Introduction

In the APES Exam, each free response question (FRQ) gives direct instruction on how students should answer the question. These direct instructions are the task verbs embedded in each FRQ. Often students know the content knowledge but fail to prove their knowledge to the reader as they do not frame their answer as indicated by the task verb.

Students must be taught to find the task verb in the FRQ question, understand what the verb means, and how to write their content knowledge within the parameters of the given task verb’s power levels. A task verb’s power level indicates the recommended number of sentences, where each sentence is an additional piece of information to ensure students give a complete answer based on the given task verb.

Of course, the number of sentences written by students does not matter as much as the level of detail that is present. However, many students do not write complex sentences or, students do not write them clearly. It is recommended that students keep sentence structure simple and straightforward; thus, the power level system. Remind students to wow the reader with content knowledge within the correct task verb framework, not with their prowess of complex sentence structure.

This resource can help students prepare for the APES Exam by familiarizing students with the Free Response Question (FRQ) task verbs. Using the Task Verb Cards, students can practice answering FRQs accurately according to the specific verb used in each question.

Student Objectives

• Find the task verb in an FRQ question.
• Understand what the verb means.
• Write their content knowledge within the parameters of the given task verb’s power levels.

Resources

• APES Task Verb Cards
• 7 APES Task Verbs: Power Level System Poster (8.5×11)
• 7 APES Task Verbs: Power Level System Poster (11×14)

Instructions

Print, cut, laminate (if possible, for longevity), and place the APES Task Verb Cards on a ring or place in a stack with a rubber band. Give to individual students or student groups to scaffold any number of APES writing activities.

Display the one of the 7 APES Task Verbs: Power Level Systems Posters in the classroom.

Ways to Use the Task Verb Cards to Improve FRQ Writing Skills

• Allow students to use Task Verb Cards on beginning of the year quizzes and/or beginning exams, to reinforce how to correctly answer various types of FRQ questions. Remove the cards incrementally over time, as proficiency increases.
• Have individual students or student groups work together to answer single FRQ sub-questions or full FRQ question sets using the cards to correctly identify and reinforce the writing amount of the task verb.
• Give student groups a content topic and have them write FRQ questions using specific task verbs of increasing power. Then have students groups trade and answer the questions of another group using the correct task verb power framework.
• Extend all writing practice with peer review using the task cards to reinforce understanding through grading. Peer grading may focus on the correct task verb power framework and/or the content answer.

Using Switch Classroom

Explore more of Switch Classroom’s free resources, which include lessons with computation and data set analysis activities and APES exam prep resources, including this APES FRQ Score Builder activity.