Inside This Unit: The Full Breakdown
Unit 1 (Question & Explore) covers forming focused, researchable questions, situating a topic in broader context, and exploring an issue through multiple lenses before taking a position.
Why it matters
AP Seminar is assessed by two performance tasks and a written End-of-Course exam — and every task begins with a strong question and genuine exploration.
Key concepts
- A strong research question is focused, researchable, and supports multiple defensible perspectives.
- Lenses (economic, ethical, scientific…) reveal different facets of an issue.
- Narrowing scope makes a question answerable.
Question & Explore
Practice turning a broad topic into a focused question, connecting it to a larger theme, and exploring it through several lenses and stakeholders before forming a position. Avoid confirmation bias by seeking opposing views.
AP exam tip
Test your question: if one fact answers it, it’s too narrow; if you can’t research it, it’s too broad.
Connections to other units
- Unit 2: Exploration leads into analyzing the sources you find.
- Unit 4: Your question ultimately drives your argument.
