5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology 2019

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1 ❮ 295

effect of kicking their feet the following day when tethered again to the mobile. This is

evidence of infants’ memory.

scoring rubric for Essay 2

This is a 10-point essay: 2 points assigned for the design of the experiment and 8 points for

the individual components asked for in the question.

Design an experiment:

2 points for identification of two of the following: research question, hypothesis, ethics.

Question: Will a new drug stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people

who are in the initial stages of the disease?

Hypothesis: If the new drug is given to a sample of people in the early stages of

Alzheimer’s, then it will stop the progression.

Ethics: Because this drug is experimental, patients who volunteer and show a

baseline memory loss will be told that they may or may not be given the drug.

Should it be found to be effective, with possible side effects noted, those

receiving the placebo will be allowed to take the drug as well. The potential

harm would be discussed with patients and informed consent must be given for

participation. Patients may withdraw at any point during the experiment.

1  point for sample—a subgroup of the population of Alzheimer’s patients that partici-

pates in the study; could be obtained by volunteers from a newspaper solicitation in

major cities or from lists of patients with Alzheimer’s from gerontologists in the area.

You want it to be representative of all early-stage patients.

1  point for Assignment—division of the sample into groups such that every indivi dual

has an equal chance of being put in either the drug or placebo group. Group match-

ing would be important.

1 point for identifying the independent variable—drug/no drug or placebo.

1  point for identifying the dependent variable—effects of the drug on Alzheimer’s

symptoms; degree of progression of symptoms.

1 point for identifying the experimental group—participants who receive the drug.

1  point for identifying the control group—participants who receive a placebo or no

drug group.

1  point for mentioning possible confounding variables—sex of patients and varying

ages; misdiagnosis; other medical conditions during the trial period; not taking the

dosage as prescribed.

1  point for describing how you would determine effectiveness—comparison of two

group baseline scores and final results after the experimental period. Inferential sta-

tistics such as t test or ANOVA to determine significance of results. A p value of .05

or less will be considered significant.

sample Essay

For the purpose of this essay, my neuroscientist will be Dr. Hylton, and her new drug

will be called Lacetyl. Her research question is whether her new drug is effective, and her

hypothesis is that if she administers the drug for a period of 6 weeks or more, then patients

with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s will not get worse. Collecting a representative sample

is her first problem.

Since Alzheimer’s is usually definitively diagnosed with an autopsy to determine

whether or not neural tangles and plaques are present, she must solicit elderly patients

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