From 1250 to 1517 Egypt was ruled from Cairo by sultans who rose fromWikipedia, "Mamluk Sultanate"; course topic 1.2
Hernán Cortés wrote of Tenochtitlan in 1520: "There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca ... where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying and selling." The passage is best used as evidence that the Mexica capitalHernán Cortés, Second Letter to Charles V (1520), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 1.4
How were the Hausa of West Africa organized, in contrast to the empire of Mali to their west?Wikipedia, "Hausa Kingdoms"; course topic 1.5
Neo-Confucianism, given its lasting form in Song China by Zhu Xi, is best described asWikipedia, "Neo-Confucianism"; course topic 1.1
Srivijaya, an empire based on the island of Sumatra, drew its power chiefly fromWikipedia, "Srivijaya"; course topic 1.3
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Unit 2: Networks of Exchange 5
By most accounts plague reached Europe in 1347 at Caffa, a Genoese trading port in Crimea besieged by a Golden Horde army, and then moved around the Mediterranean on Genoese ships. Its path shows thatWikipedia, "Black Death"; course topic 2.6
Caravanserais stood about a day's journey apart on the main roads of the Silk Road network. They encouraged long-distance trade mainly byWikipedia, "Caravanserai"; course topic 2.1
Malacca in the 1400s shows two effects of Indian Ocean trade at once. Which pair?Wikipedia, "Malacca Sultanate"; course topic 2.3
Rabban Bar Sauma, a monk born in what is now Beijing, set out for Europe in 1287 with letters from the Mongol ruler of Persia to the pope and the kings of Europe. His journey best illustratesWikipedia, "Rabban Bar Sauma"; course topic 2.2
Which lasting change in West African states is most closely tied to the caravan routes across the Sahara?Wikipedia, "Trans-Saharan trade"; course topic 2.4
Unit 3: Land-Based Empires 8
As Muscovy pushed east across Siberia from the 1580s, why did it build winter outposts and forts where major rivers met?Wikipedia, "Russian conquest of Siberia"; course topic 3.1
Bishop Burnet met Peter the Great in England in 1698 and wrote: "He wrought much with his own hands and made all about him work at the models of his ships." What was the tsar's purpose, as Burnet reports it?Bishop Burnet, "Peter the Great, 1698", in Peter the Great and the Rise of Russia, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 3.1
The Eight Banners helped the Qing conquer and hold China after 1644. What were they?Wikipedia, "Eight Banners"; course topic 3.1
In the Mughal Empire an officer's mansab wasWikipedia, "Mansabdar"; course topic 3.2
The Mughal emperor Akbar abolished the jizya, a tax on non-Muslim subjects, in 1564. Aurangzeb brought it back in 1679. The reversal is evidence ofWikipedia, "Jizya"; course topic 3.3
The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 set the rule "cuius regio, eius religio" for the Holy Roman Empire. In practice the rule letWikipedia, "Peace of Augsburg"; course topic 3.3
Suleiman the Magnificent had the imperial architect Mimar Sinan build a great mosque on a hill of Istanbul in the 1550s. For the course, the building is an example ofWikipedia, "Süleymaniye Mosque"; course topic 3.2
The Tokugawa policy of alternate attendance kept the daimyo in check by requiring them toWikipedia, "Sankin-kōtai"; course topic 3.2
Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections 8
A book by Thomas Mun, printed in 1664, gave an example: England sells goods worth 2,200,000 pounds abroad in a year and buys foreign goods worth 2,000,000. Then, he wrote, "the kingdom shall be enriched yearly two hundred thousand pounds, which must be brought to us in so much Treasure". Which mercantilist belief does the example show?Thomas Mun, England's Treasure by Forraign Trade (1664), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 4.5
Cassava is a staple food across much of Africa today. How did it reach the continent?Wikipedia, "Cassava"; course topic 4.3
Columbus opened the journal of his first voyage by reminding the king and queen of Spain that in "this present year 1492" they "had terminated the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same having been brought to an end in the great city of Granada". By starting there he presented his voyage asChristopher Columbus, extracts from the journal of the first voyage, 1492, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 4.2
Dutch shipwrights of the 1500s designed the fluyt, a new kind of sailing ship, toWikipedia, "Fluyt"; course topic 4.1
In Spain's American colonies the term peninsular namedWikipedia, "Peninsulars"; course topic 4.7
The Maratha state that rose under Shivaji in western India in the 1600s matters in this period as an example ofWikipedia, "Maratha Empire"; course topic 4.6
Olaudah Equiano wrote of the slave ship that carried him from West Africa: "The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time." His autobiography is a source forOlaudah Equiano, The Life of Gustavus Vassa, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 4.5
Which Asian state challenged a European maritime empire by taking Fort Jesus at Mombasa from the Portuguese in 1698?Wikipedia, "Omani Empire"; course topic 4.4
Unit 5: Revolutions 8
Adam Smith described a small workshop where ten workers, each doing a few steps of the work, "could make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day." Which feature of industrial production was he explaining?Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776), excerpts, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 5.3
After a lasting telegraph cable was laid across the Atlantic in 1866, a slogan ran "Two weeks to two minutes". What had changed?Wikipedia, "Transatlantic telegraph cable"; course topic 5.5
Andrew Ure wrote in 1835: "The blessings which physio-mechanical science has bestowed on society, and the means it has still in store for ameliorating the lot of mankind, have been too little dwelt upon." Whose point of view does the passage most nearly express?Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of the Manufacturers (1835), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 5.8
The Charter Oath issued for the Meiji emperor in 1868 promised: "Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule." The article points toward which later policy?The Charter Oath of 1868, Asia for Educators, Columbia University; course topic 5.6
Friedrich Engels wrote of Manchester in 1844 that "a person may live in it for years, and go in and out daily without coming into contact with a working-people's quarter or even with workers". Which feature of the industrial city was he describing?Friedrich Engels, "Industrial Manchester, 1844", from The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 5.9
Muhammad Ali, who governed Egypt from 1805, built factories and a shipyard. What does the record say was his main reason?Wikipedia, "Muhammad Ali of Egypt"; course topic 5.6
Olympe de Gouges wrote in 1791: "Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights." She was arguing thatOlympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 5.1
Simón Bolívar told the Congress of Angostura in 1819: "As our role has always been strictly passive and political existence nil, we find that our quest for liberty is now even more difficult of accomplishment." What obstacle to the new republics was he naming?Simón Bolívar, Message to the Congress of Angostura (1819), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 5.2
Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization 8
The Chinese Exclusion Act that the United States passed in 1882 is an example ofNational Archives, Milestone Documents, "Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)"; course topic 6.7
Commissioner Lin Zexu wrote to Queen Victoria in 1839: "We have heard that in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost strictness and severity." What was he asking of Britain?Lin Zexu, Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria (1839), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; the war's dates from the introduction to the Treaty of Nanjing excerpts, Asia for Educators, Columbia University; course topic 6.5
In 1900 a British demand for the Golden Stool of the Asante people led to war. The Asante resistance, rallied by the queen mother Yaa Asantewaa, is an example ofWikipedia, "War of the Golden Stool"; course topic 6.3
In the middle of the 1800s Peru earned much of its income by shipping guano to farms abroad. Like cotton from Egypt or rubber from the Amazon, the trade shows how the industrial age led some economies toWikipedia, "Guano"; course topic 6.4
Jules Ferry told the French Chamber of Deputies in 1884 that colonial expansion met "a need, felt more and more urgently by the industrialized population of Europe ... the need for outlets". Which rationale for empire was he giving?Jules Ferry, "On French Colonial Expansion" (1884), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 6.1
The Treaty of Nanjing ended the first Opium War in 1842. Which of its terms opened China to trade on Britain's conditions?Treaty of Nanjing (1842), Asia for Educators, Columbia University; course topic 6.5
Under the Indian indenture system, from the 1800s to the 1920s, more than 1.6 million workers left India under contract. Where were they sent to work?Wikipedia, "Indian indenture system"; course topic 6.6
What did the Government of India Act of 1858 change?Wikipedia, "Government of India Act 1858"; course topic 6.2
Unit 7: Global Conflict 6
Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations spoke of territories taken from the defeated powers of the First World War, "inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world". What did the article set up?Covenant of the League of Nations, Article 22, Avalon Project, Yale Law School; course topic 7.5
In September 1931 an explosion on a Japanese-owned railway near Mukden was followed within months by the Japanese Army's occupation of Manchuria. What did Japan do with the region?U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones, "The Mukden Incident of 1931 and the Stimson Doctrine"; course topic 7.6
In the Atlantic Charter of August 1941 the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom declared that "they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live". Why did the pledge raise a problem for empires after the war?Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941, Avalon Project, Yale Law School; Nasser's speech of September 15, 1956, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 7.7
The Mexican Revolution that began in 1910 first brought downWikipedia, "Mexican Revolution"; course topic 7.1
More than a million soldiers of the Indian Army served overseas in the First World War. Their service is evidence thatWikipedia, "Indian Army during World War I"; course topic 7.3
What was the aim of the first five-year plan that the Soviet Union began in 1928?Wikipedia, "First five-year plan (Soviet Union)"; course topic 7.4
Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization 6
Gamal Abdel Nasser said in 1956 of the powers that had promised Egypt aid: "They said they will pay toward building the High Dam and then they withdrew their offer." What had Egypt done in reply?Gamal Abdel Nasser, speech on the Suez Canal (1956), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 8.6
Ho Chi Minh began Vietnam's declaration of independence in 1945 by quoting the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. Then he wrote: "Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland." What was his purpose?Ho Chi Minh, Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 8.5
Kwame Nkrumah, the leader of newly independent Ghana, wrote in 1961: "Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world." What was he calling for?Kwame Nkrumah, I Speak of Freedom (1961), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; course topic 8.5
President Sukarno of Indonesia opened the conference of Asian and African states at Bandung in 1955: "We are united, for instance, by a common detestation of colonialism in whatever form it appears." The meeting helped give rise toSukarno, Speech at the Opening of the Bandung Conference (April 18, 1955), Internet Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University; Wikipedia, "Bandung Conference"; course topic 8.2
Which policy did China's Communist government launch in 1958 to speed up industry by organizing the countryside into people's communes?Wikipedia, "Great Leap Forward"; course topic 8.4
Which reform program of Mikhail Gorbachev set out to restructure the Soviet economy and political system in the late 1980s?Wikipedia, "Perestroika"; course topic 8.8
Unit 9: Globalization 6
The Charter of the United Nations opens with the resolve "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind". Which purpose of the new body does the line state?Charter of the United Nations, Preamble, United Nations; course topic 9.8
The economic reforms that China began in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping moved the country towardWikipedia, "Chinese economic reform"; course topic 9.4
The Green Revolution raised crop yields in the 1900s mainly throughWikipedia, "Green Revolution"; course topic 9.1
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, committed states that ratified it toWikipedia, "Kyoto Protocol"; course topic 9.3
Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, founded a movement in Kenya that joined two causes. Which two?Norwegian Nobel Committee, press release, Nobel Peace Prize 2004; course topic 9.5
Which disease did a worldwide vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization wipe out, with the last natural case in Somalia in 1977?World Health Organization, "Smallpox"; course topic 9.2
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the nine units of the College Board's AP World History: Modern Course and Exam Description, effective fall 2026, https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-world-history-modern-course-and-exam-description.pdf, to the course page https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-world-history (unit weightings) and to the exam page https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-world-history/exam, all read 2026-10-12. Each fact was read on 2026-10-12 or 2026-10-13 in the public page named under its question: documents at the Internet History Sourcebooks Project (Fordham University), the Avalon Project (Yale Law School) and Asia for Educators (Columbia University); the National Archives, the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and Wikipedia articles. Licence: Own work. Short quotations from the public documents named under each question.
How it works
This AP World History practice test has 60 questions of our own on the nine units of the Modern course, a third built on a period document. It is unofficial and not affiliated with or endorsed by the College Board.
Read the full guide
The real multiple-choice section
Section I, Part A of the AP World History: Modern Exam has 55 questions in 55 minutes for 40% of the exam score, by the College Board's exam page, read October 12, 2026. Exam mode draws 55 questions against the same clock.
Nine units, weighted like the exam
Units 3 to 6 each carry 12 to 15% of the exam and the other five 8 to 10% each. The bank follows: eight questions each for Units 3 to 6, five each for Units 1 and 2, six each for Units 7 to 9.
Where the answers come from
Each explanation names the page its fact was read on: a document at Fordham's Internet History Sourcebooks or Yale's Avalon Project, an agency or United Nations page, or a Wikipedia article.
Place the source in its unit first. A letter of 1839 belongs to the age of industry and empire, which removes choices from other centuries.
On the real exam three or four questions share one source, and some sources are maps, images or graphs. Here each question stands alone.
Questions and answers
Is this AP World History practice test multiple choice?
Yes. All 60 questions have four choices and one right answer, like Section I, Part A. The short answers, the document-based question and the long essay make up the other 60% of the exam score and are not practiced here.
Is this an official AP World History exam practice test?
No. Every question was written for this page from the College Board's published course outline and a public source. None copies or rewords a real, released or sample exam question, and a result here predicts no AP score.
How long is the AP World History: Modern exam?
3 hours 15 minutes: 55 minutes of multiple choice and 40 for three short answers, then 1 hour 40 minutes for the document-based question and the long essay. The exam is fully digital, taken in the Bluebook app.
Which AP history practice test is this: World, US or European?
World History: Modern, which starts about 1200 and takes in every region. AP US History and AP European History have their own pages here, each with a bank of its own.