Part III: Free Response Question Stats for the Past 5 Years

Free Response Question Introduction & Practice

Instructors and Students are told each year that there will be four free response questions:

• One data-based question
• One a document-based question
• Two synthesis and evaluation questions.

Beyond that, we have no clue as to what topics they will cover. However, unlike the multiple choice questions, the free response questions are released to us 48 hours after the test each year and the rubrics for them are posted online several months later. Every year APES has an additional 4 examples of exactly what type of questions are showing up on the exam and this has aided the teachers greatly in preparing students for what to expect.

We will use the previous FRQs as practice questions throughout the year and we will look at their rubrics and analyze them. Many sample FRQs can be written as practice questions using the real ones as models. One example that has become apparent to date is the Experimental Design question that seems to occur in odd years.

1. Species such as the dusky seaside sparrow, the passenger pigeon, and the woolly mammoth are extinct. Populations of other species have declined to the point where they are designated as threatened or endangered.

(a.)Identify one threatened or endangered species and explain why its population has declined.

(b.) Describe three characteristics of organisms that would make them particularly vulnerable to extinction.

(c.)Present three arguments in favor of the maintenance of biodiversity.

(d.)Name and describe one United States federal law or one international treaty that is intended to prevent the extinction or species.

1. According to the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), about one-third of the nation’s original prime topsoil has been washed or blown into streams, lakes, and oceans, mostly as a result of over-cultivation, over grazing, and deforestation.

a)Define soil erosion. Explain the difference between natural and non-natural soil erosion.

b)Describe two causes of soil erosion.

c)Describe two results of soil erosion.

d)Describe one method used to conserve soil erosion.

1. Answer the questions below regarding the heating of a small office building in New England. Assume the following.

• The office building has 15,000 square feet of office space.
• 500,000 BTUs of heat/ ft2 are required to heat the office building for the winter.
• Natural gas is available for large use customers at a cost of $4.00/1000 ft3.
• 1 ft3 of natural gas supplies 1,000 BTUs of heat energy.
• The furnace in the office building is 80 percent efficient.

a)Calculate the following, showing all the steps of your calculations, including units.

i)The number of cubic feet of natural gas required to heat the office building for one winter.

ii)The cost of heating the office for one winter.

b)Identify and describe three actions the managers of the office building could take to conserve heat energy and lower the cost of heating the office building.

c)The workers in the building decide to supplement the heating of the office by using small space heaters. Discuss two environmental impacts, one positive and one negative, of using space heaters.

1. After reading the following editorial from The Fremont Daily, answer the questions that follow.

Is Recycling Smart Economics?

Debates about recycling often become highly charged and passionate. Over the past decade some headlines have heralded that “trash is treasure” while others have proclaimed that “recycling is garbage”.

The antagonists in these debates are disagreeing over public policy and its role in shaping decisions about resource use. Both sides in the debate frequently have broad policy agendas that go far beyond choosing the most efficient way to manage solid waste. Both sides also promote their political agendas with unsupported assertions and incomplete information. Determining what amount of recycling will result in efficient resource use requires systematic analysis.

Proponents of rcycling argue that recycling saves resources. For example, most manufacturers of aluminum cans currently depend on recycled aluminum for more than 50% of their needs. This recycled input reduces the economic and environmental costs associated with mining and landfills.

A common argument for the antirecycling side is that recycling wastes resources. It takes resources to recycle. For example, it takes human effort to sort aluminum cans from other trash and energy to move aluminum cans from the consumer back to the manufacturer.

It may not make economic sense to recycle all materials or all of any single material, but numerous studies have shown that there are net benefits to society at low or modest levels of recycling of most materials. The question is, which has the higher environmental cost: using recovered materials or using virgin materials? Do recovered or virgin materials cost more in resources? The answer is complex and changing.

Your next environmental decision is fast approaching. Should you put this copy of The Fremont Daily in the recycling bin or the trash?

1. Consider the arguments regarding aluminum presented in the editorial, then make
2. A similar argument in favor of recycling the newspaper, and
3. A similar argument against recycling the newspaper.
4. For each of the following, describe TWO pieces of scientific information that would be needed to evaluate
5. The environmental benefits of recycling the newspaper, and
6. The environmental costs of recycling the newspaper.
7. If a community can afford to begin a recycling program for either aluminum or newspaper, but not both, which one would you recommend to be recycled? Provide TWO reasons why your recommendation is better than the alternative.
8. Discuss TWO difficulties that the community might face in implementing the recycling plan in part c.