Question 1
Las Casas most likely wrote this account in order to
Is AP European History hard?
Most students get a 3 or higher: 72.6% in May 2025 and 74% in 2026. A 5 is harder, at 14.0% in 2025.
| Scored 3 or higher in 2026 | 74% |
|---|---|
| Scored 3 or higher in 2025 | 72.6% of 86,729 students |
| Scored 5 in 2025 | 14.0% |
| Mean score in 2025 | 3.27 |
What makes it hard
- Breadth: c. 1450 to the present, from Portugal to Russia.
- Reading sources: every multiple-choice set starts from one.
- Writing: an essay without a clear thesis or sourcing loses points.
Try a question
Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish Dominican friar, account of Spanish conduct in the Caribbean, published 1552
Now this infinite multitude of Men are by the Creation of God innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice, and most Obedient and Loyal Subjects to their Native Sovereigns; . . . The natives tractable, and capable of Morality or Goodness, very apt to receive the instill'd principles of Catholick Religion; . . .
The Spaniards first assaulted the innocent Sheep, so qualified by the Almighty, as is premention'd, like most cruel Tygers, Wolves and Lions hunger-starv'd, studying nothing, for the space of Forty Years, after their first landing, but the Massacre of these Wretches, whom they have so inhumanely and barbarously butcher'd and harass'd with several kinds of Torments, never before known, or heard . . . that of Three Millions of Persons, which lived in Hispaniola itself, there is at present but the inconsiderable remnant of scarce Three Hundred.
Next step
Questions people ask
What percentage of students pass AP European History?
72.6% of 86,729 students scored 3 or higher in May 2025, and 74% in 2026.
What share of AP European History students earn a 5?
14.0% in May 2025 and 16% in 2026.