas on paper.

Then, jot down an outline with a few notes to remind you what you want to include in each paragraph. Refer to your outline while writing the essay. This will allow you to attack the question methodically to help you earn more points.

4. Use Historical Lingo

Since your essay should prove to graders that you know what you’re talking about, try to use as much historical lingo as possible. Of course, you need to use it correctly. Study the vocabulary so you can speak as an expert on American history.

5. Make Connections

The paragraph before your conclusion should be used to make connections to a different historical period , geographical area, or theme. Don’t just make the comparison. Take some time to develop the idea, so you can describe the period (or theme, geographical area, etc.) and discuss why you chose it.

6. Practice Good Writing Techniques

Don’t simply spill all your good ideas on the paper. You need to use good writing techniques, and pay attention to your spelling, grammar, capitalization, and so on. Some of the common things to watch for include:

• Active voice (not passive voice)
• Third person
• Strong verbs
• Descriptive adjectives and adverbs

Refrain from using abbreviations, casual language, or a lot of fluff. Keep your essay concise as you answer the question.

As you work on these 6 things, practice writing solid essays for the LEQ APUSH section. Have a friend or teacher check your writing to help you determine what you can do to improve. You can also refer to the College Board’s LEQ scoring guidelines and commentary for examples that can guide your writing, and help you ace the LEQ APUSH section. Remember, practice makes perfect!

Jamie graduated from Brigham Young University- Idaho with a degree in English Education. She spent several years teaching and tutoring students at the elementary, high school, and college level. She currently works as a contract writer and curriculum developer for online education courses. In her free time, she enjoys running and spending time with her boys!

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How to Write an LEQ Essay? (Step-byStep)

Preparing to take AP History exams is always daunting — your score will play a major role in determining your future, after all. Many students find the LEQ portion of US, European, and World History exams to be the most challenging, as it requires quick thinking and relies on confident writing skills. Do you need a little extra help in preparing for your long essay question? We're here to help.

Understanding an LEQ

APUSH, AP World History, and AP European History exams feature the same question types every year. Each of the sections in your exam has an established format, and will be scored to make up a predetermined percentage of your overall exam result. Together, the types of questions you will find on your AP History exam serve to test your knowledge and analytical skills.

The APUSH exam, for instance, consists of:

• A total of 55 multiple-choice questions, which students are given 55 minutes to complete and which amount to 40 percent of the total score.
• Three SAQs, or short answer questions, in which students are called on to demonstrate their analytical skills. The SAQs represent 20 percent of the total score.
• DBQs, or document based questions, which make up 25 percent of the exam score.
• LEQs, long essay questions, which make up 15 percent of the total score.

Students will be offered two different prompts to choose from in this section of an AP History exam, and are given 40 minutes to complete a short essay with the purpose of demonstrating rhetorical and reasoning skills, as well as proving they have the required background knowledge to pass the exam.

While the LEQ portion of an AP History exam is bound to be daunting to many students, who find multiple-choice questions easier to tackle than a free response task, acing your long essay questions will be easier once you understand what the purpose of this portion of the exam is. The LEQ:

• Primarily serves to demonstrate that the student has a complex and nuanced understanding of historical events.
• Tests whether students are able to draw parallels and see contrasts in different historical events, as well as to compare and contrast distinct events or time periods.
• Puts the student's analytical and reasoning skills to the test.

Is the LEQ Hard?

Students who prepare for their AP History exams — and who have had plenty of practice in writing essays — should not find the long essay question too challenging. Students will be offered two prompts, and are given the opportunity to choose from among them.

Because the long essay question they select will prompt students to engage in a free response, and there is no clearly defined "right" or "wrong" answer, many students experience the long essay question as the most difficult part of the AP history exam. There's no need to be scared of this portion of the exam, though!

You will not primarily be judged on the beauty of the words you choose, and a formulaic response that "ticks all the right boxes", by answering the prompt in the expected format, will help you maximize your score. This ultimately means that the LEQ portion of your APUSH, World History, or European History exam does not have to be difficult, as long as you practice in advance and are familiar with the expectations being placed on you.

How Is the LEQ Scored?

The prompts students are able to choose from change every year — but the scoring guidelines for the LEQ remain consistent. Grading personnel will be on the lookout for evidence that students:

• Address the prompt directly. You will be given a clear task, and you will need to show that you have understood the prompt.
• Offer clear reasoning for the position they choose to take in the essay, citing evidence from the material encountered in the AP History coursework that precedes the exam.
• Draw on the wider historical context relevant to the chosen prompt, by addressing developments that occurred before the events in the prompt, by pointing to the effects of the event referenced in the prompt, or by comparing it to another event.
• Offer specific examples relevant to the prompt.
• Can compare and contrast the referenced event, or point to cause and effect. Alternatively, students may demonstrate complex understanding by discussing multiple consequences, causes, or variables related to the prompt.

You may notice that the beauty of your writing is not addressed in any of these points — especially artful wording or syntax cannot lead to additional points, because the examiners are looking for evidence that you have meaningfully interacted with your AP History classes, instead. It is therefore sensible to focus all your efforts on answering the LEQ prompt, without agonizing over your stylistic choices.

How to Format the APUSH LEQ?

While students are free to format their long essay questions in any way they would like, a five-paragraph essay format is extremely effective. This format offers students the chance to write an introduction in which they state their thesis — the historically-defensible claim they are making in the essay. They can then write three supporting paragraphs in which they elaborate on the thesis and explain why it is valid. Finally, such an essay should have a concluding paragraph in which the thesis is restated and defended in brief.

Students who believe they need additional paragraphs to defend their thesis can certainly write more, but each supporting paragraph in the body of the essay must speak to the prompt, by providing evidence to back the thesis up, in order for the student to gain as many points as possible.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing an LEQ Essay

Are you preparing for your AP History exams? Practice makes perfect — and practicing for your LEQ will help you knock an effective essay, one that ticks all the right boxes, out in no time. Practice using these techniques by looking up LEQ prompts from previous years!

1. Read the LEQ Prompts Carefully

Before you write a response to the long essay question of your choice, take the time to read both prompts carefully. You have 40 minutes to complete the entire LEQ portion of your AP History exam, and you would be advised to take at least 30 seconds to a minute to decide which prompt you are most likely to be able to answer well. Consider which topic you know more about, and what specific evidence you could offer to support your claim.

2. Formulate Your Response In Your Mind

Keeping in mind that students are expected to address the prompt directly, to formulate a thesis, to back it up with specific evidence, and to place their answers into a broader historical context, think about the points you would like to include in the response to your long essay question.

Take the time to formulate a specific and defensible thesis, and think about the evidence and context you can offer to support your claim. If you can, include a hook that will interest the person grading your LEQ, such as a quote, statistic, or interesting fact. Consider strong ways to end your LEQ essay, paying special attention to your concluding sentence.

Overall, this preparatory work should take you up to five minutes.

3. Write Your LEQ Response

Now that you have outlined the formula of your response in your mind, you can go ahead and write down your answer. Your LEQ should begin with an introductory paragraph, which will include your thesis statement. The next paragraphs in your LEQ essay should be devoted to showing why your thesis is defensible, using material you mastered during your AP History classes. Finish off with a concluding paragraph that clearly lays out why the points made in your essay are valid. You can take around 30 minutes crafting your LEQ essay.

4. Edit and Proofread Your LEQ Response

Finally, you will want to look over your LEQ essay and to check for grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Correct those, as needed.

How to Pass the APUSH LEQ Exam

Do you suffer from essay-related "stage fright"? Are you a history buff, but was writing never your strongest point? Don't worry — it is entirely possible to earn a good score on the LEQ portion of any AP History exam without being a great writer. You can increase your chances of earning a great score on the LEQ portion of an AP US, European, or World History exam by:

• Using prompts used during previous years to practice for this portion of your exam — the more you practice, the easier it will be to simply write.
• Analyzing the prompt carefully, being sure to pay attention to the core message.
• Offering specific examples to show why the claim you are making is valid.
• Offering a broader context to show that you understand how the topic addressed in the LEQ relates to other historical events.

The long essay question requires writing, but the quality of your writing is not being examined — to pass your APUSH LEQ exam, you simply need to understand what expectations are being placed on you. If you arrive fully prepared, you will not have any trouble!

Related posts:

• How to Write a DBQ (APUSH) Essay?
• 14 Tips to Help you Write An Essay Fast
• How to Write an Effective Claim (with Examples)
• How to Write a Counter Argument (Step-by-Step Guide)
• How to Write an Effective Counterclaim in 5 Steps
• How To Write A Movie Title In An Essay

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AP U.S. History Long Essay Example

The second part of Section II of the AP exam contains three long essay questions—you must respond to one. The AP U.S. History long essay question assesses your ability to apply knowledge of history in a complex, analytical manner. In other words, you are expected to treat history and historical questions as a historian would.

This process is called historiography—the skills and strategies historians use to analyze and interpret historical evidence to reach a conclusion. Thus, when writing an effective essay, you must be able to write a strong, clearly developed thesis and supply a substantial amount of relevant evidence to support your thesis and develop a complex argument.

The College Board’s characteristics of a high-scoring long essay question response are listed below. Note that the requirements are very similar to those of the DBQ; the primary difference is that any requirements related to use of the documents are removed from the scoring requirements for the long essay question.

[ RELATED: Reading Strategies for AP US History Exam ]

Long Answer Sample Question

Evaluate the extent to which the migration of European colonists and the resulting encounters with American Indians affected social patterns in the period from 1495 to 1650.

Step 1: Analyze the Prompt

As you choose which question you will answer, begin thinking about what your thesis will entail and how your essay will demonstrate a complex understanding. The notes of a sample high-scoring writer are below.

Thesis (with complex understanding): Spanish, French, and British each used territory differently; result: distinct social patterns

This writer claims that three different countries’ approaches to settling territories resulted in different types of social development, but other types of thesis claims are possible. For instance, the thesis could make a single claim about overall social patterns (such as “Europeans’ economic goals in the New World and their attitudes of superiority over American Indians resulted in exploitative and hierarchical social structures”) or focus on only one or two European nations.

Step 2: Plan Your Response

• Context : motives for European exploration: new technology, navigation techniques, and trade routes
• Thesis   (with complex understanding ):  Spanish, French, and British each used territory differently; result: distinct social patterns
• goals: wealth and spread Catholicism
• methods: mining, large-scale agriculture, encomienda, disease/weapons, missions
• results: forced assimilation, social structure
• goal: fur trade
• method: mutually profitable trade relationships
• result: alliances
• goals: permanent settlements, Jamestown, religious freedom (New England)
• methods: occupying more land for farming, smallpox, Metacom’s War
• results: deaths of indigenous populations
• ¶ conclusion: where Europeans sought permanent settlements or forced labor, resulted in American Indian population decline, upheaval, and threats to tradition

Step 3: Action! Write Your Response & Step 4: Proofread

See the following high-scoring response, and be sure to read the rubric to help you identify what makes this response effective. Think about what features you can incorporate into your own free- response answers.

Sample High-Scoring Response

The Spanish had two major goals: to gain wealth and to spread Catholicism to the native populations. Realizing the potential to mine precious metals and profit from large-scale agriculture, the Spanish forced American Indians into labor, such as through the encomienda system. Violence and deception were often used to subdue the indigenous populations, aided by the technological superiority of European weapons and the spread of devastating diseases. Although some Spanish came as missionaries with the goal of converting American Indians to Christianity and often protested the abusive treatment of the American Indians, even missions sometimes essentially forced labor and coerced assimilation to Spanish culture. In the long term, a hierarchical social structure developed in the Spanish colonies in which the Spanish-born and their descendants (peninsulares and creoles) dominated those of mixed background (mestizos and mulattos) and especially those of pure African or American Indian heritage. Overall, millions perished between disease and mistreatment, devastatingly weakening traditional cultures but enriching the Spanish.

The French differed from the Spanish in their relationship with the indigenous populations. Using the St. Lawrence River for transportation and trade, the French profited from trading fur pelts, particularly beaver, with the American Indians, and then sending the pelts to Europe. These traders profited from the knowledge and goods of the American Indian populations who lived there, and certainly desired to develop mutually profitable relationships with them. Overall, this more cooperative relationship helped preserve American Indian cultures and led to alliances between the French and different American Indian nations. These alliances benefited the French in later wars with the British.

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AP European History

Review the free-response questions from the 2024 ap exam., exam overview.

Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information, download the  AP European History Course and Exam Description  (CED).

Encourage your students to visit the  AP European History student page  for exam information.

Rubrics Updated for 2023-24

We’ve updated the AP European History document-based question (DBQ) and long essay question (LEQ) rubrics for the 2023-24 school year.

This change only affects the DBQ and LEQ scoring, with no change to the course or the exam: the exam format, course framework, and skills assessed on the exam all remain unchanged.

The course and exam description (CED) has been updated to include:

• Revised rubrics (general scoring criteria) for the DBQ and LEQ.
• Revised scoring guidelines for the sample DBQ and LEQ within the CED.

Mon, May 5, 2025

12 PM Local

AP European History Exam

Exam format.

The AP European History Exam has consistent question types, weighting, and scoring guidelines, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day.

Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice

55 Questions | 55 minutes | 40% of Exam Score

Questions usually appear in sets of 3–4 questions.

• Students analyze historical texts, interpretations, and evidence.
• Primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps are included.

Section I, Part B: Short Answer

3 Questions | 40 Minutes | 20% of Exam Score

• Students analyze historians’ interpretations, historical sources, and propositions about history.
• Questions provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best.
• Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.
• Students choose between 2 options for the final required short-answer question, each one focusing on a different time period:
• Question 1 is required, includes 1–2 secondary sources, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1600 and 2001.
• Question 2 is required, includes 1 primary source, and focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1600 and 2001.
• Students choose between Question 3 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1450 and 1815) and Question 4 (which focuses on historical developments or processes between the years 1815 and 2001). No sources are included for either Question 3 or Question 4.

Section II: Document-Based Question and Long Essay

2 questions | 1 Hour, 40 minutes | 40% of Exam Score

Document-Based Question (DBQ) Recommended time: 1 Hour (includes 15-minute reading period) | 25% of Exam Score

• Students are presented with 7 documents offering various perspectives on a historical development or process.
• Students assess these written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.
• Students develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.
• The document-based question focuses on topics from 1600 to 2001.

Long Essay Recommended time: 40 minutes | 15% of Exam Score

• Students explain and analyze significant issues in European history.
• The question choices focus on the same skills and the same reasoning process (e.g., comparison, causation, or continuity and change), but students choose from 3 options, each focusing on historical developments and processes from a different range of time periods—either 1450–1700 (option 1), 1648–1914 (option 2), or 1815–2001 (option 3).

Exam Questions and Scoring Information

Ap european history exam questions and scoring information.

View free-response questions and scoring information from this year's exam and past exams.

Score Reporting

Ap score reports for educators.

Access your score reports.

LEQ (Meaning, Nature, Application skills, Scoring, Expert tips to writing)

• by Stella-maris Achumba
• November 9, 2021

Do you hear about LEQ, but don’t know what it means? Then, this article is for you.

LEQ stands for “Long Essay Question.” It is an Advanced Placement (AP) historical language for a thesis -evident essay.

It is a type of essay introduced by the College Board as a part of their “re-structure,” beginning with the 2016 AP exam. 

Thus, LEQ exam is a question or task requiring students to develop a thesis and then use proof to support it.

Table of Contents

Nature of LEQ:

The long essay question evaluates students’ ability to apply historical knowledge in an analytical and complex manner. 

Moreover, the AP European History exam gives two LEQs. Students often have the option of choosing just one of the LEQs to answer.

The exam lasts for 35 minutes and makes up 15% of the final exam score. Moreso, it is graded on a 0-6 point scale.   

Each of the LEQs on the AP exam evaluates either the comparison, periodization, causation, or change and continuity over time. 

Historical Skills Used in the Application of LEQ Questions

These can otherwise be referred to as “types of LEQs” by some persons. These types of skills help with responding to an LEQ prompt. The skills include:

Causation:  

Here, you are expected to recognize, analyze, and assess multiple cause and effect relationships in a historical context, showing your ability to differentiate between the short and long term.

Change and Continuity Over Time:  

The ability to detect, investigate, and assess the dynamics of historical continuity and change over diverse time periods, as well as the relationship between these transitional patterns and larger historical themes or processes, is the application of your historical knowledge.

Periodization:

This involves your ability to utilize your historical knowledge well in the description, analysis, evaluation, and construction of models of historical periods. 

Because historians recognize that certain dates favor one narrative, group, or category over another, the transition of periodization can modify a historical narrative.

 Also, the specific situations and settings in which individual historians function and write would determine their interpretations of previous events.

Compare and Contrast:  

Historical thinking engages the ability of you to explain, compare, and evaluate multiple historical advancements within societies, could be one or more different societies, and in several chronological orders.

Related article: What is DBQ? (Meaning, format, DBQ Score, How-to)

Scoring Requirements for the Long Essay Question(LEQ)

A student is scored based on their ability to demonstrate historical knowledge effectively on past events. Below are the requirements used in scoring and grading students.

A thesis or claim that is relevant to the prompt should be made. It must be historically justifiable, and a path of reasoning must be developed.

Provision of relevant contexts to the prompt by depicting a wider historical process or development facilitates scores.

Relevant and specific examples should be cited as proof to support an argument as a response to the prompt.

Historical Skill: 

Ensure to use a historical reasoning skill, causation, periodization, compare and contrast or change, and continuity, to establish an argument response to the prompt.

Complex Understanding: 

Demonstrate a vast understanding of an argument that provides answers to the prompt using evidence to qualify, support, or modify the argument.

How to write the Long Essay Question(LEQ)

Introduction:.

• Make a contextualized start to your essay, then connect it to your overall topic.
• Then, using data to establish your topic sentence, write a structured body paragraph using one of the course reasoning skills (causation, periodization, comparison and contrast, change, and continuity through time).
• Continue with an analysis that expands on your main point.
• Continue in this manner until the prompt has been properly addressed.

Your introduction must include your contextualization and thesis.

It is a statement that establishes your place and time in history and then a short but concise description of the historical setting.

Moreover, link the relevant context to the prompt theme and topic, no matter how broad.

Then, make a thesis or claim that responds to the prompt, with a general overview of your interpretations and any counter-claim you intend to address.

Body Paragraphs: 

Body paragraphs will differ in length based on the number of documents or other evidence pieces included in your work. However, this should follow a regular structure.

Firstly, begin with a topic sentence that shows the particular aspect of the prompt the paragraph will address.

After that, outline specific points to guide you. These points for topic sentences will assist you with staying focused.

Then, support your topic sentence with an evidence piece and link it to your thesis and topic sentence.

Keep on repeating this with one to two pieces of evidence and more elaborations until you have completed the argument of your topic sentence.

New Paragraph?

Kick-off a new paragraph with a new topic sentence.

All body paragraphs follow this general format, and there is no limit to the number of paragraphs for the LEQ.

However, ensure to write as many paragraphs as needed to enable you fully respond to the prompt by formulating the argument (and counter-argument where applicable) from your thesis.

Conclusion:  

Unlike the introduction and necessary body paragraphs, the conclusion is, however, optional.

Depending on the time left, you may choose to write a conclusion if you do have time. Writing isn’t a must for you, so you may not do it if you’re rushed. 

But, it is noteworthy that the conclusion is the only place where you can earn or score the thesis point outside the introduction, so it’s not bad to strive in giving it a trial.

Here, you could re-state your thesis in a new way using different words or give any concluding thoughts in respect to analysis about your topic.

You might as well make your complexity point more tangible and concrete in the conclusion if written well.

Tips to writing a Good Long Essay Question(LEQ)

• Write essays using the third person pronoun, not the first person pronoun; that is, use “we” instead of “I.”
• Ensure to define or explain key terms. 
• Be particular about your choice of words.
• Be objective
• Add counter-claims where applicable
• Communicate history complexity awareness
• Concentrate more on the thesis in the conclusion
• Enable understanding of the logical formulation and organization of your argument.  

Conclusively, an LEQ is a type of question, like the DBQ organized by the College Board used in assessing students’ knowledge on historical past events.

Typically, it is the second part of section II of the AP United States history exam where students have to choose one.

The key steps to completing the LEQ include: analyzing the question, gathering substantial evidence, developing or formulating a thesis, writing the introduction, body/supporting paragraphs, and then conclusion if time permits you.

You could as well evaluate or proofread your essay.

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• Expert tips to LEQ
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• Nature of LEQ
• Scoring of LEQ

Stella-maris Achumba

Hello, I am Stella-maris! For two years, I began actively assisting students in the United States, and Canada in their pursuit of college advice and scholarship prospects. I am a content writer at www.schoolandtravel.com.

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Score Higher on AP US History 2024: Tips for LEQs

11 min read • june 18, 2024

Long Essay Question (LEQ)

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

• 15% of Exam Score
• Recommended you spend 40 minutes on the LEQ
• Thesis/Claim (1)
• Contextualization (1)
• Uses Specific Evidence (2)
• Complexity (2)

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• Imagine that it just so happens that your AP reader happens to be grading their last set of LEQs for the day, which includes yours! Your AP reader is going to be pretty excited/ready to leave after a long day of grading, so make it easier for them by being simple and straight to the point, while still nailing everything on the scoring guide. AP readers get a little under 5 minutes to read your LEQ. In other words, remember that it’s not so much about how you write (even though you should try to be at least a little sophisticated), but the content and what you write!
• In regards to structure, let your thesis be your outline. If you’re able to create a whole outline-do it. However, if you’re short on time or just need some more time to finalize what details to use to support your argument, make sure your thesis isn’t too specific and restrictive. Give yourself some leeway to further develop your reasoning in your essay.
• Trust yourself! You spent all year learning so many different events in history. Come prepared with some examples from various time periods, so if the need calls for it, you have something to fall back on.
• Remember that the AP graders reward you for what you do- they don’t penalize you for what you don’t do. Think about writing these essays as you earn points for everything you do. Be positive about it.
• Before the exam, make sure you have a plan on how to approach the essay! Being prepared is being smart, and being prepared means you can be confident!
• The more confident and relaxed you are during this part, the better you will write. Take a deep breath and let your words flow. You are not given a lot of time, so make sure to stay focused during the entirety of this part of the exam. This is not AP Lit; you need to write well but flowery language is not required and will waste your time.
• Give yourself at least a month to fully study for the AP US History exam because it allows you to study for a couple minutes every day to feel fully prepared for the test. The month-long study technique helps your brain digest every concept and historical events to use for the LEQ and doesn’t overwhelm you when studying for this long test.
• Take many practice tests! They are so helpful and they help you practice the writing style and format before the test. You can time yourself taking the tests and it’ll better prepare you for exam day. LEQs are hard to write, but just know to use helpful pieces of evidence to help write your LEQ.
• To write an LEQ, ask your teacher for help and any pieces of advice they have. They have possibly experience grading LEQs and can help you.
• Your opening paragraph should embody compositional balance by succinctly presenting the context, evidence, and qualifier in a seamless manner. Start with a brief introduction that sets the stage for your argument. Then provide contextual information that highlights the conditions relevant to your argument. Next provide a qualifier that reflects the strength of the change as your claim. Finally, provide evidence that highlights the changes or correlations relevant to your argument. This establishes a clear trajectory for your essay, guiding the reader through the logical progression of your analysis.

🕐 Before you Write

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

Analyze the prompt. Determine the “Ws” of the prompt. What is the period, who is involved, What is the issue, why is it important? Use that information to develop a thesis statement.

• Lead-in/hook/intro information
• Whatever explanation is necessary to connect the thesis to your intro
• Short note about the important information and context
• Short note about what it means
• Short note about linking it back to thesis
• Reiterating the thesis and what is so important about it
• Connecting it to other world events/time periods (contextualization and complexity!)
• Final call to action/statement
• You can play with this format as needed, but this is a great general structure for outlining an LEQ!
• Forever and always you should identify exactly what the question is asking you to do. It helps to bullet point your main thoughts, and then turn your bullet points into a broad thesis. Your thesis will guide your entire essay, and all your topic sentences should go directly back to the line of reasoning in your thesis. Use this to keep yourself organized.
• When more content is expected it can be easier to accidentally go on a tangent/pull away from the original prompt to try and maximize knowledge demonstration. Creating an in depth outline can help ensure that your response has direction.
• You need to make sure before you invest time writing that you know enough evidence to analyze the thesis you want. If you don’t know enough, modify your thesis or choose an LEQ about a period you remember better.
• The common introduction-body paragraphs-conclusion outline may lead you to write all three sections in chronological order. While that would be the best choice for paper and pen testing, it is encouraged that you begin outlining your thesis along with pieces of evidence (+ commentary and reasoning) and saving your introduction and conclusion for the last parts to write for your essay. This strategy would definitely be more comfortable for those taking the digital version of the test; however, it’s not impossible for pen and paper students to implement this strategy as well.

🤔 Choosing which Question to Answer

• You can often knock this step out during your outlining process. You can make a very short outline of what evidence you can use for each prompt, what you would want to say, and then analyze which prompt has given you the most material/has the most information you feel confident about. Once you’ve done that, you can much more comfortably choose your question and write out the corresponding outline.
• Read through each question- don’t spend too much time on any of them. Honestly go with your gut. Answer the question that is “easiest” to you. Don’t pick a “harder” one because you think it will be more impressive. You’re in a time crunch- write about the question you can most effectively answer. Choosing the “easier” one also gives you room to go in depth and be sophisticated- which in general can help your score.
• If you are stuck and none of them seem easy, go through each question and bullet point 3 main ideas you could use to answer it. Thinking about it that way may help you if you’re overwhelmed. Pick whichever one you can most completely answer. If all else fails, write a mediocre thesis point for each one- something is better than nothing!
• To choose which question to answer can be hard, but what you can do is understand what period each question is asking. The knowledge of the known period helps you determine what you feel most confident in. Whatever period of US History you feel most comfortable with and the LEQ asks the question of that period, choose that question.

💡 Tips for Earning Each Point

Claim/thesis.

• Before the exam, understand the key kinds of questions they can ask you, and have a plan on how you approach them.
• There are three types of prompts: causation, continuity and change over time (CCOT), and comparison. In your thesis for the second two, use the words! For CCOT, you must say continuity and change. For comparison, you must say similarity and difference. Do not get fancy, your grader wants clarity, not fluff!
• Think about your evidence before you write your thesis statement so you can tailor the supporting commentary with the evidence that you already have in mind.
• Evaluate the extent (small, moderate, or large)
• Evaluate the relative importance (rank the causes)
• To the side or on a scratch piece of paper, create a T-Chart or a bulleted list of key pieces of evidence that you will use (since it’s a LEQ, you must pull evidence from memory for the entire essay!). Depending on how much evidence you have for each side, it will help you determine which position you’ll take.
• Always use the language of the prompt! In other words, rephrase the question and frame it in a way that suits the position you’re taking. Your position should be stated very clearly.
• While X ( counter argument), ultimately Y and Z (argument).
• Your thesis statement should be your answer to the question. It really is as simple as that- make sure everything you write in the essay supports whatever you write here. If you end up drifting, or thinking of a better statement to support, go back and adjust the thesis statement as necessary.
• Pick strong pieces of evidence that you know you feel confident writing about!

Contextualization

• Your contextualization should be a backstory of events related to your claim & tells the reader you know where you are in history! Do not just list “things that happened”, but make sure that it connects and flows with the content of your LEQ.
• Contextualization should not go farther than 50-60 years prior to events listed in question.
• WRITE A BRIDGE SENTENCE!! This is something that connects your “contextualization” directly to the claim. (Not necessary, but strengthens your LEQ)
• Be more direct and obvious than you think you have to be. The readers want to know what you know, and won’t make assumptions even though they could.
• Try to cite specific events with an emphasis on context relevant to the prompt or the claims you’re going to make in your essay.
• Use a ladder approach. Start with the first rung, furthest past/earliest event, then the middle event, and lastly the event immediately before the prompt. Use specific evidence or you won’t get the point! But don’t forget, any evidence mentioned in the context cannot be repeated as outside evidence later.
• First, look at all the context clues given in the prompt (time, place, era, location, who, etc…). Take these context clues and then talk about what happened before this era or during this era for contextualization. For example, if the thesis had the date 1940’s and talked about social, political, and economic factors, you’d write the contextualization on what happened during the 20’s or during WW1. Make sure to address the who, what, when, and where in your contextualization.

Using Specific Evidence

• When writing “be specific as possible and as general as necessary”. This means if you remember the specific act or amendment cite it! If not, write as many details as you can.
• Whenever possible, throw in dates, names, events to meet the specific evidence component. Instead of stating that “much change occurred during the Progressive Era,” for example, state that “political change occurred when the 17th amendment allowed for the direct election of senators.” The difference goes from generic to specific!
• Try picking only 1-2 specific examples of events per paragraph and milking those to support my greater claim. Before the exam, spend some time making sure you have a tool belt of different events that you can use in different ways. You’ll want to clearly state what you’re referring to at least once, and then describe and apply from there.
• Finding evidence for your question can be difficult, but as long as you study every time period and know a couple general events from each, it will help you answer the prompt fully. Study the subject by knowing general events and with your general knowledge, you can answer the prompt and get your points for evidence.
• Like in other AP exams, you can score a 4 or a 5 without this point honestly. If you feel confident and want to go for it, it helps to build the complexity into your overall thesis statement. Begin it with words such as “although,” or “while,” to create the possibility for a different perspective into your main statement. Then, spend a paragraph exploring this exception you have identified using “while” or “although.” It helps the AP readers see that you see different lenses and layers to a bigger idea, which is a big idea of sophistication.
• Additionally remember you can earn the complexity point by highlighting similarities and differences or continuity and change. This could mean relating your thesis to other time periods or historical situations.
• Another way to earn the complexity point is to explain how a different historical group was impacted or reacted to the events you used as evidence.
• You could also earn the complexity point is explaining the reasoning (e.g. explaining why the change happened or why was x similar/different to y).
• If you try to integrate actually everything you remember about the topic you’re writing about, it usually falls into place that you’re writing about more than one perspective or development. Incorporating the modern day also looks really good, and so does a counter-argument paragraph with rebuttal, but if you’re running low on time for extra paragraphs, just try to incorporate as much well-phrased info as you can – pack in your essay with information, like the meat of a burger.

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