AP United States Government and Politics

Course Description

Advanced Placement® (AP) U.S. Government and Politics is a single semester course that explores the democratic system of the United States government and the values and traditions that inspired it. Students will examine the various institutions that influence political behavior in ways that connect citizens to their government and shape public policy. In AP U.S. Government, students will analyze foundational documents like the Constitution and the Federalist Papers as well as review the decisions from significant Supreme Court cases. Finally, students will develop argumentative writing skills, including the use of evidence to support their positions. 

About AP® Courses 

Advanced Placement (AP®) courses are equivalent to college-level courses. We highly recommend that you review the College Board’s AP United States Government and Politics Course Information page before beginning this course. Students are required to take the UTHS final exam for each semester course to earn high school credit. Students wanting to earn college credit may take the AP® exam offered by the College Board after completing the course; however, it is not required to receive credit for the course from UT High School. 

Semester Topics

• Unit 1: Constitutional Democracy
• Unit 2: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
• Unit 3: American Political Culture and Beliefs
• Unit 4: Political Participation
• Unit 5: Interaction Among Branches

Course Objectives

Upon completing this course, you will be able to—

• explain the major intellectual, philosophical, political, and religious traditions, ideas, and documents that influenced the founding of America; 
• examine the debates and compromises that impacted the creation of the founding documents; 
• define and describe the evolution of civil rights through our founding documents and landmark Supreme Court cases; 
• explain how the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment have been used to extend the protection of individual rights and limit the ability of state government to infringe upon those rights as well as provide equality before the law; 
• examine the different points of view of political parties and interest groups and analyze how these diverse viewpoints impact policy; 
• identify the processes used by individuals, political parties, interest groups or the media to affect public policy and analyze the impacts of these changes; 
• understand how population shifts affect voting patterns; 
• understand the voting process including the electoral college; 
• examine the effect that partisanship, elections, and divided government have on congressional behavior; 
• analyze the relationship between the President and the Congress in terms of enacting the President’s agenda. 

Required Course Materials

Please visit the Computer Requirements page to view minimum device, internet, and application requirements for all UT High School courses. Generally, a desktop or laptop device five (5) years or newer with access to an office suite, such as Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, will be adequate to participate in most UTHS courses.  

Unless otherwise noted, students are responsible for purchasing or securing all the following course materials:

• Textbook (Free Resource): American Government (3rd ed.) by Glen Krutz and Sylvie Waskiewicz 
  • Publisher: OpenStax College, Rice University, 2016
• Interactive Notebook: A paper or digital composition book is acceptable. For paper composition books, please also have the following items on hand: 
  • Pens or Pencils
  • Tape or Glue

Course Organization

Students must complete the course in sequence: You will not be able to access the next unit until all work in the preceding unit is completed. You may take your final exam only after completing all units and submitting all graded assignments.  

• Units: Each unit includes multiple lessons and graded assignments as well as ungraded practice quizzes to help you check your understanding of the material.
  
  
• Summative Assessments: Each course includes two online, virtually proctored summative assessments testing your understanding of the material presented in the preceding 2-3 Units.
  • Format: Online, Multiple-choice
  • Time Allowed: 1 hr 30 min
    
    
• Final Exam: Each course includes an online, virtually proctored final exam testing your knowledge of all material presented in the course.
  • Format: Online, Multiple-choice
  • Time Allowed: 3 hrs 20 min

Course Grade Weighting

Your final course grade is calculated by weighting the three assignment groups displayed in the table below:

Online Proctored Exams

All course exams, including both summative assessments and the final exam, must be completed online. Students must test online with Proctorio and are required to add the Proctorio extension to either their Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser—installation instructions are provided in the student's course. Proctorio uses a student's computer, web camera, and microphone to record video of both the student and their desktop during the exam. Then, UTHS instructors review the student's exam video data collected by Proctorio. Only authorized UTHS staff and instructors can view the exam recordings. Student data is not shared with any persons or organizations outside of UTHS and are deleted after one year. We encourage you to visit Proctorio's Data Security and Privacy site pages to learn more about how we protect student date.