2021 AP Psychology FRQ 1 (Set 1) answers

Model answer

Self-efficacy: Malia is sure she is capable of writing a strong research paper, so she starts early, keeps working through the weeks and finishes it. (If she doubted that she could do it, she might put it off and turn in weak work.)

Low neuroticism: Malia is emotionally stable and calm, so a long, open-ended assignment does not make her anxious, and she works steadily and gets it done on time.

External locus of control: Malia believes her grade depends on luck or on whether the teacher happens to like her, not on her effort, so she does little research and does not finish the paper.

Divergent thinking: Malia brainstorms many possible topics and several ways to organize her argument before choosing one, which gives her an original paper.

Efferent neurons: these motor neurons carry signals from her brain and spinal cord out to the muscles of her hands, so her fingers move to type the paper.

What earns each point

1. Malia believes in her own ability to write the paper, and that belief helps her finish it (or doubting her ability makes her less likely to finish). Self-efficacy is a belief about one's capability at a specific task. General confidence or self-esteem is a different idea and does not score, so the answer names her belief that she can do this paper.
2. A trait of the low end of neuroticism (calm, emotionally stable, not anxious) tied to how she completes the paper. Low neuroticism is emotional stability, which the current course names directly in the Big Five. Describing diligence would be conscientiousness, a different factor, so the answer stays with calm and low anxiety.
3. Malia thinks outside forces such as luck, fate or a biased teacher decide her results, and that changes whether she completes the paper. An external locus is a belief that outcomes are out of one's own hands. The answer has to show that belief shaping her effort; simply worrying about bad luck, or noting that she cannot control the grading, describes no such belief.
4. Malia generates many ideas or a creative, original approach for the paper, and this affects how she completes it. Divergent thinking produces many possible answers to an open problem. Searching for the single best way to write the paper would be convergent thinking.
5. Efferent (motor) neurons produce a movement, such as her fingers typing, that lets her complete the paper. Efferent neurons carry commands outward to muscles. Feeling the paper or seeing the screen is sensory, which is afferent, so the movement has to be named.

Model answer

Incentive theory: Mr. Barry promises himself an evening out once the whole stack is graded, and that outside reward pulls him through the papers.

Crystallized intelligence: over many years Mr. Barry has built up a large store of facts about the subject and a wide vocabulary, so he recognizes errors in the papers at once and grades them accurately and quickly.

What earns each point

6. An outside reward or a desired activity motivates Mr. Barry, and that helps him finish the grading. Incentive theory explains behavior by the pull of rewards outside the person. Wanting to help his students for its own sake is intrinsic motivation, so the answer gives him a reward to earn.
7. His accumulated knowledge (facts, vocabulary, general information) helps him grade the papers well, or a lack of it slows him. Crystallized intelligence is stored knowledge built over a lifetime. Thinking fast on new problems is fluid intelligence, and simply being an experienced grader does not name the knowledge itself, so the answer points to what he knows about the subject.