In March 1936, the photographer Dorothea Lange, working for the federal Resettlement Administration, stopped at a pea pickers' camp in Nipomo, California. She photographed a mother and her children there. The picture now known as Migrant Mother became one of the best-known images of the Great Depression. From the May 2027 exam, a source like that photograph could sit in front of you in an AP US History short-answer question.
What the SAQ section looks like
The SAQs are Part B of Section I, right after the multiple-choice questions. You get 40 minutes for three questions, and together they are worth 20% of your exam score. Each question has three parts, A, B and C, and each part is worth 1 point, so the section is out of 9. The May 2026 exam suggested spending about 13 minutes on each question, but that timing was optional.
On the May 2026 exam, you answered Questions 1 and 2, then picked either Question 3 or Question 4. Question 1 came with secondary sources (historians), Question 2 with a primary source, and Questions 3 and 4 had no source at all.
What changes in May 2027
- No choice. You answer all three questions.
- Every question has a source. SAQ 1 includes one or more secondary text sources, SAQ 2 a primary text source, and SAQ 3 a primary or secondary non-text source.
- Each question focuses on a different period, somewhere between 1491 and 2001.
- What stays: the College Board says the scoring rubrics, and the criteria for earning each point, are unchanged.
How each point is earned
There's no thesis and no essay. Each part sets one task, and you earn the point by doing that task. The verb tells you how much to write:
- Identify means give the information, without explanation.
- Describe means give the relevant characteristics. The scoring notes say an isolated term isn't enough.
- Explain means say how or why something happened or how two things connect.
Each point is earned on its own, so a shaky part A doesn't cost you B or C. Write in complete sentences: the directions say an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable. Small slips are allowed as long as the content you use to make the point is accurate.
A study habit many students use (it isn't part of the rubric) is ACE: answer the task in one sentence, cite a specific example, then explain the connection.
Working with the source
Example (made up for this deck, not from any exam), using Lange's real 1936 photograph:
- A. Briefly describe one historical situation that shaped the conditions shown in the photograph.
- B. Briefly explain one way the federal government responded to conditions like those shown, from 1933 to 1941.
- C. Briefly explain one likely purpose of the photograph.
Part A asks for context: falling farm prices and families moving west to find farm work. Part B needs your own knowledge, such as the Social Security Act of 1935, inside the dates (though it left out farm and domestic workers, so it didn't cover families like this one). Part C is sourcing: Lange made the photograph for a New Deal agency, which points to a purpose.
With historians' excerpts, a common pattern (the Course and Exam Description's sample and Question 1 on the 2026 exam both follow it) is to describe a difference between two interpretations, then support each one with an event not directly mentioned in the excerpts. That example has to come from you.
Common mistakes students make
- Writing a term instead of a description. "The New Deal" is a label; say what it did.
- Describing the source instead of answering. Saying what a photograph shows isn't the same as explaining its purpose.
- Ignoring the dates. If a part gives a date range, choose an example inside it.
- Reusing the excerpt's examples when the task asks for one that isn't in it.
- Overwriting. Two or three focused sentences per part usually do the job.
Frequently asked questions
How many SAQs are on the APUSH exam?
Three, in 40 minutes. From May 2027 all three are required and all include a source.
How are APUSH SAQs scored?
Each question has parts A, B and C worth 1 point each, so each question is out of 3 and the section is out of 9. Each point is earned independently.
Do you need a thesis for an APUSH SAQ?
No. Each part asks for one specific task, such as describing or explaining, and that is what earns the point.
How long should an SAQ answer be?
Long enough to do the task in complete sentences. For most parts, two or three sentences with a specific example are enough.
Try it
Answer parts A, B and C of the example above in no more than three sentences each. Give each part one specific example, and check that part B falls between 1933 and 1941. What changed, and why then?
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