Practice Test Answer

Answer Key
Section I: Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 21. During the Neolithic Era, denser populations,
specialized labor, and complex social relations were a result of surplus production
and they gave rise to the founding of early cities. Increased food production
allowed for larger settlements during the Neolithic Era, while specialized labor and
their craft industries allowed for the development of more intricate social relations
resulting in a complex social organization such as the city. All these developments
would have been impossible during Paleolithic times.
AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 1.2
Book Chapter: Chapter 1
2. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 28. Ziggurats were constructed in Sumerian cities
only when recognized government authorities were viewed as having the ability
to draft workers and order them to participate in such large-scale projects.
3. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 67. The Bantu expansion through sub-Saharan
Africa, c. 1000500 B.C.E., allowed for establishment of agricultural societies and

the domestication and spread of particular crops and animals.
4. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 52. Because the peoples of Mesopotamia and
Egypt were able to consistently produce significant agricultural surpluses,

resulting population pressures over time forced agricultural innovations to occur.
5. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 76. Early Aryans did not use writing when they
first arrived in India c. 1400 B.C.E. They developed an extensive collection of
orally transmitted religious and literary works passed down in the Rig Veda c.
1400900 B.C.E. and then compiled it in written form, along with three later
Vedas, about 600 B.C.E.
6. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 81. These four documents form a developmental
chronology of the evolution that occurred as Aryan and earlier Dravidian

civilization in India intermingled over time to produce a synergetic religion now
known as Hinduism.
7. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 78. Social turmoil during the Vedic Age solidified
the evolving and maturing varna system. Caste identities slowly and gradually
developed as Aryan and Dravidian peoples interacted over hundreds of years. As
Aryans and Dravidians mixed, mingled, and intermarried, color of skin became
less and less of a way to distinguish the originally light-skinned Aryans from
darker skinned Dravidians. Social distinctions based on the varna evolved from
how Aryans viewed their society.
Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

8. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 120. The information on this map includes
descriptions of land area during the last glaciations, present-day shorelines, and
routes of Austronesian migrations c. 1500 B.C.E. to 700 C.E.
9. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 179180. The Turning the Wheel of the Law
sermon was the first public preaching where the Buddha announced his doctrine.
Soon there was widespread acceptance of Buddhist beliefs across India, and
monasteries whose monks wore yellow robes and begged for their sustenance
were established in many parts of first India and then neighboring lands. The
Four Noble Truths enunciated the Buddhas concept of dharma, and the
Eightfold Path describes how to lead a moderate, modest life. King Ashokas lion
pillars were often used to present Buddhist doctrine, and the Kings conversion
gave added support to the growing faith.
10. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 239240. The Silk Road merchants moved
commodities to distant markets and exchanged their trade goods for

commodities sought after in their homelands. Like goods, Buddhist merchants
and the missionaries who sometimes accompanied them on their travels also
transported cultural and religious ideas to distant lands. Merchants helped fund
the construction of monasteries and Emperor Ashokas patronage helped people
them with monks and scribes who furthered the spread of the Buddhist faith in
central Asia, southeast Asia, and China from 300 B.C.E. to 100 B.C.E.
11. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 158. Qin Shihuangdi decreed himself First
Emperor in 221 B.C.E. and ordered his bureaucracy to use forced labor to work on
projects throughout the empire, including canals, road networks, irrigation
systems and the royal tomb guarded by the terra cotta army. Emperor Qin
Shihuangdi ignored the nobility and instead ruled the Qin Empire through a
centralized bureaucracy.
12. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 216- 218. Beginning with the career of General
Gaius Marius and his seizure of power in Rome in 87 B.C.E. and culminating with
his relative Octavians defeat of Antony, Cleopatra, and their republican allies at
Actium in 39 B.C.E., all these events are evidence of the evolution of Rome from a
republic to an imperial form of government.
13. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 238. Excepting individuals such as Marco Polo
and Ibn Battuta, individual merchants were unlikely to transport goods from one

14. Answer: (A) Bentley page 272. Adoption of Islam offered some protections to
women, including the ability to manage businesses, to inherit property, and to

divorce their husbands with some ease. Unlike men who could have up to four
wives at the same time, women could only be married to one man at a time.
Because of the high degree of value that was place on preserving the line of
descent through the father and to help assure that women did not have contact
with other men, males strictly guarded the sexual and social aspects of the lives of
Muslim women, whether they be fathers, husbands, brothers, or other male
relatives.
15. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 284. The government of the Tang dynasty differed
from that of the Sui dynasty, which preceded it, due in part to its thoughtfully
designed and expansive transportation network. The Grand Canal was upgraded,
and the bureaucracy supported establishment of inns, stables for horses,
messengers, and an extensive network of roads to facilitate internal commerce.
Trade with states in central Asia, Persia, and Mediterranean and Indian
merchants were also facilitated by these advancements. This also accounted for
expenditures to maintain a Tang military presence deep into central Asia to
protect trade and diplomatic routes of exchange with powers to the west and
south.
16. Answer: (D) Bentley page 286 and 287. The Tang dynastys decline began c. 755
C.E. when an army commander led a rebellion that weakened the Tang dynastys
integrity; the revolt continued until the Tang emperor and his advisors invited
the Uighur people, a Turkic group from Central Asia, into China to fight the
rebels. In return, the Uighurs demanded the right to sack the two major Tang
cities of Changan and Luoyang in payment for their services. Other revolts
followed and the last Tang emperor, having lost the mandate of heaven in the
eyes of his people, abdicated in 907 C.E. An era of warlordism and internal
division followed the fall of the Tang; the Song dynasty was proclaimed in 960
C.E. The Song dynasty lasted until 1279 C.E., but the empires power was sapped
by the expense of maintaining a large centralized bureaucracy while it was also
fighting seminomadic Khitan people from Manchuria and later the Jin Empire of
central China, also ruled by nomads from the north.
17. Answer: (C) Bentley page 270271. Mohammed was himself a merchant and
from the earliest days, Islamic societies valued and protected the roles fulfilled by

18. Answer: (A) Bentley page 306307. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and traveler
Xuanzang was a resident of India during much of the reign of Harsha, the King
who was able to reunite much of the land formerly held by the Gupta Empire;
following his reign, 606 C.E. to 648, Harshas kingdom collapsed. Xuanzang
reported that Harsha was a kind and wise ruler.
19. Answer: (B) Bentley text page 308309. Turkish slave mercenaries in Egypt,
called Mamelukes, became the trusted and valued advisors and enforcers for
their masters who later granted them freedom, perpetuating a slave dynasty state
where the acquisition and maintenance of power mirrored and was roughly
contemporaneous with the Delhi Sultanate.
20. Answer: (A) Bentley page 307. The physical extent of Harshas Kingdom c. 1640
C.E., the Delhi Sultanate c. 1300 C.E., the Chola kingdom c. 1050 C.E. and the
kingdom of Vijayanagar c. 1500 C.E., illustrate holdings of these regional
successors of the Gupta Empire.

21. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 346. The popes in Rome and the Byzantine
patriarchs in Constantinople differed about several ritual and doctrinal issues; for
example, the Byzantine and other eastern Christian clergy favored decentralized,
autonomous church organization and opposed the Roman Catholic concept of the
primacy of the papacy. Arguments ultimately resulted in the Roman pope and the
Byzantine patriarch excommunicating each other in 1054 C.E.; relations between
the two major branches of Christianity have yet to be resolved. The popes in
Rome claimed primacy over western, northern, and most Mediterranean
bishoprics; increasing power, prestige, and money flowed into Rome as the seat
of the papacy, and the Greek Orthodox patriarch led most eastern, Slavic, and
Middle Eastern churches. This resulting schism in Christianity, dividing the
Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox and other Orthodox churches,
continues to this day.
22. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 330. Beginning with Constantine and continuing
through the reign of subsequent Byzantine emperors, attention was paid to
connect the status of the Christian emperors with divine authority; religious
leaders sought to confer the favor of God on the emperors. Emperors were
secular rulers, and they were also intimately involved in and provided guidance
for ecclesiastical affairs. This melding of the imperium of the Holy Roman
Empire with Christian theology gave rise to caesaropapism. In dress, court
etiquette, and foreign relations and through the use of religious ceremonies and
sponsorship of public art such as mosaics, the emperors affirmed their status as
temporal rulers sanctioned and inspired by God.
23. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 339. Beginning in the mid-ninth century, Norse
merchant mariners followed the routes previously used by Viking marauders and
established and maintained extensive trade connections with Keivan Rus, the
Abbasid caliphate, the Byzantine Empire, and the Carolingian Empire as well as
smaller European and Asian powers. Russia, Ireland, Scandinavia, Poland,
England, France, the Low Countries, and Germany produced a variety of
agricultural products, fish, furs, and manufactured goods that the Norse
merchant mariners transported down Russian rivers to the Black Sea. There the
Norse merchant mariners had established networks with Byzantine and Abbasid
merchants, as well as with traders from other lands. The Abbasids paid for their
purchases with silver coins that were highly prized in western and northern
Europe by mints, which used them to produce early medieval coinage. This
minting of coins helped spur European commercial activity.
24. Answer: (A) Bentley page 365. The Mongols often took censuses of conquered
lands, in part to identify talented individuals or groups with particular skills. The
Mongol Khans often separated those who had specialized skills and relocated
minorities and those who had special skills to a part of their empire where there
was a demand for their services. An unintended consequence of these
resettlement practices was the promotion of economic integration throughout
Eurasia.
25. Answer: (D) Bentley page 425. The Incan people were the only large-scale
civilization that did not involve some uses of symbols. Bureaucrats and trained
quipu readers used these mnemonic devices to organize the bureaucratic
functions of the Incan Empire. The ingenious Incan mnemonic devices consisted
of small, different-colored cords attached to a larger cord; the cords also included
various sizes and types of knots, which (along with the length, color, weave, and
location of the cords on the quipu) contained information that enabled the
trained quipu reader to remember information about population, state-owned
property, labor services owed by different communities to the Incan state, and
taxation information.
26. Answer: (D) Bentley pages 374376. Trade had long existed between
Mediterranean peoples and sub-Saharan chiefdoms and kingdoms, whereby

horse-and-donkey caravans were used to transport goods and products in both
directions. Donkeys and horses needed significant fodder and water resources to
successfully cross the Saharan desert, limiting the amount of goods they could
carry. The introduction of the camel to North Africa from its home in Arabia via
Egypt and the Sudan c. seventh century B.C.E. and the subsequent introduction of
a camel saddle that was a better fit to the animals physical structure, allowed the
use of camels for trans-Saharan trade by 300 B.C.E. Camels required less water
and fodder and were able to carry larger loads for the 70- to 90-day transSaharan caravan routes. These trading routes were greatly expanded after the
Arab-speaking Bedouin Muslim armies conquered Egypt and North Africa.
27. Answer: (D) Bentley page 418. Tenochtitln and Venice were located on easily
defensible islands, enabling the Mexica and the Venetians to devote resources to
the development of extensive, international trade networks. In the case of the
Mexica, they directly or through tributary states controlled much of modern
central and southern Mexico; the Venetians had colonies in the Aegean and
elsewhere in the Mediterranean Sea basin.
28. Answer: (B) Bentley, pages 446447. Yunnan in southwestern China was the
source of a bubonic plague epidemic that was spread through the vector of
rodents infected with the plague bacillus, which is transmitted to other mammals
such as humans via fleabites. Mongol military campaigns in the early fourteenth
century in Yunnan led to the transfer of the plague first to China proper and then
into Mongolia, central Asia, and eventually European Mediterranean ports by
1347. The loss in population in affected areas was tremendous, with Europes
estimated population in 1400 believed to be twenty-five percent lower than in
1300.
29. Answer: (A) Bentley page 455. The Europeans did not venture onto the oceans
in the interest of diplomacy or establishing a political reputation; instead, they
were focused on profiting from commercial opportunities and the desire to
expand the boundaries of Roman Catholic Christianity.
30. Answer: (B) Bentley pages 470-471. In 1415, the crown prince of Portugal,
known later as Henry the Navigator, captured the Moroccan port of Ceuta. The
Portuguese then developed the port as a base for Portuguese navigators seeking
trade routes farther south along the Atlantic coast of Africa. After Henry died in
1460, Portuguese exploration continued with Bartholomeu Dias sailing around
the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Indian Ocean in 1488. In 1497, the
Portuguese under Vasco da Gama reached India; in contrast, the Spanish under

31. Answer: (B) Bentley page 469. Navigational instruments were useful in
gathering information to help cartographers create more accurate maps and

globes. The compass, astrolabes, cross-staff and back staffs and more accurate
knowledge of winds and currents helped mariners make determinations of when
to schedule voyages of exploration. Increased geographical knowledge also was of
value to merchants planning trade expeditions.
32. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 486487. Processes of biological exchange were
prominent features in world history well before c. 1492 C.E. The early expansion
of Islam in Afro-Eurasia included the spread of plants, animals, and food crops
that were new to the regions where Muslim armies advanced.
33. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 511. Traditional western European craft guilds
had been a factor in production since medieval times, with members of individual
guilds specializing in crafts such as weaving and metal working and other
associated trades. Membership was not necessarily restricted to assure increased
profits but to protect markets from competition and to assure that guild members
did not lose their social status in urban society to others willing to work for less or
to work under less restrictive rules. Western European capitalist entrepreneurs c.
1500 began using the putting-out system whereby rural households with raw
materials such as wool for spinning into yarn which they wove it into fabric with
specific patterns T and then manufactured into garments. In later centuries,
other piecework items were produced in rural households including pins, pots,
and many other goods; as a result urban guilds gradually lost their power.
34. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 508. The beginning of the Columbian Exchange
resulted in the introduction and widespread adoption of carbohydrate-rich

potatoes to European farming. The crop provided a cheap alternative to more
expensive bread. Production of American maize was soon adopted across Europe
as a cheap food source for animals, and it was used in puddings such as polenta
for human consumption. Tomatoes and peppers added spices and vitamins to
European diets. These additional food sources helped encourage growing
populations.
35. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 526. Medieval European serfs were required to
work the land and remain on the land as part of the feudal system. In turn, the
landowner (lord) was expected to provide protection and general welfare. The

36. Answer: (D) Bentley page 560561. This imagery is most likely related to the
historical process of the movement worldwide to end the slave trade.

Abolitionism became a major factor in the internal politics of the United States c.
1860 on the eve of the start of the American Civil War.
37. Answer: (B) Bentley page 534. The Inca had long used a practice called mita, a
practice in which each citizen spent part of the year working on government
projects, including building and maintaining the extensive road system and the
cities that dotted the empire. At first, the Spanish adopted this practice, but then
they adapted it to meet colonial needs. Seeking to escape this almost feudal
system of coerced labor, many men left their native provinces and moved to the
cities. This caused disruptions in
38. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 559560. Circa 1500 to 1800, a triangular trade
developed around the Atlantic basin. European manufactured goods and horses
were shipped to Africa where native chiefs and other slave traders provided slaves
in exchange for these goods. African slaves were transported to the Americas,
primarily to Caribbean and Brazilian destinations, but they were also transported
to British, French, Spanish and other European colonies. Some Americans paid
cash, but some exchanged sugar or molasses for the slaves. The sugar and
molasses were then sold to European markets.
39. Answer: (D) Bentley page 572. The Great Wall of China was significantly
repaired and extended by the Ming dynasty during the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries as part of a thousand-year-old pattern of constructing fortification in
the north of China to block invasion by nomadic peoples from the north.
40. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 596598. This series of events reflects the
successful deployment of the Ottomans ghazis, Muslim warriors and bureaucrats

who were often born in western Anatolia or the Balkans and recently converted
from Christianity to Islam beginning in the 1300s. Further expansion into the
Balkans allowed the Ottomans to impose the devishirme, where the Ottomans
made Christian peoples from the Balkans provide a tribute of boys who became
the sultans personal slaves. Converted to Islam, the devishirme boys were
trained to be administrators as well as warriors. Those who joined the army were
called janissaries; they were early adopters of new military technology, were loyal
to the sultan, and were seen as very brave.

41. Answer: (B) Bentley page 598. The Safavid dynasty in Persia, a Turkish group,
experimented with different religious belief systems before adopting Shi-ism.

Some elements of Shi-ism, seemed to fit with the beliefs of Turkic groups
migrating into Persia, so the Safavids used religion to incorporate these migrants
into their empire. Shias believe that the Prophet Mohammeds son-in-law and
cousin Ali should have been selected as legitimate leader of the Muslim people
after Mohammeds death. Further, the Shia belief in a mystic hidden imam who
would emerge and lead the Shia to victory appealed to these tribal people of
Turkish descent.
42. Answer: (C) Bentley pages 589590. When Tokugawa Ieyasu (ruled 1600-1616)
seized power as the protector of the emperor, he established the bakufu (literally
tent government). (This phrase referred to the situation in which the emperor
reigned but did not rule and the shoguns, first Tokugawa Ieyasu then his
descendents, ruled but did not reign.) The Tokugawa shoguns feared that feudal
territorial lords, daimyo (great lords), would trade with Europeans and learn
how to manufacture and use more sophisticated weapons. The series of events
listed above were all related to Tokugawa insularism, cutting off Japan from
trade deemed potentially dangerous to internal stability while allowing trade with
neighboring powers like China, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands who were not
perceived by the shoguns as potential allies for or arm sellers to the daimyo.
43. Answer: (A) Bentley page 636. Influenced by the Enlightenment ideals of liberty,
equality, and fraternity, as well as the success of the American, Haitian, and
French revolutions, Simn Bolvar partially succeeded in his vision of creating a
unitary federal republic modeled on the United States of America. The Federation
of Gran Columbiauniting newly independent Venezuela, Columbia, and
Ecuadorwas proclaimed in 1819 but collapsed by 1830.
44. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 624. After the expenses incurred during the Seven
Years War (1756-1763), which was fought between the British and the French in
India, Europe, North America, and at sea, the British Parliament needed to raise
additional revenues. Each of these acts was voted upon by the British Parliament.
Therefore, Americans were not directly represented, and many colonists viewed
these statutes as examples of taxation without representation.
45. Answer: (B) Bentley page 653. Machine production raised worker productivity,
encouraged economic specialization, and promoted growth of large-scale
enterprises. Industrial machinery transformed economic production by turning

46. Answer: (A) Bentley page 639. Mary Wollstonecraft was an early feminist writer,
and many concepts associated with the European Enlightenment, including
liberty, equality, and fraternity, came to frame arguments for the emancipation
and enfranchisement of women. In 1792, she published an influential call, A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Strictures on Political and Moral
Subjects, which is the source of the excerpt above.
47. Answer: (C) Page 631. The Englishman John Locke and Frenchman Baron de
Montesquieu were noted European Enlightenment thinkers whose writings
challenged existing notions of social relations, and promoted the ideals of
freedom, equality, and popular sovereignty, which in part inspired eighteenthand nineteenth-century revolutions.
48. Answer: (C) Bentley pages 691692. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the
United States had a railroad network that was about 31,000 thousand miles long;
by 1900, the total railroad mileage was more than 200,000 miles. The entire
lower forty-eight states were interconnected, so agricultural products, ores, and
manufactured goods could move within the country for home consumption or to
ports for export to foreign customers economically and quickly. Another facet of
the expansion of rail networks was the ease and low cost of travel for individuals
or groups; commercial and leisure travel grew exponentially as the expansion of
railroads influenced economic and social aspects of the United States c. 1900.
49. Answer: (A) Bentley page 694. High levels of agricultural production produced
significant population growth, increased economic specialization, and promoted

access to navigable rivers, canals, and inland waterways in Great Britain, the
Yangtze delta region in China, and Japan, which led to growing and dynamic
economies in each area by the mid-eighteenth century.
50. Answer: (D) Bentley page 728729. The first of a series of wars between the
Qing dynasty and various European powers, most important of which was Great
Britain, began in 1839 and continued until the 1840s after the Chinese intervened
and disrupted the British, European, and American importation of opium, a
narcotic produced in British India. Opium was one of the few outside goods that
Chinese people were interested in purchasing. Soon millions were addicted, and
the cost in silver exports to pay for the drug alarmed the Chinese government. At
the conclusion of the Opium Wars, the Europeans required that a number of
Chinese ports be opened for unrestricted trade.
10

51. Answer: (B) Bentley text page 686687. Caudillos took power in many post-
independence Latin American states, exploited the militarys heroic efforts

against Spanish rule during the revolutions, and gave voice to antielite
sentiments that was the basis for the feelings of mass discontent with the weak,
Creole-dominated regimes. Using a combination of terror and public relations,
caudillos appealed to populist beliefs of the masses; conversely, dictatorial rule
by caudillos might have galvanized demands for democratic reforms.
52. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 697. Vast numbers of Europeans migrated to the
United States in great waves beginning in the 1840s, fleeing famine in Ireland
and revolutions throughout Europe. White, native-born citizens began to feel
overwhelmed by growing numbers of Asian migrants who had different social
and cultural traditions. The U.S. government bowed to racist demands and first
outlawed Chinese immigration in 1882 and Japanese immigration in 1907.
53. Answer: (C) Bentley text page 707. From 1800 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire,
known as the sick man of Europe, was in political and economic decline, with
its sovereignty propped up by Europeans who wanted to exploit the resources
and economy of the Ottoman state. Restive religious, ethnic, and nationalist
groups resisted Ottoman autocratic control, while Russia and Austria seized
territories and along with other European powers took control of the empires
economic resources.
54. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 740742. Each of the events listed are related to
the nineteenth-century scramble for colonies in Africa. Various European powers

directly or indirectly ruled the entire continent by 1900, with the exceptions of
Liberia and Ethiopia.
55. Answer: (B) Bentley page 744. European settler colonies in both Australia and
later New Zealand were most similar to settler colonies in what became the
United States and Canada. Disease caused large population drops among
indigenous peoples while at the same time European migrants flooded their
lands.
56. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 714715. As industrialization came to parts of
Russia in the nineteenth century, western trends influenced traditional Russian

cultural norms as well as business practices in the industrializing state. Recently
freed serfs, local businessmen, the government, the military, and the Russian
11

57. Answer: (D) Bentley page 736. By 1902, telegraph cables linked all parts of the
British Empire and afforded the British distinct advantages over their subject
lands. British investors reaped huge profits on their investments, the British
government benefitted from rapid receipt of information as it mobilized its
military, and British merchants found it relatively easy to change or expand their
business plans as they received information about weather, labor, or production
concerns.
58. Answer: (A) Bentley text page 750751. Indentured labor migration in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries involved Asians, Africans, and Pacific
Islanders as replacement workers for slave laborers when that practice ended.
Generally, these laborers signed contracts that offered them free transport (and
sometimes transport home), as well as food, shelter, clothing, and some financial
compensation in return for serving a five- to seven-year contract. Most
indentured servants came from and went to other tropical lands in the coastal
sections of the Americas and the Caribbean as well as to parts of Africa and
Oceania.
59. Answer: (C) Bentley page 770. Among the technological innovations generated
by conflict during World War I, barbed wire proved to be highly effectively in

slowing advancing units and frustrating attempts to use traditional tactics.
Likewise the machine gun turned infantry charges across no mans land into
suicide missions; the machine gun represented one of the most important
advances in military technology and compelled all military leaders to reevaluate
their battle tactics.
60. Answer: (A) Bentley pages 765-766. Between 1871 and 1914, increasing
nationalist aspirations caused discord in eastern Europe and the Balkans. The
Ottoman, Russian, and Austrian-Hungarian empires contained diverse,
discordant, restive mixes of people, many of whom aspired to helping build
separate nation-states. The naval and arms races, colonial disputes, and politics
also influenced public opinion in this period, with the latter exemplified in Friers
cartoon.
61. Answer: (A) Bentley text pages 808809. When the Nazis took power in
Germany in 1933, they promoted racist ideology and eugenics, especially the
ideas of racial superiority and racial purity. Germans of pure, Aryan heritage
12

62. Answer: (C) Bentley page 795796. In the early decades of the twentieth
century, the world of art and architecture was filled with experimentation. A new
aesthetic developed as artists realized that the evolving technology of
photography let portraits and naturalistic scenes be captured realistically, freeing
painters to begin to produce artwork that created a new reality, not merely
mirroring it as art had in the past. Pablo Picassos early work shown here was
impressionistic, and it was influenced by African artistic forms. This painting was
an early example of cubism, an art style related to impressionism.
63. Answer: (B) Bentley page 827. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823, and the
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1904, are two examples of
U.S. foreign policy designed to warn foreign powers to not interfere in the
Americas. The U.S. government also used dollar diplomacy to support its
economic expansionist ideals in the Americas in the early twentieth century (in
addition to military intervention in a number of Caribbean states) and to protect
American political and economic interests.
64. Answer: (C) Bentley page 827. The most valuable resource would be transcripts
of leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization exiled from Israel after the
1947 partition. The motivations for Palestinian intifada (a popular mass
movement among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in
1987) are related to the original partition and subsequent travails of Palestinians
in exile in neighboring countries and in diasporic communities around the world.
65. Answer: (D) Bentley page 859. When President John F. Kennedy was sworn into
office in 1961, he inherited from President Dwight Eisenhower a detailed plan for
U.S.-sponsored refugees from Communist-controlled Cuba to invade and liberate
the island. Americas Central Intelligence Agency provided expertise, funds, and
intelligence to the rebels. But in April, 1961 the 1,500 refugees were routed by
13

66. Answer: (A) Bentley page 848. On August 6 the United States dropped an
atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, 1945, a

second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Modern warfare was
forever changed by used of atomic devices in warfare.
67. Answer: (A) Bentley page 836837. World War I and World War II are
considered to be the only total wars because governments used ideologies to help
mobilize all their states resources at home and in their colonial holdings. The
concept of total war included the use of people, resources, and widespread
propaganda, as well as other intensified forms of nationalism.
68. Answer: (D) Bentley text page 875. Decolonization in Africa began in 1957 in
Ghana and continued through Namibia in 1990, as one African nation after
another gained its freedom from European powers.
69. Answer: (D) Bentley page 871 (Ho Chi Minh), page 877 (Kwame Nkrumah), and
page 865 (Mohandas Gandhi). Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Kwame Nkrumah of
Ghana and Mohandas Gandhi of India led successful revolutionary struggles
against colonizing powers. In the case of Ho, he was a key leader in organizing
resistance to the French colonizers, and a military leader against the French, the
South Vietnamese, and later American forces. Nkrumahs success in bringing
Great Britains Gold Coast colony to independence was generally nonviolent; he
became the countrys first leader after independence. Gandhi influenced the
transition of power as India was evacuated by the British and then partitioned
into India and Pakistan. Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka also were former
British Indian dependencies that became independent c. 1948.
70. Answer: (A) Bentley page 905. Global efforts to prevent excessive population
growth have had mixed results as people in some societies have a mixture of
political and religious beliefs that oppose birth control. People in some societies,
such as Hindus in India and elsewhere, celebrate fertility as a central focus of
their religious beliefs and have been reluctant to adopt family-planning
techniques. Sub-Saharan Africa has high population rates in many countries, but
the HIV/AIDS epidemic and resulting deaths have resulted in relatively modest
population growth. In China, the governments one-child policy has limited
growth in an already huge population, but in other societies, political and
14

Section II: Free-Response Questions
Part A: Document-Based Question
Sample Essay
Good government during the era c. 2200 B.C.E.-700 C.E. was perceived to be based on
powerful leadership and earned merit. These perceptions were demonstrated by
monumental building projects that illustrate the cultures values and recognized
individual leaders.
From earliest times, good government was perceived to be based on particular
qualities possessed by a leader, especially power. Early in the period, as an advisor to the
Egyptian pharaoh, Ptah-Hotep has the perspective of someone who interacts with
leaders when he writes, You are powerful; respect knowledge and calmness of
languageLet not your heart be haughty, neither let it be meanspeak without
heatassume a serious countenance (Doc 1). Later in the period, the Roman biographer
Plutarch has the advantage of hindsight when he writes describing the qualities of the
legendary founder of Athens, Theseus saying, the rest [of the people] knowing his
power and courage chose rather to be persuaded than forced (Doc 7). An additional
document that would further articulate the ideas of leadership qualities and good
government would be an excerpt from the Hindu Laws of Manu explaining the qualities
that civilization looked for in a leader.
Good government was also perceived as being based on merit that had been
earned. Early in this era, Babylonian King Hammurabi says that he demonstrated his
merit by giving the protection of right to the land, I did right with righteousness and
brought about the well-being of the oppressed (Doc 2).
Because Hammurabi is
acknowledging his successes, his self-interest might cloud his ability to judge his own
merit. Confucius describes the importance of merit by comparing the ruler who rules by
virtue to the North polar star which keeps its place, while all the stars turn toward it
(Doc 3). Teaching during the Era of Warring States in Chinese history, Confucius has the
perspective of someone who understands the need for a meritorious ruler to ensure good
government. Even later in this time period, when civilizations are developing
governments based on constitutions rather than individuals, merit is still an important
part of perceptions of good government. Aristotle, writing from the perspective of a
scientist and one who lives outside the area being discussed, observed that government
in Carthage is considered to be excellent and says that part of that excellence is because,
the magistrates of the Cathaginians are elected according to meritthis is an
improvement (Doc 5). Little more than 100 years later, the Roman Constitution
established the principle of merit through law when it had the Assembly bestow offices
on the deserving, which are the most honourable rewards of virtue (Doc 6). As a written
and published official document, the Roman Constitution embodied the official Roman
ideal of earned merit being part of good government, and that is why Polybius recorded
this element. An additional document that would further explain the importance of
merit in perceptions of good government would be an early Japanese official history of
the accomplishments of the early emperors to see how merit was valued in that society.
Perceptions of good government can also be seen in monumental projects that
were produced during this time period and that show the power of governments and
individual leaders. The Persian palace at Persepolis demonstrates the huge size and
immense command of resources that governments such as the Persian Empire
15
controlled. (Doc 4). The size and grandeur of this palace is a visual representation of the
governments command of resources and the bas-relief of lions devouring smaller
animals is a metaphor for the mighty Persians devouring their weaker opponents. Even
the layout of the structure with its wide staircases and walkways reflects the Persian
governments point of view by seeing itself as massive and commanding. The Mayan
ruins at Tikal reflect a similar political message about good government: massive,
enduring, and monolithic. (Doc 9). The point of view reflected in these ruins is that the
center of government survives even in the jungle and over the centuries. The Byzantine
mosaic of the Empress Theodora also shows the perception of good government through
monumental projects (Doc 8). From the Byzantine city of Ravenna, Theodora in all her
regal finery reflects the ideals of good government through her holding or support of the
upside-down Church dome, her position in front of religious and secular advisors, and
her direct, straight-forward gaze. This point of view shows she is unafraid and unbowed
by those who surround her and by those who look directly at her. An additional image of
a monument from a West Africa kingdom such as Ghana, prior to the coming of Islam in
the eighth century, would show perceptions of good government in pre-Islamic Africa.
Perceptions of good government can be shown through a leaders desired virtues
such as in ancient Egypt or in the Greco-Roman world. Similar perceptions can be
identified through the concept of earned merit as good government in places as diverse
as Babylon, China, Carthage and the Roman Republic. The message that good
government means power and majesty is reflected in monuments built by the Persians,
the distant central American Maya civilization, and the enduring Byzantines.
Scoring of this essay: Below you will find the bolded words taken from the DBQ
scoring guide to be used on the 2012 exam, the words in italics taken from DBQ Essay
#1, and the words in regular print to help you figure out why these particular elements
earned points from the scoring guide.
1. Has an acceptable thesis.

Good government during the era c. 2200 B.C.E.-700 C.E. was perceived to be
based on powerful leadership and earned meritthese perceptions were
demonstrated by monumental building projects that illustrate the cultures
values and recognized the individual leader.
This thesis deals with all aspect of the promptthe perceptions of good
government, c.
2200 B.C.E.-700 C.E. It has three delineated groups:
powerful leadership, earned merit, and monumental building projects. It even
has an explanation for these attributes. This essay would earn an expanded core
point for thesis as it fulfills the criterion of clear, analytical, and
comprehensive.
2. Addresses all the documents and demonstrates an understanding of all or all but
one.
This essay uses all the documents in such a way as to demonstrate an
understanding of each of them. So it would earn this point.
3. Supports the thesis with appropriate evidence from all or all but one document.
16
This essay does a great job with supporting the thesis using evidence pulled for
the document and then tied to the thesis. For example, in body paragraph #4,
the student writes,
The Persian palace at Persepolis demonstrates the huge size and immense
command of resources that governments such as the Persian Empire controlled.
(Doc 4). The size and grandeur of this palace is a visual representation of the
governments command of resources, and the bas-relief of lions devouring
smaller animals is a metaphor for the mighty Persians devouring their weaker
opponents. Even the layout of the structure with its wide staircases and
walkways reflects the Persian governments point of view by seeing itself as
massive and commanding.
She is not just using the document, she explains how the document supports the
idea that good governments were perceived to be massive and commanding, or
how the palace was a visual representation of the governments command of
resources.
Or in body paragraph #3 she writes,
Good government was also perceived as being based on merit that had been
earned. Early in this era, Babylonian King Hammurabi says that he
demonstrated his merit by giving the protection of right to the land, I did right
with righteousness and brought about the well-being of the oppressed (Doc 2).
She sets up her use of the document by observing demonstrated his merit;
those are her analytical comments based on her reading and understanding of the
document. She uses her commentary to tie the quotation to the thesis.
She repeats this skill consistently throughout the essay, so she would earn an
expanded core point for Uses documents persuasively as evidence.
4. Analyzes point of view in at least two documents.

This student really works hard at earning these point of view (POV) points and
some of her POV statements are better than others. In body paragraph #3 she
says,
Early in this era, Babylonian King Hammurabi says that he demonstrated his
merit by giving the protection of right to the land, I did right with
righteousness and brought about the well-being of the oppressed (Doc 2).
Because Hammurabi is acknowledging his successes, his self-interest might
cloud his ability to judge his own merit.
That is a great POV example of explaining why Hammurabi might make this
statement and how his position might impact his observation. The student is
demonstrating a high level of analyzing historical evidence. Likewise in body
paragraph #4 the student writes,
From the Byzantine city of Ravenna, Theodora in all her regal finery, reflects
the ideals of good government through her holding or support of the upside-
17
down Church dome, her position in front of religious and secular advisors, and
her direct, straight-forward gaze. This point of view shows that she is unafraid
and unbowed by those who surround her and by those who look directly at her.
Here the student is relying on observation and inference to note Theodoras gaze
and the reason she has that gaze. This example of POV requires the student to
use what she sees in the image through careful observation and then to make an
educated evaluation of its meaning. The student is demonstrating the skill of
synthesis in this statement.
The consistency with which the student attempts POV for each document will
earn her an expanded core point here as well.
5. Analyzes documents by grouping them in two or three ways, depending on the

question.
The student demonstrates that she has read and accurately understood the
documents because she has a valid analysis scheme with three clear groups:
powerful leadership (Docs 1 and 7), earned merit (Docs 2, 3, 5, 6), and
monumental buildings (Docs 4, 9, 8).
Further, she organizes the documents within each group by chronology, which
would earn
her an expanded core point for Analyzes the documents in
additional waysgroupings, comparisons, syntheses.
6. Identifies and explains the need for one type of appropriate additional document
or source.
This student has followed the ideal of an additional request at the end of each
body paragraph (BP). Further, each of her requests is possible, relevant, not
already supplied, and specific.
BP #2: An additional document that would further articulate the ideas of
leadership qualities and good government would be an excerpt from the Hindu
Laws of Manu, explaining the qualities that civilization looked for in a leader.
BP #3: An additional document that would further explain the importance of
merit in perceptions of good government would be an early Japanese official
history of the accomplishments of the early emperors to see how merit was
valued in that society.
BP#4: An additional image of a monument from a
West Africa kingdom such as Ghana, prior to the coming of Islam in the eighth
century, would show perceptions of good government in pre-Islamic Africa.
Because each of these requests for additional documents explains why additional
types of document(s) or sources are needed, the students essay would also merit
an expanded core point here
7. Other expanded core points:
18
Clearly, this student brings in relevant outside historical content as demonstrated

by her background knowledge of Confucius and Aristotle in body paragraph #3.
She would certainly earn this point as well. This essay would score a 9.
Part B: Continuity and Change-Over-Time

Sample Essay
The Mongol Empire amassed the largest land empire the world has ever seen. The
Mongol Empire perfected the use of terror as a weapon of war. The Mongol Empire
offered freedoms to women unknown elsewhere at the time. The Mongol Empire
promoted trade and freedom of religion. The complex Mongol Empire was vast in
dimension and vision. During the era c. 12001500 C.E., the Mongol Empire relied on
traditional steppe diplomacy for political control under Chinggis Khan, strict separation
from the indigenous Chinese under Kublai Khan, and tribute to maintain political
control until the fall of the khanate of the Golden Horde in 1480 C.E.; yet, throughout
their history, it was the army that the Mongol Empire relied on as the most important
institution of state.
Temujin, who would become known as the Universal Ruler in 1206 C.E., grew up
under dangerous circumstances and used those difficulties to establish political control
in much of Asia. Traditionally, nomadic Asian khans ruled through the leadership of
periodically allied tribes, but when Temujins father was poisoned by members of rival
tribes, his protective alliance abandoned the boy and his mother. Despite several
attempts on his life, Temujin eventually managed to make an alliance with a prominent
Mongol clan through the exchange of gifts and marriage. By practicing steppe diplomacy,
which calls for personal displays of courage in battle, intense loyalty to allies, and the
ability to betray others to improve ones position, Temujin was able to exert his political
control by assembling the Mongol tribes into a confederation that recognized his
supremacy by giving him the title Chinggis Khan. One of his first actions as Universal
Ruler was to break up the tribes and force men of fighting age to join new military units
that had no tribal affiliation. Further, he increased his political control over his troops by
choosing high military and political officials based on talent and loyalty, not on kinship
or tribal status as tradition dictated. Using these methods of political control, Chinggis
Khan was able to build an army of 125,000 soldiers, relying on archers who rode on
horseback, strategic battle planning, and terror to subdue all enemies. By the time of his
death, Chinggis Khan had united the Mongols and established supremacy in central Asia.
19
Kublai Khan, inherited the largest swath of his grandfathers empireChina, the
wealthiest of the Mongol lands. Like his grandfather, Kublai relied on his negotiating
skills to establish his political control. Although it was owed to his brother, he had the
support of his kurultai, a council of allied tribes, when he took the title of Great Khan.
Kublai established the Yuan dynasty in China and spent most of his life intrigued by
Chinese culture and determined to avoid assimilation by mandating strict separation of
Mongol and Chinese peoples. Mongols and Chinese were expected to live apart,
intermarriage was forbidden, and top government posts were filled by Mongols and
other foreigners because Kublai did not trust the traditional Confucian scholar-gentry.
Further, Kublai sought to avoid Mongol assimilation into traditional Chinese culture by
encouraging religious diversity in China, so he welcomed Buddhist and Muslim
merchants as well as Nestorian Christians into his government and nation. Likewise, to
further undermine traditional Chinese values and increase the Yuan coffers, merchants
and women came to enjoy much higher social status than they ever had under Confucian
Chinese rulers. Despite his growing love of luxury, Kublai relied on these outside
innovations and strict internal separation to maintain a Mongol identity for his dynasty.
Similar to Chinggis, Kublai is credited with military accomplishmentshe united China
under a single rule after more than 300 years of fragmentation. Like his grandfather, he
continuously sought expansion, but unlike his grandfather, he was not always successful.
Kublais attempts to invade southeast Asia were unsuccessful because Mongol warriors
and their strategies did not adapt well to the tropics. In East Asia, the invasion of Japan
was rebuffed twice due to weather and a quick-study samurai army. In honor of his
nomadic ancestors and as symbols of his political control, Kublai maintained a large
cavalry and planted a plot of grass in the palace courtyard where he could observe the
grazing horses. Kublai Khan maintained his political control of China through a strict
separation of Mongol and Chinese lives and through his understanding Mongol values.
The Khanate of the Golden Horde was established by another grandson of
Chinggis Khan, Batu Khan. Like his grandfather and cousin, Batu relied on his cavalry to
mount raids from their pasturelands into the surrounding regions. With a base in the
steppes north of the Black Sea, Batu invaded Russia from the south in 1237 and
purportedly burned every town from Kiev to Moscow. He and his descendents
subjugated the people of Russian within the Khanate of the Golden Horde for more than
250 years while trying to retain their nomadic lifestyle. They consumed the goods and
enjoyed taxes extorted from the Russian peasants and townspeople. The Mongols and
20
their descendents did not occupy Russia; instead, they appointed rulers and officials to
act as vassals of the khan and demanded hefty tribute in gold, furs, and slaves. When the
bubonic plague reached Russia in the mid-fourteenth century, it decimated the Mongols
as well as the Russians, undermining the existent vassal/tribute ties. The methods of
political control employed by the Golden Horde were further weakened by the rise of the
quasi-Mongol, Timur the Lame. Actually a Turk, Timurs life, temperament, and
strategies resembled Chinggis Khanhe was courageous, crafty, and charismatic.
Timurs defeat of the Mongol army at their capital city near the Caspian Sea at the close
of the fourteenth century further weakened the political control of the khans of the
Golden Horde. Had the Mongols of the Golden Horde won that conflict, many historians
believe it would have provided ample new resources and, therefore, refueled their
expansion efforts. Russian Prince Ivan the III, who later became known as Ivan the
Great, is credited with ending the era of the Mongol khanate in Russia by the end of the
fifteenth century. However, the remaining Mongols, often called Tartars, ascended to
power periodically throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth century, but never fully
recovered from the impact of the plague, Timur the Lame, or Ivan the Great.
From the recognition of Temujin as the Universal Ruler to the end of the Golden
Horde in Russia in 1480, the Mongol Empire retained its political control of diverse
regions by relying on its army. The Mongols built the most feared army in world history
through the use of strategic maneuvers such as feigned withdrawal followed by surprise
confrontation and terror (realized or threatened). An organization that was based on
loyalty and proven courage not family or kin ties also contributed to this reputation.
Although it certainly was not the largest in number of soldiers, the Mongol army with its
outstanding equestrian skills and its highly specific technologies such as the stirrup,
curved bows, leather armor, and silk underwear proved to be a continuous thread and
the foundation of the Mongols political control of their empire from 12001500 C.E.
Scoring of this essay: Below you will find bolded words taken from the Continuity
and Change over Time scoring guide to be used on the 2012 exam, words in italics from
CCOT Essay #1, and words in regular print to help you figure out why these particular
elements earned points from the scoring guide.
1. Has acceptable thesis: 1 point.
During the era c. 1200150 C.E., the Mongol Empire relied on traditional steppe
diplomacy for political control under Chinggis Khan, strict separation from the
indigenous Chinese under Kublai Khan, and tribute to maintain political control
until the fall of the khanate of the Golden Horde in 1480; yet, throughout their
21
history, it was the army that the Mongol Empire continuously relied on as the
most important institution of state.
This is a great thesis. It addresses several important items: the global issue
political control in the Mongol Empire; the specific time period12001500
C.E.; changessteppe diplomacy, strict separation, and
tribute; and
continuitycontinuously relied on the army.
Those elements are not easy to capture in a one-sentence thesis. The writer uses a
semicolon effectively to avoid a run-on sentence and to clearly indicate the
continuity element. This thesis would earn an expanded core point.
2. Addresses all parts of the question though not necessarily evenly or thoroughly: 2
points.
This essay establishes a clear baseline in the first body paragraph. The essay then
deals with a change in methods of political control in the second body paragraph
and another change in the third body paragraph. The fourth body paragraph then
addresses continuity. Though the first paragraph is more detailed than any of the
others, this point does not require that all parts of the essay be equally addressed
in detail.
3. Substantiates the thesis with appropriate historical evidence: 2 points.
There is an abundance of evidence throughout this essay. Remember that a fact is
just a fact; here the exam readers are looking for your ability to use the facts to
support your thesis. You must tie the fact to analysis to earn this point. In
general, the scoring standard usually is set at five to seven pieces of evidence
total, but the astute student writer will aim for two to three pieces of evidence per
paragraph.
Evidence can be something as complex as these two underlined pieces,
By practicing steppe diplomacy, which calls for personal displays of courage in
battle, intense loyalty to allies, and the ability to betray to improve ones
position, Temujin was able to exert his political control by assembling the
Mongol tribes into a confederation that recognized his supremacy by giving him
the title Chinggis Khan.
or as simple as these two pieces,
In honor of his nomadic ancestors and as symbols of his political control, Kublai
maintained a large cavalry and planted a plot of grass in the palace courtyard
where he could observe the grazing horses.
This essay has a wealth of evidence, so it would earn an expanded core point for
appropriate historical evidence.
4. Uses relevant world historical context to effectively explain continuity and change
over time: 1 point.
22
The essay writer here incorporates relevant historical context in several places in
the essay.
Similar to Chinggis, Kublai is credited with military accomplishmentshe
united China under a single rule after more than 300 years of fragmentation.
Like his grandfather, he continuously sought expansion, but unlike his
grandfather, he was not always successful. Kublais attempts to invade
southeast Asia were unsuccessful because Mongol warriors and their strategies
did not adapt well to the tropics. In East Asia, the invasion of Japan was
rebuffed twice due to weather and a quick-study samurai army.
The best-explained and best-supported example of using relevant historical
context to explain a change occurs in the third body paragraph.
When the bubonic plague reached Russia in the mid-fourteenth century, it
decimated the Mongols as well as the Russians, undermining the existent
vassal/tribute ties. The methods of political control employed by the Golden
Horde were further weakened by the rise of the quasi-Mongol, Timur the Lame.
Actually a Turk, Timurs life, temperament, and strategies resembled Chinggis
Khanhe was courageous, crafty, and charismatic. Timurs defeat of the
Mongol army at their capital city near the Caspian Sea at the close of the
fourteenth century further weakened the political control of the khans of the
Golden Horde.
5. Analyzes the process of continuity and change over time: 1 point.
The essay writer explains how a change occurs in two places in the first body
paragraph:
Traditionally, nomadic Asian khans ruled through the leadership of periodically
allied tribes, but when Temujins father was poisoned by members of rival
tribes, his protective alliance abandoned the boy and his mother.
Further, he increased his political control over his troops by choosing high
military and political officials based on talent and loyalty, not on kinship or
tribal status as tradition dictated.
The essay writer explains how the continuity is sustained in the last sentence of
the essay.
Although it certainly was not the largest in number of soldiers, the Mongol
army with its outstanding equestrian skills and its highly specific technologies
such as the stirrup, curved bows, leather armor, and silk underwear proved to
be a continuous thread and the foundation of the Mongols political control of
their empire from 12001500 C.E.
23
6. Expanded Core Points:

This essay would earn expanded core points for the analytical and comprehensive
thesis, for the ample historical evidence, and probably for the introductory ideas
regarding the complexity of the Mongol Empire.
Part C: Comparative
Sample Essay
The years in human history through 600 C.E. were the incubator for many of the
worlds most enduring belief systems: Egyptian and Mesopotamian polytheism,
Hinduism and Confucianism, even Judaism and Christianity. Despite their diverse
locales and their unique tenets, each of these belief systems influenced gender roles in
their specific societies. Though gender roles for men were certainly impacted by these
elemental belief systems, the impact of belief system tenets on women are most visible.
In ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian polytheism, women found great power through
the goddesses, Isis and Ishtar; yet Confucianism and Hinduism restricted womens roles
as wives as did Judaism and Christianity in ascribing specific ideal behaviors as mothers.
The polytheism of both ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia influenced gender
roles in each society by honoring powerful women goddesses. In ancient Egypt, the
goddess Isis was identified as the ideal woman. In addition to being a wonderful wife and
mother, Isis was represented in literature as very smart and as a female who was not
afraid of other male gods. In one well-known story, Isis outsmarts her evil brother-inlaw Set to save her husband and even to use her life-giving talents to restore his kingship.
Egyptian society even through its occupation by the Persians, the Greeks, and the
Romans, allowed its women much freedom to interact in society, to work in public
settings such as business or religion and even to serve as Pharaohs like Queen
Hatshepsut. In ancient Mesopotamia, especially in Sumer and Babylonia and then later
through the Assyrians, Hittites, and Chaldeans, women goddesses were powerful; the
most powerful being Ishtar, also know as Innana Ishtar and her variations are known as
the goddess of war, fertility and female sexuality. Her priestesses would serve to
initiate the young into adulthood through sexual rituals and thus ensure the survival of
the communities. Women in many of the cultures of Mesopotamia were important in
their ability to reproduce, but seldom achieved political power. So, though in both
ancient Egypt and in ancient Mesopotamia gender roles for women were influenced by
their respective belief systems, women in Egypt were much more economically free, than
were women in Mesopotamia who were generally considered controlled by their men.
This difference exists, at least in part, because Egyptians enjoyed a more protected
bounty of nature due to the reliable Nile and the surrounding deserts than did the
peoples of Mesopotamia who often were at the mercy of raging flooding and constant
threat of invasion. This difference in security explains this difference in freedoms for
women in these two societies.
Another similarity in the impact of belief systems on gender roles, can be seen in
ancient civilizations in India and China; in both these civilization, religious traditions
dictate clear gender roles for women as obedient wives. In China, under the tenets of
Confucianism, the wife is to be obedient to her husband. Confucius goes as far as to
include this relationship as part of his Five Key Relationships explained as essential to
ensuring stability in society, a goal of the warring Zhou dynasty and continuing until the
modern 20th century. The essential Confucian ideal of filial piety put reverence for
family and family roles and thus was seen as the basis of a stable society. Women in
Confucianism were to know their place, just as most women in China were to be
24
subservient to the men in their lives. Likewise in ancient India, through the stories of
Sita and Ram and Lakshmi, women were to be helpful to their husbands, careful of his
needs and above all, obedient to him and thus bring good fortune to the family.
Lakshimis obedience brings wealth to her husband and their family. The goddess Sita
even goes so far as to kill herself rather than risk bringing any disrespect to her husband;
this religious tradition became infused into Indian society as the ritual of sati, at first just
applied to women of the Brahman varna, but by the 19th century, accepted as ideal for
women of all varnas. This similarity in Chinese and Indian gender roles for women tied
to religious beliefs may be due to the need for social order in these highly populated
societies; everyone had to know and obey her place for order to reign. Resources were
stretched in these societies due to increasing population; obedient women as wives
provided essential consistency and order throughout each society.
However, belief systems did not always influence gender roles in societies in similar
ways; the role of mothers differed in Judaism and Christianity, although those faiths
share similar roots. In Judaism, the first mother, Eve, was portrayed as disobedient and
inquisitive and therefore dangerous. Eves behavior was used as an example of how
dangerous it could be for women to be disobedient. Tradition states that she and her
husband were exiled from the Garden, which most interpretations take as being sent
away from God. Further, the early Hebrews believed Eve and all other women were said
to suffer in childbirth as continual punishment for Eves disobedience. The Hebrews
religion, Judaism, which developed in southwest Asia c. 1500 B.C.E taught that to obey
the Gods law is important above all. The law, which began as oral tradition, was written
down after the Hebrews were taken as captive to Babylon c. 6th century B.C.E; those laws
included commands to obey God and to honor ones father and mother. Other
significant women in the Jewish tradition include Naomi and Ruth whose lives teach
about loyalty and obedience to the law and to ones family, and Lots wife, who tradition
says was turned to a pillar of salt for disobeying God. The teachings of the Jewish faith
regarding gender roles stress obedience, loyalty and the importance of following Gods
law as included in the 613 rules known as Mosaic Law. Those laws set the rules for living
for Jews for more than 2500 years. In Rome however, institutional Christianity changed
the gender ideals for women. Rome, which had inherited the earlier Greek pagan
pantheon, accepted Christianity as a legal religion under Constantine the Great and the
Edict of Milan in 313 C.E. However, by that time, Christianity had taken a different
stance on appropriate roles for women, very much influenced by the traditional
patriarchal authority of Rome. Christianity initially taught that Mary was selected by
God to bear Jesus as she was innocent, faithful and obedient. Patriarchal Rome, largely
through the words of Saul of Tarsus, a Roman converted to Christianity, takes the role of
Jewish Mary and institutionalizes her roles through Catholic tradition. In the official
Roman interpretation of Christianity, Mary was a virgin at Jesus birth and she remains
that way throughout the rest of her life. That teaching reflects the Roman tradition of the
vestal virgin and the idealized image of women and purity. In Judaism, the ideal woman
is a mother and obedient; in Rome Empire Christianity, the ideal woman was a virgin,
removed from the daily life of society. Though Judaism and Christianity share the same
early origins, they come to different ideas about womens ideal roles because Christianity
became institutionalized as it mixed and merged with earlier pagan Roman teachings
and with the formalized structures of Roman patriarchy; Judaism retained its initial
reliance on the law, despite the 1st century C.E. Diaspora. It is the syncretic nature of
Christianity which therefore results in this key difference in gender roles.
Numerous comparisons and contrasts between and among these belief systems can
be examined as one studies the impact of belief systems on gender roles in early humans
civilization. Egypt and Mesopotamia promoted ideals of strong fertility goddesses, China
25
and India promoted obedience for wives as a way to insure social stability, while Judaism
and Christianity through springing from the same roots, ultimately develop different
idealized roles for women, largely resulting from their political interaction with Rome
Scoring of this essay: Below you will find the bolded words taken from the
comparative scoring guide to be used on the 2012 exam, the words in italics taken from
Comparative Essay #1, and the words in regular print to help you figure out why these
particular elements earned points from the scoring guide.
1. Has acceptable thesis Addresses comparison of the issues or themes
specified. 1 point possible.
In ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian polytheism, women found great power
through the goddesses, Isis and Ishtar; yet Confucianism and Hinduism
restricted womens roles as wives as did Judaism and Christianity in ascribing
specific ideal behaviors as mothers.
This is an acceptable thesis because it is one clear, direct sentence, at the end of
the introductory paragraph. It is an acceptable thesis because it deals with both
gender roles and belief systems and because it offers both comparisons and
contrasts; the prompt requires all those pieces to earn a thesis point.
Actually, this thesis would probably earn an expanded core point as it is a clear,
analytical, and comprehensive thesis; that phrase means your thesis includes
multiple ideas for comparison or contrast and goes above just a simpleThey
were similar in X and Y, but were different in Z. To earn an expanded core
thesis point, the readers are looking for a thesis where the ideas are more than
accurate: the ideas and/or argument are innovative and reflect a level of
sophisticated analysis or synthesis.
2. Addresses all parts of the question, though not necessarily evenly or thoroughly.
Addresses most parts of the question: for example, deals with differences but not
similarities. 2 points possible
This part is easiest idea to grasp. You must address belief systems influences on
gender roles and you must compare and contrast in the essay. In reality, if you
have a good thesis and if you follow its structure with accurate information, you
will earn both these points.
The expanded core points here are earned with attention to chronology as in this
phrase in BP #3
although those faiths share similar roots.
OR later in that same paragraph,
Rome, which had inherited the earlier Greek pagan pantheon, accepted
Christianity as a legal religion under Constantine the Great and the Edict of
Milan in 313 CE.
The reader could award Expanded Core points for connections, content, or themes
in this portion of BP#2 as well:
26
Other significant women in the Jewish tradition include Naomi and Ruth whose
lives teach about loyalty and obedience to the law and to ones family, and Lots
wife, who tradition says was turned to a pillar of salt for disobeying God.
3. Substantiates thesis with appropriate historical evidence. 2 points possible
This is the section where what you know and how well you know it really shows.
To earn these points readers expect that you will select your evidence to build
support for your thesis, rather than just tell all you know about a topic. And,
they expect you will explain how that evidence adds credibility to your argument.
Think about how a lawyer in a criminal case lays out the evidence for a jury; she
does not just say here are the facts and leave it at that. She lays out the facts in
the most powerful way possible and then she explains to the jury how each of
those facts support her premise. You are that attorney here. This is where you
make your case.
As the AP World History Historical Thinking Skill section describes it, this spot is
your chance to demonstrate a persuasive understanding by creatively fusing
disparate evidence and draws appropriately from different disciplines. That
level of thinking earns you this basic core point as well as the expanded core
points for Provides ample historical evidence to substantiate thesis and relates
comparisons to larger global context.
4. Makes at least one relevant, direct comparison between/among societies. 1 point
possible.
You should never settle for ONE of anything in an AP Comparative Essay. Teach
yourself to begin each body paragraph (BP) with a direct comparison or contrast
as your topic sentence (TS). If your thesis is awesome, you can then use those
same or similar words to scaffold the topic sentences for each body paragraph.
TS BP#1
The polytheism of both ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia
influenced gender roles in each society by honoring powerful women goddesses.
TS BP#2
Another similarity in the impact of belief systems on gender roles,
can be seen in ancient civilizations in India and China; in both these civilizations
religious traditions dictate clear gender roles for women as obedient wives.
TS BP#3
However, belief systems did not always influence gender roles in
societies in similar ways; the role of mothers differed in Judaism and
Christianity, although those faiths share similar roots.
Using this strategy, you have three direct comparisons or contrasts which
automatically earns the expanded core point which says. Makes several direct
comparisons consistently between or among societies. You will notice that this
sample essay has direct comparisons or contrasts woven throughout the essay.
27
So, though in both ancient Egypt and in ancient Mesopotamia gender roles for
women were influenced by their respective belief systems, women in Egypt were
much more economically free, than were women in Mesopotamia who were
generally considered controlled by their men.
OR
Women in Confucianism were to know their place, just as most women in
ancient China were to be subservient to the men in their lives. Likewise in
ancient India, through the stories of Sita and Ram, and Lakshmi, women were
to be helpful to their husbands, careful of his needs and above all, obedient to
him and thus bring good fortune to the family.
To the reader, that ability to make consistent comparisons/ contrasts indicates
that you can construct meaningful interpretations through sophisticated
analysis of disparate, relevant historical evidence,; demonstrating this skill
provides the reader with justification in awarding the highest points possible on
this element of your essay.
5. Analyzes at least one reason for a similarity or difference identified in a direct
comparison.1 point possible.
1
No lie; this is the most difficult point to earn in your Comparative Essay because
it means that you not only know a range of content and can make valid
statements about similarities and differences, but that you also know enough
about the topic, the time period and/or the global context inherent in the
question, to articulate a plausible reason for the similarity or for the difference.
That is not the same thing as explaining the similarity or the difference even
further. Nor is it the same thing as giving background about the similarity or the
difference. To earn this point, you must explain WHY that similarity or
difference exists.
In this essay, the student earns this point with these sentences in BP#1:
So, though in both ancient Egypt and in ancient Mesopotamia gender roles for
women were influenced by their respective belief systems, women in Egypt were
much more economically free, than were women in Mesopotamia who were
generally considered controlled by their men. This difference exists, at least in
part, because Egyptians enjoyed a more protected bounty of nature due to the
reliable Nile and the surrounding deserts than did the peoples of Mesopotamia
who often were at the mercy of raging flooding and constant threat of invasion.
This difference in security explains this difference in freedoms for women in
these two societies.
However, this student knows that one is never enough in this essay. She has
learned to close each body paragraph with an explanation of the reason for the
similarity or difference discussed in that body paragraph. So here is her attempt
at this point in BP#2:
This similarity in Chinese and Indian gender roles for women tied to religious
beliefs may be due to the need for social order in these highly populated
societies; everyone had to know and obey her place for order to reign.
Resources were stretched in these societies due to increasing population;
28
obedient women as wives provided essential consistency and order throughout

each society.
And her attempt in BP #3:
Though Judaism and Christianity share the same early origins, they come to
different ideas about womens ideal roles because Christianity became
institutionalized as it mixed and merged with earlier pagan Roman teachings
and with the formalized structures of Roman patriarchy; Judaism retained its
initial reliance on the law, despite the 1st century diaspora. It is therefore the
syncretic nature of Christianity which results in this key difference in gender
roles.
What this student does with these three attempts at Why does this similarity or
difference exist is to earn the expanded core points for Consistently analyzes
the causes and effects of relevant similarities and differences. She is
demonstrating a level 5 skill which requires, constructs meaningful
interpretations through sophisticated analysis of disparate, relevant historical
evidence.
29

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Section I: Multiple-Choice Questions

Africa, c. 1000500 B.C.E., allowed for establishment of agricultural societies and

Egypt were able to consistently produce significant agricultural surpluses,

chronology of the evolution that occurred as Aryan and earlier Dravidian

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 1.3

commodities to distant markets and exchanged their trade goods for

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 2.3

women, including the ability to manage businesses, to inherit property, and to

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 3.1

successors of the Gupta Empire.

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Mediterranean peoples and sub-Saharan chiefdoms and kingdoms, whereby

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 4.1

gathering information to help cartographers create more accurate maps and

resulted in the introduction and widespread adoption of carbohydrate-rich

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 4.2

historical process of the movement worldwide to end the slave trade.

successful deployment of the Ottomans ghazis, Muslim warriors and bureaucrats

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 4.3

experimented with different religious belief systems before adopting Shi-ism.

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 5.1

significant population growth, increased economic specialization, and promoted

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 5.2

independence Latin American states, exploited the militarys heroic efforts

the nineteenth-century scramble for colonies in Africa. Various European powers

Russia in the nineteenth century, western trends influenced traditional Russian

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 5.1

by conflict during World War I, barbed wire proved to be highly effectively in

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 6.2

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 6.2

atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, 1945, a

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

AP Curricular Requirement: Key Concept 6.3

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

1. Has an acceptable thesis.

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

4. Analyzes point of view in at least two documents.

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

5. Analyzes documents by grouping them in two or three ways, depending on the

7. Other expanded core points:

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Clearly, this student brings in relevant outside historical content as demonstrated

Part B: Continuity and Change-Over-Time

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

Practice Test Booklet Answer Key

6. Expanded Core Points: