Anyone else think a 45 minute DBQ is really unrealistic

Basically if you spend 10 minutes reading, analyzing, and planning the documents (that’s 2 minutes per document, which is pushing it given how hard they typically are) you have 35 minutes to write the essay. Anyone else think it’ll be close to impossible to write a well-written and coherent essay within that time frame? I’m really good at being able to quickly synthesize and fit the documents into an argument, but I don’t think half an hour is enough to do a good enough job for a 5.
Here’s the modified rubric if you’re curious: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-history-rubric-2020-dbq.pdf

This is what I was thinking as well and while my class was in school we would do DBQs over two days with one day of research and one day of writing so this is going to be a big change. I think that they must be more lenient on grading because of this being the only form of assessment.

What my teacher and class has come up with as a strategy is possibly using the prompt to come up with a thematic unit from the timeline and then try and quickly skim over the documents to get the general gist to form a balanced thesis. I think with the time restraint they will be focusing on content over length and sophistication of writing but evidence will still be necessary.

Also I know they grade based on the rubric so trying to hit every part of the rubric is probably the best strategy.

What were you thinking was going to be the best way to go about it?

Was anyone else listening to the podcast tonight? There was some good information in there. They’ll share a link to a replay sometime soon.

They have review seminars online as well as practice questions. It sounded like they’ll be adding more practice questions and a chance to “practice uploading” in the next two weeks.

They specifically said grading will not be more lenient. They have accounted for the additional difficulty of free response vs. multiple choice in their scoring matrix. The test will be no easier nor any harder than prior years.

History does seem like it would take longer for each question. DD is taking AP CSA, and I would expect kids to be able to write a few lines of code for each question in the time allowed. The CB did say that there would be more questions then most kids will be able to finish, but you don’t need to answer ALL the questions to get a perfect score.

@Groundwork2022 which podcast?

I agree that the shortened time plus the online component- makes it harder to annotate and reference will make this difficult. Then there is the debate about whether you should type or write. Some people are just not fast at typing. It works against all the things you are taught to do.

D21 will be doing a practice revised DBQ tomorrow- timed and typed with online documents. Her strategy will be to ignore the point for 4 documents and complex thinking- unless she has extra time and only go for 8 points.

Have they said if you can type in a different window, using a word processor you are used to, and then cut and paste?

The podcast was CB “Helping Your Student Prepare for the AP Exam”.

They didn’t specifically anything about cutting and pasting from another word processor. However they told the AP CSA kids (in the online review class, not on the podcast) they were allowed to use some kind of proofreader for code, so I don’t know why a word processor would be prohibited. It is a small time drain, though.

I had to stop listening the webinar last night, as it turned to a giant infomercial on AP and CB. I am still unclear how they can prevent cheating to maintain integrity of the tests. I am also surprised that they didn’t do the right thing, and offer to give a discount, considering the test is 45 minutes instead of 3 hours.

Luckily, this is the last time I am paying them, though it was nearly $600. DS might not do some of the tests. Yep, he does have Euro.

@jeneric I was watching one of the YouTube videos, and I vaguely remember the teacher recommending typing it elsewhere first. Not sure how reliable my memory of that was though, since I was skipping all over it. If you do want to check though, I was watching yesterday’s Micro lesson.

Who knows. Depends on the kid. My kid said they aren’t worried about it. But they have been practicing DBQ’s for quite a while. Seems like it will be a toss up since nothing is tested and all scores will be new in practice.

Found some info on another website- they encourage using a second monitor so you can have the documents on one and your response on another- Google Docs etc. They will let you upload or cut and paste into exam.

You will not be able to highlight the document- this one gets me. Not so much for APUSH, but for English. Sure you can print it out, but that takes time!

There will be a 50 minute timer. At 45 minutes it will turn red. It seems as long as you have pressed the submit button by the 50 minute mark, it will count.

There will be a walk through in late April.