<p>Does college board grade based on sig figs? for example if the answer is 3.2 and I put 3.23, will I lose points? And how do you guys do sig figs? Do you round at the end or round in the intermediary steps?</p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I500 using CC</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that you do lose points for incorrect sig figs, but you can lose only a maximum of one point per question for that.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that points aren’t deducted anymore, the points just aren’t awarded. But yes, if you have a problem with 2 sig figs and you give 3, it is wrong.</p>
<p>Significant figures is the concept that your answer should be as precise, but ONLY as precise as your given information is.</p>
<p>e.g. </p>
<p>Some guy does something in 5.5 hours. How fast will that guy do half of that stuff?
The answer is 2.8 hours because 2.75 has an extra significant figure (3 numbers rather than 2). </p>
<p>Also note that in something like
0.0000000042304000
All those 0s preceeding the number do not count so there are 8 significant figures: 42304000. And also note that the 0s AFTER the number do count towards the number of significant figures.</p>
<p>Also don’t round your answer (or don’t round it very much) until the very end.</p>
<p>I understand the concept. but should I do sig figs throughout the calculation or sig figs for the answer?</p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I500 using CC</p>
<p>I always keep my numbers exact until the end, and that’s when I round. If I have to take the square root of 2 in the first step and multiply by 5 in the second, I’ll multiply 5<em>sqrt(2), not 5</em>1.414, and then round at the end.</p>
<p>You may be awarded up to one point for the entire FRQ section of the Chem exam if you use correct sig figs. (In some years, no points are given for correct sig figs.) </p>
<p>No points are ever deducted - they are only not awarded. You won’t ever lose a point for each part of a question because you didn’t use the right number of sig figs.</p>
<p>Honestly, sig figs don’t matter, but don’t ever round in intermediate steps. FYI, in AP Calc, you want to stick with three decimal places. (Not sig figs.)</p>
<p>^ Uhhh…what? Sig figs do matter, if you ignore them, you could screw yourself out 5-9 points easily on the FRQ’s.</p>
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<p>Try to keep the calculations more abstract and put the sig. figures in the answer.
But during the questions, I’m not sure, but from what I was told, you should only round on your final answer.</p>
<p>@Rusty: Have you looked at the grading rubrics at all? In Chem, the most you get is one point for the entire section, if that. In Physics C, I haven’t yet had a FRQ that actually cared about sig figs (My teacher has been giving us a FRQ question weekly since January). I’m sure there’s been a few physics lab-based questions throughout the years where sig figs matter, but there’s no way you’re going to lose “5-9 points.” </p>
<p>In Calc, you don’t actually use sig figs, you just round off. (If you don’t round off properly in Calc, you really could “lose” 5-9 points.) In Stats, you don’t even need to round off since the rubric is a generic mess.</p>
<p>I’m not saying anybody should not learn sig figs; I’m saying they’re a joke, the CB knows it, and doesn’t particularly test on it.</p>