About the exams
“The AP Examinations are administered each year in May and represent the culmination of college-level work in a given discipline in a secondary school setting. Rigorously developed by committees of college and AP high school faculty, the AP Exams test students’ ability to perform at a college level.
Development Committees meet throughout the year to create new exams, which each contain a free-response section (either essay or problem solving) and a section of multiple-choice questions…The multiple-choice questions are scored by computer, while the free-response portions are evaluated by a team of skilled college professors and high school teachers who meet annually to score exams in their subject area. The involvement of college faculty at all levels of exam development and scoring ensures that the AP Exams truly reflect college-level achievement. Students who perform well can receive course credit and/or advanced standing at thousands of universities worldwide.” The College Board
Sample AP Test Questions
Copyright owned by the College Board; AP exam questions used with permission
Biology Sample Question
Homeostatic maintenance of optimal blood glucose levels has been intensively studied in vertebrate organisms.
(a) Pancreatic hormones regulate blood glucose levels. Identify TWO pancreatic hormones and describe the effect of each hormone on blood glucose levels.
(b) For ONE of the hormones you identified in (a), identify ONE target cell and discuss the mechanism by which the hormone can alter activity in that target cell. Include in your discussion a description of reception, cellular transduction, and response.
(c) Compare the cell-signaling mechanisms of steroid hormones and protein hormone
Chemistry Sample Question
Several reactions are carried out using AgBr , a cream-colored silver salt for which the value of the solubilityproduct constant, Ksp, is 5.0 × 10−13 at 298 K.
(a) Write the expression for the solubility-product constant, Ksp, of AgBr .
(b) Calculate the value of [Ag+] in 50.0 mL of a saturated solution of AgBr at 298 K.
(c) A 50.0 mL sample of distilled water is added to the solution described in part (b), which is in a beaker with some solid AgBr at the bottom. The solution is stirred and equilibrium is reestablished. Some solid AgBr remains in the beaker. Is the value of [Ag+] greater than, less than, or equal to the value you calculated in part (b) ? Justify your answer.
(d) Calculate the minimum volume of distilled water, in liters, necessary to completely dissolve a 5.0 g sample of AgBr(s) at 298 K. (The molar mass of AgBr is 188 g mol-1).
(e) A student mixes 10.0 mL of 1.5 × 10− 4M AgNO3 with 2.0 mL of 5.0 × 10− 4M NaBr and stirs the resulting mixture. What will the student observe? Justify your answer with calculations.
(f) The color of another salt of silver, AgI (s), is yellow. A student adds a solution of NaI to a test tube containing a small amount of solid, cream-colored AgBr . After stirring the contents of the test tube, the student observes that the solid in the test tube changes color from cream to yellow.
(i) Write the chemical equation for the reaction that occurred in the test tube.
(ii) Which salt has the greater value of Ksp: AgBr or AgI ? Justify your answer
World History Sample Question 1
Describe and explain continuities and changes in religious beliefs and practices in ONE of the following regions from 1450 to the present.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America/Caribbean
World History Sample Question 2
Analyze similarities and differences in methods of political control in TWO of the following empires in the Classical period.
Han China (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.)
Mauryan/Gupta India (320 B.C.E.–550 C.E.)
Imperial Rome (31 B.C.E.–476 C.E.)
English Literature and Composition Sample Question
In the following speech from Shakespeare’s play Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey considers his sudden downfall from his position as advisor to the king. Spokesmen for the king have just left Wolsey alone on stage. Read the speech carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how Shakespeare uses elements such as allusion, figurative language, and tone to convey Wolsey’s complex response to his dismissal from court.
So farewell—to the little good you bear me.
Farewell? a long farewell to all my greatness!
This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls as I do. I have ventur’d,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth. My high-blown pride
At length broke under me, and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream that must for ever hide me.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!
I feel my heart new open’d. O how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.
Statistics Sample Question
A humane society wanted to estimate with 95 percent confidence the proportion of households in its county that own at least one dog.
(a) Interpret the 95 percent confidence level in this context.
The humane society selected a random sample of households in its county and used the sample to estimate the proportion of all households that own at least one dog. The conditions for calculating a 95 percent confidence interval for the proportion of households in this county that own at least one dog were checked and verified, and the resulting confidence interval was ± 0.417 0.119.
(b) A national pet products association claimed that 39 percent of all American households owned at least one dog. Does the humane society’s interval estimate provide evidence that the proportion of dog owners in its county is different from the claimed national proportion? Explain.
(c) How many households were selected in the humane society’s sample? Show how you obtained your answer.
