👉 Let’s Practice AP World Multiple-Choice Questions!

Okay, you asked for it, so let's do it. Let's practice some AP World History multiple choice questions. Now, I'm not going to read the stimuli attached to these questions for you, but when they pop up on the screen, you can pause it or you can download this, which is a practice exam published by the College Board. Link is in the description. All right, let's jump into the first set of questions. The first thing you want to do with any stimulus-based multiple choice questions, look at the attribution first. It's going to give you a lot of information for answering these questions and you can't afford to skip it. So here I see this stimulus is about the opium trade in a letter to a British magazine from an anonymous English merchant in China that was published in 1836. Now, if you know what you need to know from class, you know something already about the opium wars and the opium trade, but what I want to emphasize here is that it is from an anonymous English merchant. And that's important because already I know that if somebody is publishing something anonymously, it's probably because they don't want to be known and that means they're probably going to be critical of whatever it is they're talking about. And I'm right. If you go ahead and read this, this merchant is very critical of the opium trade in China. He says it's immoral, but it is highly profitable. At that point, that's all I need to know. Let's look at the first question. The trade described in this passage is best seen as an early example of which of the following. I need to make sure to mark up these questions because remember when you're under pressure, you are dumber than you think. So you need to make sure that all your thinking is happening outside your brain. So here I want to underline best seen. When you see language like that, it's a pretty good indication that everything that comes next is probably going to be factually accurate, but you're looking for the one that best describes the answer. So is it A, the economic decline of Asian states resulting from the importation of cheap consumer goods from Europe? And that one is not factually accurate. Asian states are not importing goods from Europe at this point, which is the whole point of the opium trade. They're trying to reestablish the balance of trade. Or is it B, the growing economic influence of European immigrants in China? There's lots of European immigrants going a lot of places, but China is not one of them. Or is it C, the declining political power of European joint stock companies in Asia because of states assuming direct imperial control? That's a mighty tasty one and very tempting because that is what's happening in India. The joint stock companies are losing control and British imperial government is coming in to have direct control. And that's part of what's going on and a large part of what's going on in the opium trade. But that is not the best example. It's not the most direct connection because the most direct connection is D, the use of economic imperialism by European merchants and states. When you think of Britain and China during this time, economic imperialism is the term to remember. And so D is the correct answer. Next question is described in the second paragraph. The arguments made by the supporters of the opium trade were most similar to the arguments made in the early 19th century by supporters of the continued use of hold on. Here we're talking about the second paragraph. I'm going to underline most similar because it's the same kind of thing that we saw in the last question. And I'm going to underline the time period early 19th century. In a healthy amount of cases, the answers that you find in these questions are going to be wrong precisely because they are outside the time period that they're asking you about. So I underline the time period to make sure I have it in my mind. Okay, what this question is asking me to do is to take the argument in the stimulus and say what other argument is that most like? So what is he saying in the stimulus? He's saying that the opium trade is immoral but highly profitable. So what other argument is like that? Is it artisanal and craft production as opposed to the factory system? I mean, no, that's not immoral. It is productive and it is profitable but not immoral. Is it mercantilist trade practices as opposed to free trade? Again, that's outside the time period but it's not immoral. Is it women and children's labor and the production of luxury goods in Chinese households? Ooh, women's and children's labor. That could be immoral. Is it highly profitable? Well, yeah. But remember, you have to think about it in the context of the time period. In that time period, women's labor, children's labor, not considered immoral. Or is it African slave labor on sugar plantations in the Americas? Was African slave labor immoral? Yeah, there was a lot of debate over that. Was it highly profitable? Yeah. So the answer is C. Okay, now let's look at the second set of questions and for that we have a new stimulus. Here we have two sources and we're going to start with the attributions on both. This is a United States corporation, it's a speech before the White House, and it happens in 1972. This one is another United States corporation, it happens in 1989. So if you read through these, what you're going to find is that they're two stimuli about the desire for large corporations to be without regulation in the globalized economy. So first question based on that. The views expressed in the two passages were most directly enabled by which of the following economic trends in the late 20th century? I'm going to underline most directly enabled, economic trends, and late 20th century. That's going to keep me on target. So this is a causation question. So which of these answers is going to cause the reality that we see in these stimuli? Is it many of the defeated countries of the Second World War received generous economic assistance from the United States after the war? That's, of course, referring to the Marshall Plan and it doesn't have anything to do with the globalized nature of corporations, so no. Governments in newly independent post-colonial states sought to limit their country's economic reliance on former colonial powers. They did that, but it has nothing to do with American corporations, globalized corporations, wanting less regulation. Ooh, D looks nice. Governments in Asia cooperated with private businesses in an effort to maximize exports and acquire foreign currencies from Europe and the United States. Again, that one sounds really nice and it talks about more of a globalized economy, but the stimulus is about United States corporations wanting deregulation in the global market. So it can't be D, it's got to be C. The governments of many developed Western countries adopted policies of economic liberalization and deregulation. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Okay, next question. The corporate philosophy reflected in the two passages most directly contributed to which of the following? I underline most directly contributed. So what is the most direct cause of these globalized corporations wanting deregulation? Is it A, the inability of the Soviet planned economy to compete successfully with the economies of the United States and other Western countries? Now be careful here, that is true. The Soviet planned economy wasn't able to compete successfully with the United States and other Western countries. But that doesn't cause globalized corporations to want deregulation. Is it the passage of stronger measures to safeguard workers and consumers' rights in many developed countries? Uh, no, that sounds like regulation to me and what they are wanting is no regulation. Is it increased popular hostility toward economic migrants and migrations in many countries? And if you're not under the pressure of an exam, like you're going to look at it and say, that's totally irrelevant. Or is it the shift of manufacturing capacity from the post-industrial countries of the West to new manufacturing centers in Asia and Latin America? And yes, that's the answer. One of the most direct causes of globalized corporations and the way that they operate was the shift in manufacturing from their own countries into Asia and Latin America. So here are four takeaways. Number one, you need to study within the context of the time periods of your course. You can see a lot of the answers that we looked at were wrong because they were outside the time period, not because they were factually wrong. So make sure you know what people, what events, what historical developments happened in what time period. That is going to help you a lot. Number two, always read the attribution first. It's going to give you a ton of information. In some cases, you can answer the question without even reading the stimulus if you've read the attribution. Third, mark up the question. Remember, I am dumber than I think when the pressure is on, and that is going to help keep you focused. And fourth, just remember, you only need like a 55-ish percent correct on the multiple choice in order to get yourself to a passing exam grade. And of course, that supposes you're doing okay on the other sections as well. But the point is, you don't have to stress like your life is over. Like, it's going to be okay. And the next thing you need to do is practice your writing. And these videos right over here are going to help you do that. So enjoy. I will see you around. Heimler out.