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TEST INDEX
This section of the book generally includes the time limit, the scoring range, a brief description, a rubric, and a sample essay for each essay for the tests included in this book. You’ll also be given the relevant skills for each essay, which correspond to the chapters in the second part of this book. After you have read through the information and the sample essay, use that list of chapters to learn the skills that are required for your essay. We did not include sample essays for short-answer questions, as those are scored almost solely on the content rather than the structure of the essay; however, you will find examples and strategies for short-answer questions in the Short Answer Approaches chapter.
In this section, you’ll find some rubrics that give you a certain number of points for fulfilling each scoring area. You’ll also see some tests that are scored holistically, which means that the grader gives your essay an overall score based on a variety of areas. We’ll let you know the qualities of an adequate essay, one that meets all the criteria; assume that an essay that would score below that is missing one or more of the criteria, and an essay that would earn a higher-than-adequate score goes above and beyond by having more detail, more skillful use of language, and/or more sophistication.
The sample essays in this section are designed to be one step above adequate; these essays will generally have everything you need, so they should be useful examples for you to emulate. As stated above, essays that would score above the examples in this book would be similar but more elaborate and sophisticated.
The rubrics in this section are based on the most recently available information, but you may see some variation, especially for AP Exams. For instance, in 2021 some AP Exams offered an alternative online version of the test with a different format and rubric; at the time of this book’s publication, it is unknown whether this option will continue in the future and, if it does, what those versions will look like. Furthermore, the maximum number of points for some of the AP Exam essays varies from year to year depending on the prompt that is given, so those scoring ranges and rubrics are approximations. The overall skills that are tested are the same, but we encourage you to find the document called “Course and Exam Description” on the AP website (apcentral.collegeboard.org) for your AP Exam, as this document is regularly revised and will have the most up-to-date information for the year you will be taking your exam.