AP Psych FRQs: Breakdown and Examples?

Hi everyone! I'm trying to wrap my head around the AP Psych FRQs. Can someone share examples of how they composed their responses or break down what the graders are looking for?

When it comes to AP Psychology FRQs (free-response questions), the goal is to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of psychological principles, using them to address a series of scenarios or questions. Here's a breakdown of what graders commonly look for:

1. Understanding concepts:

Graders often look for your accurate understanding of key psychological principles, theories, and terminology. If a question relates to, say, classical conditioning, it's important to accurately use terminologies like unconditioned stimulus (UCS), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR), conditioned response (CR), etc.

2. Application:

Graders want to see how you apply these concepts to real-life scenarios or the specific examples mentioned in the question. You are not simply defining the terms or concepts, but also explaining how they work in context.

3. Analysis:

Sometimes, the question might require you to analyze a certain situation or a case study given, using specific psychological principles. Here, graders would be evaluating your ability to correctly identify which principles apply, and how they apply in the given situation.

4. Clear and Concise Writing:

Graders appreciate clear and concise writing. It's best to use full sentences but avoid verbose language or fluff. Your point will be clearer if your argument is straight to the point.

As an example, let's take a mock FRQ:

"Joan is feeling stressed about an upcoming work presentation. Use your knowledge of psychology to explain how she might manage her stress.

Possible Response:

"Joan can manage her stress using psychological strategies such as cognitive restructuring and implementing relaxation techniques. Cognitive restructuring, a cognitive-behavioral therapy technique, can help Joan by altering her negative or anxiety-provoking thoughts about the presentation into positive, constructive ones. For instance, rather than thinking 'I will mess up,' she can reframe the thought to 'I am prepared and will do my best.'

As for relaxation techniques, Joan can use deep breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation. These techniques allow the body to enter a state of relaxation and slow down the physiological responses linked to stress. Not only can these methods help relieve her immediate feelings of stress, but they can also promote long-term stress management skills."

Remember: This is just a guide and the actual scoring rubrics might vary for each unique FRQ, so it's best to practice using past FRQs and corresponding scoring rubrics available on the AP CollegeBoard site.