AP Psychology

Exam Review, 2009Stoneman Douglas HS

Lisa Chauvin

Breakdown of the Exam

• 2%-4% History• 6%-8% Methods and Approaches• 8%-10% Biological Bases of Behavior• 7%-9% Sensation and Perception• 2%-4% States of Consciousness• 7%-9% Learning• 8%-10% Cognition• 7%-9% Motivation and Emotion• 7%-9% Developmental Psychology• 6%-8% Personality• 5%-7% Testing and Individual Differences• 7%-9% Abnormal Psychology• 5%-7% Treatment of Psychological Disorders• 7%-9% Social Psychology

Basic Information About The Exam

• Section 1—Multiple Choice• —100 questions—70 minutes

• Section 2—Free Response• —2 questions—50 minutes

Scoring

• Multiple Choice—2/3 of Exam Grade

1 point for each correct answerNo points or deductions for incorrect answers

ScoringFree Response Section

• 1/3 of total exam grade

• Graded each June by readers from universities and high schools

• Readers use a set scale to grade essays; questions worth differing number of points; readers check off each element as it occurs

Both Multiple Choice and Free Response sections are weighted

How much they are weighted varies year by year!!

More Multiple Choice Tips

• Some terminology may be slightly different than what you learned in class. That’s ok. (reticular formation may be reticular activating system)

• Remember, DON’T lose heart! You don’t have to correctly answer a high percentage of MC questions to pass the exam. Depending on the difficulty level of the test and how you do on the free response, you could pass the exam with as few as 50-55% correct!

• Know your terms! Most of the AP Psych exam is vocabulary-based. You have to know terminology!

For Free Response

• Grammar and beautiful essay structure are not important on the AP Psych exam—getting the terms covered IS!

• Underline terms they ask you about as you use them. Helps you to remember the terms and also alerts exam reader

• Be sure to address the question; if it says to compare, you’d best compare; if it says to define and give example of each term, do it!!

More Free Response Tips

• Pace yourself and budget your time! You will have only 50 minutes to answer two FR questions. Consider doing the one you know best first.

• Use blue or black ink only! No pencil! Scratching out is acceptable. NO highlighting and NO whiteout!

• This is not a 5-paragraph essay: you do NOT need to write an introductory or a concluding paragraph.

• You MUST write in paragraph format; listing and bullets are NOT accepted!!

More Free Response Tips

• A fellow human being will be grading your essays. Write legibly!

• Write in the sequence the question is given.• Focus on the key elements of the question and

respond directly to them. State the facts and support the facts. Look for key words in the question: compare and contrast, causes and treatments, identify and describe, cause and effect, differences and similarities

Still More F-R Tips!

• Be plain and don’t assume the reader knows what you are talking about. Write as if you are explaining things to a young child who is curious and intelligent but doesn’t know what you know. Do not overwrite!

• Make sure you understand the terms; the definition is usually part of the points. Do not use the root word when asked to define a term (“repression is when you repress memories”) You may underline to make terms stand out

Last But Not Least F-R Tip:

• Use terminology from the field of psychology.

• Even though it is useful to think of your

audience as a smart but intelligent child, you DO want to demonstrate that you actually took a psychology course!

Free Response Scoring Guideline

Sample 1A: Score—1 Point 1: The research method was NOT a case study Point 2: No operational definition of stress is offered Point 3: No operational definition of illness is offered Point 4: Working out or not is not an ethical factor Point 5: Participation in athletics is not an ethical

factor Point 6: Testing only women is not a statistical

technique

Sample 1A--continued

Point 7: “There might be other factors as to why they are getting sick,” such as the girls not sleeping properly, is scored as a 3rd variable causing illness

Point 8: The criticism that the data were collected from only one school is not tied to the validity problem of generalizing to populations beyond high school

Scoring CommentarySample 1B: Score--4

Point 1: The research method was not that of a case study

Point 2: “How stressed out the ladies were” does not refer to the stress instrument

Point 3: “How often they missed school due to illness.”

Point 4: “She still explained the purpose of the study to the athletes.”

Point 5: “This information should be confidential.”

1B Scoring Commentary—Cont’d

Point 6: “Correlation diagram.” This student also scores with point with “the y axis could represent the stress level and the x axis could represent the days of school missed.

Point 7: Using only females in the study alone does not address the issue of generalization or representativeness

Point 8: “She tested 250 but only analyzed the first 100” is not enough. There is no reference to random sampling.

Scoring CommentarySample 1C—Score: 8

Point 1: “The research method used by Dr. Franklin was a survey.” Point 2: “Having each participant rate the severity of their

stress.” Point 3: “By looking up the attendance records.” Point 4: “Explained the purpose of her research.” Point 5: “Require all female athletes to participate.” Point 6: “Correlation graph.” Point 7: “She should have analyzed all 250 forms or picked 100 at

random.” Point 8: Measuring illness by absences from school “is a weak

assessment” because students might be out of school for reasons other than illness (or come to school when ill).

Final Thoughts

• Get plenty of sleep the night before• Bring at least two #2 pencils• Bring at least two blue/black ink pens• Bring a watch• NO CELLPHONES, iPods, or other electronic

devices• Take a deep breath right before you open your

booklet and DO YOUR BEST! • GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL! “Think 5!!”