AP European History — Unit 2: Age of Reformation (c.1450–1648)
Practice questions, answers, and key terms for Unit 2, aligned to the College Board CED.
Exam weighting: Unit 2 is 10% of the AP European History exam.
What AP European History Unit 2 covers
The College Board Course and Exam Description breaks Unit 2 into 4 topics:
- 2.1 Protestant Reformation
- 2.2 Catholic Reformation
- 2.3 Wars of Religion
- 2.4 Comparison in the Age of Reformation
AP European History Unit 2 practice questions
Two rival popes claim absolute authority at the same time, one in Rome and one in Avignon. What long-term damage does this do to the Church on the eve of the Reformation?
It convinced ordinary Europeans the Church cared more about power than souls. Decades of scandal drained its spiritual credibility before Luther arrived.
A wealthy man with no theological training buys his way into a bishop's office. What corrupt Church practice is this — and why did it enrage reformers?
Simony — the buying and selling of Church offices. It put unqualified men in spiritual posts for money.
Pope Leo X needs cash to finish St. Peter's Basilica. He starts selling something that lets buyers skip confession entirely. Trace what this sale set off.
Selling indulgences — paying to cut purgatory without confession. It directly provoked Luther's 95 Theses.
A monk reads Romans and concludes that God forgives sin for free, not as a reward for penance. Which doctrine does this reading launch?
Salvation by faith alone (sola fide) — grace, not works, saves. Catholics said faith AND works; Luther said faith alone.
Luther insists the Bible — not the pope, not Church tradition — is the final word for Christians. Name the principle, and name what it knocks off its throne.
Sola scriptura — the Bible, not the pope, is the final word. It stripped the clergy's monopoly on interpreting doctrine.
Luther writes his 95 Theses in Latin, hoping to spark a quiet debate among scholars. Within weeks they're plastered across Germany. What did he not account for?
The printing press spread his ideas far beyond the few he intended. It turned a local scholarly protest into a mass movement.
Hauled before the Holy Roman Emperor and ordered to take back his writings, Luther refuses, citing scripture and conscience. What was this hearing — and what followed?
The Diet of Worms — Luther refused to recant and was declared a heretic. A prince then sheltered him, so he survived where Hus burned.
Everyone credits Luther's theology for the Reformation's spread in Germany. But the German princes who backed him weren't all devout. What actually motivated many of them?
Backing Luther weakened the pope's authority over their lands. It handed princes more political power for themselves.
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Key terms in Unit 2
These 12 terms show up in the Unit 2 cards. Each one links to its definition in the AP European History key-term reference.
Drill all of Unit 2 with spaced repetition
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