School Profile

School Location and Environment:   Grosse Ile High School is located 16 miles south of Detroit in southeast Wayne County, Michigan.  Grosse Ile is an island surrounded by the Detroit River and on the western shore of Lake Erie with a population of 10,000.

Total Enrollment:  2, 200 students with 700 in the high school.

Ethnic Diversity:  96% white, 4% Asian, African-American, Native-American, and Hispanic

Overview of AP World History

Program:   AP World History is offered to juniors and seniors.  Students are enrolled in the course on the basis of teacher recommendations, GPA, writing abilities, interest in history, and desire to accept a challenging, rigorous course of study.   Students not admitted may appeal beginning with a letter to the Social Studies Department Chair.

AP class size:  varies between 15-26

Course Design:  AP World History is an academic yearlong course that meets daily for 55 minutes.  The course traces the development of world history from earliest humans through modern times.  A focus on analytical and writing skills necessary for success in a university-level history course is evident.  To this end, the course devotes considerable time to the critical evaluation of primary and secondary sources, analysis of historiography, oral presentations, short essays, a major research paper, and the development of a document-based question (DBQ).  Students are encouraged to join the instructor in the use of a variety of media and technology to further enhance learning.

ALL students must take the May National AP Examination.

The course includes 12 units of  instruction

1. Ancient Traditions

2. Classical Traditions

3. The Postclassical Era

4. Expanding Global Exchanges

5. Expanding Global Encounters-The Atlantic World

6. Expanding Global Encounters-The Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean Worlds

7. An Age of Revolution

8. Global Transformations

9. Crisis and Conflict in the Early Twentieth Century

10. Internationalization and Globalization---Is the World Flat?

11. AP Exam Review

12. Post May exam projects individualized to student's needs and future

The May AP Exam is divided into two sections:  multiple choice and free-response essays.

- Section I of the national AP World History exam is comprised of 70 multiple choice questions to be answered in 55 minutes. 

- Section II begins with a ten minute reading period (time to review documents you must use for first Documents Based Question-DBQ) followed by a two hour period to write three essays. (DBQ, Change and Continuity of Time essay (CCOT) and Compare and Contrast Essay (CC).

 Tips on how to excel on the exam are in your AP Princeton Review, "Cracking the AP World History Exam." Pt. 1 pp. 1-83.

Periods of History and Questions on May national AP Multiple Choice Exam