AP Biology free-response questions: how they are scored
Section II has six questions: two long ones worth 9 points and four short ones worth 4. Every point is earned on its own, so a precise sentence for each part beats a long essay.
Long questions
2, worth 9 points each
Short questions
4, worth 4 points each
Time
90 minutes for all six
Weight
50% of the exam score
The six types
Q1, experimental results: describe a concept, identify methods and describe data, analyze or calculate, then predict and justify.
Q2, experimental results with graphing: as Q1, and 4 points for constructing the right graph from a data table.
Q3, scientific investigation: a lab scenario; describe, identify a procedure, state a null hypothesis or predict, justify.
Q4, conceptual analysis: a system with a disruption; describe, explain, predict, justify.
Q5, model or visual representation: describe, explain relationships, represent them, connect to a larger principle.
Q6, analyzing data: describe the data twice, use it to evaluate a hypothesis, connect results to biology.
Earning each point
Answer the task verb: describe gives characteristics, explain gives how or why, justify gives the evidence and reasoning behind a claim.
Use numbers from the data with their units.
For a null hypothesis, state no difference or no effect, in the context of the experiment.
For a graph: the right type, labeled axes with units, a sensible scale, accurate points and error bars where the data give them.
Try 2 questions
Question 1
A student tests how food supply affects population growth in water fleas (Daphnia). She sets up one beaker with 1 drop, one with 2 drops, and one with 4 drops of algae culture added each day, each starting with 10 Daphnia, and counts them after two weeks. Which change would most improve the experiment?
Question 2
Reporter expression in liver cells (% of full construct)
DNA joined to the reporter
Expression (%)
Full upstream region
100
Region A deleted (about 2,000 bases upstream)
11
Region B deleted (about 500 bases upstream)
97
Promoter deleted
0
Researchers join the upstream DNA of a liver gene to a reporter gene and delete one region at a time. They measure reporter expression in liver cells (table). Which conclusion is best supported?
Six: two long questions worth 9 points each and four short questions worth 4 points each, in 90 minutes.
How much is the free-response section worth?
Half of the exam score, the same as the 60 multiple-choice questions.
Are AP Biology free-response answers typed?
No. You read the questions in Bluebook and handwrite your answers in a paper booklet. Our practice desk takes typed answers so each point can be marked.