The Texas US History CBE covers from Reconstruction (1877) through the present, organized into the eight TEKS strands: Reconstruction era, Industrial Revolution, World War I and 1920s, Great Depression and World War II, Cold War, Civil Rights, late 20th century, and contemporary America.

It rewards specific factual knowledge — names, dates, court cases, legislation — combined with analysis of primary sources, charts, and political cartoons. Students who memorize key amendments, presidents, and Supreme Court cases AND practice document analysis tend to score well above the 70% threshold.

Multiple-choice questions test direct recall, cause-and-effect, and document interpretation. Expect quotes from speeches, excerpts from court rulings, political cartoons, and statistical charts. About 25–30% of questions involve interpreting a primary source.

The exam runs about 3 hours with roughly 60 multiple-choice questions. Our mock exams use the same length, source-document style, and topic distribution to match the real CBE.

Prioritize the eras most heavily tested: Civil Rights, World War II, the Cold War, and contemporary America together account for over 50% of the exam. Use our TEKS category analysis to find your weakest era, then drill it with targeted practice and timed full-length mocks.

Yes — the CBE tests Texas-required content at high school level, not college level. There's no DBQ essay; it's all multiple-choice. Most students who can pass an honors US History final can pass the CBE with focused TEKS prep.