AP World History · Free-response guide
How to write the AP World History LEQ
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
The long essay question is the second essay in Section II of the AP World History: Modern exam. You choose one of three prompts that use the same reasoning process, causation, comparison, or continuity and change over time, applied to different eras of the course. You answer without documents, using specific evidence from your own knowledge.
AP World LEQs are broad: a prompt might ask you to compare state-building in two regions or explain the causes of a global process across a century or more. Broad prompts reward students who narrow them into a precise argument with specific evidence. This guide explains the rubric, how to choose and narrow a prompt, how to structure the essay around the reasoning skill, and examples of strong thesis statements.
LEQ at a glance
| Where it appears | Section II, Question 2 |
|---|---|
| Choice | Answer one of three prompts covering different eras |
| 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
Test each prompt for specific evidence
Spend thirty seconds per prompt listing named evidence: empires, rulers, technologies, treaties, trade goods, movements. Choose the prompt with the most specific evidence.
Narrow the prompt
Many AP World prompts allow you to choose a region or example. Choose one you know deeply. For comparison prompts, choose two cases that share enough to compare and differ enough to explain.
Name the reasoning skill and time frame
Decide whether the prompt asks for causes, effects, similarities and differences, or change and continuity, and write the dates at the top of your notes.
Write a thesis with reasons
Answer the prompt with a claim and preview two or three reasons. For comparison, state at least one similarity and one difference and explain why they existed.
Contextualize with the larger era
Begin with a few sentences on the broader developments that frame the prompt, such as the spread of gunpowder empires or the rise of industrial capitalism, and connect them to the question.
Support each claim with specific evidence
Each body paragraph should state a claim and support it with at least two specific examples explained in relation to the reasoning skill.
Add nuance
Explain a variation, a counterexample or a continuity that qualifies your thesis, and show how it refines the argument.
Conclude with the pattern
Restate the argument with its nuance, and if you can, connect it briefly to a later development in world history.
Common mistakes
Staying too broad
An essay about 'empires' in general rarely uses specific evidence. Narrow to named cases.
Comparison without explanation
Listing similarities and differences without explaining why they existed misses the reasoning point.
Evidence from the wrong era
AP World eras are long, but evidence must still fit the prompt's time frame.
Uneven comparison
Writing three paragraphs on one case and two sentences on the other weakens a comparison essay.
Skipping context
A short, connected context paragraph is the task the contextualization row describes, and many essays leave it out.
Choosing by interest alone
Pick the prompt you can support with specific evidence, even if another sounds more interesting.
Example: a comparison thesis and evidence
Invented prompt for illustration: compare the methods land-based empires used to consolidate power in the period 1450 to 1750.
Thesis that does not earn the point
Land-based empires used many methods to consolidate power, and some were similar while others were different.
Thesis with a line of reasoning
Both the Ottoman and Mughal empires consolidated power by incorporating diverse elites into the state, but the Ottomans relied more on a centrally trained slave military and administrative class through the devshirme, while the Mughals relied on the mansabdar system of ranked nobles, reflecting the Mughals' need to govern a large non-Muslim majority through negotiated loyalty.
Specific evidence used as argument
Akbar's abolition of the jizya tax on non-Muslims shows the Mughal strategy: by removing a visible sign of religious hierarchy, he made service to the empire more attractive to Hindu elites whose cooperation he needed.
Complexity
The difference shifted over time: later Mughal policy under Aurangzeb reinstated the jizya, and growing resistance in the late seventeenth century suggests that the empire's stability had depended on the very tolerance he abandoned.
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.
- Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which trade networks changed societies in Afro-Eurasia in the period 1200 to 1450.
- Develop an argument that compares the methods European and Asian states used to expand their power in the period 1450 to 1750.
- Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which imperialism changed economies in Africa or Asia in the period 1750 to 1900.
- Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which technology changed global communication in the period 1900 to the present.
How to practice the LEQ
For each period of the course, prepare five to eight specific examples you could use in any LEQ, with one sentence on what each one shows about causation, comparison or continuity and change.
Practice comparison prompts with a two-column plan: similarities with reasons, differences with reasons. Comparison is often the least practiced reasoning skill.
Lessons in the AP World History course
Related guides and terms
LEQ: frequently asked questions
How many LEQ prompts do you answer on the AP World exam?
You choose one of three prompts. They use the same reasoning process but focus on different eras of the course.
What reasoning skills appear on the AP World LEQ?
Causation, comparison, and continuity and change over time. All three choices on a given exam use the same skill.
How specific does LEQ evidence need to be?
Specific enough to be named: a ruler, empire, policy, treaty, technology, trade good or movement, ideally with an approximate date. General descriptions do not earn evidence points.
Is the LEQ rubric the same in AP World and APUSH?
Yes. Both use the same 6-point rubric: thesis, contextualization, two evidence points and two analysis and reasoning points.