What You Oughta Know About the 2015 AP Psychology Exam References: REA AP Psychology Crash Course | Kaplan AP Psychology | College Board website

The Basics  Date : Monday, May 4, 2015  Time : 12:00-2:30pm (the exam is 2 hours, plus time for instructions, distributing materials, and a break between sections I and II)  Location : HS West AP Psychology Exam

What to Bring  Several sharpened No. 2 pencils with erasers for all responses on your multiple- choice answer sheet (no mechanical pencils).  Pens with black or dark blue ink for completing areas on the exam booklet covers and for free-response questions  A watch (optional – there will be a clock in the testing room) AP Psychology Exam

What Not to Bring  Electronics: cell phones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants (PDAs), BlackBerry smartphones, Bluetooth- enabled devices, MP3 players, /messaging devices, or any other electronic or communication devices.  Books, compasses, mechanical pencils, correction fluid, dictionaries, highlighters, notes or colored pencils.  Scratch paper ; notes can be made on portions of the exam booklets.  Watches that beep or have an alarm.  Portable listening devices or portable recording devices (even with headphones) or photographic equipment.  Computers.  Clothing with subject-related information.  Food or drink. AP Psychology Exam

What Will Be On The Exam? (This information is in your AP Psych Syllabus and on your unit calendars) AP Psychology Exam

AP Exam Scores 5 = extremely well qualified approx. 75% 4 = well qualified approx. 62% 3 = qualified approx. 51% 2 = possibly qualified approx. 43% 1 = no recommendation approx. 0-42% Most colleges accept an AP score of 3 or higher to award college credit AP Psychology Exam Percentages based on the 2007 Released Exam, AP Psychology Crash Course

College Credit for AP  The AP Credit Policy search engine is especially helpful for quickly locating a college or university’s policy.  Find this by going to the College Board’s website and entering the name of the college you are interested in in the box.  Use this link: apcreditpolicy/index.jsp apcreditpolicy/index.jsp

Review Resources - print AP Psychology Exam Average price: $18-35 Available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon (buying used can save you $)

Review resources - online AP Psychology Exam 3rd.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?gid= &sessionid=ab4148a94471 d9ca15e511463ac479bchttp://ap-psychology-- 3rd.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?gid= &sessionid=ab4148a94471 d9ca15e511463ac479bc Take practice tests listed under the Announcements section and scroll down to AP Test Information and Review folder for materials.

Power Points: Chapters 1-16 AP Psychology Exam

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General AP Exam Strategies  Be aware of patterns and trends  The percentages for content units don’t change much from year to year  Familiarize yourself with previous test administrations as much as possible  Have the right approach  Have the right mindset – positive, proactive, and confident! AP Psychology Exam

Structure of the Test Section 1: Multiple Choice

Structure of the Test  Section I – Multiple Choice  100 multiple choice questions  5 answer choices per question  70 minutes (42 seconds per question)  No time prompt from proctor  2/3 of your overall score (100 points)  Names, charts, graphs, and drawings are all possible  Questions organized from easiest to hardest (see next slide)  There is no guessing penalty, so answer every question! AP Psychology Exam

How well do you need to do? Approximate conversions Assuming average essays Corrected MC of 60 = 3 on exam Corrected MC of 70 = 4 on exam Corrected MC of 80 = 5 on exam

Strategies for M.C. Section  Go through all of the questions and keep track of ones you’re not sure of, skipping them the first time through. You should have enough time to go back to them at the end without worrying as much about time.  Be sure to read the entire question through before answering. Identify the key words in the “stem” or question part.  The exam is very vocabulary-driven. Your best preparation is a vocabulary card with each term/name, its definition, an example or application of the term, and two association words (these help you if you have trouble understanding the question on the exam).

Key Terms, Key Psychologists, and Key Theories  Approximately 2/3 of the multiple choice questions test your knowledge of key terms – identify a definition or best example  The remaining questions focus on key psychologists and their theories  A list of 62 psychologists can be found in the AP Psychology Course Description on the College Board’s AP Psych webpage AP Psychology Exam

MC: Stand alone questions  The majority of the MC questions are stand alone questions  The words in the stem provide the info you need to answer the questions  Cover a distinct topic  Example A graphical representation of correlational data is called a: (a) Bell curve (b) Chi square (c) Scatterplot (d) Bimodal distribution (e) Skewed distribution AP Psychology Exam

MC: Stand alone questions Test-taking strategy  Answer the stand alone MC questions you find to be easy first, skip the ones you’re not sure about  Then go back and tackle the tougher ones  Don’t leave any answers blank!!  If you must guess, try to eliminate some obvious incorrect answer choices AP Psychology Exam

MC: Grouped questions  Given a stimulus (sentences or a graph) that help you answer a set of questions  Make sure you understand the stem and then attack the easy questions first  Example stem: A researcher is interested in determining if the amount of caffeine students consume influences the number of hours they study. To do this, he varies the amount of caffeine among three groups of students: group 1 drinks 0 servings of caffeine a day; group 2 drinks 3 servings; group 3 drinks 8 servings. Students keep a log tracking how long they study each dy. After the study is over, the researcher collects the logs and obtains an average number of hours studied per group. AP Psychology Exam

MC: Grouped questions A researcher is interested in determining if the amount of caffeine students consume influences the number of hours they study. To do this, he varies the amount of caffeine among three groups of students: group 1 drinks 0 servings of caffeine a day; group 2 drinks 3 servings; group 3 drinks 8 servings. Students keep a log tracking how long they study each dy. After the study is over, the researcher collects the logs and obtains an average number of hours studied per group.  Example questions: In this experiment, _________ is the independent variable. (a) Group 1 (b) Group 3 (c) Number of hours studied (d) Amount of caffeine consumed (e) Number of students per group AP Psychology Exam

MC: Grouped questions A researcher is interested in determining if the amount of caffeine students consume influences the number of hours they study. To do this, he varies the amount of caffeine among three groups of students: group 1 drinks 0 servings of caffeine a day; group 2 drinks 3 servings; group 3 drinks 8 servings. Students keep a log tracking how long they study each dy. After the study is over, the researcher collects the logs and obtains an average number of hours studied per group.  Example questions: In this experiment, _________ is the dependent variable. (a) Group 1 (b) Group 3 (c) Number of hours studied (d) Amount of caffeine consumed (e) Number of students per group AP Psychology Exam

Structure of the Test Section 2: Free Response

Structure of the Test  Section II – Free Response  2 free response questions  50 minutes (25 minutes per question)  Time prompt with 10 minutes left to go  1/3 of your overall score (50 points) (1/6 of grade for each question)  Instructions call for dark blue or black ink (no pencil!)  Focused on methodology across areas and relating a point to several different approaches in psychology AP Psychology Exam

Strategies for Free Response Section  Fatal error: beginning to write before beginning to think  Write an outline or notes in the test question booklet  Read through both questions before doing anything else  Watch the time. Don’t get caught short on essay #2

To impress your reader…  Get to the point (intros & conclusions count for nothing)  Write in simple, declarative sentences  Organize answer into paragraphs (one paragraph per part), and you can even underline the term so that readers can easily identify what part of the question you are answering.  Try to answer in the same order as the question  Don’t be afraid to cross something out, if needed  Write in sentences - DO NOT OUTLINE OR BULLET YOUR ANSWER.  Be as complete as possible, but keep to the point.  State the term/concept for clarity – but do not use a variation on the term to explain the concept  Write legibly! (See next slide)

Rubric Scoring  Readers are looking for specific points  Range 5-11 (typically 8 to 10)  Usually possible to anticipate points from the structure of the question  Some points will be easy and others hard  Points are given for correct responses, not taken away for incorrect material  Points can only be removed if one part of an answer contradicts another part  Goals of a good essay question  Reliable scoring  Good distribution of scores  Better prepared students score higher

A Typical Scoring Grid

General Principles  Spelling, grammar, and the “nuture rule”  Be sure to include examples related to the topic, where appropriate  If you have no idea, write about something related to the question. Always include definitions, as you might be awarded some points. DO NOT leave any free-response question blank!  If you remember something about question #1 when you’re on question #2, go back and add it. If you ran out of room, you can put it at the end of question 2 as long as you leave VERY SPECIFIC directions for the readers about where to find it!

Example FRQ Briefly describe each of the disorders listed below. For each disorder, include a general description of the disorder, a review of the symptomatology, the mode of treatment currently viewed as most effective, and the rationale for use of this treatment. (a) Anxiety disorder (b) Bipolar disorder (c) Schizophrenia AP Psychology Exam