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PreAP & Regular World Geo Semester A 2011
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AP Human Geography
Introduction
The Advanced Placement Program offers a course and exam in Human Geography to
qualified students who wish to complete studies in secondary school equivalent to an
introductory college course in human geography . The exam presumes at least one
semester of college-level preparation, as is described in this book .
The inclusion of material in this Course Description and in the exam is not intended
as an endorsement by the College Board or ETS of the content, ideas, or values
expressed in the material . The material has been selected by geographers who serve
as members of the AP Human Geography Development Committee . In their judgment,
the material printed here reflects the content of a typical introductory college course in
human geography . The exam is representative of such a course and therefore is
considered appropriate for the measurement of skills and knowledge in the field of
introductory human geography .
The Course
An introductory college course in human geography is generally one semester in
length, with some variation among colleges . An AP Human Geography course need
not follow any specific college course curriculum . Rather, the aim of an AP course is to
provide the student with a learning experience equivalent to that obtained in most
college-level introductory human geography courses .
Purpose
The purpose of the AP Human Geography course is to introduce students to the
systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding,
use, and alteration of Earth’s surface . Students employ spatial concepts and landscape
analysis to examine human social organization and its environmental consequences .
They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and
practice .
Goals
On successful completion of the course, students should
have developed skills that enable them to:
• Use and think about maps and spatial data. Geography is concerned with the
ways in which patterns on Earth’s surface reflect and influence physical and
human processes . As such, maps and spatial data are fundamental to the
discipline, and learning to use and think about them is critical to geographical
literacy . The goal is achieved when students learn to use maps and spatial data to
pose and solve problems, and when they learn to think critically about what is
revealed and what is hidden in different maps and spatial arrays .
• Understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena
in places . Geography looks at the world from a spatial perspective, seeking to
understand the changing spatial organization and material character of Earth’s
surface . One of the critical advantages of a spatial perspective is the attention
it focuses on how phenomena are related to one another in particular places .
Students should thus learn not just to recognize and interpret patterns but to
assess the nature and significance of the relationships among phenomena that
occur in the same place, and to understand how tastes and values, political
regulations, and economic constraints work together to create particular types of
cultural landscapes .
• Recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and
processes. Geographical analysis requires a sensitivity to scale, not just as a spatial
category but as a framework for understanding how events and processes at
different scales influence one another . Thus, students should understand that the
phenomena they are studying at one scale (e .g ., local) may well be influenced
by developments at other scales (e .g ., regional, national, or global) . They should
then look at processes operating at multiple scales when seeking explanations of
geographic patterns and arrangements .
• Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process. Geography is concerned
not simply with describing patterns but with analyzing how they came about
and what they mean . Students should see regions as objects of analysis and
exploration and move beyond simply locating and describing regions to
considering how and why they come into being and what they reveal about the
changing character of the world in which we live .
• Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places. At the heart of
a geographical perspective is a concern with the ways in which events and
processes operating in one place can influence those operating at other places .
Thus, students should view places and patterns not in isolation but in terms of
their spatial and functional relationship with other places and patterns . Moreover,
they should strive to be aware that those relationships are constantly changing,
and they should understand how and why change occurs
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