AP US Gov Free Response

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>I am currently taking AP US Gov, and my teacher tells us to do free response broken up like this (for example (I made this question up)):</p>

<li> Checks and balances are important
a. explain 2 checks on the legislative branch
b. explain 2 checks on the executive branch
c. how have checks and balances changed the political atmosphere?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer</p>

<p>a. 1. blahblahblah
2. blahblahblah</p>

<p>b. 1. blahblahblah
2. blahblahblah</p>

<p>c. blahblahblah</p>

<p>However the ap prep book by princeton review says to just write an essay. </p>

<p>which is correct and will yield a 5? </p>

<p>i’m kinda worried because ap gov is such a joke at my school that it would be a shame not to get a 4 or 5.</p>

2

<p>They want you to take the answers you've got for your example and put them into an essay. So something like:</p>

<p>"The power of the Legislative branch can be checked by both the Executive branch, by means of a veto, and the Judicial branch, through Judicial Review. The President's power to veto a bill can throw Congress into turmoil, and the time necessary to reevaluate the bill gives the President the opportunity to use the bully pulpit to turn the public against the legislation. Judicial Review can also stop a piece of legislation, though it may take years to actually be stopped, if the Supreme Court rules that a law is unconstitutional."</p>

<p>So on and so forth for the other paragraphs.</p>

3

<p>You can do either method.</p>

<p>Also, when they say to write an "essay," that doesn't mean your essay needs to have some kind of flowery intro, conclusion paragraph, and any of the other "extra" stuff you would use in, say, an English essay, or on the AP US History DBQ/essays.</p>

<p>So if the first question asks you to define checks and balances, your first paragraph would start, "Checks and balances are..." followed by your definition. Your next paragraph could then start, "Two ways this system checks the executive branch is through..." and so on.</p>

<p>However, you can write the essay any way your prefer, as long as you include all the correct information and explanations. </p>

<p>For example, someone used the, "A) blah blah B) Blah C) etc" method for this question and received a score of 6/6:</p>

<p><a href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q3.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q3.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>On the other hand, someone else wrote in "essay format" for another question and also got a full 6/6 points:</p>

<p><a href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q2.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q2.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So use whatever format you're more comfortable with and are able to present the required information in the most logical way.</p>

4

<p>my teacher also told us that we should use the a, b, c method because it's easier for them to find the answers</p>

5

<p>My teacher taught us the "A,B,C" method, which takes less time than the essay way, but I'm sure either one is fine.</p>