Free DBQ Grader: Instant AI Feedback on Your Essay
This is the essay-type hub for Document-Based Questions across APUSH, AP World, and AP Euro. Paste a DBQ draft and get a 7-point College Board rubric score — thesis, contextualization, evidence, and analysis — in under 30 seconds. Prefer course defaults? Open the matching History tool page below.
Grade your DBQ freeHow it works
Paste your DBQ draft
Drop in the essay you wrote under timed conditions. For best results, include the thesis and body paragraphs you would submit on exam day.
Match the 7-point rubric
FRQuick checks thesis, contextualization, document evidence, outside evidence, sourcing, and complexity — the same categories AP History readers use on every DBQ.
Revise the rows you missed
Use the row-by-row notes to rewrite weak sourcing or thin outside evidence, then re-grade before your next practice set.
The 7-point College Board DBQ rubric
Every AP History DBQ (US, World, and European) is scored out of 7 on the same four categories. This free DBQ grader AI maps your draft to those rows so you can see which points you actually earned. Course tool pages reuse these rows with course-specific framing.
Total points: 7
- Thesis / claim0–1
- A historically defensible claim with a line of reasoning that answers the prompt — not a restatement of it.
- Contextualization0–1
- Broader historical situation beyond the documents' immediate timeframe, tied to your argument.
- Evidence0–3
- Use 3+ documents, then 4+ to support an argument, plus one piece of outside historical evidence.
- Analysis and reasoning0–2
- Source at least three documents (POV, purpose, situation, or audience) and show complexity.
Supported DBQ exam variants
The DBQ structure is shared across AP History courses. This hub targets the essay type; each course tool page below owns course-specific practice (prompts, period framing, and defaults).
- AP United States History (APUSH) DBQ
- AP World History: Modern DBQ
- AP European History DBQ
Prefer the course tool page? Open apush.
