{"id":18250,"date":"2021-06-03T06:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T06:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=18250"},"modified":"2021-06-04T13:11:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T13:11:04","slug":"ap-calculus-exam-free-response-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/ap-calculus\/ap-calculus-exam-free-response-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Calculus Exam Free Response Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Section II of the AP Calculus exam is worth 50% of your grade. The section consists of two parts, just like the multiple-choice section. Part A contains two free-response questions for which you are allowed (and in fact, will most likely need) to use your graphing calculator. Part B contains four free-response questions for which you may not use your calculator.<\/p>\n

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The Good News about the AP Calculus Exam…<\/h3>
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\nThe good news is that the topics covered in these questions on the AP Calculus exam are usually fairly common calculus topics. You won\u2019t see trick questions asking about an obscure subject. However, the fact that a topic is well known doesn\u2019t mean the problem will be simple or easy. All free-response questions are divided into parts\u2014that is, they are stuffed with smaller questions. You won\u2019t usually get one broad question like, \u201cIs a Riemann sum ever really happy?\u201d Instead, you\u2019ll get an initial setup followed by questions labeled (a), (b), (c), and so on.
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\nKaplan Expert Tip<\/strong>
\nSometimes these parts are related to each other, and sometimes they are independent.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Be Organized and Use Only the Space You Need<\/h3>
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\nExpect to write at least one paragraph (or provide multistep equations) for each lettered part of a free-response question on the AP Calculus exam, and to clearly label the part you are answering (e.g., [a] or [part a]). Use proper notation and always include units where applicable. Don\u2019t try to fill up every inch of the space provided. If you only use half the space, but have a complete solution, that\u2019s fine. The test makers provide extra space for students who write big or for corrections. You don\u2019t want to add extra information (that may contain a mistake) if you already have the correct answer written on the page.
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How You Earn Points: Scoring Rubrics<\/h3>
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\nFor the free-response questions, you receive points for responding properly to each subquestion prompt. The more points you score, the better off you are on that question. Going into the details about how points are scored would make your head spin, but in general, the AP Calculus exam readers have a rubric that works as a blueprint for a good answer. Every subsection of a question has one to four key ideas attached to it. If you write about one of those ideas, you earn yourself a point. Readers always use the same rubric for a question and all questions are evaluated using a rubric. Any reader who reads your exam should, in theory, award you the same number of points on a given question. Readers check and cross-check each other to ensure that each answer is evaluated in the same way.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a limit to how many points you can earn on a single subquestion and there are other complex rules guiding the grading of the AP Calculus exam, but it boils down to this: Writing smart things about each question will earn you points on that question.
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\nKaplan Expert Tip<\/strong>
\nDon\u2019t rush or be unnecessarily terse. You have about 15 minutes for each free-response problem on the AP Calculus exam. Use that time to be as precise as you can be for each part of the question. If the answer to one part depends on the answer to the previous part, but you don\u2019t think you got the first part right, you should still forge ahead using your answer. In most cases, the grader will award you points for the second part as long as your math is valid relative to that particular part of the question.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
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\nIf you get a question on a subject you don\u2019t know well, things might look grim for that problem. Still, take heart. Quite often, you\u2019ll be able to earn at least some points on every question because there will be some subquestion or segment in each question that you know. Remember, the goal\u00a0is not perfection. If you can ace four of the questions and slug your way to partial credit on the other two, you will put yourself in position to get a good score on the entire section. That\u2019s the Big Picture, so don\u2019t lose sight of it just because you don\u2019t know the answer to every subquestion of every question.
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Calculator Questions<\/h3>
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\nFinally, because you are allowed to use a calculator on Part A of Section II of the AP Calculus Exam, you should expect to use it. There\u2019s no point in permitting a calculator for part of the exam if you aren\u2019t going to actually need it. This isn\u2019t 100% certain, of course, because nothing on an unknown test ever is, but it is a good guess. As a general rule, you can expect to have to:<\/p>\n