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AP Writing: Decoding WHAP Prompts

When you read a prompt, realize that it will incorporate a number of items you must consider when
developing your response: (1) what kind of essay youre writing, (2) concept/theme, (3) region, and
(4) time frame.

(1)
Essay Response Types
There are three kinds of essay responses you will be asked to write: a Document-Based Question
(DBQ) response, a Continuity-and-Change-Over-Time (CCOT) response, and a Comparative
Analysis (CA) response. Each essay response assesses both a students content knowledge and their
grasp of various historical thinking skills.

(2)
Concept/Theme
When studying history, it is often helpful to consider various themes and how they interact to create
the accepted narrative of history (or our own understanding of an historical era or event). The
College Board recognizes five distinct themes in history, and essay prompt often require a student to
discuss, explain, or analyze one of these themes in the context of a given region and time period.
The themes of WHAP are:
Theme

Description

Humans
and the
Environment

This theme emphasizes demography (the science of human populations) as people


migrate
,
settle
,
spread disease
, and
alter the environment
through technology.

Culture

This theme focuses on cultural influences that have shaped societies throughout history,
including
belief systems (such as religion, philosophies, and ideologies),
science and
technology
, and the
arts and architecture
.
Note

: Culture is NOT looking at social structures themselves, but often entail a discussion
of how culture has changed (or not changed) social structures.

Government
and Politics

Economy

Social
Structures

This important theme throughout world history investigates government in various forms
including
systems of government (monarchy, democracy, etc.),
powerful states (specific
empires and nations), and regional and global
organizations
. It also includes a
study of
politics
, including
political ideologies
and a study of
who wields power and how
.
This theme emphasizes
economic systems (the many ways that people have made a living
throughout history, such as agriculture, pastoralism, trade, commerce, and industry). This
theme also investigates
labor systems
, and
economic
ideologies such as socialism and
capitalism.
This theme focuses on how societies have organized themselves over time. Social structures
include
gender roles
,
family and kinship
,
race
,
ethnicity
, and
social classes
. These
social structures have impacted the course of world history in very different ways than politics
and economics, but their influence is equally as important.

(3)
Region
The globe can be divided into a multitude of different regions, depending on historical period
or geography. A region can be as large as a hemisphere or a small as a specific kingdom or
empire. Its important to review the broad regions of the world, because your prompt may not
specify regions according to modern geographical constructs. On the charts below are some of
the
most common
ways that the College Board has labeled regions in the past:
Western Hemisphere:
Regions

North America

Latin America & the


Caribbean

Mesoamerica

Andes

Includes Modern States of

Reasons for Grouping

Canada
United States
Mexico

similar political and economic


systems, especially after c.
1850

everything in the western


hemisphere
except
for
Canada, United States

share a common colonial


history (c. 1490s - c. 1820s) in
that these areas were highly
influenced by either Spain or
Portugal

Mexico
Guatemala

Peru
Bolivia

area where highly developed


indigenous civilizations
emerged: the Olmec (before
600 BCE), the Maya (c. 500s 900s CE), the Aztec (c. 1300s 1521)
area where highly developed
indigenous civilizations
emerged in South America:
the Chavin (before 600 BCE),
the Inca (c. 1300s - 1527)

Eastern Hemisphere:
Regions

Mediterranean Basin

Western Europe

Includes Modern States of

Major Reason(s) for Grouping

Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey,


Syria, Lebanon, Israel,
Egypt, Libya, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco

area united by trade beginning


before BCE; sometimes united
politically, esp. under Roman
Empire, (c. 31 BCE - 476 CE)

Ireland
United Kingdom
[N. Ireland,

since c. 1850, these countries


have led Europe in industrial
production; they share
common political (democratic)
and economic (capitalism)
ideals

England, Scotland]

France
Germany

Eastern Hemisphere (
cont
.):
Regions

Includes Modern States of

Reasons for Grouping

Central Europe

Germany, Austria, Czech


Republic, Slovakia, Hungary

between c. 900 and 1806 CE,


this area was mostly united in
the Holy Roman Empire, led
by the monarchy in Austria

Eastern Europe

Near East

Middle East

Arab States
(these countries also form an
organization known as the Arab
League)

Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Ukraine
Hungary
Romania
Russia

Turkey
Syria
Lebanon
Israel
Jordan
Egypt

area was partly united by one


state, Poland-Lithuania,
between 600 and 1450 CE;
from c. 1700 onwards, area
was divided between major
states (Prussia, Holy Roman
Empire, Russia); between c.
1945 - 1989, these countries
were part of the Soviet system
(either as the Soviet Union or
as Soviet satellite states)
area shares ancient history
and trade routes, sometimes
united into Mesopotamian
empires (ex. Egyptian,
Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, all
before 600 BCE) and
sometimes as solitary states
(ex. Israel, before 600 BCE);
shares a similar Semitic
culture (until the spread of
Islam brings Arabic culture
after c. 630 CE)

Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi


Arabia, Yemen, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Oman,
Bahrain,
Afghanistan (sometimes)

area shares a history especially


after the spread of Islam
beginning c. 630 CE; before
then, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and
Persia (Iran) were home to
powerful ancient civilizations

all of the Middle East


(
except
Afghanistan) and the
Near East (
except
Israel),
plus the African states of
Egypt, Libya, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan,
Somalia, Mauritania,
Comoros, Djibouti

area shares various cultural


influences (Islam, Arabic) and
has been united by these
influences as well as by trade
since c. 700 CE; most of these
areas were also under
European-- mostly French or
British-- occupation during
the Age of Imperialism (c.
1850 - c. 1950)

Eastern Hemisphere (
cont
.):
Regions

Central Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Far East

Sub-Saharan Africa

Includes Modern States of

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Mongolia (sometimes)
Afghanistan (sometimes)

Afghanistan (sometimes)
Pakistan
India
Bangladesh
Nepal
Tibet

Thailand
Myanmar (Burma)
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Philippines

China
Japan
Korean Peninsula
Mongolia (sometimes)

Africa south of the Sahara


Desert; usually not including
Arab states of E. Africa

Reasons for Grouping

area was home to mostly


pastoral groups (into Period 3)
which at times established
states (Mongols!); culturally
connected to Persians
(language) since before 600
BCE and Arabs (Islam) after
600 CE; housed important
locations along Silk Road
area was highly culturally
influenced by the great Indian
faiths of Hinduism and
Buddhism; connected by trade
since before 600 BCE;
influenced by the spread of
Islam (except Nepal & Tibet)
after 600 CE
area is highly culturally
influenced by China
(language) and India
(Buddhism) since before 600
CE and is influenced by Islam
after c. 700 CE; was connected
by trade to Chinas Silk Road
and the Indian Ocean basin;
area was affected by the Age of
Colonialism (mostly the Dutch
and British) and the Age of
Imperialism (Dutch, British,
French)
area is highly culturally
influenced by China (language,
Confucianism, Buddhism)
since before 600 CE; was
connected by trade routes; was
affected by the Age of
Imperialism (Dutch, British,
French, Germans)
area was largely politically
decentralized (except for the
Mali Empire between c. 1200s
- 1600 CE); heavily influenced
by the Bantu migrations
beginning c. 1000 BCE;
connected by trade

(4)
Time Frame
The College Board has divided up the curriculum framework of World History into 6 distinct
periods, each of which correspond to specific historical eras, movements, or phenomena:
Period
1

Time Frame
to 600 BCE
(from the Neolithic
Revolution to the end of the
first great civilizations)

600 BCE - 600 CE


2

(from the rise of trading


empires to the end of the
Roman Empire)

600 - 1450 CE
3

(from the rise and expansion


of Islam to the end of the
European Middle Ages)

1450 - 1750 CE
4

(from the beginning of global


exploration to the end of the
colonial age)

Description
This is the era of early human political and
economic development, where historians
can first document complex systems used
to coordinate the work and movement of
people and goods.
This is the era of classical civilization,
when in various parts of the world, large
empires emerged which controlled
significant amounts of the earths people
and resources. An expansion of trade
(from regional to interregional routes)
allowed for greater connections between
distant parts of the world. New religions
emerged (Christianity), and they and older
religious traditions (esp. Buddhism)
diffused.
This is the era of consolidation of cultural
traditions (especially religious traditions)
and of greater intensification of trade. At
the same time, we see different systems of
government emerge, as Europe largely
decentralizes (lots of small kingdoms
instead of a large empire, like Rome) but
the Middle East, North Africa, Central
Asia, and South Asia are united first by
Muslim caliphates and then by the Mongol
khanates. The Chinese Empire, led by
various dynasties, remains the preeminent
influence in the Far East. In the Americas,
we see the development of large-scale
empires for the first time toward the end
of this period (Aztec, Inca).
This is the era of global exploration, and
marks a turning point in which region of
the world houses the most politically and
economically powerful states. Up to c.
1450, those states had been located mostly
in the Middle or Far East; with European
states leading the Age of Exploration,
European states (esp. Britain) become the
most powerful.

Period

Time Frame

1750 - c. 1900 CE
5
(from the beginning of the
industrial revolution to the
turn of the 20th C)

c. 1900 CE to the
present

Description
This is the era of industrialization, when
mechanized production is introduced and
states compete to control the resources
needed to facilitate industrial production.
This competition leads to the Age of
Imperialism, during which European
states partitioned much of the Eastern
Hemisphere-- especially Africa-- amongst
themselves.
This is an era of continued industrial
production, but more importantly of
globalization, when trade and
communication spread more around the
world. The beginning of the period is
marked by two global conflicts; the end by
a third (the Cold War). This era also sees
the end of Imperialism, as areas exploited
by Europe since c. 1850 (and sometimes
earlier) are granted independence.

Please note that the College Board rarely frames essay prompts using period numbers (
e.g.
,
theyre unlikely to ask you about Period 2 or Period 4). Instead, prompts usually provide
specific time frames which often correspond with specific period time frames (ex.: between
1450 and 1750), but sometimes overlap between two periods (ex.: between 1850 and 1915
CE) or specify a range from within a certain period (ex.: between 1000 and 1450 CE).

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