U.S. Government and Politics Free Response Questions
Format: The U.S. Government and Politics Free Response Questions do not follow a typical “essay” format. Students need not use paragraphs or thesis statements. The key to a strong FRQ response is completeness and accuracy.
The Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics Examination utilizes fivewriting prompts as follows (Adapted from: “Exam Tips: AP Comparative Government and Politics” available at:
Identify: Identifying is a task that requires no more than a simple enumeration of some factors or characteristics. An identification does not require any causal explanations. For example, a student might be asked to identify three factors that increase political participation. Such a list could be bulleted or numbered, and might include such factors as open seat race, education and presidential election year.
Define: A definition requires a student to provide a meaning for a word or concept. Examples may help to demonstrate understanding of the definition. Students may be instructed to note the term's significance as part of the definition.
Describe: A description involves providing a depiction or portrayal of a phenomenon or its most significant characteristics. Descriptions most often address "what" questions. For example, if students are asked to describe political ideology, they must demonstrate knowledge that political ideology has multiple sides by describing “liberal” and “conservative”.
Explain: An explanation involves the exploration of possible causal relationships (“because”). When providing explanations, students should identify and discuss logical connections or causal patterns that exist between or among various political phenomena.
Compare: This task requires students to make specific links between two or more concepts or occurrences. Thus, students cannot simply have a one-paragraph description of how young people participate in presidential elections and a one-paragraph description of how young people participate in midterm elections with no connections between the two paragraphs. To correctly compare youth political participation there must be cross references and development of a comparative structure. The students must provide the connective tissue. They should understand that it is important to note similarities AND differences.
FRQ Characteristics:
a) FRQs ask students to complete a specific number of tasks (i.e. “Describe two ways….”, “Identify two actors who…”) and points are allocated accordingly. Extra credit is not awarded for additional material not requested. For example, if a student correctly identifies three actors involved in iron triangles when two are requested, the student will be awarded no more than two points for that part of the question.
b) Points for completing any of the tasks are equal to all other points awarded; this means that a more complex task (i.e. “explain” versus “identify”) is not treated any differently in terms of point allocation.
c) The order that the tasks are completed within any question is not considered in the point allocation. This means that the first part of the question may be answered last and vice versa.
d) One hundred minutes are allowed for completing all FRQs; students are not notified of any time demarcations or otherwise given 25 minutes for each FRQ. Students must manage their time.