This text is designed for a one-semester or one-year United States history course for students preparing to take the AP U.S. History Exam. Teachers can assign the book as the course textbook or as a supplement to a college-level textbook. U.S. History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination presents the history of the United States from pre-Columbian times to the Obama administration. It follows the curriculum put out by the College Board for this course of study. Thirty chapters, each covering a different time period. Each chapter begins with an historical quote. Then each chapter narration is divided into sections and subsections by three levels of heads. Each chapter then has an "Historical Perspectives" (historiography) essay on some topic related to the chapter. This is followed by a list of key names, events, and terms from the chapter. Each chapter ends with a set of multiple-choice questions, a set of essay questions, and a set of questions related to a group of documents. In some chapters, this last set of questions is called a Document-Based Question (DBQ). Five of the text's chapters have a special feature on how to write DBQs. The instruction is sequential, from one feature to the next. Students can gain additional experience by completing the Practice Exam at the back of the book.