Document-Based Question (DBQ)

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students are asked to write an essay on a historical topic using outside knowledge and information from 7 provided sources
• 25% of Exam Score
• Spend about 60 min
• Scored on a 7 point rubric
  • Thesis/Claim (1)
  • Contextualization (1)
  • Evidence from 4 documents (2)
  • Evidence beyond documents (1)
  • Analyze 2 documents (1)
  • Complexity (1)

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• Practicing DBQs before the exam is necessary to establish your own system/style for the AP exam.
• DBQs are generally broad concepts in comparison to the other FRQS. For each “big picture concept” (for example, the War of the Roses) ensure that you know at least 3 points about what led to the event and the effect that the event had.
• Your opening paragraph should embody compositional balance by succinctly presenting the context, evidence, and qualifier in a seamless manner. Start with a brief introduction that sets the stage for your argument. Then provide contextual information that highlights the conditions relevant to your argument. Next provide a qualifier that reflects the strength of the change as your claim. Finally, provide evidence that highlights the changes or correlations relevant to your argument. This establishes a clear trajectory for your essay, guiding the reader through the logical progression of your analysis.

🕛 Before You Write

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Since you are provided scratch paper on the exam, it’s helpful to write out the DBQ structure. You can refer to the end of the 2021 Live Review 4 AP European History from College Board for this structure.
• You can also use scratch paper to organize what sources you will use and keep track of how many you have completed as you go on.
• Remember the acronyms TEA for the body paragraphs and HAPPY for sourcing the documents.
  • H: Historical Context - What were the relevant events and ideas leading up, or that it caused? How did this relate to the given source? Form connections.
  • A: Audience - Who was this intended for, and how does that change how the source was approached when it was created?
  • P: Purpose - What was the author or artist trying to achieve?
  • P: Point of View - What perspective is the source taking on? Who created it, and how does that influence the interpretation?
  • Y: Why - What impact did this have? Why is it significant?
• When reading through your sources, you should immediately begin categorizing. Take a look at your prompt and determine all of the possible categories/arguments, and then put each document
• Annotate the passage! It helps a lot
• Organize the main idea of each paragraph you write and specific evidence you will highlight in each paragraph to make sure you meet the requirements and write a weel written paragraph

🧠 Memorizing Outside Evidence

• Usually, the easiest outside evidence to remember is paintings. You can always somehow tie them into your argument and the prompt.
  • Remember the time period it falls under and the associated artists.
• It is important to remember enlightenment thinkers and their associated ideas. They usually have a great impact on why many actions and movements were made later on.
• Watch related movies to the curriculum, especially the night before the exam! It’s a great way to decompress, but also refresh your memory on some key points in history.

💯 Tips for Earning Each Point

Thesis/Claim

• You should always clearly answer the prompt and provide 2 reasons/evidence in the thesis. There are two ways to approach this: first, the common way is to restate the prompt with your answer and provide two reasons for your argument. Second, you can begin with a counterargument that sets you up for the complexity point and then finish with the first format above.
• Following the claim and three reasons format helps a lot. It helps to plan out the rest of your essay

Contextualization

• You can add contextualization to the beginning of your first paragraph before your thesis. It should be an event that was 100 years before or after the prompt.
• A lot of context is great, but try not to overdo it by pulling from periods unrelated to your topic.
  • For example, when writing a DBQ on the Gilded Age, there is no need to reference the American Revolution.
• Context should mirror evidence in order to demonstrate “what extent” you claim took place.

Evidence from the Documents

• Each source that you choose to use as evidence does not have to completely support your thesis. You have the ability to select specific chunks/sentences that support your thesis.
• You should underline the statements from the source that you want to use for your argument to save some time from re-reading the entire document.

Evidence from Beyond the Documents

• Consider the time period. Remember the cultural and artistic movements at the time and implement expanding on the ideas at the time and how it changes or relates to the prompt.

Analyzing the Documents

• Use HAPPY.
• Briskly read and as you get a sense of which thesis most supports the sources, begin to circle source names for your body paragraphs.
• It can be a lot of information to consume! Tell yourself that you are truly interested and ready to defend your claim.
• After reading your sources, label them with a letter to represent what type of group they’re in. For example, if a source supports your argument write a letter ‘y’ or if a source doesn’t support your argument write the letter ‘n’.
• Since one option for earning complexity is to argue for both sides of the coin, try creating a Venn diagram when analyzing the documents. Figure out whether they support cause/similarity/continuity or effect/difference/change, or both! This will help you effectively use them in your argument.

Complexity

• If you are connecting your topic to a separate period of time/movement, ensure that you not only fully explain the connection, but also add why this connection is significant for your essay.
• Remember: to earn the complexity point, you cannot simply analyze 4 documents or add a sentence regarding a connection with a past/future period. Your essay must display complexity and sophistication throughout utilizing strong vocab, concise but thorough document explanations, etc.
• One of my favorite tips for earning the complexity point is seeing if you can connect the topic to the present and past, as it shows continuity throughout time! Or you can do the opposite and demonstrate how something has changed throughout time.
• There are new, very specific ways to earn the complexity point starting this year!
  • You can use “sophisticated argumentation” by explaining both sides of the argument for the prompt (e.g. both **continuity and change), explaining multiple examples of just one side (e.g. more than one continuity), multiple themes, or making connections across time periods or geographical locations.
  • Or, you can effectively use evidence by using seven documents to support your argument, explaining the POV, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience for at least four documents, or using outside evidence to demonstrate your sophisticated understanding of the prompt.
  • There weren’t always such specific instructions for how to earn this point—use them to your advantage and practice applying them in practice DBQs!