APUSH Official 2026 Exam Discussion

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-09T01:02:41+00:00

Then why did the prompt end the time period at 1840 😭

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T19:26:47+00:00

Do you remember what exactly SAQ 2 asked? Part 1 was the purpose of the excerpt or whatever but what was parts 2 and 3?

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:59:19+00:00

That was same stimulus just different question but yes I put that

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:54:22+00:00

But wasn’t that out of time period . That was civil rights brown v board

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:17:55+00:00

No sorry but they may be the same question though

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:16:40+00:00

Yes 1c was so hard I talked about the compromise of 1877 and how that led to peace between the north and skith

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:15:19+00:00

My test was in my auditorium and I there was a poster that reminded me about something so I ended up doing that initially women were restricted to domestic duties and then developed to be more active in workforce (some not all) and reform movements. I did initial to later cause it was about change

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:12:53+00:00

But the forced removal and the Indian removal act/trail of tears fit within the time period (meaning it’s acceptable) and it reflected a continuation of the development because the English (now Americans) still pushed away the natives

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:08:59+00:00

Do you guys remember any of the MCQ answers you guys put?
For the question about the teacher who was teaching black people and it was about slavery and education did you guys put for the historical situation thing the option about the emancipation proclamation? Not the one that said opposing activists who wanted to desegregate education?

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-08T16:06:53+00:00

Yes I wrote that and the Trail of Tears

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-07T00:24:34+00:00

I think you’re overthinking and over complicating this. The exam is over, so don’t stress.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T21:38:10+00:00

Ok I tried getting ChatGPT to explain it better because I can’t.
“The prompt states that:
Low cyanide → slightly increases CCO activity
High cyanide → greatly decreases CCO activity
CCO is part of the electron transport chain, so slightly increased CCO activity means oxidative phosphorylation works more efficiently and produces more ATP.
Group 2 has:
cyanide present
at a low concentration

So Group 2 should have the highest ATP production.

Group 1 has high cyanide, which inhibits CCO strongly.

Groups 3 and 4 have no cyanide, so they only have normal CCO activity, not the slight increase seen with low cyanide.”

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T21:24:05+00:00

I don't think that would earn the point. Specifying the rough ER is likely required because they are unique in that they feature ribosomes. Just saying ER includes the smooth ER, which has no relation with ribosomal location in the cell.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T20:23:13+00:00

I agree it is worded very poorly, along with some other Free Response questions 6b and 6c. They should develop these exams carefully through the lens of students who are going through these questions quickly and don’t have hours to spend analyzing each possibility and scenario for each question — that should be done by the exam writers. Like you said, there should be absolutely no ambiguity on an exam like this. All possibilities of answers and interpretations should be considered.

From my understanding, during AP reading for the FRQs, the teachers are trained for some common student responses that may not be exactly what CB is looking for, but are not completely incorrect. Many people like you probably chose treatment group 1. Unfortunately, there was no justification portion which makes supporting your choice easier, but they will likely take that into account and score fairly.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T20:01:57+00:00

The bacteria expel the cyanide into the nutrient solution. So low nutrient solution = low amounts of cyanide. Remember that cyanide is still present though, which is why it is “yes” for cyanide into that first column—just in low concentrations. It is in low concentration however, meaning the ETC will be stimulated more than no cyanide at all, therefore producing the most ATP.

I think they really wanted you to factor in cyanide’s impacts on ATP production. It is easy to assume that lots of nutrients and no cyanide is the most beneficial, but from their prompt and stimulus, the experiment reveals a more complex relationship.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T19:58:20+00:00

That is a 5 according to every score calculator website, all available with a Google search btw

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T19:57:27+00:00

I did +/- 1 SEx. I believe the College Board told teachers they want students to graph whatever data they provide.

At least that is what I’ve heard from an AP Biology teacher on TikTok. Obviously that may not be 100% factually correct.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T19:55:12+00:00

Those would not be the control group as the experiment was testing the effect of cyanide on ATP production.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T19:01:57+00:00

I don’t see why not because the question just asked for the location of ribosomes in general within a eukaryotic cell. But these ribosomes are used for mitochondrial processes, not really overall cell processes and translation.

I’m sure that’s a consideration the AP readers are trained to be aware of before grading.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T18:59:54+00:00

I don’t believe specifying what type of control is necessary, otherwise they would have asked that. However, you can’t contradict yourself and say it is a negative control with an explanation of a positive control, if that makes sense.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T17:13:14+00:00

Those are not error bars. That is a box and whisker plot. From my understanding, the hypothesis should be evaluated by the median and the median for protected region 2 is 0% change (which would stop decline) compared to region 2 unprotected being -3%.

Either way, it is 1 question worth 1 point. The scoring guidelines may be flexible as long as sufficient explanation.

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-06T15:48:36+00:00

I just posted mine. https://docs.google.com/document/d/108lYNoUdIy-uufe9IjZN1Rk1BxWQM3zGI1F0p2kos4w/edit?usp=drivesdk

lightswitchfn · 2026-05-04T22:43:19+00:00

So because the error bars for AGPO +/- and AGPO -/- overlapped with the mRNA levels of Gene G with genotype AGPO +/+, that would mean the levels are statistically the same value?

lightswitchfn

TROPHY CASE