AP Human Geography — population policies and types of migration

Unit 2 of AP Human Geography, Population and Migration Patterns and Processes, expects you to explain real policies and real movements of people, not only models. The existing materials of this category work through the demographic transition, Malthus, push and pull factors and the legal categories of refugees on invented countries; this one adds the real cases the exam draws on, from topics 2.7, 2.8, 2.11 and 2.12 of the course framework.

The first part is about population policy. You follow China from the one-child policy of about 1980 to the two-child rule of 2016 and the three-child rule of 2021, and explain its consequences for the sex ratio and for aging. You compare pronatalist approaches in France and in Singapore, which reversed its 'Stop at Two' campaign in 1987, and see why cash incentives often achieve less than governments hope. Immigration policy is a population policy too: the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended national-origins quotas and reshaped the country's diversity, while Canada selects immigrants by points. You also explain why women's education and employment are among the strongest influences on fertility.

The second part is about the types of migration named in the course. You tell chain migration from step migration, recognize transhumance in the Alps as something different from nomadism, and study guest worker programs from the Bracero Program and Germany's Gastarbeiter to the labor migration of the Gulf states. Transnational migrants and their remittances, internal moves such as the Great Migration of African Americans and China's rural-to-urban flows, and the forced migration of the Atlantic slave trade complete the list, followed by the effects of migration: remittances, brain drain, ethnic enclaves and the changing age and sex structure of the places people leave. All policy questions are treated factually and neutrally.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve questions built on real policies and short scenarios, each explained. The flashcards cover every policy and migration type with dates. The written work gives eight free-response style questions to answer by hand, each with a reference answer and key points. In the oral exam an examiner asks one question at a time, asks you to classify migrations you have not seen before and to explain their effects at local and national scales, and ends with precise feedback.

This is practice material written by Zestly, based on the published AP Human Geography course framework; it is not produced or endorsed by the College Board.

• Describe China's population policies from 1980 to 2021 and explain their demographic consequences
• Explain pronatalist policies in France and Singapore and why their effects are limited
• Explain how immigration policies such as the 1965 US act and Canada's points system change population composition
• Explain how women's education and employment lower fertility
• Distinguish chain, step, guest worker, transnational, transhumance, internal, rural-to-urban and forced migration with real examples
• Explain the effects of migration on sending and receiving areas, including remittances, brain drain and ethnic enclaves

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP Human Geography Course and Exam Description (course framework effective fall 2020), Unit 2, topics 2.7, 2.8, 2.11 and 2.12.