AP US History · Free-response guide
How to write the APUSH LEQ (long essay question)
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
The long essay question, or LEQ, is the second essay in Section II of the AP U.S. History exam. You choose one of three prompts. All three ask you to use the same historical reasoning process (causation, comparison, or continuity and change over time) about different periods. There are no documents: your evidence comes entirely from what you know.
The LEQ rubric is closely related to the DBQ rubric, without the document and sourcing points. That makes it a test of two things: whether you can choose a prompt you know well, and whether your knowledge is specific enough to support an argument. This guide covers the rubric, how to choose among the prompts, how to structure the essay around the reasoning skill, and the mistakes that cost points most often.
LEQ at a glance
| Where it appears | Section II, Question 2 |
|---|---|
| Choice | Answer one of three prompts covering different ranges of periods |
| Reasoning | Causation, comparison, or continuity and change over time |
| Score | 0 to 6 points on the analytic rubric |
| Weight | 15% of the exam score |
| Suggested time | 40 minutes |
How the LEQ is scored
The LEQ is scored out of 6 points. Each row of the rubric is scored separately, so you can earn points in one row even if you miss another.
| Rubric row | Points | What earns the points |
|---|---|---|
| A. Thesis / claim | 1 | A historically defensible thesis that responds to the prompt and establishes a line of reasoning, located in the introduction or the conclusion. |
| B. Contextualization | 1 | A description of the broader historical context relevant to the prompt, connected to the topic. A passing reference does not earn the point. |
| C. Evidence | 2 | 1 point for providing at least two specific and relevant examples of evidence about the topic. 2 points for using specific and relevant examples to support an argument in response to the prompt. |
| D. Analysis and reasoning | 2 | 1 point for using historical reasoning (comparison, causation, or continuity and change) to frame or structure an argument that addresses the prompt. 2 points for demonstrating a complex understanding of the historical development that is the focus of the prompt, using evidence to corroborate, qualify or modify the argument. |
| Total | 6 | Points from all rows are added together. |
- You choose one of three prompts. All three use the same reasoning process, but each covers a different range of periods, so choose the one where you know the most specific evidence.
- The evidence row rewards specificity. Names, dates, laws, events, people and places count as evidence. General statements such as 'many people were unhappy' are too vague to earn credit.
- The complexity point is part of the analysis row. It is awarded for argued nuance across the essay, such as explaining both continuity and change or weighing multiple causes.
Rubric summaries are written in our own words from the publicly available AP course and exam materials. Check the current official scoring guidelines for exact wording, as they can be revised.
Step-by-step method
Choose the prompt by evidence
For each of the three prompts, spend thirty seconds listing specific evidence you could use. Choose the prompt where you can name the most specific examples (laws, events, people, dates). A less exciting topic you know in detail is the stronger choice.
Identify the reasoning skill and the time frame
Underline the verb and decide which reasoning process the prompt is asking for: causes or effects, similarities and differences, or what changed and what stayed the same. Write the dates at the top of your notes.
List evidence and sort it
Brainstorm for three or four minutes, then sort your evidence into two or three groups that support different parts of an answer. For causation, groups might be economic, political and social causes; for continuity and change, one group for change and one for continuity.
Write a thesis that previews the reasoning
Answer the prompt with a claim and the reasons for it, framed by the reasoning skill. For a change-over-time prompt, for example, say what changed, what stayed the same, and which was more significant.
Contextualize before the thesis
Open with three or four sentences describing developments that set up the prompt, ideally from just before the time frame. End the paragraph by connecting the context to the question.
Use specific evidence in each body paragraph
Each body paragraph should state a claim and support it with at least two specific examples. Explain how each example supports the claim using the reasoning skill: why it caused the outcome, how it compares, or why it shows change.
Add a complicating paragraph
Plan a paragraph that adds nuance: a continuity that qualifies a change, an effect that ran in an unexpected direction, a group whose experience differs. Explain how it refines your thesis.
Conclude by restating the argument with its nuance
Summarize the argument in a sentence or two, including the qualification. If your thesis is in the conclusion, make sure it is complete and clearly answers the prompt.
Common mistakes
Choosing the prompt too quickly
Committing before testing your evidence is the most common LEQ mistake. Thirty seconds per prompt is time well spent.
General evidence
Statements such as 'the government passed laws' are too general to count. Name the law and what it did.
Ignoring the reasoning skill
A change-over-time essay that only describes changes, or a causation essay that only lists events, misses the analysis point.
Narration without argument
Telling the story of the period chronologically without claims leads to evidence without reasoning.
Out-of-range evidence
Examples must fall within the prompt's time frame to support the argument.
Missing context
Many otherwise strong essays skip contextualization. Three or four connected sentences before the thesis are what the contextualization row describes.
Example: an LEQ thesis and evidence
Invented prompt for illustration: evaluate the extent to which the Progressive Era changed the role of the federal government in the economy from 1890 to 1920.
Thesis that does not earn the point
The Progressive Era was a time of reform that changed the federal government in many ways.
Thesis with a line of reasoning
Between 1890 and 1920, Progressive reforms expanded the federal government's role from occasional referee to active regulator of business through antitrust enforcement, food and drug safety laws, and the Federal Reserve, but the government still left most labor conditions to the states and rarely intervened directly on behalf of workers.
Specific evidence used as argument
The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 show the change: for the first time, federal inspectors could judge products before they reached consumers, a shift from punishing business after harm to preventing it.
Complexity
Yet federal power over work itself stayed limited: the Supreme Court struck down the Keating-Owen child labor law in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), which shows that the expansion of federal regulation stopped where it collided with ideas about states' authority over labor.
All prompts, passages and sample sentences on this page are original examples written for illustration. They are not official exam material.
Practice prompts
Original prompts in the style of the LEQ, written by our editorial team for practice. They are not official exam questions.
- Evaluate the extent to which the Seven Years' War changed the relationship between Great Britain and its North American colonies from 1754 to 1776.
- Evaluate the relative importance of the causes of westward migration in the United States from 1844 to 1877.
- Evaluate the extent to which the New Deal changed the role of the federal government from 1933 to 1945.
- Evaluate the extent to which the end of the Cold War changed U.S. foreign policy from 1989 to 2001.
How to practice the LEQ
Make evidence lists by period: ten specific, datable examples for each of the nine periods, with one sentence on what each one shows. Then practice choosing among three prompts in two minutes and writing only a thesis and an evidence plan.
Practice all three reasoning skills. Students often practice causation and then meet a comparison or continuity-and-change prompt on exam day.
Lessons in the AP US History course
Related guides and terms
LEQ: frequently asked questions
How many LEQ prompts do you answer on the APUSH exam?
You choose one of three prompts. They use the same reasoning process but cover different ranges of periods.
How many pieces of evidence does the LEQ need?
At least two specific and relevant examples earn the first evidence point. The second point requires using specific evidence to support an argument, which in practice usually means several examples explained in relation to the thesis.
What is the difference between the DBQ and the LEQ?
The LEQ has no documents, so there are no document or sourcing points. All evidence comes from your own knowledge, and the rubric totals 6 points, compared with 7 for the DBQ.
Where should the LEQ thesis go?
In the introduction or the conclusion, in one place. Most students place it at the end of the introduction.