AP Biology FRQ

1. AP Biology Free Response
Questions
Combining big ideas and tiny details

2. Free Response
• “provide appropriate scientific evidence and
reasoning to support their responses”
• “can draw upon the illustrative examples”
• “any other appropriate, relevant examples”

3. What are you being asked to do?
When developing their reasoning and selecting supporting evidence to
demonstrate understanding, a student might consider applying the following
strategies:
Relate a proposed cause to a particular biological effect (e.g., if asked, What is the
evidence that a single mutation caused the phenotypic change seen in an
organism?)
Identify assumptions and limitations of a conclusion (e.g., if asked, If a nutrient
has a positive effect on one plant, can you appropriately conclude that it is
effective on all plants?)
Connect technique/strategy with its stated purpose/function in an investigation
(e.g., if asked, Identify the control from a list of experimental treatments.)
Identify patterns or relationships (and anomalies) from observations or a data set
(e.g., if asked, Is the behavior of an organism the same in different environments?)
Rationalize one choice over another, including selection and exclusion (e.g., if
asked, Which question from this list of questions can best be investigated
scientifically?)

4. So, how to get full credit?
• Don’t panic—think.
• Make sure you understand what the question
is asking you to do!
• This is as important as knowing the science
facts.
• Make an outline so you will not forget a
segment of the answer.
• Use complete sentences and paragraphs.

5. Magic Words
• Identify: Name one or more items, list the
parts, or give an example (meaning depends
on context).
• Define: Give a meaning for a word or phrase.
• Describe: Provide details in words that help
someone visualize or construct a mental
model of the object being discussed.
• Explain: Say why or how something happens.
The answer should give reasons, not just a
description.

6. Magic Words
• Compare: Consider two or more objects or concepts and
point out what is similar.
• Contrast: Consider two or more objects or concepts and point
out what is different.
• “Compare and contrast” is a standard phrase asking for both
similarities and differences—it is not asking for explanations
or descriptions of the objects separately, but only of their
similarities and differences. Listing “X has A, B, and C, and Y
has C, D, E” is not an answer, but the same content expressed
as “X and Y both have C. A and B are properties of X but not Y,
while D and E are properties of Y but not X” does answer a
compare-and-contrast question. The graders are picky about
this sort of trivial presentation change, so be sure to present
things in precisely the form the questions asks for.

7. Magic Words
• Discuss: Consider different theories or points
of view.
• This is a more general prompt than the others,
often asking for all of the above aspects.

10. Scoring Guidelines
What follows is not the answer to the question. It is a shorthand,
coded list of possible information that scorers use to help them
decide whether to give students points.

11. The student earned 0 points for part (a) because the response did not include plausible
explanations for the most likely genetic changes that produced the polypeptide
sequences in species II and species III.

12. The response earned 1 point in part (a) for explaining that the most likely genetic change in species II
was a point mutation in which a single nucleotide is altered, and the amino acid being coded for was
changed.
The response earned 1 point in part (a) for explaining that the most likely genetic change in species III
was a point mutation that coded a STOP codon, which halted the production of the polypeptide
prematurely.

13. More Scoring Guidelines

14. The response earned 1 point in part (b) for predicting that a frameshift
mutation in species IV causes a much different protein structure and a
radically different protein function.
The response earned 1 point in part (b) for justifying the prediction by
stating that the polypeptide chain was completely altered, which changed
the interactions between the amino acids of the protein and caused the
protein's function to shift.

15. The response earned 1 point in part (b) for predicting that the structure and
function of the protein in species IV will be significantly changed.
The response earned 1 point in part (b) for justifying the prediction by
stating that a structural and functional change in the protein is due to
changes in the order and content of its amino acids.

16. Tough love
• This is really hard to do well on the exam—
that’s what it’s possible to make a 3 getting
about half the possible points.
• When this is a homework assignment with lots
of time, you need to work hard enough and
long enough to make it perfect.
• But don’t yammer on—more does not mean
better, and it will tick off your reader.