The AP History DBQ Rubric—How to Help Kids Study
The AP History DBQ Rubric—How to Help Kids Study
So, your kid is taking one of the AP History exams in May—AP US History, AP World History, or AP European History—and you keep hearing them complain about something called a “DBQ”…
What is that?
I’ll give you the bad news first: the much-feared DBQ is perhaps the #1 most misunderstood and most poorly-instructed element of the AP History exams.
What could possibly be the good news?
That same seemingly-dismal fact also means that the DBQ is actually a whole lot more straightforward than teachers, parents, and especially students think it is—and there are practical ways to approach it that can quickly and dramatically improve student’s confidence in approaching the task.
Higher confidence = higher scores. Period.
More good news—I have a Master’s degree in History; I’ve taught AP US History and AP World History since 2016; and for the past three summers, I have been an official reader of AP US History exams. I am intimately familiar with the scoring guidelines for AP History essays, as the rubrics for AP US History, AP World History, and AP European History are all the same.
So, you’re in good hands. Join me for a little demystification of the DBQ.
What task do students actually perform on the DBQ?
“DBQ” is an acronym for “document-based question.”
It very appropriately describes the task that students are asked to perform in this essay, one of three of the written response performance tasks in the “free response” section of the exam.
Students are provided with an analytical prompt and seven primary or secondary historical sources they must use in order to answer the prompt.
The purpose of this task is to assess how well the student is able to synthesize information from provided source materials and their own content knowledge in order to form a cohesive response to the prompt.
The most common mistake teachers and students make when approaching this essay is forgetting to rely on the sources. This is, after all, a document-based question. Your response should be appropriately document-based, as well. To understand just how closely to the sources one’s response should hew, and what other factors one is graded on, continue reading!
Let’s talk about the rubric!
Yes, College Board provides a rubric for all of the essay tasks on the exam! Many people don’t know this, including teachers. But this rubric is a priceless tool for maximizing scores on the DBQ!
Here’s the gist: Students can score a maximum of 7 points on the DBQ, distributed among four categories and all awarded separately.
Sections of the Rubric
Again, the 7 potential points are distributed among four possible reporting categories. However, each point of the rubric is earned independently. This means that, technically, a student could earn all of their points for evidence but not earn a point for thesis. This would be unusual, but it’s definitely possible.
In regards to accuracy, the College Board says that students simply need to make no glaring or unacceptable errors in historical accuracy. In their words, “Given the timed nature of the exam, essays may contain errors that do not detract from their overall quality, as long as the historical content used to advance the argument is accurate.”
They have similar criteria for grammar and spelling, though perhaps even more lax. Their guidance to students and exam graders is as follows: “[Essays] should be considered first drafts and thus may contain grammatical errors [which] will not be counted against a student unless they obscure the successful demonstration of the content knowledge, skills, and practices.”
Reporting Category 1: Thesis or Claim
(0-1 point possible)
Because a thesis statement is indeed an important part of a typical essay (and of this essay, as well, but to a lesser degree), students tend to overthink this part. While it’s indisputably true that a solid central claim will lend itself to a more cohesive and thoughtful essay overall, the overall takeaway from a rubric standpoint is that this is a timed essay and the thesis is worth one point.
So, instead, I (and you, when you are helping your student study, should) try to emphasize this element of the rubric as the “central claim” or their “main point” rather than the thesis statement, a phrase which (again, for good reason) tends to carry a lot of weight from assignments during the regular school year. During a timed essay on a standardized exam where six other points are in the mix, however, perspective necessarily shifts a little.
So, what sayeth the College Board? Literally, this:
A response that earns 1 point: “Responds to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis/claim that establishes a line of reasoning.”
That’s it. And I mean it when I say, that’s it. No subtext, no trapdoors, no secret preferences. That is the scoring guideline. The student who writes a four-line thesis statement so powerful and moving it puts Zinn to shame will get the same 1 point as the student who answers, “During the first half of the 19th century, Americans developed a national identity because the war of 1812 helped the different states feel more unified.” I’m being 100% serious.
Reporting Category 2: Contextualization
(0-1 point possible)
Here, students need to show that they understand the historical moment they are discussing within its context. This can, and should, be done in a few different ways. However, it’s most important that the student drops bits of context throughout the essay.
This is easier to do than most students think it is. The most common misconception here is that I hear students literally say things like, “I need to put ‘a context’ here.”
Clearly, that’s a misunderstanding of what context means. It needs to be organically woven into the response, which means that this point is probably the one that requires the most historical content knowledge of them all. However, there is a lot of context that can be garnered from the sources as well, if students read them carefully.
What does the College Board say?
A response that earns this point: Describes a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.
If it still feels nebulous (and for many it does!), take this example they give of acceptable contextualization:
“During the late 1790s and early 1800s, conflicts over neutral trading rights and impressment with France and Great Britain, contributed to debates about U.S. foreign policy leading to questions about the young country’s place in the world.”
vs. unacceptable attempted contextualization:
“Americans had Transcendentalism.”
Reporting Category 3: Evidence
(0-3 points possible)
3-Point Responses
To earn full points for the evidence category, the student must do all of the following:
(1) support an argument in response to the prompt
(2) using at least six of the provided sources
(3) and at least one piece of evidence outside of the provided sources
2-Point Responses
A two-point response will be missing something from the above, but if the student uses at least six of the sources, they will earn at least two points here. If the grader decides to assign only two points, it is because the student either failed to include a piece of evidence outside of the provided sources or because they did not convincingly support their argument using their sources. Either way, a two-point response is still a good response.
1-Point Responses
Students who use at least three of the provided sources will get at least one point, regardless of their performance on the other elements listed under the full-point response above.
0-Point Response
It is very rare for a student to score 0 points, but if they do, it’s because they didn’t use at least three sources, catastrophically (and I mean catastrophically) misinterpreted the source documents, simply quoted the documents without analysis, or didn’t write the essay at all.
Reporting Category 4: Analysis and Reasoning
(0-2 points possible)
2-point responses
Do all of the following:
(1) Demonstrate a “complex” understanding of the prompt, using evidence to “corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the question.”
(2) For at least three of the provided sources, explain how and/or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or intended audience is relevant to an argument
This is frequently taught to students through something called “HIPP analysis.” It has its limits, but I do think it’s fairly helpful for this specific DBQ task. “HIPP” is a mnemonic for
“Historical Context;
Intended Audience;
Purpose;
Point of View”.
For the three sources that they choose, the student should weave into their analysis an additional meta-analysis of the source itself. For example, in an essay about the changing status of women in twentieth-century America, the student could point out that an anti-suffrage speech written by a man necessarily has a “point of view” or perspective that will not only change the author’s opinion on the issue but also affect his intended audience and his purpose.
1-point responses
Similarly to the evidence category, a 1-point response will have either failed to demonstrate a “complex” understanding of the prompt, or it will have failed to complete the “HIPP” analysis task.
0-point responses
Again, it’s rare that a grader will assign 0 points. In these cases, there will have been some extreme error in comprehension or the essay wasn’t completed or even begun.
The takeaway
Overall, the DBQ is doable. With practice, it may even become kinda easy. I won’t go so far as to say it will definitely become fun, but some of my students have (honestly!) said as much.
Your student can do it. You can help. And if you want even more help, you can get in touch with me to schedule a 15-minute consultation.