2. JUST THE FACTS
The writing portion of the AP Psych exam:
Consists of two free response questions
Must be completed in 50 minutes
Counts for 1/3 of your overall score
3. GETTING STARTED
The first five minutes…
Read the question carefully
Develop a quick outline
Read the question again
Write for 20 minutes…
Write as much as possible
Pace yourself to answer both questions
4. DON’T
Don’t write a thesis statement
Don’t write an introduction
Don’t write a conclusion
Don’t write lists or bullet points
Don’t cross anything out, unless you are sure it is
wrong
Don’t write fluff (no time to get fancy)
5. USE T.D.A.
Term
Use the term to answer the question
Define
Define the term so the reader knows that you know it
Answer the Question
Explain with enough detail for someone to understand
This helps the reader follow your thought process and
generally make it easier to grade
Use paragraphs to separate your points (again, easier to
grade)
6. OTHER TIPS
Write for Points
No one is perfect, get as many points as you can!
Guess the Rubric
Generally the number of bullet points equates to the
number of points (most questions have 7-10 points)
Write to Explain
Pretend your reader is an idiot
But remember she is probably a college professor!
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
How many points is this question worth?
How would you start your answer?
How 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 person’s 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 person’s 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
