Introduction
This APES FRQ Score Builder activity helps students gain insight into the perspective of an AP reader grading exam responses. By analyzing AP College Board prompts, scoring guidelines and sample students’ responses, students can efficiently hone their own FRQ writing skills, allowing them to quickly identify key elements needed for a high-scoring response.
Materials
- Student Handout
- Optional Assignment Structure: Teachers can have students write a response of their own to the prompts in the “Write Your Own Response” activity, before they see the scoring guide and sample student responses in the “Grading Student Responses” activity. When students complete the prompts on their own, they can then compare their written response to three sample student responses.
Related Lesson: FRQ Focus: APES Task Verbs
Student Objectives
Students will be able to
- Understand the intent of FRQ verbs and base responses on each question’s task verb.
- Identify the key elements of a high-scoring response to FRQ questions.
- Evaluate whether sample exam responses accurately meet AP reader grading standards.
Teaching Strategies: Grading Student Responses Activity – APES FRQ Score Builder
Whole Class Activity: Go through each question and response with the class. Have students decide whether each response earns a point or not, setting a reasonable time limit before revealing the outcomes. Then, discuss why points were awarded or not. This approach helps assess students’ reasoning and understanding of task verbs.
Individual Activity (Homework or Classwork): Students complete the student example questions independently, either as homework or classwork. Once they finish the activity, review the outcomes and scores together.
Partner Sharing/Blind Scoring: Students write a code or number (e.g., the last four digits of their student ID) instead of their names on handouts. After the class finishes, each student grades a random paper and provides feedback. Alternatively, students work with a partner, first developing their own answers, then sharing and refining them to determine the strongest response.
Group Activity: Allow students to work in small groups to share ideas, discuss responses, and reach a consensus. This encourages discussion within the groups before presenting their reasoning with the whole class.
Tips & Tricks
- You can ONLY give points for what is actually written, not what was intended.
- If the student starts a response with an incorrect answer and then negates it, they get no point.
Grade Student Responses – Answer Key
Grading Practice #1 – Energy Resource: Natural Gas
| Switch Classroom Videos |
|---|
| Introduction to Natural Gas Science of Natural Gas Fracturing – Risks & Benefits |
| *Question/Prompt | Identify one negative geologic effect in an area where hydraulic fracturing (fracking) occurs. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – Earthquakes/seismic activity – Ground subsidence/sinkholes | Points |
| Student A | Increased seismic activity. | 1/1 |
| Student B | Groundwater contamination can occur during fracking. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | The student did not reference a geologic activity, just water contamination. | |
| Student C | Contamination of natural underground watersheds and destruction of sedimentary rock. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | The student referenced water but not any geologic activity in the first part of their answer. Even if the second part of the answer was well developed, it would not earn a point unless it is a continuation of the first idea the student starts the answer with. |
| *Question/Prompt | Describe one environmental problem that may result from the increased use of groundwater for fracking in arid and semiarid regions. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – Loss of habitat/productivity/biodiversity in spring fed ecosystems as springs dry up – Loss of habitat/productivity/degraded water quality in streams and estuaries fed by groundwater discharge – Soil erosion as vegetation dies as a result of lowered water table – Desertification as a result of lowered water table | Points |
| Student A | Farmers in the area will lose money due to lack of water for crops. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | While it is true that farmers might not have water, that is an economic problem, not an environmental one. | |
| Student B | One environmental problem could be that organisms who rely on water for their habitat might be displaced because it is too dry for them. | 1/1 |
| Student C | Use of water for fracking might make people’s wells for drinking water dry up. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | This could be true but this is not an environmental problem, it is a problem for humans living in the area. |
| *Question/Prompt | Explain how fracking fluid is used to access oil and natural gas in sedimentary rock, such as shale, during the fracking process. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – Fracking fluid is injected/pumped into the well under high pressure, opening rock fissures, releasing oil and natural gas. – Sand grains in the fracking fluid hold the newly formed cracks/fractures open to allow the oil and natural gas to flow up the well. | Points |
| Student A | The fluid is pumped down into the ground under high pressure which causes the gas and oil to be released | 1/1 |
| Student B | The fluid allows the gas/oil to be dissolved into it so it can be captured. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | This is not a correct explanation of how fracking fluid works. | |
| Student C | The fluid causes the ground to shift which allows the gas to escape up the well. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | This is incorrect because the ground doesn’t shift, it fractures/cracks which the student does not say. |
*Source: Copyright owned by the College Board, which provided permission to use this material. AP Environmental Science Exam Free-Response Questions. 2022.
Grading Practice #2 – Energy Resource: Solar, Hydroelectricity, Wind
| Switch Classroom Videos |
|---|
| Science of Solar Introduction to Solar Science of Wind Introduction to Wind Science of Hydropower Introduction to Hydropower |
| **Prompt |
|---|
| A homeowner in the Northern Hemisphere is considering installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof of the home to help provide electricity for the home. The homeowner is unsure of which compass direction the panels should be facing to maximize the amount of (kWh) of electricity the panels could produce. They consider designing an experiment to determine which direction is best to maximize the solar panels production. |
| *Question/Prompt | Identify a reasonable hypothesis for this experiment. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – If the PV panels face north/south/east/west, then the maximum amount of electricity will be produced. – The position (compass direction) of solar panels will affect how much energy is produced. – Solar panels positioned with greatest access to the sun will generate more energy. – The compass direction the panels face will have no effect on the amount of electricity produced. | Points |
| Student A | If the PV panels are installed on a roof in the northern hemisphere, the greatest amount of electricity produced will be when facing south. | 1/1 |
| Student B | If the PV panels face either east or west then the amount of electricity generated will increase because the sun rises and sets in those directions. | 1/1 |
| Student C | A reasonable hypothesis for this experiment would be that the panels will be able to produce the most amount of electricity when facing the direction the sun rises from which would be the east. | 1/1 |
| *Question/Prompt | Describe one variable that was not discussed that could affect the results of the solar panel experiment. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – Panels tilted to an improper angle that does not match the position of the sun will decrease energy production. – Shade or shadows from trees, dust, clouds, or snow on the panels could prevent absorption of sunlight, decreasing energy production. – Seasonal or daily variations in solar intensity will lead to an increase or decrease in energy production. – Cooler temperatures produce more energy because heat decreases the efficiency of solar panels. | Points |
| Student A | If the area has a lot of precipitation resulting from blockage of the sun, this will decrease the amount of sunlight therefore decreasing the amount of electricity produced, no matter which direction the PV panels are facing. | 1/1 |
| Student B | One variable that isn’t discussed is the amount of condensation and precipitation in the area. This can affect the results because clouds block sunlight so areas with more clouds would generate less electricity. | 1/1 |
| Student C | One variable that could change the results of the study that was not discussed was the weather and how it can affect the amount of exposure the solar panels have to light. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | Student C’s response needed to be more specific than just weather. They need to describe more specifically what about the weather would change the sunlight amount and affect the electricity production. |
| *Question/Prompt | Explain how coupling hydroelectric power with solar or wind power is an advantage to providing a constant source of electricity to a community. | |
| Scoring Guide: | – Solar and wind are both intermittent as a result of weather changing from day to day (or day/night) so hydroelectric power could be used to provide electricity when solar or wind is unavailable or not sufficient for electricity demand. – Solar or wind power could be used to pump water back into a reservoir increasing the amount of water behind the dam to increase hydroelectric power generation. | Points |
| Student A | Even if there is a lack of sun due to clouds or a lack of wind in the troposphere, the water located in the storage reservoir is constant therefore the community is able to rely on many renewable energy resources to provide electricity. | 1/1 |
| Student B | By coupling it with wind and solar you can keep constant energy because there isn’t always wind and sun to make electricity, so the hydroelectric power can make energy when solar and wind can’t. | 1/1 |
| Student C | Hydroelectric power combined with wind power benefits a community by ensuring constant usable energy production in the case of one resource becoming sparse. | 0/1 |
| Explanation: | Again, student C did not meet the requirements of explaining how the resources would work together. |
**Source: Copyright owned by the College Board, which provided permission to use this material. AP Environmental Science Exam Free-Response Questions. 2021.