AP Psychology
Free Response Guidelines
* The Free Response portion of your AP Exam will count for 1/3 of your grade.
While the content of your Free Response answers is, of course, the most important element of
your score, the following guidelines will help the AP Readers to clearly see each of your points
and will prevent them from overlooking any of your points! While the AP Exam will not require
that the test-taker follow these guidelines, I WILL – ON EVERY UNIT TEST! I will encourage
you to take this habit with you to the exam, as well!
Free Response Questions may be worth any number of points, and the number of points will NOT
be defined on the test. It is up to the test-taker to determine the number of points expected on the
Free Response Question. Generally, points are 1 per concept addressed in question. Bullets
within questions are often helpful in determining points assigned to the Free Response Question.
Guidelines:
1. At the top of the page WRITE: “This is a ___ point Question”
 Your best guess as to the number of points assigned to the question
2. Write 1 paragraph for each point
3. Skip a line between each paragraph/point
4. Use 2 colored pens. Alternate colors between paragraphs.
5. In the LEFT margin, LABEL the content (point) addressed in each paragraph
6. Use as many examples and definitions as possible throughout your Free Response
answer.
Below are the 2010 AP Exam Free Response Questions:
Directions: You have 50 minutes to answer BOTH of the following questions. It is not enough to answer a question by
merely listing facts. You should present a cogent argument based on your critical analysis of the questions posed, using
appropriate psychological terminology.
1. For each of the pairs below, use an example to show how the first term in each pair affects or is related to the second.
Definitions alone without examples will not score.

• Serial-position effect . . recall

• Functional fixedness . . problem solving

• Operational definition . . replication

• Double-blind research . . bias

• Operant conditioning . . superstition

• Reinforcement . . over-justification effect

• Myelin sheath . . neural impulse
2. At a school-wide pep rally preceding a big game at Williams James High School, each grade has a designated t-shirt
color and seating area in the bleachers. Student leaders organize classes so that their colored shirts combine to form the
school flag. The coach gives an exciting speech, the cheerleaders perform a routine, and the band plays the school song
while the students sing in unison. Explain the behavior and perceptions of the participants in the pep rally using the
concepts below. Be sure to apply the concepts to the scenario in your explanation.

• Cocktail party effect

• Conformity

• De-individuation

• Figure ground

• Occipital lobe

• Procedural memory

• Sympathetic nervous system