AP® World History: Modern
Short-Answer Questions

SAQ Example 1: Non-stimulus question

Answer all parts of the question that follows.

1. Identify ONE way in which the Portuguese, as a maritime empire, produced political changes in the global balance of power in the sixteenth century.
2. Explain ONE way in which the Portuguese, as a maritime empire, produced economic changes in the Indian Ocean in the sixteenth century.
3. Explain ONE significant way in which the Portuguese maritime empire’s relations in Asia changed by the seventeenth century, compared with its earlier relationships in the region.

SAQ Example 2: Secondary Source Question

Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows.

“Inner (and Central] Asia have long been seen as a zone of contact and transmission, a lengthy conveyor belt on which commercial and cultural wares traveled between the major civilizations of Eurasia. The nomads had an essential but largely unacknowledged role in this cultural traffic. While nomadic empires had as their primary objective the control and exploitation of sedentary subjects, their secondary effect was the creation of numerous opportunities for cross-cultural contact, comparison, and exchange.

Indeed, although nomads are normally included in the analysis of the political context of trans-Eurasian exchange, they are typically left out of the cultural equation. Here the great sedentary civilizations are placed at center stage, particularly when scientific and cultural transfers are under consideration. But, as we have seen, pastoral nomads were the chief initiators, promoters, and agents of this exchange between East and West [in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries].”

Thomas Allsen, historian, Culture and Conquest, 2001

1. Identify ONE specific historical example of a cultural exchange between nomads and non-nomads that occurred in the period before 1450.
2. For the period 1450-1750 C.E., identify ONE development that changed the role that Central Asian nomads played in cross-regional exchanges as described in the passage.
3. Explain ONE cross-cultural exchange that would challenge the assertion in the last sentence of the passage concerning the nomads’ role in cross-regional exchanges before 1450.

Source: College Board 2019 Past Exam Questions

SAQ Example 3: Primary source (map)

In your responses, be sure to address all parts of the questions you answer. Use complete sentences; an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable.

1. Identify ONE difference between Rabban bar Sauma’s journey and that of either Marco Polo or Ibn Battuta who crossed Afro-Eurasia in the period 1200–1450.
2. Identify ONE similarity between Rabban bar Sauma’s journey and those of most other travel writers crossing Afro-Eurasia in the period 1200–1450.
3. Explain ONE way in which travel writers influenced developments in Afro-Eurasia in the period 1200–1450.

SAQ Example 4: Primary source (passage)

Use the excerpt below to answer all parts of the question that follows.

“After the Balkan War, the political balance of the Balkans being broken in a way unfavorable to Turkey, we advocated an alliance with one of the European groups to offset this disadvantage. The amiable attitude of Germany encouraged us… The German Government, however did not appear enthusiastic about it, and in its answer expressed the belief that Turkey was too weak to make an alliance with Germanys that an alliance might be useful only if contracted at a propitious time, and that for the moment the time was not ripe for such a union… In the Summer of 1914, however, Germany, to our surprise, revived our old suggestion and proposed to consider it anew. As no change had occurred in our foreign policy in the interval, there was no reason for refusing this proposal, which we had initiated some time before. Consequently in some consecutive meetings with the German Ambassador we prepared a project of alliance. Both parties easily fell into accord regarding the guiding principles and signed an agreement which would form the main lines of a political and military alliance between Germany and Turkey

Mehmed Talat Paşa, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire,
Posthumous Memoirs of Mehmed Talat Paşa, 1918

In your responses, be sure to address all parts of the questions you answer. Use complete sentences; an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable.

1. Identify ONE way in which the relationship described in the excerpt reflects political changes in the European balance of power in the late nineteenth century.
2. Identify ONE way in which the relationship described in the excerpt reflects economic changes in Europe by the early twentieth century.
3. Explain ONE significant way in which Turkey’s relationship with Europe changed in the twentieth century, compared with the relationship depicted in the excerpt.

SAQ Example 5: Primary Source (Art)

1. Identify ONE way in which the views reflected in the image represent a continuity with traditional notions of gender roles.
2. Identify ONE way in which the views reflected in the image represent a change from traditional notions of gender roles.
3. Explain ONE way in which the format or intended audience of the source may have influenced the way in which gender roles are portrayed in the image.

Source: College Board