AP U.S. History is a college-level introductory course which focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about U.S. history from approximately 1491 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Seven Themes of equal importance — National Identity; Migration and Settlement; Politics and Power; Work, Exchange, and Technology; America in the World; Environment and Geography; and Culture and Society — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in different times and places. In this pursuit, the acquisition of factual knowledge is the beginning of the process, but the main focus of the course will be the development of historical thinking skills and student application of those skills. Students will be responsible for completing a summer assignment for this course.