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I'm confused... It seems like 1/2 the people here think it's one of the hardest tests and the other 1/2 think it's one of the easiest... what's the deal?

also, does anyone have any especially important concepts/topics?

By Justice (Justice) on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:16 pm: Edit

People who either have low standards or haven't taken it think its easy. I think its my hardest AP. I didn't have the class though.

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:19 pm: Edit

I took a real MC test for practice and I scored a very low 4. IN other words, it was slightly easier than I thought. It's the essay thats the hard part. Nobody can say thats easy...you need to know A LOT to score perfectly, and I mean A LOT. BS'ing would get you half credit at most. They have a rubric with specific things they look for and give you points only if you have those things on it.

By Firebird12637 (Firebird12637) on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:35 pm: Edit

i took it last year (10th grade) and thought it was easy; and i dont think i have particularly low standards, i got a 5.

By Nealyac (Nealyac) on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 11:08 pm: Edit

what do you think is going to be on the free response this year?

By Firebird12637 (Firebird12637) on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 11:12 pm: Edit

i doubt it'll be a federalism question, cuz there was one on the test last year...

By Mekker3 (Mekker3) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 11:29 pm: Edit

see? dissention again haha... do any of you guys know how many points each essay is worth? on the thing on the collegeboard website, it seemed like some are worth 8, others 6, others 5... is this true? are some essays worth more than others? thanks

By Andrew123s (Andrew123s) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 11:48 pm: Edit

Each essay is worth a certain number of points (could be 5, 6, 7, 8, whatever). But it doesn't matter; they average the percentage you get on each question, so each quesiton contributes the same amount to your final score.

By Mekker3 (Mekker3) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 06:20 am: Edit

ohh... okay thanks

By Najy (Najy) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 06:38 pm: Edit

By Firebird12637 (Firebird12637) on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 11:12 pm:

"i doubt it'll be a federalism question, cuz there was one on the test last year... "


....aaaaand it was the first FR question.

By Firebird12637 (Firebird12637) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 07:06 pm: Edit

really? cuz hella ppl were like: "damn, there wasnt any f-ism at all, why did i even study that?"

federalism =/= checks and balances.

By Ndbisme5 (Ndbisme5) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 08:59 pm: Edit

I had phism. Maybe there were different forms for the FR.

By Entropie (Entropie) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:19 pm: Edit

it wasnt federalism, it was divided government. It's not states and national sharing of power, it's control of political offices between republican and democratic parties.

By Ticklemepink (Ticklemepink) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:26 pm: Edit

No. That was not my interpretation. Divided government is what's going on between Bush and the Congress today and it's been there since... 9/11.

Federalism... on the other hand.. it was on comparative

By Vigilante (Vigilante) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:26 pm: Edit

but that wasnt the first FR, the first was about foreign policy right?

By Justice (Justice) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:32 pm: Edit

I change my mind this is a really easy AP.

By Mstaken (Mstaken) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:39 pm: Edit

No, divided government refers to different political parties in the branches of govt. For example, Democrats control House/Senate while there's a Republican president. This is the norm, and it's rare what we're going through- Bush's administration now is under a UNIFED government, since both houses are Republican by majority.

By Mtstudent (Mtstudent) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:40 pm: Edit

Divided government is when one party controls Congress and a different party controls the Presidency.

By Fiza (Fiza) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 10:09 pm: Edit

mtstudent, thats what i put too for devided govt but we both mite be wrong.

By Ticklemepink (Ticklemepink) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 10:12 pm: Edit

*starts to panic* I just googled that phrase up... oh man I am SO screwed over it. But hopefully the AP graders will take my creativity into account... Now I wish that I hadn't visit this board. *head down in shame*

By Mtstudent (Mtstudent) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 12:10 am: Edit

I am going to be the President of the United states some day. I know what I am talking about. For those who question me:

Divided Government:
A situation, in federal or state government, in which the President or governor is a member of one political party and at least one chamber of the legislature is controlled by the other party.

I am done.

By Deepwood6 (Deepwood6) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 01:03 am: Edit

This government test as far as hardness of questions is relatively easy compared to the hardness of some of the other tests (ie physics c e&m), but the curve for government is very unlike those tests, you need around a 65% on some ap tests for a 5, while for government you need at least 80%. That's why a lot of people find the test questions easy but only 6 or so percent of test takers actually score 5's.

By Welshie (Welshie) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 01:13 am: Edit

Good point Deepwood6.

-Jesse

By Conker (Conker) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 06:25 am: Edit

Deepwood6 is wrong. You need 70-75% for a 5 on the AP US Government exam. That is pretty tough compared to most AP's, but anyone who has taken AP English Language or any of the AP Foreign Language tests would have had to put up with a tougher scale.

By Fiza (Fiza) on Thursday, May 13, 2004 - 04:16 pm: Edit

Good News:I got the divided gvt question right.
Bad News: I blew the foreign policy question. Yikes