How To Answer AP® Statistics Free-Response Questions (FRQs)

How To Answer AP Statistics FRQs?

Unlike multiple-choice questions, free-response questions require you to write an answer rather than only select an option for an answer. This means you will need to show your work, including any method you used to arrive at your answer. Sometimes, you will even need to create graphs. To really understand how to do well on the FRQs, it helps to know how the FRQs are scored.

Unlike the multiple-choice questions, which are scored by a machine, the free-response questions are scored by college faculty and AP teachers. These ‘AP Readers’ score the FRQs based on the precision of the methods as well as the accuracy and completeness of the results and explanations. This is done in two steps.

First, each part of the question is scored based on whether it meets the criteria for being essentially correct, partially correct, or incorrect. There are typically several components to a complete question that the AP Readers will check. If you check all the boxes, you will earn an essentially correct answer for that part of the question. Next, each response is categorized based on the scores assigned to each part and awarded a score between 0 and 4 points. For example, it typically takes being essentially correct on all sections or parts of the question to earn 4 points for the overall question.

What does this mean for how you should write free-response questions? Several strategies are important.

• Strategy 1: Explain your answer in detail, but be concise with individual points

  To earn full credit, your response to an FRQ must fulfill multiple criteria based on the intention of the question. Checking off those "boxes" should be your objective. This means making your answer detailed and broad, as well as being accurate. But you will not earn more points for devoting a lot of time to an individual component.

  For example, an FRQ may require you to describe a distribution in a graph. The criteria for the answer will include such things as (1) center, (2) spread, (3) shape, and (4) unusual features. An answer with four sentences, each tackling one of those components correctly, will earn full credit. However, an answer with five sentences focusing only on 'center’ will have a much lower score.

• Strategy 2: Keep an eye on the clock

  Time is an important factor for every AP exam. For Part A of the FRQ section of the AP Stats exam, you will technically have thirteen minutes per question. But you should aim to spend ten to twelve minutes on questions. You will want to check your answers and focus more on more difficult questions, so leaving time left over is best. You will have twenty-five minutes for Part B, which will include multiple parts. You will have 4-5 minutes for each part of that section. This may mean you have to consider a trade-off. If a particular part of a question will take too long to answer and you do not feel confident, it is OK to skip it to avoid running out of time. You do not need a perfect score to earn a 5 on the AP Stats exam, so missing some points is OK if it allows you to earn more points at another point.

• Strategy 3: Use key terms you learned in class and use proper units

  The criteria that you need to fulfill in an FRQ answer are often directly related to the key terms you learned in class. Using those terms makes it easier for an AP reader to recognize that you are meeting those criteria.

  An important example is the units you use to refer to any statistical data. A common criterion that AP readers look for in answers is that the answer properly refers to the context of the question, and the use of proper units in your answer is important.

• Strategy 4: Answer each part of multi-part questions in order

  The parts of a multi-part question on the AP Stats exam often build on one another. Even when the exam does not explicitly state it, the answers to previous parts can often be used to solve later parts. For this reason, try to answer multi-part questions in the order they are presented. This may not always be possible or practical, but it should be your default strategy.

• Strategy 5: Decide beforehand when you want to do Part B (the investigative task)

  The last FRQ of the exam is the investigative task in Part B. This question represents a greater percentage of the exam than any FRQ from Part A. You may want to strategize the way you tackle it. If you like getting more difficult and meaningful questions out of the way, you can start working on them before finishing Part A. Doing so may help with time management and getting the most points in the time you have to finish the FRQ section.

  But at most, only go over the time meant for Part B (25 minutes) by a couple of minutes. While Part B is worth more than the other FRQs, it is not an overwhelming amount. If you have tackled the majority of Part B and are stuck on one part, move back to Part A.

AP Statistics FRQ Examples

We will now go over some examples of FRQ questions from the 2019 AP Exam to give you an idea of what to expect. However, note the College Board® provides all this information on its website, and we have only compiled them here for quick reference.

We have explained each example with two types of answers that can earn you full credit. An essentially correct answer includes a complete answer with all the components of the question correctly addressed. As a reference, we have also added the ideal solution provided by AP to help you understand the answering criteria put forward by the College Board. You can compare the two answer categories to identify the components for AP Stats FRQs.