Sample Essay Scoring
Notice that the first paragraph of this (fictional) student’s essay does not score any points. This student
introduces the topic with a short paragraph, which is fine but does not answer any part of the essay
question directly. It’s not necessary to provide an introduction paragraph in your AP Psychology essay—
just dive into answering the question in order. This student chooses to answer all of the questions about
the experimental design in one paragraph and all of the questions about the correlational method in a
separate paragraph. This organization works well. The student could have also chosen to answer the
questions in paragraphs grouped by the pairs of questions listed within the question.
The points this fictional student essay scores and doesn’t score are:
POINT 1
What variables would Professor Willborn examine in her experimental study?
Does NOT score, because the student incorrectly identifies the independent variable as video games.
The rubric requires that students identify the independent variable as playing violent video games.
Defining the independent variable as video games is too vague to score.
POINT 2
What variables would Professor Willborn examine in her correlational study?
Scores in the second sentence of the third paragraph when the student identifies the two variables to be
correlated correctly: “the variables playing violent video games and attitude toward
real-world violence as the variables she will correlate.”
POINT 3
How could Professor Willborn operationally define at least one of the variables in her experimental
study?
Does NOT score. The student does not explain specific operational definitions of either variable.
Stating that “being careful how she observes them . . . in a controlled way in her lab”
is not specific enough to earn the point for operational definitions. The student does not provide possible
operational definitions of both variables, so the point is not awarded.
POINT 4
How could Professor Willborn operationally define at least one of the variables in her correlational
study?
Does NOT score. The student says “She could operationally define these variables by
being careful how she observes them. If she observes them in a controlled way in
her lab, then they will be operationally defined.” This statement is too vague to score,
because it does not meet the rubric requirement to provide a possible operational definition for either
variable in the study.
POINT 5
How could Professor Willborn organize her participants to gather data in her experimental study?
Does NOT score. The student never mentions organizing participants into groups based on the
independent variable. What the student says about organizing participants is too vague and not relevant to
creating control and experimental groups in the study.