Advanced Placement (AP) United States Government and Politics (often shortened to AP Gov or AP GoPo and sometimes referred to as AP American Government or simply AP Government) is a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

-level course and examination offered to high school students through the

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...

. This course surveys the structure and function of American government and politics that begins with an analysis of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

, the foundation of the American political system. Students study the

three branches of government 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, administrative agencies that support each branch, the role of political behavior in the democratic process, rules governing elections,

political culture Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture. Political culture is what the people, the voters, the electorates believe and do based on their understanding of the ...

, and the workings of

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

and

interest groups An interest group or an advocacy group is a body which uses various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and/or policy. Interest group may also refer to: * Learned society * Special interest group, a group of individuals sharing ...

Topic outline

The material in the course is composed of multiple subjects from the Constitutional roots of the United States to recent developments in civil rights and liberties. The AP United States Government examination covers roughly six subjects listed below in approximate percentage composition of the examination.

Foundations of American Democracy (15–22%)

* Considerations that influenced the formulation and adoption of the Constitution *

Separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...

Federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

* Theories of democratic government

Interactions Among Branches of Government (25–36%)

* The major formal and informal institutional arrangements of power; the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

, the

Bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

, and the Federal Courts

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (13–18%)

* The development of

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

judicial interpretation Judicial interpretation is the way in which the judiciary construes the law, particularly constitutional documents, legislation and frequently used vocabulary. This is an important issue in some common law jurisdictions such as the United St ...

* Knowledge of

substantive rights Substantive rights are basic human rights possessed by people in an ordered society and include rights granted by natural law as well as substantive laws. Overview Substantive rights involve a right to the substance of being human (life, libe ...

and

liberties Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

* The impact of the Fourteenth Amendment on the constitutional development of rights and liberties

American Political Ideologies and Beliefs (10–15%)

* Beliefs that citizens hold about their government and its leaders * Processes by which citizens learn about politics * The nature, sources, and consequences of

public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

* The ways in which citizens

vote Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...

and otherwise participate in political life * Factors that influence citizens to differ from one another in terms of political beliefs and behaviors

Political Participation (20–27%)

Political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

and

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

** Functions ** Organization ** Development ** Effects on the political process ** Electoral laws and systems *

Interest groups An interest group or an advocacy group is a body which uses various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and/or policy. Interest group may also refer to: * Learned society * Special interest group, a group of individuals sharing ...

, including

political action committees In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The le ...

(PACs) ** The range of interests represented ** The activities of interest groups ** The effects of interest groups on the political process ** The unique characteristics and roles of PACs in the political process * The

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

** The functions and structures of the media ** The impact of media on politics

Public Policy (Part of the Units, embedded within all five units)

Public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

making in a federal system * The formation of policy agendas * The role of institutions in the enactment of policy * The role of the bureaucracy and the courts in policy implementation and interpretation * Linkages between policy processes and the following: **

Political institutions In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state. It defines the process for making official gov ...

and

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

Public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

** Policy networks

Required Supreme Court cases and Foundation Documents

Supreme Court cases

Starting from 2019 Administration of the Test, the College Board requires students to know 15

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

cases. After the Supreme Court's decision in ''

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...

'', ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'' was removed from the required case list. The 14 required Supreme Court cases are listed below:

Foundation Documents

College Board requires students to memorize foundational documents. The nine documents are listed below:

Exam

The Multiple-Choice section is analytical and the Free-Response questions are as follows. * Section I: Multiple-Choice (80 minutes, 55 questions, 50% of Total Exam Scores) * Section II: Free-response (100 minutes, 4 questions, 50% of Total Exam Scores)

Grade distribution

The grade distributions since 2007 were:

References

External links

AP United States Government and Politics at CollegeBoard.com
{{College Board Political science education Advanced Placement Politics of the United States