Here is the College Board’s rubric for a stronger essay (one you will need to write in order to score a 4 or 5 on the exam):

Essay has a clear, analytical thesis that addresses ALL tasks and terms of the question evenly. Organization is clear and logical. Argument is persuasive and the thesis is supported by an analysis of considerable specific, relevant evidence.

ALL FOUR of these requirements must be met in your essay. However, as a former AP exam reader, let me point out that the first three points may be addressed with a high-quality introductory paragraph; a particularly good thesis will do more than simply answer the question (though it had better do that). It not only outlines your argument, but will also set up how you will use your evidence. The introductory thesis gives your reader a fairly good glimpse of your thought process and ability to analyze sources. An AP reader will have a good idea of where you fall on the grading scale simply by reading your introduction. Attempting to convince your reader to ‘hang on for the really good part’ is not a particularly successfully tactic; START STRONG WITH A CLEAR THESIS PARAGRAPH THAT ADDRESSES THE QUESTION AND PROVIDES DIRECTION.

Major assertions in your essay MUST BE SUPPORTED WITH EVIDENCE. This is the fourth requirement.

Here is a quick step-by-step approach to take on FRQs:

1. Identify the TASKS and TERMS. The task is indicated by directive words, i.e. it is what you are asked to do. The terms are are those parts of the question that delineate the topis for discussion.
2. Brainstorm the relevant details you can recall about the subject and write them down in a list. These will serve as the evidence you will use in your essay. Sometime breaking ‘big issues’ down into details can be helpful. For example, if I am asks about governmental structures in the 17th century, the term ‘absolutism’ should come to mind. Good, but I might also then list some details: Richelieu, Academie Francaise, Louis XIV, Peter the Great, Charles XII, Versailles, Jean Bodin, etc. If you were only asked about French government, then you would not, of course, list Swedish or Russian examples – this is what is meant above by defining your terms.
3. Develop your thesis by determining how you can use the list of information to answer the question. Pose your own questions that will help you develop categories and themes that to demonstrate your understanding of the topic. For example (based on the absolutism issue above), what struggles ensued over differences of polticial philosophy during the 17th century? Categories of evidence should emerge that will help structure your essay.
4. write the opening paragraph. The thesis should indicate WHAT your answer is and WHAT CATEGORIES OF EVIDENCE support your answer; the rest of your opening explains WHY and/or HOW thsi evidence supports the answer. Your thesis must be clear and obvious!
5. Write the body of your essay.
6. Make a closing statement. This is essential ly a restatement of your thesis, and while I personally consider it redundant for such an exam exercise, the AP readers will look for it. It underscores the fact that you know about what you’ve been writing and that you are not just bullshitting your way to an ambiguous endpoint. Never neglect time on the body of your essay in order to focus on a a lengthy closing, BUT RESERVE SOME TIME TO WRITE A BRIEF CLOSING STATEMENT (or more precisely a restatement) or paragraph. IMPORTANT: a closing should not contain any new evidence or new line of argumentation. AND NEVER PREACH!

When you do your text reading, you should think in terms of more significant questions (rather than just trying to absorb random information). The FRQs will generally take three forms: 1) Women’s history, 2) Assessing long-term social or cultural developments or responses (urbanization, poverty, religion and science), and 3) Assessing a more localized political problem, either within a single state (the Irish Question, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nationalism in Austria, instability of the Weimar Republic, etc.) or during a specific manageable period (responses to the French Revolution, political reforms between the world wars, etc.)

Try these for practice:

• Exercise question: Compare and contrast the power of the middle class in 18th century England and France.
• Exercise question: Historians [not Shurmer, though] speak of the rise of mass politics in the period from 1880 to 1914. Define this phenomenon and analyze its effects on European politics in this period.
• Exercise question: Analyze the ways in which technology and mass culture contributed to the success of dictators in the 1920s and 1930s.
• Exercise question: Analyze the ways that the theories of both Darwin and Freud challenged traditional European ways of thinking about religion, morality, and human behavior in the period c.1850-1950.
• Exercise question: Analyze the development of the various forms of European socialism during the 19th century.
• Exercise question: Analyze artistic and literary responses to industrialization over the course of the 19th century.
• Exercise question: Analyze the effects of nationalism on the Austrian Empire in the period 1815 to 1914.
• Exercise question: Considering the period 1953 to 1991, analyze the problems within the Soviet Union that contributed to the eventual collapse of the Soviet System.