Question 1
Country N's national total fertility rate is 2.5, but its provinces range from 1.6 in the capital region to 4.8 in remote rural provinces. What does this show?
AP Human Geography free-response questions: how they are scored
Three questions, each with parts A to G and one point a part. A point is earned by doing exactly what the task verb asks: identify names it, describe gives its features, explain says how or why.
| Questions | 3 in 1 hour 15 minutes, 50% of the score |
|---|---|
| Question 1 | No stimulus |
| Question 2 | One stimulus: data, an image or a map |
| Question 3 | Two stimuli |
The task verbs
- Identify: name the answer. One word or phrase can earn the point.
- Define: give the meaning of a term.
- Describe: give the relevant features or characteristics of a pattern, process or model.
- Explain: say how or why something happens, with the connection spelled out.
- Compare: give a similarity or a difference, about both things.
How to earn each point
- Answer the parts in order and label each one, so the reader finds it.
- Use the course term and a specific example: a real place, a model, or a number read from the stimulus.
- For a stimulus part, quote the data: name the country, the year, the value.
- For a scale part, name both scales (local, regional, national, global) and how the pattern differs between them.
- In the 2025 and 2026 scoring guidelines each question is 7 points, so a short, precise answer to every part beats a long answer to a few.
Try 2 questions
Question 2
A metropolitan area builds a regional rail system linking its suburbs to the central city. Compared with its effects at the neighborhood scale, its main effect at the metropolitan scale is to
Next step
College Board's past AP Human Geography free-response questions and scoring guidelines
Questions people ask
How many points is each AP Human Geography FRQ worth?
In the 2025 and 2026 scoring guidelines each of the three questions is worth 7 points, one for each part from A to G.
How long do you have for the AP Human Geography FRQs?
1 hour 15 minutes for all three, which is 50% of the exam score.
Do AP Human Geography FRQs need full essays?
No. Each part asks for a short answer: a sentence or two that does what its task verb asks, with a term and an example.