<p>I'm going to take Physics B and Calculus AB this May. I'm wondering if I can get the full credit if I just write down an answer but show no work on the free response section. My Calculus teacher said no, but the Physics teacher said yes. </p>
<p>So, what's the official College Board policy on this?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Wise man Mr. Calculus teacher.</p>
<p>if you want to lose lots of points, then go ahead and don’t show work. you’ll just help everyone else by getting a lower score.</p>
<p>Mr. Calculus is correct- tell Physics teacher that he/she is not giving you correct guidance. </p>
<p>You must show all work and units to get any credit in any physics exam-let alone AP.</p>
<p>For the vast majority of the AP Calculus section, you should show how you get your answer. Most of the questions have between two and four parts, inclusive, and usually only the last part is allocated for the answer. The remainder of the points are allocated for process.</p>
<p>A good example of this is <a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board; (2007 AP Calculus AB question #6), and in particular part (c). While it’s possible to come up with the final solution of k = 4/e^2 without work, it’s highly likely that you would – at a bare minimum – have to show work similar to the work shown, in order to get any kind of credit, and in my experience, most folks have to show more than that. </p>
<p>There are four things you can do without work on the calculator-active portion of the AP Calculus FR section, but most of those require a set-up:</p>
<p>(1) You may find the result of a definite integral. The definite integral that you are finding must be explicitly stated.
(2) You may find the derivative of a function at a point. The function that you are trying to find the derivative of, as well as the point at which you are trying to find it, must be explicitly stated somewhere (this could occur in the prompt).
(3) You may find the zeroes of curves, and by extension the intersection of two curves. You usually want to lead into this with something along the lines of “f(x) = g(x) at x = _____ and x = ______”.
(4) You may draw the graph of a given function on a given domain and range. (This is not particularly common anymore.)</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Well, anyone correct me if I am wrong, but on the AP Calc exam, only general work is needed. Even though u should, u dont need to show EVERY step. If it asks for the area under the curve blah blah, show the integral expression and find the value. You also might want to say the integral expression = area under the curve. When the question sayss JUSTIFY, that’s when it gets tricky. With justify you technically can’t say anything without a reason. For example, if you were finding the horizontal tangent to a graph, you would obviously set the derivative equal to zero. But why? You would have to write:
y’ (derivative) = m (slope) and
m = 0 for horizontal tangents</p>
<p>I assume physics is vaguely similar, but idk. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I know this for sure about Calculus, physics is probably similar… Each FRQ has 9 possible points. They are broken down into parts - with a point or two being given to each step needed to solve the problem. So if you don’t show work but get the right answer, you’d get less than half of the 9 total points.</p>
<p>I’ve done at least 10 Physics B FRQ’s this week, and you must show your work. Not only that, but it’s usually safer to list the fundamental equation first before you plug things in. For example, if a question asks you for the weight of an object with mass 5 kg, you want to write:</p>
<p>W = mg
W = (5 kg) (9.8 m/s^2)
W = 49 N</p>
<p>u get a point for the formula (^) so that is why its recommended to put it down, and then I believe a point for the answer. While you could get points for just the answer, you won’t be able to earn all the points. The best thing you can do is simply show as much possible work as you can (they only add points, never take any away).</p>
<p>Like has already been said, you have to show work if you want to get the max amount of points. For many problems it would be hard to not show work. It is also good to show work in case you made a mistake, because you may have not gotten the correct solution, but did most of the work correctly, you can recieve partial credit. So, in conclusion, just show your work.</p>
<p>The points of each problem are divided up.</p>
<p>Some for writing the general formula.
Some for showing the set-up.
Sometimes some for including certain aspects (any diagrams if necessary, certain derivations, etc.
Some for writing the answer.</p>