Hello, and welcome! 👋 If you're like most people, your head is spinning with all of the vocab that you have to remember, and you're looking for a helpful way to remember all of it. If you've found your way here, it's probably because you have discovered that Quizlet is a great way to keep vocab organized and learn it, but you're not sure which decks to use. Well, worry no longer: this guide contains the best Quizlet vocab decks for each unit in AP World History.

One of the most popular study sites used by AP students is Quizlet and for good reason! Quizlet combines the classic flashcard studying method with unique, fun games to learn vocabulary. However, the number of resources provided by Quizlet can make it challenging to find the best decks for each AP World History: Modern unit.

For that reason, here are the most comprehensive Quizlet decks for effective studying! Vocabulary is critical for understanding different historical events, figures, structures, and concepts.

Find the 2020 exam schedule, learn tips & tricks, and get your frequently asked questions answered on Fiveable's Guide to the 2020 AP Exam Updates.

⚡Tune in to a live stream for more review! 🎥 Check the calendar for upcoming streams.

🗺️ Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (8-10%)

Unit 1 sets the foundation for the rest of the course, making it essential to know these 75 terms. In this unit, the material revolves around the most important developments occurring in the major regions of the world from 1200 to 1450. Due to the number of cultural practices introduced, this Quizlet deck will prove crucial to reviewing unit 1.

Best Deck: "AP Modern World History Unit 1, 1200-1450" created by Ben Chleboun

Key Terms:

• Caste System: a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation, but also his or her position in society.
• Serfdom: a type of labor used in feudal Europe in which the laborers work the land in return for protection but they are bound to the land and are not allowed to leave or to pursue a new occupation.
• Tribute System: a payment made by one nation to another in acknowledgment of submission, notably used by Chinese dynasties.

🌐 Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (8-10%)

Unit 2 focuses on the most influential trade networks and the impact of those cross-cultural connections. In this unit, terms address the major empires, transportation technologies, and cultural interactions from 1200 to 1450. Figures who led the exploration of the world are notable in this Quizlet deck, providing context for discoveries in this period.

Best Deck: "AP World Modern Unit 2" created by Lynsey Woldendorp 

Key Terms:

• Bubonic Plague: a disease brought to Europe by the Mongols during the Middle Ages.
• Magnetic Compass: a Chinese invention that aided navigation by showing which direction was north.
• Mansa Musa: an emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East.

📍 Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (12-15%)

Unit 3 explores the development and expansion of empires from 1450 to 1750. In this unit, the material focuses on the systems used to consolidate and maintain power over large, diverse regions. Unit 3 also analyzes the role of political, social, and cultural beliefs in these land-based empires. This Quizlet deck explains systems enforced in empires around the globe as well as prominent beliefs during this period.

Best Deck: "AP Modern World History Unit 3 1450-1750" created by Jamie Mahoney 

Key Terms:

• Mandate of Heaven: a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule by a divine source.
• Protestant Reformation: a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.
• Tax Farming: a government's use of private collectors to collect taxes. Individuals or corporations contract with the government to collect a fixed amount for the government and are permitted to keep as profit everything they collect over that amount. (used in Ottoman Empire)

⛵ Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections (12-15%)

Unit 4 investigates transoceanic interconnections as technologies progressed from 1450 to 1750. The spread of ideas across trade networks resulted in innovations that enhanced maritime exploration. Europeans exploited this new wave of expansion, developing a dominating global trading-post empire. This development in the networks of exchange led to the rapid spread of goods, disease, and wealth. This Quizlet deck covers many economic, agricultural, and cultural terms as regions of the world connected and interacted.

Best Deck: "AP World History Modern Unit 4 1450-1750 (Maritime Empires)" created by Kimberly Lueck 

Key Terms:

• Coercive Labor: any labor system that involves force. (slavery, serfdom, encomienda)
• Mercantilism: an economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by strictly regulating the economy to obtain large amounts of gold and silver by selling more goods than they bought and utilizing colonies.
• Plantation Agriculture: a production system based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop.

🧨 Unit 5: Revolutions (12-15%)

Unit 5 brings reform movements across the world as the Enlightenment spreads ideas of free-thought. As the environment changed, the Industrial Revolution swept through Europe and the world from 1750 to 1900. As a result, advanced innovations appeared, focusing on machines, transportation, and communication. Industrialization prompted debates about economic systems/policies. This Quizlet deck reviews the most important reform movements and economic ideologies.

Best Deck: "AP World History Unit 5: Industrialization & Global Integration (Modern Period 1750-1900)" created by kdesposito

Key Terms:

• Berlin Conference: a meeting in Berlin where many superpowers met to divide up the African continent.
• Capitalism: an economic system based on private ownership of capital.
• French Revolution: a revolution that began in 1789, overthrew the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons and the system of aristocratic privileges, and ended with Napoleon's overthrow of the Directory and seizure of power in 1799.

🚂 Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization (12-15%)

Unit 6 examines the aftereffects of the Industrial Revolution, focusing on imperialism and migration from 1750 to 1900. This unit sets the tone for the following units focusing on the most recent historical developments. The 22 essential terms in this unit to study revolve around different ideologies that motivated imperialism, events that resulted from state expansion, economic systems, and patterns of migration. 

Best Deck: "AP World History Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization" created by Midlik

Key Terms:

• King Leopold II: a Belgian king who opened the African interior to European trade along the Congo River and, by 1884, controlled the area known as the Congo Free State.
• Opium War: a war between Britain and the Qing Empire that was, in the British view, occasioned by the Qing government's refusal to permit the importation of opium into its territories; the victorious British imposed the one-sided Treaty of Nanking on China.
• White Australia Policy: a policy that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia.

💥 Unit 7: Global Conflict (8-10%)

Unit 7 focuses on World War I and World War II, analyzing the causes and effects of conflict as well as economic impacts and mass atrocities. In this unit, focus on terms revolving around warfare techniques, interactions between major powers, and influential wartime events.

Best Deck: "World History- Unit 7 Global Conflict" created by LouAnne Cartaino 

Key Terms:

• Great Depression: the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s.
• Holocaust: a methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.
• League of Nations: an organization of nations formed after World War I to promote cooperation and peace.

💣 Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization (8-10%)

Unit 8 examines the Cold War, interpreting the context of the war and its causes and effects. This unit also discusses the spread of communism and decolonization from 1900 to the present. The 20th century also brought the development of independent territories and reform movements. The most important terms in this unit include methods of warfare, influential events and policies, and decolonized states.

Best Deck: "AP World History Unit 10 Cold War and Decolonization" created by Gwenn65

Key Terms:

• African National Congress: a political organization that pushed for an end to apartheid in South Africa and equality between whites and blacks.
• NATO: a military alliance, created in 1949, made up of 12 non-communist countries, including the United States, that would support each other if attacked.
• Proxy War: a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate.

🛰️ Unit 9: Globalization (8-10%)

Unit 9 concludes the AP World History: Modern course by investigating technological advancements, global economics, reform movements, and modern culture. Many of these terms may already be familiar because these developments have happened recently. This Quizlet deck covers many ideas, movements, institutions, and innovations from 1900 to the present.

Best Deck: "Unit 9: Globalization" created by Ashton Strosnider

Key Terms:

• Green Revolution: a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1960s, that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world.
• United Nations: an organization established in 1945 as a successor to the League of Nations; attempts to find solutions to global problems and deal with virtually any matter of concern to humanity.
• World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO): a global network of fair trade organizations and resources for locating vendors and products.

** It may seem like a lot to remember, but all you need to do is remember that WHAP: M is all about big trends and patterns in history. So, if you can't remember one tiny term, don't worry—find another example that you can remember. You got this!**