Strategies for AP FRQs

Read all parts of the question first before beginning There’s been a trend in recent years to have more and more sub-parts to each question. The sub-parts are usually related and later parts may rely on earlier parts. Students often make the mistake of answering say part (c) as part of their answer to part (a). Understanding the whole question first can help you answer each part correctly.

WRITE LEGIBLY!!! A table leader for the AP Statistics exam for seven years says, “Nothing drove me, or other readers, crazier than trying to decipher illegible scribbling. This may sound silly to you, but you’d be amazed at just how badly some students write! It doesn’t need to look like it was typewritten, but a person with normal eyesight ought to be able to read the words you’ve written with minimal effort.”

Use good English, write complete sentences, and organize your solutions You must make it easy for the exam reader to follow your line of reasoning. Don’t expect the read to fill in the blanks for you and make inferences about your intent—it doesn’t work that way. Always answer the question completely, but don’t ramble. While some rambling won’t hurt you as long as the correct answer is in there, you will be docked if you say something statistically inaccurate or something that contradicts an otherwise correct answer. Quit while you’re ahead. Remember the amount of space provided for a given question does not necessarily mean that you should fill the space. Answers should be complete but concise. Don’t fill the space just because it’s there. When you’ve completely answered the question, move on.

Answers Alone You may receive some credit but usually not much.

Answers must be in context A conclusion to an inference problem that says, “Reject the null hypothesis” is simply not enough. A conclusion in context would be something like, “At the 0.05 level of significance, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is good evidence that a majority of people favor legalizing statistics.”

Answer the question being asked Brilliant answers to questions no one asked will receive no credit. (Seriously, this is very common—students think they will get credit if they show they know something, even if it’s not what they should know at that time.) Won’t work. And don’t make the reader hunt for your final answer. Highlight in some way.

Simplify algebraic or numeric expression for final answers You may still earn credit for an unsimplified answer but you’ll make the reader work to figure out that your answer is equivalent to what is written in the rubric. That will make the reader unhappy and a happy reader is in your best interest.

If you write a formula as part of your solution, use numbers from the question No credit is given for simply writing a formula from a textbook. After all, you are given the formula sheet! The reader wants to know if you know how to use the formula in the current problem.

Round FINAL answers to two or three decimal places Don’t round off at each step of the problem as this creates a cumulative rounding error and can affect the accuracy of your final answer. Also avoid writing calculator syntax as part of your solution. The readers are instructed to ignore things like normalcdf, 1PropZTest, etc. This is called “calculator-speak” and should not appear on your exam.

Try to answer all parts of every question You can’t get credit for a blank answer. On the other hand, you can’t snow the readers—your response must be reasonable and responsive to the question. Never provide two solutions to a question and expect the reader to pick the better one. In fact, readers have been instructed to pick the worse one. Cross out clearly anything you’ve written that you don’t want the reader to look at.

You don’t necessarily need to answer a question in paragraph form. A bulleted list or algebraic demonstration may work well if you are comfortable doing it that way.

Understand that Question #6, the investigative task, may contain questions about material you never studied The goal of such a question is to see how well you think statistically in a situation for which you have no rote answer. Unlike every other question on the test, you really don’t need to worry about preparing for this question above normal test preparation and being sure that you understand as much of the material in the course as possible.