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Free-Response Questions

Below are free-response questions from AP U.S. Government and Politics Exams administered before the course and exam were redesigned in 2018-19.  

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Be sure to review the Chief Reader Report. In this invaluable resource, the Chief Reader of the AP Exam compiles feedback from members of the reading leadership to describe how students performed on the FRQs, summarize typical student errors, and address specific concepts and content with which students struggled the most that year.

 
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Chief Reader Report

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

 Scoring Distributions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Chief Reader Report

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Scoring Distributions
2016: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

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Score Distributions
2015: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

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Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

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Score Distributions
2014: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Score Distributions
2013: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

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Sample Responses Q4

Score Distributions
2012: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

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Sample Responses Q1

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Score Distributions
2011: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Score Distributions
2010: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Score Distributions
2009: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions

All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Grade Distributions
2008: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Grade Distributions
2007: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Grade Distributions
2006: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions

All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses Q1

Sample Responses Q2

Sample Responses Q3

Sample Responses Q4

Grade Distributions
2005: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions

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Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Responses

Grade Distributions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions

All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

Sample Response Q3

Sample Response Q4

Grade Distributions
2003: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions

All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Scoring Statistics

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

Sample Response Q3

Sample Response Q4

Grade Distributions
2002: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions

All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

Sample Response Q3

Sample Response Q4

Grade Distributions
2001: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples

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Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

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Sample Response Q4
2000: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples

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Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

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Sample Response Q4
1999: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples

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Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

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Sample Response Q4