2. JUST THE FACTS
īThe writing portion of the AP Psych exam:
īĄ Consists of two free response questions
īĄ Must be completed in 50 minutes
īĄ Counts for 1/3 of your overall score
3. GETTING STARTED
īThe first five minutesâĻ
īĄ Read the question carefully
īĄ Develop a quick outline
īĄ Read the question again
īWrite for 20 minutesâĻ
īĄ Write as much as possible
īĄ Pace yourself to answer both questions
4. DONâT
īDonât write a thesis statement
īDonât write an introduction
īDonât write a conclusion
īDonât write lists or bullet points
īDonât cross anything out, unless you are sure it is
wrong
īDonât write fluff (no time to get fancy)
5. USE T.D.A.
īTerm
īĄ Use the term to answer the question
īDefine
īĄ Define the term so the reader knows that you know it
īAnswer the Question
īĄ Explain with enough detail for someone to understand
īĄ This helps the reader follow your thought process and
generally make it easier to grade
īĄ Use paragraphs to separate your points (again, easier to
grade)
6. OTHER TIPS
īWrite for Points
īĄ No one is perfect, get as many points as you can!
īGuess the Rubric
īĄ Generally the number of bullet points equates to the
number of points (most questions have 7-10 points)
īWrite to Explain
īĄ Pretend your reader is an idiot
īĄ But remember she is probably a college professor!
īĄ Be Specific (B.S.) and give examples whenever possible
7. EXAMPLE QUESTION
1. Define each of the following concepts and explain how
each contributes to the phenomenon of prejudice.
a. Stereotyping
b. Self-fulfilling prophecy
c. Fundamental attribution error
d. Projection
e. Schema
8. ANALYSIS
1. Define each of the following concepts and explain how each contributes to the
phenomenon of prejudice.
a. Stereotyping
b. Self-fulfilling prophecy
c. Fundamental attribution error
d. Projection
e. Schema
īHow many points is this question worth?
īHow would you start your answer?
īHow long would you spending writing an answer?
9. SAMPLE ANSWER
Stereotypes are overgeneralization about a person or group.
Stereotypes can contribute to prejudice in that a person may oversimplify a
concept such as all Asians are intelligent. This is an oversimplification
resulting in undo prejudice, as it has been shown that Asians show a similar
bell curve in intelligence as the rest of the population.
A self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to prejudice by predicting how
people behave in a given situation. If a guy believes that women are bad
drivers, he will tend to only see accidents where women are at fault, resulting
in prejudice.
Sometimes people attribute a personâs behavior to their personality
and not to the situation in which a person is currently in. This is known as
the fundamental attribution error. Someone could be prejudice against a
homeless person thinking they are lazy (internal cause), when in actuality
the person is homeless because they lost their job and home when their
company went bankrupt because of the failing stock market (external cause).
Schemas, or cognitive structures that simplify ideas into categories can
lead to prejudice too. For example, a person might have a schema that trash
collectors are uneducated because they deal with garbage all day. But until
that person meets a trash collector who has a college degree, they cannot
accommodate the new information into a new schema, hence breaking the
prejudice against trash collectors.
Total Points: ____
10. SAMPLE ANSWER
Stereotypes are overgeneralization about a person or group.
Stereotypes can contribute to prejudice in that a person may oversimplify a
concept such as all Asians are intelligent. This is an oversimplification
resulting in undo prejudice, as it has been shown that Asians show a similar
bell curve in intelligence as the rest of the population.
A self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to prejudice by predicting how
people behave in a given situation. If a guy believes that women are bad
drivers, he will tend to only see accidents where women are at fault, resulting
in prejudice.
Sometimes people attribute a personâs behavior to their personality
and not to the situation in which a person is currently in. This is known as
the fundamental attribution error. Someone could be prejudice against a
homeless person thinking they are lazy (internal cause), when in actuality
the person is homeless because they lost their job and home when their
company went bankrupt because of the failing stock market (external cause).
Schemas, or cognitive structures that simplify ideas into categories can
lead to prejudice too. For example, a person might have a schema that trash
collectors are uneducated because they deal with garbage all day. But until
that person meets a trash collector who has a college degree, they cannot
accommodate the new information into a new schema, hence breaking the
prejudice against trash collectors.
Total Points: ____7