AP US History Unit 9 — 1980-Present: Modern Era.

An AP exam prompt asks: 'Evaluate the extent to which Reagan's domestic policies represented a significant departure from the liberal consensus of the post-WWII era.'

A strong response would argue Reagan's policies marked a major break by reversing New Deal/Great Society expansions: cutting welfare programs, deregulating industries, and prioritizing market solutions over government intervention. You should cite specific evidence like the Economic Recovery Tax Act and the dismantling of Carter-era energy regulations. Then acknowledge continuity—entitlement programs like Social Security remained largely intact—to show nuanced thinking the AP rewards.

An SAQ asks: 'Briefly explain ONE cause and ONE effect of economic globalization in the United States after 1990.'

For cause, identify a specific driver: the end of the Cold War removed ideological barriers to free trade, and US policymakers pursued NAFTA and WTO membership to open new markets. For effect, cite a measurable consequence: deindustrialization accelerated in the Midwest as manufacturers relocated to lower-wage countries, contributing to long-term unemployment in cities like Detroit and Cleveland. Keeping cause and effect clearly separated and grounded in specific evidence earns full SAQ credit.

A DBQ includes documents debating the balance between security and civil liberties post-9/11. The prompt asks: 'Evaluate the extent to which the War on Terror transformed the relationship between the federal government and American civil liberties.'

A high-scoring essay would argue the transformation was significant: the PATRIOT Act, NSA surveillance programs (later revealed by Snowden in 2013), and indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay all represented expansions of federal power that civil libertarians compared to McCarthyism. To complicate the argument, note that courts pushed back—Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004) ruled detainees have habeas corpus rights—showing institutional limits on executive overreach. Using documents to support both the expansion of power and the resistance to it demonstrates the analytical complexity AP graders expect.

An LEQ asks: 'Evaluate the extent to which the digital revolution changed American society in the period from 1990 to 2020.'

Open by taking a clear position: the digital revolution fundamentally transformed economic structures, political communication, and social organization, though its benefits were unevenly distributed. In body paragraphs, argue economic transformation (e-commerce displaced retail, gig labor replaced stable employment), then political transformation (Obama's 2008 campaign pioneered digital organizing; social media amplified populist movements across the spectrum). For complexity, argue that the digital age intensified inequality—the digital divide left low-income and rural Americans behind—preventing the revolution from being as democratizing as its architects claimed.