The longest FRQ on the AP Gov exam is the Argumentation Essay. Borrowing from essay structures in APUSH and APWH, the argumentation is an exploration into great writing skills in the college course. I have so many assignments that require me to take a defendable position with well reasoned evidence. I am very happy to see my students required to write this easy-to-do essay in the AP Gov classroom, too. Continuity in skill sets with AP Gov reasoning skills helps students achieve more, as well as introducing my rookie governerds to these written expressions. This will probably require the most effort (6 points over four components) but has the biggest room for error, which I think is important to emphasize. Sitting down and taking a look at these skills, students need to:
A note about claim: If the claim is not a fully qualified and defensible thesis, meaning the student did not take a position, they are capped at earning one point: just B1. Another way of saying this: B2, B2, C, and D cannot be earned. This is a critical skill. If you need more suggestions on how to approach the claim, head to this article. A note about evidence: One piece should come from the given docs, one can be from docs external to the prompt. While either approach is preferred by College Board, I try to teach my kids to use evidence for B1/B1 and B3 from off the list that CB provides. Why? Knowing how hard it is to score the FRQ, using the evidence incentivizes a deep understanding of the documents and hopefully will curry favor with a rater who does not have to find the unfamiliar example students cite. It goes without saying, there is NO PENALTY for giving external evidence. I use the claim-evidence-commentary writing structure, as it is the standard in feeder courses like 11th grade US History as well as in English across my school. This is exactly like Assertion-evidence-commentary, but CB likes to call assertions claims. I wanted to break down this in a manageable presentation, so I have included my prezi and a video discussion how to be successful on the Argumentation Essay. I hope it is helpful, and I wish you the best of luck! Here is another way of thinking about the essay.
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
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nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
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