AP Human Geography Models: Every Model and How to Remember It
AP Human Geography models are simplified diagrams or theories that explain patterns, like why population growth slows, where farms sit around a city, or how cities are laid out. The big ones to know are the Demographic Transition Model, Malthus, Ravenstein and the gravity model (population and migration), von Thünen (agriculture), Burgess, Hoyt, multiple nuclei and the regional city models (urban), and Rostow and Wallerstein (development). Below is each one in a single line, plus a memory hook so it actually sticks.
If you've made the APHG models chart three times and still blank on which city model has the "spine," FlashDeck turns your notes into cards and shows you only the models you're about to forget: Build my study plan.
Why APHG models matter on the exam
APHG (the nickname for AP Human Geography) is a lot of vocab and a lot of models. The models are where students lose easy points, because the free-response questions often ask you to apply a model to a real place or explain its limits, not just name it.
So for each model, you want three things:
- What it shows (one sentence)
- What it looks like (can you sketch it?)
- One weakness (FRQs love "explain a limitation")
Quick vocab refresher before we start: geographic scale in AP Human Geography means the level you're looking at, like local, regional, national or global. A lot of FRQs ask how a pattern changes across scales, so keep that in your back pocket for every model.
Let's run through the list.
Population models
Demographic Transition Model (DTM)
One line: As a country develops, birth and death rates fall, and population growth rises then slows.
Five stages: (1) high birth and death rates, (2) death rates drop, population booms, (3) birth rates drop, (4) both low, stable, (5) birth rates fall below death rates, population may shrink.
Hook: "Die less, then birth less." Deaths fall first (stage 2), births catch up later (stage 3).
Weakness: Based on Europe's history, so it may not predict other regions.
Epidemiologic Transition Model
One line: The main causes of death shift from infectious disease to chronic "lifestyle" disease as countries develop.
Hook: It's the DTM's twin, but for why people die.
Malthusian theory
One line: Thomas Malthus argued population grows faster than food supply, leading to shortages.
Hook: "Mouths outrun meals." Critics point out he didn't foresee big jumps in farm technology.
Ravenstein's laws, gravity model and push-pull
- Ravenstein's laws of migration: most migrants move short distances, big cities attract long-distance migrants, and every migration flow creates a counterflow.
- Gravity model: interaction between two places grows with their population size and shrinks with distance. Big and close = lots of interaction.
- Lee's push-pull model: people are pushed out by bad conditions and pulled in by good ones, with "intervening obstacles" in between.
Hook for gravity: It's literally like physics. Bigger mass, closer distance, stronger pull.
Agriculture models
Von Thünen model
One line: Farm activities form rings around a city based on transport cost and how perishable the product is.
The rings, from the center out: the market (city), intensive farming and dairy, forest (wood for fuel and building), grains and field crops, then ranching and livestock.
Hook: "Milk, Wood, Wheat, Cows." The stuff that spoils fast or is heavy stays close; the stuff that can walk itself to market (cattle) goes farthest.
Weakness: Assumes a flat, featureless land with one market and no modern refrigeration or highways.
Urban models
The AP Human Geography city models are the most-tested group, and the easiest to mix up. Sketch every one of these at least once.
Burgess concentric zone model
One line: A city grows in rings outward from the central business district (CBD).
Hook: A dartboard, CBD as the bullseye. Based on Chicago.
Hoyt sector model
One line: Cities grow in wedges (sectors) along transport routes like rail lines or rivers.
Hook: A pizza. Slices follow the roads.
Harris and Ullman multiple nuclei model
One line: Cities have several centers (nuclei), like an airport, a university or a business park, not just one CBD.
Hook: Multiple nuclei = multiple mini-downtowns.
Galactic city (peripheral) model
One line: Growth happens in edge cities around the outskirts, connected by a beltway.
Hook: The CBD is a sun; edge cities orbit it.
Latin American city model (Griffin-Ford)
One line: A CBD with a commercial "spine" running out to wealthy homes, surrounded by zones that get poorer toward the edge, with informal settlements on the periphery.
Hook: The rich live along the spine; the poor live at the edges (the reverse of many US cities).
African city model (de Blij)
One line: African cities often have three CBDs (a colonial one, a traditional one and an informal market zone), with ethnic and mixed neighborhoods around them and informal satellite townships at the edge.
Hook: Three downtowns, not one. That's the African model in AP Human Geography in a sentence.
Southeast Asian city model (McGee)
One line: Built around an old colonial port zone, with no single formal CBD but several commercial districts, and new suburbs and industrial parks on the edges.
Hook: Start at the port.
Quick urban model comparison
| Model | Shape | Hook |
|---|---|---|
| Burgess | Rings | Dartboard |
| Hoyt | Wedges | Pizza slices |
| Multiple nuclei | Many centers | Mini-downtowns |
| Galactic | Edge cities | Sun and orbit |
| Latin American | Spine + rings | Rich on the spine |
| African | Three CBDs | Three downtowns |
| Southeast Asian | Port-centered | Start at the port |
Other urban ideas to know: Christaller's central place theory (hexagon-shaped market areas), the rank-size rule, primate cities and bid-rent theory (land costs most near the center).
Development models
Rostow's stages of economic growth
One line: Countries develop through five stages: traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and high mass consumption.
Hook: Think of a plane. Sitting at the gate, taxiing, take-off, climbing, cruising.
Weakness: Assumes every country follows the same path as Western countries.
Wallerstein's world systems theory
One line: The world economy is split into core, semi-periphery and periphery countries, and the core benefits from the periphery.
Hook: Rostow is a ladder anyone can climb. Wallerstein says the ladder is rigged.
Also review Weber's least cost theory (industry locates where transport, labor and agglomeration costs are lowest) for Unit 7.
How to memorize the models
This is how to study AP Human Geography models without rereading your chart forever.
- Sketch from memory. Blank paper, draw Burgess, Hoyt and the Latin American model. Check. Redraw what you got wrong.
- Make three cards per model: what it shows, what it looks like, one weakness.
- Apply it. Pick a real city you know, like your own, and ask which model fits and why. That's FRQ practice.
- Compare pairs. Rostow vs Wallerstein. Burgess vs Hoyt. Malthus vs technology. FRQs love contrasts.
By now you're looking at 60+ cards across seven units, and the models you learned in September are fading by March.
FlashDeck tracks that for you. Paste your APHG model notes and it writes a card for each definition and hook, then shows only the ones due each day. Tap Missed it on the African city model and it's back tomorrow; nail von Thünen and it waits days, then weeks. Build my study plan
Need maps down too? Try our 30-day plan to memorize the world map and the region-by-region guide to African countries.
Keep every APHG model fresh until exam day
You now have every model, a one-line summary and a hook. Paste this list (or your own class notes) into FlashDeck and in about a minute you'll have cards for all of them, with a ten-minute daily review that keeps the models you learned in fall ready for May.
FAQ
What models do you need to know for AP Human Geography?
The core list is the DTM, epidemiologic transition, Malthus, Ravenstein, gravity model, push-pull, von Thünen, Weber, the urban models (Burgess, Hoyt, multiple nuclei, galactic, Latin American, African, Southeast Asian), central place theory, rank-size, bid-rent, Rostow and Wallerstein. Check your teacher's unit guides in case they add others.
What are the AP Human Geography city models?
The main city models are Burgess (concentric zones), Hoyt (sectors), Harris and Ullman (multiple nuclei), the galactic city, and the regional models for Latin American, African and Southeast Asian cities. Be able to sketch each one and name a limitation.
What is the African city model in AP Human Geography?
It's de Blij's model of African cities, which often have three CBDs: a colonial CBD, a traditional CBD and an informal market zone. Around them sit ethnic and mixed neighborhoods, with informal satellite townships on the outskirts.
How do I study for the AP Human Geography test?
Use active recall instead of rereading: sketch models from memory, answer practice FRQs, and review vocab and model cards on a spaced schedule. Apply every model to a real place, because the exam often asks you to do exactly that.
Is APHG harder than APUSH?
Most students find APHG lighter on reading and dates than APUSH, but heavier on vocab and models. It's very doable if you review a little each week instead of cramming before the exam.