AP Psychology FRQs and Rubrics

About this resource

What's inside this resource

This resource is a set of AP Psychology FRQs and Rubrics.

Students will analyze topics such as sensation and perception, history and careers, states of consciousness and so much more.

There are FRQs for each unit and a rubric is included for each.

What's included

A prompt and a matching rubric for each unit, including History, Perspectives and Careers; Research Methods; States of Consciousness; Developmental Psychology; Personality; Cognition, Memory, Thinking and Language; Intelligence; Learning; M.E.S.H. (Motivation, Emotion, Stress and Health); Abnormal and Therapy; and Social Psychology
Scenario-based prompts rather than bare questions — a museum outing used for sensation and perception, a trombonist auditioning for Juilliard for motivation and emotion, a prom committee for social psychology
A checklist of terms under each prompt that a response must apply, with the standing instruction "Definitions without applications do not score"
Rubrics laid out in three columns: the term or point, a model response under "What do I need to score?", and a "Did you score?" column for marking
Point conversions at the foot of a rubric, such as /7 x 3 and /9 x .3
Eleven writing rules from an AP Reader, including the S.O.D.A.S. acronym and the warnings that definitions alone do not score and that shotgunning is unlikely to score
The College Board's own published strategies for answering free-response questions, quoted at the front
A page describing how the author runs these in class: one FRQ per unit test, 25 minutes to write, marked on the rubric only
The same packet supplied twice, as an editable word-processor file and as a fixed version with the intended formatting

Resource types: Worksheets & Printables, Worksheets

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Apply psychological terms to a specific scenario rather than defining them in isolation
Structure a free response to the order of the prompt, spacing ideas out and avoiding an essay format
Anticipate how many points a prompt is worth from the way it is phrased
Write to a scoring rubric under a 25-minute time limit, the allowance the exam gives for one free-response question
Self-check a written response against a model answer for each point before it is marked

Teaching tips

The author's own routine is set out in the packet: one FRQ per unit test, 25 minutes with no writing after time is called, then marking on the rubric alone while students work the multiple-choice section
The middle column of each rubric is described in the packet as an example rather than a fixed answer, with the decision on what scores left to the teacher's judgement
Point conversions differ between units — /7 x 3 on one rubric and /9 x .3 on another — so check the multiplier before entering a mark
The eleven writing rules at the front work as a standalone lesson before the first prompt, since several of them (space out the answer, keep the order of the prompt, avoid a conclusion) change how a student writes rather than what they know
In the Research Methods rubric, one scoring line names the national APHUG test where the prompt concerns the course under study, so read that item through before handing the rubric out

Skills covered

Applying terms to a scenario — every prompt hands students a situation and a term list, and the standing rule is that a definition without an application does not score.
Writing to a rubric — students see the point structure they are marked against, including a model response for each point, and can check their own answer against it.
Working to exam timing — the packet's routine gives 25 minutes per free response, matching the allowance on the exam itself.
Reading a prompt for its point value — one of the eleven writing rules teaches students to infer the number of points from the wording, such as a comparison implying two.
Structuring a free response — the S.O.D.A.S. rules govern spacing, order, defining, applying and avoiding repetition of the prompt's own words.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How are the rubrics laid out?

As a three-column table. The left column names the term or scoring point, the middle gives a model response under "What do I need to score?" — for the Mere Exposure Effect, that the more you see something the more you like it, applied to the scenario — and the right is a "Did you score?" column to mark. A conversion factor such as /7 x 3 sits at the foot.

Where do the writing tips come from?

From an AP Reader who has attended nine AP Psychology readings, set out as eleven numbered rules before the first prompt. They include the S.O.D.A.S. acronym — space out your answer, keep the order of the prompt, define everything, apply everything, use synonyms — along with "Definitions alone do not score" and a warning against shotgunning every possible answer.

How does the author use these in class?

One free response per unit test, with 25 minutes to write and nothing added after time is called. The rubric goes on top of the paper and is the only thing marked — no comments, no corrections — while students work the multiple-choice section. Each FRQ counts for roughly a third of a 50-point unit test.