🌍 AP Human Geography Complete Cheatsheet 2026
Everything You Need to Know for AP Human Geography Success
Comprehensive Study Guide • All 7 Units • Formulas & Models • Exam Strategies
🗺️ Unit 1: Thinking Geographically (8-10%)
🌎 Five Themes of Geography
- Location: Absolute (coordinates) & Relative (position)
- Place: Physical & human characteristics
- Human-Environment Interaction: Adaptation & modification
- Movement: People, goods, ideas, information
- Region: Areas with similar characteristics
🗺️ Map Types & Projections
- Isoline: Lines of equal value (contour, isotherm)
- Choropleth: Color/shading shows statistical data
- Proportional Symbol: Size represents data intensity
- Dot Distribution: Dots represent quantities
📡 Geographic Technologies
- GIS: Geographic Information Systems
- GPS: Global Positioning System
- Remote Sensing: Satellite & aircraft data collection
- Scale: Relationship between map & reality
👥 Unit 2: Population and Migration (12-17%)
📊 Essential Population Formulas
Arithmetic Density:
Total Population ÷ Total Land Area
Physiological Density:
Total Population ÷ Arable Land Area
Agricultural Density:
Number of Farmers ÷ Arable Land Area
Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
(Live Births ÷ Total Population) × 1,000
Crude Death Rate (CDR):
(Deaths ÷ Total Population) × 1,000
Rate of Natural Increase (RNI):
(CBR - CDR) ÷ 10
Doubling Time:
70 ÷ Growth Rate (%)
📈 Population Models
Demographic Transition Model (DTM)
Stage 1: High birth/death rates, stable population
Stage 2: High birth rate, declining death rate, rapid growth
Stage 3: Declining birth rate, low death rate, slowing growth
Stage 4: Low birth/death rates, stable population
Stage 5: Very low birth rate, aging population, decline
Stage 2: High birth rate, declining death rate, rapid growth
Stage 3: Declining birth rate, low death rate, slowing growth
Stage 4: Low birth/death rates, stable population
Stage 5: Very low birth rate, aging population, decline
Malthusian Theory
Population grows exponentially while food production grows arithmetically, leading to crisis
Ravenstein's Laws of Migration
10 rules including distance decay, step migration, and counter-streams
📊 Population Composition
- Population pyramids (expansive, constrictive, stationary)
- Age-sex structure analysis
- Dependency ratio
- Life expectancy variations
🚶♂️ Migration Types
- Voluntary vs. Forced
- Internal vs. International
- Step migration
- Chain migration
🕌 Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes (12-17%)
🎭 Culture Types & Processes
Culture Categories
Folk Culture: Traditional, rural, slow-changing practices
Popular Culture: Urban, rapidly changing, widely distributed
Material Culture: Physical objects (art, clothing, food)
Nonmaterial Culture: Ideas, beliefs, values, practices
Cultural Processes
Acculturation: Adopting traits of dominant culture
Assimilation: Complete absorption into dominant culture
Syncretism: Blending of two cultures
Cultural Relativism: Understanding culture in its own context
Ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures by own standards
🗣️ Language Patterns
- Language families and branches
- Lingua franca and pidgin languages
- Language extinction and preservation
- Official vs. national languages
🕊️ Religion Types
- Universalizing: Seeks converts (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism)
- Ethnic: Tied to ethnicity (Hinduism, Judaism)
- Religious landscapes and sacred spaces
- Secularization trends
📡 Diffusion Types
- Relocation: Physical movement spreads culture
- Expansion: Culture spreads while staying strong at origin
- Hierarchical: Through levels of hierarchy
- Contagious: Rapid, widespread adoption
- Stimulus: Idea spreads but changes form
🗳️ Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes (12-17%)
🏛️ Political Entities
State vs. Nation
State: Independent political unit with defined territory
Nation: Cultural group sharing common identity
Nation-State: State whose territory matches nation (Japan, Denmark)
Multinational State: Multiple nations within one state (Canada, Belgium)
Stateless Nation: Nation without political control (Kurds, Palestinians)
Multistate Nation: Nation spread across multiple states (Koreans)
Boundary Types
Antecedent: Drawn before settlement
Subsequent: Drawn after settlement
Superimposed: Imposed by external force
Relict: Former boundary, no longer functions
🏛️ Government Types
- Unitary: Centralized government
- Federal: Power shared between levels
- Confederation: Weak central government
- Sovereignty and territoriality
🌍 Political Processes
- Balkanization: Fragmentation into smaller states
- Irredentism: Reclaiming territory
- Self-determination: Right to govern themselves
- Devolution: Transfer of power to lower levels
⚖️ Centripetal vs. Centrifugal Forces
- Centripetal: Forces that unite (national identity, shared language)
- Centrifugal: Forces that divide (ethnic conflict, economic inequality)
- Nation-building strategies
👨🌾 Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use (12-17%)
🌾 Agricultural Models
Von Thünen Model
Concentric rings of land use around central market based on transportation costs and land rent
Bid-Rent Theory
Land value decreases with distance from central market due to transportation costs
🚜 Agricultural Systems
Production Types
Intensive: High inputs per unit area (market gardening, rice cultivation)
Extensive: Low inputs per unit area (ranching, nomadic herding)
Subsistence: Production for personal/local consumption
Commercial: Production for profit and market sale
Settlement Patterns
Clustered: Buildings grouped together for protection/community
Dispersed: Buildings scattered across landscape
Linear: Buildings along transportation route or river
🌱 Agricultural Revolutions
- First Agricultural Revolution: Neolithic - domestication begins
- Second Agricultural Revolution: Improved productivity & technology
- Green Revolution: High-yield varieties, fertilizers, irrigation
- Columbian Exchange impacts
📏 Survey Methods
- Metes and Bounds: Uses natural features and landmarks
- Township and Range: Rectangular grid system (US)
- Long Lot: Narrow parcels perpendicular to river/road (French)
🌆 Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use (12-17%)
🔢 Urban Geography Formula
Gravity Model:
S = (P1 × P2) / D2
Where: S = interaction strength, P1 & P2 = populations, D = distance
🏢 Urban Land-Use Models
Concentric Zone Model (Burgess)
City grows outward in concentric rings from CBD
Sector Model (Hoyt)
City develops in wedge-shaped sectors along transportation routes
Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris-Ullman)
City has multiple centers around which activities revolve
Galactic/Peripheral Model
Modified multiple nuclei model accounting for suburbanization
🏗️ Urban Concepts
- Site: Physical characteristics of location
- Situation: Location relative to surrounding features
- Central Place Theory: Market areas and urban hierarchy
- Primate City: City much larger than second-largest
- Rank-Size Rule: Population relationship between cities
🏠 Urban Issues
- Suburbanization: Movement to suburbs
- Urban Sprawl: Low-density expansion
- Gentrification: Renewal displacing lower-income residents
- Squatter Settlements: Informal housing developments
- Smart growth and new urbanism
💼 Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development (12-17%)
🏭 Economic Sectors
Sector Classification
Primary: Raw material extraction (agriculture, mining, forestry)
Secondary: Manufacturing and processing
Tertiary: Services (retail, education, healthcare)
Quaternary: Information processing and management
Quinary: High-level decision making
📊 Development Models
Rostow's Modernization Model
5 stages: Traditional society → Preconditions → Take-off → Drive to maturity → High mass consumption
Wallerstein's World-System Theory
Core, periphery, and semi-periphery relationships in global economy
Weber's Industrial Location Theory
Least-cost location based on transportation, labor, and agglomeration factors
🏭 Location Factors
- Raw materials and resource availability
- Labor costs and skills
- Transportation and market access
- Agglomeration economies
- Government policies and incentives
📈 Development Indicators
- GDP: Gross Domestic Product
- GNI: Gross National Income
- HDI: Human Development Index
- Gini Coefficient: Income inequality measure
- Gender inequality and sustainability indices
💯 AP Human Geography Exam Success Tips
📝 FRQ Strategies
Always restate the prompt clearly
Label parts (A, B, C, etc.) clearly
Use specific examples and case studies
Define terms before explaining
Connect concepts to spatial patterns
Read captions and analyze data carefully
🎯 Key Task Words
Identify: State or name the answer
Describe: Explain characteristics or features
Explain: Show relationships between concepts
Compare: Similarities and differences
Analyze: Break down and examine components
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
Being too vague with examples
Not reading map legends and scales
Confusing correlation with causation
Not considering multiple scales
Forgetting to address all parts of question