HOW TO WRITE FOR THE AP EXAM

AP Psychology

JUST THE FACTS

The writing portion of the AP Psych exam (in MAY): Consists of two free response questions Must be completed in 50 minutes Counts for 1/3 of your overall score

* You NEED to write in PEN

GETTING STARTED

The first five minutes of an FRQ… Read the question carefully Develop a quick outline Read the question again

Write for 20 minutes… Write as much as possible Pace yourself to answer both questions (in May)

AP Psych FRQ DON’Ts

Don’t write a thesis statementDon’t write an introductionDon’t write a conclusionDon’t write lists or bullet pointsDon’t cross anything out, unless you are sure it is

wrongDon’t write fluff (no time to get fancy)

USE T.D.A.

Term Use the term to answer the question

Define If the question asks for a definition, write it. You can always define a term to ensure the reader

understands that you know what you are talking aboutApply

Apply the answer to the question at hand (no tangents) Explain with enough detail for someone to understand Use paragraphs to separate your points (again, easier to

grade)

OTHER TIPS

Write for Points No one is perfect, get as many points as you can! Readers don’t take points off for wrong answers!

Guess the Rubric Generally the number of bullet points equates to the

number of points (most questions have 7-10 points)Write to Explain

Pretend your reader is an idiot But remember she is probably a college professor! Be Specific (B.S.) and give examples whenever possible

1. Psychologists use a variety of research methods to study behavior. Three of the main research methods used are

Case Study Correlation Study, and Experiment

A. Discuss an advantage of each research method listed above.B. Discuss a disadvantage of each research method listed above.

Pretend you are a psychologist who will use each of the three research methods above to determine the effect of taking vitamin J on improving memory.

C. For each method listed above, explain a key characteristic of the basic approach you could use to reach a scientific conclusion about the relationship between taking vitamin J and improving memory. You need not design a complete research study.

The advantage of a case study is that it allows researchers to collect a large amount of data about a unique person. A disadvantage of a case study is that the research findings may not be generalized to a larger population.

The advantage of a correlational study is that you can determine the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables. The disadvantage of a correlational study is that you cannot prove one variable causes the other occur- correlations cannot prove causation.

The advantage of an experiment is that you can statistically prove a cause an effect relationship by manipulation variables. The disadvantage of an experiment is that it is sometimes hard to interpret the data.

There are many ways to determine whether memory is affected by vitamin J. To use a case study for determining the effects of vitamin J, I would give it to many people and see what happens to their memories.

To use an experiment for determining the effects of vitamin J, I would randomly assign people to two groups. The first group would get vitamin J and the second group would get placebo. I would measure their memory after a period of six weeks.

EXAMPLE QUESTION

1. Define each of the following concepts and explain how each contributes to the phenomenon of prejudice.

a. Stereotyping b. Self-fulfilling prophecy c. Fundamental attribution error d. Projection e. Schema

ANALYSIS

1. Define each of the following concepts and explain how each contributes to the phenomenon of prejudice.

a. Stereotyping b. Self-fulfilling prophecy c. Fundamental attribution error d. Projection

e. Schema How many points is this question worth?How would you start your answer?How long would you spending writing an answer?

SAMPLE ANSWER

Stereotypes are overgeneralization about a person or group. Stereotypes can contribute to prejudice in that a person may oversimplify a concept such as all Asians are intelligent. This is an oversimplification resulting in undo prejudice, as it has been shown that Asians show a similar bell curve in intelligence as the rest of the population.

A self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to prejudice by predicting how people behave in a given situation. If a guy believes that women are bad drivers, he will tend to only see accidents where women are at fault, resulting in prejudice.

Sometimes people attribute a person’s behavior to their personality and not to the situation in which a person is currently in. This is known as the fundamental attribution error. Someone could be prejudice against a homeless person thinking they are lazy (internal cause), when in actuality the person is homeless because they lost their job and home when their company went bankrupt because of the failing stock market (external cause).

Schemas, or cognitive structures that simplify ideas into categories can lead to prejudice too. For example, a person might have a schema that trash collectors are uneducated because they deal with garbage all day. But until that person meets a trash collector who has a college degree, they cannot accommodate the new information into a new schema, hence breaking the prejudice against trash collectors.

Total Points: ____

SAMPLE ANSWER

Stereotypes are overgeneralization about a person or group. Stereotypes can contribute to prejudice in that a person may oversimplify a concept such as all Asians are intelligent. This is an oversimplification resulting in undo prejudice, as it has been shown that Asians show a similar bell curve in intelligence as the rest of the population.

A self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to prejudice by predicting how people behave in a given situation. If a guy believes that women are bad drivers, he will tend to only see accidents where women are at fault, resulting in prejudice.

Sometimes people attribute a person’s behavior to their personality and not to the situation in which a person is currently in. This is known as the fundamental attribution error. Someone could be prejudice against a homeless person thinking they are lazy (internal cause), when in actuality the person is homeless because they lost their job and home when their company went bankrupt because of the failing stock market (external cause).

Schemas, or cognitive structures that simplify ideas into categories can lead to prejudice too. For example, a person might have a schema that trash collectors are uneducated because they deal with garbage all day. But until that person meets a trash collector who has a college degree, they cannot accommodate the new information into a new schema, hence breaking the prejudice against trash collectors.

Total Points: ____7