AP World History Practice Test: 40 Source-Based Questions With Answers
Practice AP World History: Modern multiple choice the way the exam presents it, in short sets that share one source. The 40 questions come from our practice-test video, weighted by the official unit weights, with public-domain primary sources and short passages we wrote. Then review the full exam format and what changes in May 2027.
The AP World History: Modern exam takes 3 hours 15 minutes in Bluebook. Multiple choice is 55 questions in 55 minutes (40% of the score), usually in sets of three or four per source. The rest is writing: three short-answer questions (20%), a document-based question (25%), and a long essay (15%). From the May 6, 2027 exam, all three short-answer questions are required and use sources, and there is one required long essay.
AP World History: Modern facts at a glance
| Practice questions | 40: in 13 source sets, weighted like the official units |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 55 in 55 min: 40% of the score; sets of usually 3-4 questions per source |
| Short answer | 3 in 40 min: 20%; all required from May 2027 |
| DBQ | 60 min: 25%; seven documents, includes a 15-minute reading period |
| Long essay | 40 min: 15%; one required question from May 2027 |
| Total time | 3 hr 15 min: digital, in Bluebook |
| 2027 exam date | May 6, 2027: Thursday, session 1 |
| Exam fee | $99: at U.S. schools; $129 outside the U.S. |
Checked against the official College Board page and the sources listed at the end of this page on 2026-10-26.
Watch: AP World History: Modern video
AP World History Practice Test 2026: 40 Multiple-Choice Questions Explained
AP World History practice test: 40 questions
These are the 40 questions from our AP World History practice-test video. Each question shows its source first: public-domain excerpts from Luther, Equiano, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Communist Manifesto, the Qianlong Emperor, Kipling, Wilson, and Truman, plus short passages we wrote. Read the source, then answer. Every question is original, not a real AP exam question.
Our target is 30 or more correct, about 75%. That is our own planning goal, not an official cutoff: College Board reports a score from 1 to 5, and the writing sections are 60% of it.
AP World History: Modern units and exam weights
Units 3 to 6 carry the most weight. Our practice set has five questions for each of those units and four for each of the others.
| Unit | Period | Exam weight |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: The Global Tapestry | c. 1200-1450 | 8-10% |
| Unit 2: Networks of Exchange | c. 1200-1450 | 8-10% |
| Unit 3: Land-Based Empires | c. 1450-1750 | 12-15% |
| Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections | c. 1450-1750 | 12-15% |
| Unit 5: Revolutions | c. 1750-1900 | 12-15% |
| Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization | c. 1750-1900 | 12-15% |
| Unit 7: Global Conflict | c. 1900-present | 8-10% |
| Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization | c. 1900-present | 8-10% |
| Unit 9: Globalization | c. 1900-present | 8-10% |
How the multiple-choice section works
Multiple-choice questions come in sets of usually three or four built on one source: a text, an image, a chart, or a map. With 55 questions in 55 minutes, you have about a minute per question, including reading time for each source.
Read the attribution first (who wrote it, when, and for whom), then the source, then the questions. Many questions ask what the source is evidence of, or what most influenced the ideas in it, so connect each source to its period and to the broader processes in the course rather than to isolated facts.
What changes on the May 2027 exam
College Board's AP history exam updates take effect with the May 2027 exam. All three short-answer questions are required, and each includes a source: question 1 a secondary text, question 2 a primary text, and question 3 a non-text source. The long essay becomes one required question instead of a choice. The multiple-choice section, the course content, and the rubrics are unchanged.
Scores and college credit
AP scores run from 1 to 5. Each college decides which score earns credit or placement, so check the policies of the colleges on your list.
How to use this practice test
Sort your misses by period. Period 1 misses (c. 1200-1450): review Song China, Mali, and the trade networks. Period 2 (c. 1450-1750): gunpowder empires, the Reformation, and the Atlantic system. Period 3 (c. 1750-1900): revolutions, industrialization, and imperialism. Period 4 (c. 1900-present): the world wars, the Cold War, decolonization, and globalization.
This set covers multiple choice only. Practice the short-answer questions, the DBQ, and the long essay with the released questions and scoring guidelines on AP Central.
Sample AP World History: Modern questions with answers
One question from each content area of the practice set above, with the answer and explanation. Try it before you open the answer.
Unit 1: The Global Tapestry
Under the Song dynasty, officials were chosen through civil service exams based on the Confucian classics. Fast-ripening Champa rice, first brought from Southeast Asia, let farmers grow two crops a year. Cities such as Hangzhou grew very large, and the state issued some of the world's first paper money. — Passage written for this practice test The exam system in the passage most directly reflects which belief system?
- Theravada Buddhism
- Confucianism
- Daoism
- Legalism
Show answer
B. Confucianism
The Song exams tested knowledge of the Confucian classics, so officials were trained in Confucian ideas about education, proper relationships and order. Neo-Confucianism, which borrowed some Buddhist and Daoist ideas, also grew strong in this period.
Unit 2: Networks of Exchange
When Mansa Musa, the ruler of Mali, passed through Cairo on his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, he and his followers spent and gave away so much gold that its value in Cairo fell for years afterward. Musa returned home with Muslim scholars and architects. — Our summary of an account by al-Umari, 1300s Mali's great wealth came mainly from:
- Silver mines in the Andes
- The Indian Ocean spice trade
- Trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt
- Selling silk to the Mongols
Show answer
C. Trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt
Mali sat between gold fields to the south and the trans-Saharan routes to the north. Its rulers taxed the trade in gold, salt and other goods, carried by camel caravans across the desert.
Unit 3: Land-Based Empires
Thesis 86: Why does not the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of Saint Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers? — Martin Luther, Ninety-five Theses, 1517 · public-domain translation, adapted Luther's question was a response to:
- The sale of indulgences
- The fall of Constantinople
- The Council of Trent
- The Great Schism of 1054
Show answer
A. The sale of indulgences
The church was raising money for the new Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome by selling indulgences, which promised to reduce punishment for sin. Luther attacked the practice, and his theses spread fast thanks to the printing press. The Council of Trent came later, as part of the Catholic answer.
Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections
“The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time … The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us.” — Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, 1789 · public domain The voyage Equiano describes was part of:
- The Middle Passage
- Indentured migration to Australia
- The trans-Saharan salt trade
- The Indian Ocean spice trade
Show answer
A. The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the crossing from West Africa to the Americas, the middle leg of the Atlantic trade. Millions of enslaved Africans were carried in crowded holds, and many died on the way.
Unit 5: Revolutions
Article 1: Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. Article 3: The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. — Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France, 1789 · public domain The ideas in the passage were most influenced by:
- Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Rousseau
- The divine right of kings
- Neo-Confucian thought
- Mercantilist economics
Show answer
A. Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Rousseau
Natural rights and popular sovereignty come from the Enlightenment. John Locke wrote about natural rights, and Rousseau about the general will of the people. Article three rejects the divine right of kings.
Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization
“Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders. There was therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce.” — Qianlong Emperor, letter to King George III, 1793 · translation by Backhouse and Bland, 1914, public domain The letter turned down British requests for:
- A military alliance against Russia
- Wider trade and a permanent embassy
- Help ending the opium trade
- Control of Hong Kong
Show answer
B. Wider trade and a permanent embassy
Britain's Macartney mission asked for more open trade and a permanent ambassador in Beijing. The emperor refused. Britain bought Chinese tea, silk and porcelain but had little that China wanted in return.
AP World History: Modern FAQ
How many multiple-choice questions are on AP World History?
55 questions in 55 minutes, worth 40% of the score, usually in sets of three or four questions that share one source.
How long is the AP World History exam?
3 hours 15 minutes: multiple choice and short answer in Section I, then the document-based question and the long essay in Section II.
What is changing on the 2027 AP World History exam?
From May 2027, all three short-answer questions are required and each uses a source, and there is one required long essay. Multiple choice, course content, and rubrics stay the same.
When is the 2027 AP World History exam?
Thursday, May 6, 2027, in session 1.
Which AP World History units are weighted most?
Units 3 to 6 (c. 1450-1900) are 12-15% each. Units 1, 2, and 7 to 9 are 8-10% each.
Related practice and guides
Sources
Exam facts on this page were checked against these official pages on 2026-10-26.
- AP Central: AP World History: Modern exam
- AP Central: AP history exam updates
- AP Students: AP World History: Modern course
- AP Students: AP World History: Modern exam
- AP Central: AP World History: Modern course
- AP Students: 2027 exam dates
- AP Students: 2027 AP exam fees
- AP Students: AP score scale table
OpenExamHub is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with College Board or the AP Program. AP is a trademark of College Board. All practice questions are original, not real AP exam questions; quoted sources are public domain. Exam formats, dates, and fees are set by College Board and can change; confirm them on AP Central.