As exam time nears, teachers become concerned about exactly what to give credit for and what not to give credit for when grading their students’ work on past AP free-response questions.

Former Chief Reader Stephen Davis recently posted a note on the grading of a fictitious exam question showing how 2 points might have been awarded on a L’Hospital’s Rule question.  The note is interesting because it shows the details that exam leaders consider when deciding what to accept and what not to accept. It shows the details that readers must keep in mind while grading. This level of detail with examples is given to the readers in writing for each part of every question. With hundreds of thousands of exams each year and millions of questions to grade, this level of detail is necessary for fairness and consistency in scoring.

BUT as teachers preparing your students for the exam you really don’t need to be as concerned about all these fine points as readers are. Encourage your students to answer the question correctly and show the required work using correct notation. Even thought the guidelines show what is necessary to earn each and every point, there are still fine points and close calls that do not show up on the guidelines.

Don’t worry about the fine points. What if I say this, instead of that? What if I forget to write dx? Why show your students the minimum they can get away with? How does that help them? Do your students a favor: score the review problems more stringently than the readers. If a student’s answer is close but maybe not quite right, take off some credit and help them learn how to do better. It will help them in the long run. 

If your students try to answer and show their work but miss or overlook something, the readers will do their best to follow the student’s work and give her or him the points they have earned.

Revised February 17, 2024