AP® Human Geography
AP Human Geography introduces high school students to college-level introductory human geography or cultural geography. The content is presented thematically rather than regionally and is organized around the discipline’s main subfields: economic geography, cultural geography, political geography, and urban geography. The approach is spatial and problem oriented. Case studies are drawn from all world regions, with an emphasis on understanding the world in which we live today. Historical information serves to enrich analysis of the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, colonialism, and human environment relationships on places, regions, cultural landscapes, and patterns of interaction.
Specific topics with which students engage include the following:
*problems of economic development and cultural change
*consequences of population growth, changing fertility rates, and international migration
*impacts of technological innovation on transportation, communication, industrialization, and other aspects of human life
*struggles over political power and control of territory
*conflicts over the demands of ethnic minorities, the role of women in society, and the inequalities between developed and developing economies
*explanations of why location matters to agricultural land use, industrial development, and urban problems
*the role of climate change and environmental abuses in shaping the human landscapes on Earth
The goal for the course is for students to become more geoliterate, more engaged in contemporary global issues, and more informed about multicultural viewpoints. They will develop skills in approaching problems geographically, using maps and geospatial technologies, thinking critically about texts and graphic images, interpreting cultural landscapes, and applying geographic concepts such as scale, region, diffusion, interdependence, and spatial interaction, among others. Students will see geography as a discipline relevant to the world in which they live; as a source of ideas for identifying, clarifying, and solving problems at various scales; and as a key component of building global citizenship and environmental stewardship.
The course framework includes two essential components:
*COURSE SKILLS
The course skills are central to the study and practice of human geography. Students should have the opportunity to develop and apply the described skills on a regular basis over the span of the course.
*COURSE CONTENT
The course content is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide a suggested sequence for the course. These units comprise required content and conceptual understandings that colleges and universities typically expect students to master to qualify for college credit and/or placement. This content is grounded in big ideas, which are cross-cutting concepts that build conceptual understanding and spiral throughout the course.
Course Organization
The AP®Human Geography course material is organized into 7 units. Follow the links below to each unit’s dedicated page.
Unit I. Thinking Geographically
Unit II. Population and Migration Patterns and Processes
Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes
Unit IV. Political Patterns and Processes
Unit V. Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes
Unit VI. Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes
Unit VII. Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes
2022 AP Human Geography Exam
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