the DBQ is the most valuable use of your time on the AP World History exam there is no single other part of the exam that takes as much time or is worth as much to your score and because of that everyone freaks out about the DBQ no worries I've got you I've been teaching AP World History for 20 years and have been an AP reader for a decade I literally just finished a stack of these bad boys an hour ago so you're in good hands I've been at this DBQ thing longer than you've been a lot and in this video I'm going to walk you through a exactly how you can get a perfect score on the DBQ section of your AP World History exam now this video is all about getting to know how the DBQ works and how to be successful at writing one but you want to see me write a real DBQ in real time head over and pick up my ultimate review packet I sit down in real time and walk you through how I would stepbystep work through a DBQ like you will dism this includes two neverbe seen dbqs that I had created by a content creator who has created content for College Board just for my ultimate review packet real time unique dbqs and some Legacy dbqs check it out I have a linked it below so let's do this everything you need to know about the DBQ or the document based question in AP World History monitor step one The Prompt The Prompt will always read like this evaluate the extent to which don't freak out this just means how much they're about to ask you some pretty major historical thing you learn this year imperialism fall of Empires growth of Empires something big all they want you to do here is take a stand make a judgment pick a side so a little a huge effect it was a major cause see those modifiers in there you got to make a stand make an argument so the prompt will say evaluate the extent to which and some major historical theme or event from the Course once you've read this prompt and this is a skill you're going to need to use throughout the first part of the DBQ writing process process annotate I suggest use that scratch paper they give you and immediately rewrite the prompt at the top it will be your focus for the next hour and you want to make sure you're doing what it's asking every year I score a bunch of dbqs that are awesome responses just not to this specific prompt people just write what they want write it at the top rewrite it hell I do this when I'm scoring dbqs just to help me out so you do the same the prompt you wrote is your Guide to the dpq you're going to read some docs and write a thesis and context but it's dangerous to go alone take the prompt with you keep checking back on it make sure you are doing what it is asking you to do cool you know the prompt you know your focus you know what you're responding to next the seven documents the College Board and your testing administrator during the exam will tell you you should take about 15 minutes to read the documents before starting to write your DBQ wrong wrong you have as much time as you need and you should immediately start writing but not writing the essay you should start writing on the documents but since you're taking it digitally try a separate sheet of paper so underneath where you rewrote the prompt create a guide to the documents again this is what I do when I'm scoring them to make sure that I understand them so doc one doc two doc three Etc don't rewrite the docs don't quote them you are on the clock here doc one equals Hindu letter to a British Diplomat quick bullet point or two underneath if you pick up some sourcing ideas mention that here done off to Doc to and so on this should take about 15 to 20 minutes just to get you organized read each document carefully and as you do do what you did to the prompt itself after all your goal with the document is to read them a total of one time you want to be able to get the information you need from the documents the first time so you don't have time to keep rereading some random document over and over but as you're reading the documents and again they'll be about this long don't forget your old friend The Prompt luckily you have it here at the top of your page check back reread it read it again you aren't just reading documents for fun you're reading these documents with the purpose of using the information in these documents to respond to the prompt remember they suggest an hour to write the DBQ spend the first 20 minutes analyzing The Prompt make sure you're headed in the right direction and reading the documents making sure you're reading and annotating with the intent that this information can help you write your essay in a few minutes so that's the basics on how to get started but there are some other things going on behind the scenes that a large percentage of students taking this exam won't notice but I'm spilling the the te here there are two hidden things in the documents first super secret DBQ hidden item groups these aren't seven random documents some of the documents will be similar some will be from the same place or even about the same event others will have a similar tone or a similar message be aware as you're reading and annotating how the documents work with or against each other I like to say that some of the documents will be playing the same sport docs 1 3 and 7even are playing baseball docs 2 and four are playing soccer and docs 5 and six are playing golf they're playing the same sports but some of the docs will be about the same topic or event they will naturally cluster together the average person reading the documents will just see seven documents but you oh no you don't see seven documents you see two to three sports or groups why does this matter well if you were able to see past the documents to see them as two to four groups of documents you just built the structure of your entire DBQ and I'll go over how to structure your DBQ in a minute but these different sports these are your body paragraphs after your introduction paragraph write a paragraph about the baseball documents skip a line inent write a paragraph about the soccer documents skip a line in D write a paragraph about the golf documents so the first super secret DBQ hidden item these documents will be groupable be on the lookout for possible groupings the other second super secret dpq hidden item what's not here what's missing as you read the documents of course you'll see different documents playing different sports three baseball documents two soccer documents and two golf documents but the College Board will intentionally leave something out they can include every single thing that might help you with the prompt in only seven documents so where is the second Super Secret DBQ hidden item simple it's in your head the whole time what else do you know about this topic look back at your annotated documents all seven of them right look at the prompt look at the documents now look back at the prompt now look back at the documents is there anything you know from taking AP World History all year long that could also support the argument that you made so two super secret things to keep an eye out for one there will be groups and two something is not present in the document it's beyond the documents you read the prompt you read the documents you've grouped them together that's the heavy lifting you have your game plan now you just have to implement it so remember the DBQ was scored out of seven points here's how I would organize your DBQ to get these points first point contextual ization this is the Star Wars crawl look back at the prompt on your scratch paper what do you know about this topic could you put this topic into context think of context clues that can help you understand what a certain word means well your context in your DBQ is exactly that just for your essay so start with a paragraph of background or context if the db2's general topic is about imperialism and it seems like half the time it's about imperialism set that up give some background to it imagine this a kid just transferred into your class they have no idea what imp imperialism is what two to four Senate statement could you say to catch them up know any vocabulary about it awesome use that ear too and make sure you end your context by narrowing back down to whatever your prompt was about for example if the prompt was about railroads and Empire Building from units 5 and six don't just give me a paragraph about the history and romance of rail travel through history make sure you end your context by getting back to the prompt no matter where your context begins it must end at what the prompt was talking about second point thesis okay you've given background to the prompt and we are still here in the first paragraph We are still in the introduction which is crucial why your thesis must be in either the introduction or the conclusion so after your context your next sentence in this same paragraph should follow this Formula First restate The Prompt so if it was evaluate the extent to which railroads affected Empire Building you write railroads had a massive impact on Empire building boom remember you do have to evaluate the extent to which which just means how much much so massive impact that's a pretty big extent next sentence railroads affected Empire building by blank name two or three measurable ways that railroads affected Empire Building don't you say a lot don't you say politically and economically these aren't what the College Board calls establishing a line of reasoning you need to name actual measurable ways that railroads affected Empire Building try using action verbs here here's an example railroads affected Empire building by connecting distant parts of their empire building nationalism amongst the indigenous populations and allowing Empires to extract more wealth more quickly to return back home look I know what you're thinking not fair Freeman is an AP World History teacher of course he knew that false how do I know that it was in one of the freaking documents I would never associate railroads with nationalism like ever but there were a few documents that talked about it so throw that into your thesis all right you have your thesis there at the end of the first paragraph reread it could just support that with any evidence from the documents that you just spent 20 minutes breaking down the answer should be yes why that's what the rest of your essay is about supporting this statement this argument this thesis with evidence from those seven documents one last thing on your thesis it will come back later or fast forward to the end and you can hear me talk about it then but I will bring it up one last time at the very end of this video we are not done with the thesis this was just our first attempt third Point describing the documents this is without a doubt the easiest point on the entire AP World History exam I can't tell you that you're going to slay the saqs those SAQ topics might be all the things you're weak on historically same for the lqs you could fall asleep during the multiple choice I mean it's pretty early in the morning at this point you can get yes you I don't care who you are I don't care if you're some history Guru or this is the first history class you've ever taken you will get this point all you have to do is describe the content of three of the documents ments that's it seriously if you say Doc one says this doc two says this doc three says this boom as long as you aren't just quoting the documents or reading the documents incorrectly or misinterpreting what they're trying to tell you then you get the point so whenever you bring up a document before you try to use the document to support a thesis or get to the sourcing of it just briefly write one sentence summary of what's going on in that document that's it do this for all seven documents what if you completely screw up four of the documents it doesn't matter you got three right therefore you get the point there are a large number of people who will get zeros on the DBQ not you you will earn this point for every document briefly describe what it say point four supporting your thesis okay this is where we separate the threes fours and fives from the ones and twos quick recap you have that sweet intro paragraph right you really set up your essay by giving it some historical context to the whole thing then you ended that with a baller thesis that both evaluates the extent to which how much and directly responds to the prompt and EST lishes that line of reasoning space down indent second paragraph remember those Sports I was talking about earlier those documents that were very similar in tone or message those groups the second paragraph should start with a topic sentence this should set up your analysis of one of your groups after that topic sentence start breaking down the documents document one says this remember that's that super basic describing the documents point we just went over after you said what was in the document not quoting the document never quoting the document you use that info to support your your argument from your thesis in other words what is in this document that supports your argument or any argument about what the thesis is asking you about what in this document supports some idea about railroads and Empire Building or how the Ching Dynasty fell or how European imperialism affected economies in Africa or Asia or whatever the prompt is not just describing the document but utilizing the information in that document to support your thesis there's a magic word AP World History teachers like to use here and that word is therefore if you describe the document then start the next sentence with therefore the following sentence will almost always force you to explain why you were mentioning this info in the first place that reason to support your thesis or back up your claim you must do this for four documents but to be safe do it for every document you use if you mess up three documents and only correctly use four to support your thesis no worries you supported your thesis with four documents point five sourcing so intro paragraph done your second paragraph is about the two documents that are playing the same sport or talking about the same thing the last thing you need to worry about for any particular document is called sourcing this is where you try to literally get into the world of the document and there's a few ways the College Board gives you for doing this in fact they give you four suggestions first historical context what's going on in the world with this document that led to it being written this is just like the context you wrote at the beginning of your essay but it's just for this specific document second sourcing thing audience who's supposed to see this document how are they seeing it is this a letter to a King is this a newspaper editorial is this a called action of Some Kind Third sourcing thing purpose for what purpose was this document written or created in the first place what does the author of this document want to happen next what next steps is the author hoping to achieve by creating this document fourth sourcing thing point of view check that Source line on a document who is this person what about their background is pertinent or relevant to your argument does it matter the author is the king why does that matter does it matter that this person survived a battle does it matter that this person lives centuries after the events that they're describing your teacher may call the sourcing types hap historical context audience purpose and point of view and don't worry these are all listed for you on the rubric which will be on your screen for you throughout the duration of your essay writing experience okay fair warning I do this for a living you're almost always going to try and do purpose and about 60% of you will get it wrong every single time it's not your fault it happens So to avoid getting purpose wrong let me give you some advice you don't matter you the person watching this you don't matter don't feel bad neither do I to these documents you don't matter therefore the purpose is never just to show something to you y'all are all in here writing the purpose of this document is to show how bad conditions were on the Indian railroad to who to you no remember you don't matter if you are using purpose as your sourcing make sure you were looking into the purpose of the author what do they want to happen what was their purpose purpose and it was never to show future history students anything for any reason it was to get something done back then what was that thing back then that is the purpose of that document okay sorry rant over now certain documents will call out to you for certain sourcing types if document one says that it's a letter to X or a petition to Y well I would do audience or even purpose there or if it's a document about something you definitely know more about like the Haitian revolution or the C Point Mutiny okay I would do historic context there and don't just point out the sourcing don't just say the audience of this document was the board of the British East India Trading Company yeah okay that's true but how is that relevant to your essay or to your argument add a sentence fragment using something like therefore or this matters because or this is relevant to my argument because this matters because the British East India Company controlled the railroads in India and could plausibly make the changes the author is requesting you need to Source two documents so try and do three or four just in case you mess one of them up when do you Source great question me you Source right after you've used the document to support your thesis a simple formula for using the documents should go like this describe the doc use it to support your thesis then Source it do this for all seven documents if you can describe it support it Source it this is the work that goes on in the body paragraphs paragraph one was that context thesis bit right the introduction paragraphs 2 through 4 or five or however many you need describe the docs support the docs Source those Docs you must describe three support four and Source two do that you got yourself three points add that to the context and the thesis Point you're sitting at a five so what's the last two points point six evidence beyond the documents and I mentioned this earlier when we were talking about the second Super Secret DBQ hidden item and at this point of your essay you're probably like 50 minutes in I'm guessing this is generally the last thing people attempt but the reason I mentioned the timing you're a pro at this essay at this point you know more about this specific topic right now than you probably ever will so I'll ask it again what's missing what's not here the College Board calls this evidence beyond the documents do you know anything else that could support your thesis that brings up another point you can't just mention something else you know about this topic you need to treat this like any of the other documents you used earlier describe it and support it other thing you know maybe it's a DBQ about imperialism in the economy and none of the documents talk about China what how could they leave China out well they did it intentionally just to give you a window to use your imperialism in China knowledge to drop a nugget about the Opium Wars here again you can't just be like oh yeah this is like the Opium Wars you must use this evidence to support your argument to back up an argument you made in your thesis this is tough I got no help for you here this is kind of the leq portion of the DBQ meaning you just got to know something else about the topic and it also has to support your thesis put this wherever it fits into your essay if you're talking about two documents that go over the impact of disease in the 20th century and none of the docs talk about the Spanish Flu boom describe the Spanish Flu support your thesis with the info from your Spanish Flu knowledge Point s complexity strangely this is the easiest point to explain why you just got to do two things from earlier but you just have to do more of them so here are two ways to be complex first use evidence from all seven documents to support your thesis and that's a pretty high bar you can't mess up a single document here Source Four documents instead of just two documents if you can do that guess what your essay is complex so here's the general breakdown on how to write a DBQ first read and rewrite the prompt on your scratch paper this is your focus second read the docs and make a few notes on your scratch paper this is what you're working with throughout the essay third start your first paragraph write your context or your background building up to your thesis fourth end your intro paragraph with your thesis that specifically responds to The Prompt using actual ways or things that the prompt is asking about not just categories or vague statements action verbs are your friends here fifth group those documents into two to five paragraphs that begin with a topic sentence then follow the formula for all seven documents or as many as you can describe it support it then Source it sixth what's missing what else do you know that could support your thesis and finally seventh if you used all seven to support your thesis or or sourced for your essay is now complex so the big question how do you end a DBQ I mentioned this toward the beginning of your essay and I told you that we weren't done with your thesis we are not done with the thesis this was just our first attempt you've been dealing with these documents for about an hour at this point you are more familiar now than you'll ever be so before you go space down indent rewrite your thesis don't just copy it word for word can you be more specific can you add more to it if you can do it at the very end and I know this seems like a small thing but a large percentage of people who bomb their first attempt at the thesis back in that first paragraph rally at the end with maybe even just one word or phrase that is more specific or fits better into the rubric this could save your thesis that's how you DBQ now I've written some of these in real time over my ultimate review packet and I've linked that down there in the description I sit down with you without all these fancy edits that you're used to in real time so you can put your DBQ skills to the test you can write it at I write it I'm on all the socials so follow like subscribe whatever but if you have questions post them down below I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as humanly possible so remember I a real AP World History teacher uh this year I have over a 100 AP World students and they're all lovely so it may take me a day or two but don't be afraid to reach out if you have a question I guarantee you some other person out there does too they just aren't asking it all right thanks for watching and good luck on the exam this may [Music]