FRQs

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students answer 3 questions about designing an investigation, analyzing a problem, and proposing a solution using calculations.
• 40% of Exam Score.
• 70 min or 23 min per question.

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know.

• Keep vocabulary in mind. Oftentimes, graders are looking for specific vocabulary in your answer, and including a specific vocabulary in your answer can get you the point.
• When you read through the question, underline or circle the important words that you will need to know to answer the question properly, and/or that you will need to include in your answer. Sometimes that will include units. For example, if the question asks for the number of kWh, make sure your answer is in kWh (not kW!).
• If you find yourself spending too much time on one question, skip it. Come back to it afterwards if you have time.
• Sometimes it’s best to let your hands just start writing. Think about how it looks afterward because staying in your head for too long won’t help you get things on the paper.
• Before taking the exam, look through past FRQ’s - you can find a lot of them on the College Board’s website! Try timing yourself and answering the questions, or take the time you need to gather your statements.
• During the exam, always read the entire passage at the beginning of each question, and don’t forget to read through the charts.
• Find a study method that works best for you. Research them, watch YouTube videos, and check out online spaces created for students. The pomodoro technique is very useful, it consists of 25-minute work sessions and a 5 minute break in between. After 4 sessions, take a longer 15-30 minute break.

✏️ Before you Write

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Make sure you know exactly what the question is asking, so you can maximize your use of time! If you’re identifying something, you just need that solution, while a “describe” question requires some supporting explanation. A justification question means you have to provide reasons about why the evidence supports a claim. The most difficult one is often “explain”, which means you generally need both evidence and reasoning.
• Acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. If you feel like there’s a certain part of answering the question you struggle at, feel free to skip that part and go back to it later.
• When facing charts, diagrams, or images, start gathering thoughts as to any patterns or trends you notice! It can come in handy, especially when you may not completely understand what concepts are being tested on.

🧪 Designing an Experiment

• Start your experiment by thinking about the major points: the hypothesis, then the independent and dependent variables, and last (but not least!) the control. Once you start actually writing, make sure to conclude with where the experiment can go from there: for example, potential data and results, or the possibility of future replication.
• Make sure to clearly explain what differences you expect to observe between the control group and the experimental groups and how changing the dependent variable will allow you to observe these changes
• Be specific! Sometimes these questions will simply ask you to identify a variable. Make sure to read all of these questions carefully, since some take more time than others.
• Don’t forget any units if needed! Most APES experiments have measurable variables, so specify whether any of the variables are in liters (L), grams (g), or chickens! This same advice goes for any mathematical questions as well.
• Think about a unique experiment. Yet it needs to be practical and useful to scientific research. Make sure it’s practical to your time frame and keep consistent measures of data (if applicable). Don’t skip or forget to record information! Experiments are a big commitment but don’t let that scare you!

🔍 Analyzing Problems and Proposing Solutions

• Make sure to provide specific examples from the course material when looking at the “Propose a solution” types of questions. AP graders are looking for specific answers on their rubric. It’s a good idea to know the common types of problems and several solutions to each! It will make you feel more confident in your knowledge and will help you link ideas together in your head.

🔢 Using Math

• Dimensional analysis is your best friend! While math on the APES might not be a central theme, you should expect to understand unit conversions and the difference between various units that will show up on the exam. A great way to do this would be to make a general list of different units and connect those with the concepts in APES.
• You won’t be getting a formula sheet, so try your best to memorize and understand the formulas in the course, such as percent change, primary productivity, doubling time, growth rate, pH log scale, and population.
• Math might seem daunting on the APES exam, but with consistent practice you will do great!
• When doing math on the exam, do it quickly but with care. It is easy to make mistakes while under pressure and miss a decimal point or a zero. Double check your math if you have time.
• You no longer have to include units when solving a problem. Remember, you will have to include it in your answer. Students tend to lose points because they don’t pay attention to units and end up making a mistake.