Write Like A Scholar Series: Writing AP Environmental Science FRQs

Summary

This educational video script guides AP Environmental Science students on crafting effective Free Response Questions (FRQs). It emphasizes avoiding flowery language and opinionated statements, and instead, using precise scientific terms. The script advises starting with a brief prompt restatement, clearly separating answers, and adhering to sentence limits. It introduces a table for replacing common eco-jargon with APES vocabulary and encourages students to focus on major course themes. The video also includes annotated FRQ examples and scoring guides to demonstrate how to earn points, highlighting the importance of annotation and specificity in responses.

Takeaways

• 📝 Avoid using flowery language or persuasive statements in FRQs; stick to objective scientific facts.
• ❌ Never use vague terms like 'unhealthy' or 'toxic'; be specific with AP Environmental Science vocabulary.
• 🔑 Start FRQ answers with a brief prompt restatement to set the context without rewriting the entire question.
• 📑 Clearly separate answers when multiple responses are requested to ensure clarity for the reader.
• 📑 Divide FRQs into individual sections to make it easier for the reader to follow your thought process.
• ⏰ Stick to sentence limits and avoid adding unnecessary details that don't contribute to earning points.
• 🔍 Use specific scientific terms instead of general 'eco-jargon' to accurately describe environmental concepts.
• 🔬 Always specify pollutants and their impacts on the atmosphere, soil, or water to earn points on FRQs.
• 🌟 Hit major course themes like environmental, economic, and ecological impacts to tailor your answers effectively.
• ✏️ Practice annotating FRQs before writing to ensure you address all necessary components and modifiers.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the 'Writing Like a Scholar' series for AP Environmental Science students?

The main focus is to guide students on how to effectively write Free Response Questions (FRQs) for the AP Environmental Science exam.

Why should students avoid using flowery language or persuasive statements in their FRQs?

Students should avoid these because FRQs require objective scientific facts and ideas, not subjective opinions or embellishments, to earn points.

What is the significance of not using vague terms like 'unhealthy' or 'toxic' in AP Environmental Science FRQs?

Using vague terms can lead to a lack of clarity and specificity, which may result in not earning points. Instead, students should use precise AP Environmental Science vocabulary.

How should students restate the prompt when beginning their FRQ answer?

Students should start with a brief prompt restatement, not rewriting the entire prompt, to signal their starting point and remind themselves of the question.

Why is it important to clearly separate answers when responding to an FRQ that asks for multiple answers?

Separating answers clearly helps the reader identify distinct points, which is crucial as the reader will only consider the first two options provided if only two answers are requested.

What is the recommended strategy for students when writing FRQs to ensure they address all parts of the question?

Students should annotate the FRQ quickly before writing, breaking it down to understand and remember all the necessary components to address in their response.

How can students improve their use of AP Environmental Science vocabulary in FRQs?

Students can improve by reviewing the provided vocabulary table, replacing common eco-jargon with scientific terms, and using Quizlet sets linked in the video description.

What are the major course themes that students should aim to address in their FRQs?

Major themes include environmental impacts, economic impacts, ecological impacts, and human disturbances and their impacts, which are consistently addressed in AP Environmental Science FRQs.

Why is it crucial for students to pay attention to modifiers in the FRQ prompt?

Modifiers can change the scope of the answer required, and neglecting them can lead to providing incorrect or irrelevant information, potentially losing points.

What is the suggested time allocation for writing an FRQ after annotating and understanding the question?

The suggested time is about two minutes, which is roughly one minute per sentence, assuming the question has been thoroughly annotated and understood beforehand.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Writing Effective FRQs in AP Environmental Science

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on teaching AP Environmental Science students and teachers how to write Free Response Questions (FRQs) effectively. It emphasizes the importance of subscribing to the channel for upcoming content and provides guidance on what not to do when writing FRQs. Key points include avoiding flowery language and persuasive statements, sticking to objective scientific facts, and not using vague terms. The paragraph also introduces the concept of replacing everyday terms with AP Environmental Science vocabulary to improve clarity and accuracy in responses.

05:01

🌿 Mastering APES Vocabulary and Course Themes

The second paragraph delves into the importance of using specific AP Environmental Science (APES) vocabulary when writing FRQs. It advises against using vague eco-jargon and instead encourages students to learn and use precise scientific terms. The video provides a table to help students replace common but vague terms with their APES equivalents. Additionally, the paragraph introduces major course themes that frequently appear in FRQs, such as environmental, economic, and ecological impacts, and human disturbances. It suggests that advanced FRQ writers should aim to incorporate these themes into their answers to maximize points.

10:02

✍️ Practical Tips for Writing and Scoring FRQs

The final paragraph offers practical advice for writing and scoring FRQs. It suggests that students should annotate FRQs before writing to ensure they understand the question and its requirements. The paragraph also provides a step-by-step guide on how to write effective FRQs, emphasizing the need for brevity, specificity, and adherence to APES vocabulary. It includes examples of student exemplars and how they earned points based on the scoring guide. The paragraph concludes with key takeaways for writing high-quality FRQs, including the importance of annotation, awareness of modifiers, and familiarity with major course themes.

Keywords

💡FRQ

FRQ stands for Free Response Question, which is a type of question on the AP Environmental Science exam that requires students to write detailed answers. In the video, the main theme revolves around how to effectively write FRQs, emphasizing the importance of being concise, specific, and using AP Environmental Science vocabulary. The script provides tips on how to structure an FRQ response and what to avoid, such as flowery language and vague terms.

💡Flowerly language

Flowerly language refers to overly ornate or embellished writing that is not necessary in an academic context, particularly for FRQs. The video script advises against using flowerly language in FRQs, as it does not contribute to earning points and can detract from the clarity of the response. Instead, students should focus on straightforward and clear answers.

💡Persuasive statements

Persuasive statements are expressions of personal beliefs or opinions intended to influence others. The script stresses that students should avoid using persuasive or opinionated statements in FRQs, such as 'I believe' or 'I think,' and should stick to objective scientific facts. This is crucial for maintaining the academic integrity of the response.

💡Vague terms

Vague terms are imprecise words that lack specificity and can lead to ambiguity. The video script warns against using vague terms like 'bad for the environment' or 'unnatural' in FRQs, as they do not convey clear scientific meaning. Instead, students should use precise AP Environmental Science vocabulary to earn points.

💡AP Environmental Science vocabulary

AP Environmental Science vocabulary consists of specific scientific terms used in the AP Environmental Science course and exam. The script highlights the importance of using this vocabulary in FRQs to accurately describe environmental concepts and processes. It also provides a table to replace common but vague terms with scientific ones.

💡Pollutant

A pollutant is a substance that causes pollution or contamination. The video script emphasizes that students must specify a pollutant when discussing environmental impacts, rather than using generic terms like 'pollution' or 'chemicals.' For example, instead of saying 'reduces pollution,' a student should say 'reduces carbon dioxide emissions.'

💡Modifiers

Modifiers are words or phrases that change the meaning of another word by limiting or specifying its meaning. The script advises students to pay close attention to modifiers in FRQ prompts, as they can affect the scope of the answer required. For instance, a prompt might ask for impacts 'other than fossil fuels,' which would exclude certain answers.

💡Course themes

Course themes refer to the major topics or concepts that are consistently covered in the AP Environmental Science curriculum and exam. The video script mentions that students should be familiar with these themes, such as environmental, economic, and ecological impacts, and tailor their FRQ answers to address them.

💡Annotating

Annotating in the context of the video means to quickly analyze and mark key points in an FRQ prompt before writing the response. The script suggests that students should spend time annotating to identify the main points and requirements of the question, which can help in structuring a clear and effective response.

💡Eco-jargon

Eco-jargon refers to informal or colloquial terms related to environmental issues that are often used outside of a scientific context. The video script discourages the use of eco-jargon in FRQs, such as 'green' or 'unhealthy,' and instead encourages students to use precise scientific language to communicate their points.

💡Quizlet sets

Quizlet sets are collections of flashcards on the Quizlet platform, often used for studying and memorizing terms. The script mentions that students can use Quizlet sets to improve their AP Environmental Science vocabulary, which is crucial for writing effective FRQs.

Highlights

Welcome back to the writing, like a scholar series for environmental science students and teachers.

Today's topic is how to write an FRQ (Free Response Question).

Subscribe to the channel for more videos in this series and exam review content.

Important 'don'ts' for writing FRQs: avoid flowery language and persuasive statements.

Stick to objective scientific facts and avoid vague terms like 'unhealthy' or 'unnatural'.

Replace common eco-jargon with AP Environmental Science vocabulary.

Start FRQs with a brief prompt restatement to set the context.

Clearly separate answers when asked for multiple responses.

Signal the start of each section in an FRQ for clarity.

Avoid extra details that are not necessary for earning points.

Use specific scientific terms instead of general words like 'chemical'.

Always specify the pollutant and where it is released (atmosphere, soil, water).

Review the provided table for replacements of everyday terms with scientific terms.

For advanced FRQ writers, aim to hit major course themes like environmental, economic, and ecological impacts.

Annotate FRQs before writing to ensure you address all necessary components.

Practice writing FRQs with the provided examples and annotations.

Review the scoring guide and student exemplars to understand how to earn points.

Key takeaways: be brief, be specific, use APES vocabulary, watch for modifiers, and address major course themes.

Transcripts

hey ap environmental science students

and teachers welcome back to the writing

like a scholar series we're here today

to cover topic two

in this series which is how to actually

write an frq

and so before we get into it i just want

to remind you to please subscribe to the

channel if you don't already

there's three more videos coming up in

this series and there'll also be a ton

of exam review content coming second

semester

as we get closer to actually getting

ready for the exam

before we cover how you should write

frqs we have to go over some really

important don'ts so these are things you

should never do on an frq

you should never use flowery language or

transitions

this is not something where you need to

outline a thesis where you need to use

nice transitions there's no points

awarded for

anything beyond correct answers so we

just need to get straight in and

straight out

we should also not use persuasive or

opinionated statements you should never

say i believe

or i think or i'm not sure never

indicate hesitancy and never indicate

sort of an opinionated piece

it is environmental science not

environmentalism and so we really need

to stick to objective

scientific facts and ideas and then

never use vague terms this is probably

the achilles heel

of ape students every single year on the

exam

we use all of these terms that we hear

in the media or that we hear in our

everyday lives things like bad for the

environment unhealthy

toxic green unnatural and this just

means nothing in ap environmental

science i hate to say it but

these will never earn you points and so

we just have to be really clear and

concise and use

apes vocabulary so what we'll do in the

next slide is actually go over what you

can replace

these everyday common language terms

with so that your frqs are going to be

solid

and earn you points so now we're on to

the do's these are the things that you

should do when writing an frq

you always want to start with a brief

prompt restate

do not rewrite the entire prompt but

just

phrase it so that you remember where

you're starting off and you're signaling

to your readers you might say

one environmental benefit is and then

get into it you don't need to say one

environmental benefit of humans

preserving natural ecosystems for

national parks is

it's just so much you don't have the

time to write all that it's not

necessary

you should also clearly separate answers

when you're asked for two answers

so you can just simply say one economic

consequence is

and then a second economic consequence

is or another consequence is

you just want to be really clear and

this is because your reader is only

going to consider your first

two options if you're asked for two

answers and so you don't want to

accidentally segue

into another answer that's not correct

you don't want to be unclear whether or

not you're providing two answers

be very clear and signal to your reader

here's my first answer

here's my second answer and then you're

done another thing

is to clearly separate individual

sections of frqs

a lot of times students will just write

one block paragraph

and that is really challenging as a

reader to make sense of

your reader will still score this

they're not going to ignore your answer

but it's so much easier for them and for

you if you

clearly signify here is letter a part

one

here's letter a part two so on and so

forth and then finally stick to those

sentence

limits a lot of times students are

tempted to provide extra details on and

identify that they don't need

or same thing on a describe they'll go

into three or four or five sentences

or they'll start sort of you know

getting into environmentalism they'll

say

how can these greedy corporations

pollute the air and this is so bad for

and

and those are fine ideas to have and we

hope that you

you know get some environmentalism from

this course as well

but it is never going to earn you points

on an frq so we need to be very clear

that we don't get into sort of

subjective

you know moral judgments about

environmentalism we have to stick to

environmental science

on frqs so here is a really helpful

final do on your frqs you should always

be using apes vocabulary

and this is the table that i mentioned

earlier where we can replace some of

these

common like eco kind of jargon or eco

buzzwords

with actual scientific terms so instead

of saying

pollute or pollution or releases

pollution we always need to specify a

pollutant we can never just say

pollution by itself in apes

so carbon dioxide sox nox particulate

matter and then we should also specify

where is that pollution

going and the key terms here are the

atmosphere or

soil or water so we want to be specific

it's not enough to just say that an

action pollutes we always need to

provide a pollutant

and that kind of segues into the

chemicals points that's probably

the second most common mistakes ape

students make is just say

it releases harmful chemicals or it puts

bad chemicals in the air

the word chemical will never earn you a

point on an apex frq i need to be

really clear about that and so we always

need to replace the word chemical

with a specific chemical so again carbon

monoxide sox knox lead mercury arsenic

the list goes on and on and you'll learn

these throughout the year

so if you're looking at this in unit one

and thinking what i don't know any of

these yet

that's okay we'll learn these but you

always have to use a specific pollutant

and you can never just use the word

chemical

a lot of times two people are tempted to

say you know this is harmful to plants

or animals or this is like green or

eco-friendly or

this will mess up the ecosystem or it'll

make people sick

and if you look at the right-hand side

of this column there's going to be apes

specific

equivalence to all of these statements

and so we can never use kind of vague

eco-jargon we need to use scientific

terms so review this slide

for some great replacements for that eco

slang

that a lot of times students gravitate

towards also

if you find yourself struggling with

apes vocabulary or struggling to replace

this common language sort of eco-jargon

with hvocab there's lots of great

quizlet sets that are linked in the

description below

now this slide is a bit of a look ahead

to our

tips and kind of strategies video that's

coming up in the future

but i want to provide this now because

this is sort of a pro tip

or a tip for students who feel like

they're already advanced frq writers

try to always hit the major course

themes so these are some

big themes that will always be addressed

on frqs in some way shape

or form and so if you look at these

topics you're always going to be asked

about environmental impacts or economic

impacts

you're often going to be asked about

ecological impacts and then you'll

probably find at some point in any given

year's exam

that human disturbances and their

impacts will come up and so if you look

at all of these major apes themes

and concepts here you're going to want

to try to

tailor your answers to fit these major

course themes

in some way shape or form so again this

is kind of a pro tip slide here

for students that already feel like they

have the mechanics of frq writing down

but want to think about what are these

major ideas that i should be trying to

tie my answers to

when i'm actually trying to you know

strategically write an frq to earn as

many

points as possible all right now it's

time to actually

practice writing and so what you'll

notice here is we have the same

frq that we annotated in last week's

video

but this time we're going to try writing

it so i left the annotations on the

screen as a reminder

that it's very helpful to annotate your

frqs

quickly before you write so i recommend

my students actually take 8 to 10

minutes to

read break down and fully annotate the

frq

and if you do that the writing should

actually be very quick

now if you find that you can't take 8 to

10 minutes to

annotate an frq and still have enough

time to write it you may need to shorten

that

but the suggested time for an

identifying

two you know consequences or two impacts

type frq would be two minutes and that's

about a minute a sentence so if you've

already broken it down

annotating it i annotated it again

that writing process should actually be

very brief so go ahead and pause the

video now

and try writing this frq you can do this

on paper or you can do this in the

google doc that's linked in the

description below

so what we'll do now is we will quickly

look at the scoring guide

and a student exemplar to show how we

could have earned points on this fr key

so here's the student exemplar and what

i want to do is highlight exactly where

they earned points

so if we look at the rubric we have a

point here for reducing the use of

fossil fuels

or that are used in heating and cooling

and so if we look at the student

exemplar we're going to see that they

specifically use the phrase reduces the

need for cooling and heating so that

would earn them a point

we have another point here which is that

the green roof can create a habitat for

wildlife

and that's going to increase

biodiversity and the student is also

going to earn this point for using very

similar language in their frq

so here's a great example of what it

would look like to earn two points

on this frq and notice that they used

two simple sentences

very clear very concise take a minute

here to pause the video

and try writing this second frq practice

and then we will score this one as well

so again we'll look at the scoring guide

and a student exemplar and we'll look at

exactly where they earned their points

so the first points here are going to be

earned for citing that they should

locally source their food

to reduce transportation so if we look

at the student answer they said they

should

the school should source the food from

within 50 miles to reduce the amount of

carbon dioxide released by shipping

the fact that they actually mentioned

the reduced carbon dioxide emission is

very important

notice that they said carbon dioxide

emission instead of harmful chemicals or

polluting the atmosphere

then they also earned a point for

talking about using recycling

or recyclable food containers or

reusable food containers to reduced

waste and so if we look at the student

answer you know utilize redu

reusable plates and silverware to reduce

trash waste

they could have strengthened this answer

a little bit by connecting it to

landfills

but this was enough to earn the certain

uh two points here

so go ahead now and take a minute to try

to write frq number three

uh the suggested timing here would also

be about two minutes remember if this

feels quick

that's because we've already used up

some of our time annotating the frq and

making sense of it so in this case here

there's really only one correct answer

that we're looking for

and it has a few really important parts

so that's going to be photosynthesis

done by plants to take in carbon dioxide

we have to say carbon dioxide we can't

just say carbon

and convert it into glucose and so we

can see in the student exemplar

they're going to have all of those key

parts and so they're going to earn an

answer here

notice that i actually chopped their

answer off mid-sentence

they had more to this but they didn't

need it and that's exactly how the

reader is going to look at the response

once they've seen all the necessary

components you've earned the point

and you're good to go then finally we'll

try writing

practice for key number four here and

then score it together in a second

so here we have the scoring guide and i

want to highlight an answer

that the student in the exemplar is

going to use which is deforestation

now deforestation can increase

atmospheric carbon either

by actually reducing the reservoirs

meaning reducing the amount of plants

that take carbon dioxide

out of the atmosphere or through the

actual release of carbon dioxide

from the trees after they're cut down

through the process of decomposition

so let's take a look at a student

exemplar so if we look at the exemplar

here what we'll see

is that they have deforestation they

have that that decreases the amount of

plants

that are available to take carbon

dioxide from the air so they've earned

that reduced carbon reservoir point

then they have a second answer on the

second human activity is industrial

plants adding more greenhouse gases to

the air

so this looks promising but we have to

remember

that the prop specified other than

fossil fuels so they

missed a modifier here they did not

remember

that they cannot talk about fossil

fuel-related answers and so that

resulted in losing the point so remember

the annotation process is very critical

because the student probably could have

come up with another example

if they had remembered that they

couldn't have talked about fossil fuel

due to the modifier in their answer

again that's why annotation is so

critical before writing your frq

so before we end the video today we'll

look at just some key reminders or

takeaways

from the frq writing video so that's

going to be

number one be brief be specific you do

not need flowery transitions you do not

need intros or concluding statements you

do not need a thesis

you just need straightforward clear

answers using apes vocabulary

so remember if you find yourself using a

lot of this kind of eco

jargon make sure to look at the quizlets

that are in the link

in the description below so you can

elevate your writing by using more apes

vocabulary

then you want to make sure to watch out

for modifiers even if you know your apes

content and your vocabulary

you can still miss easy points when you

don't annotate properly and catch

answer modifiers and then finally there

are some major course themes that are

going to be covered on frqs every single

year

the scenario of the question may change

the avenue through which they're trying

to get at these themes will change

but you're always going to have to

address these major course themes

on frqs and so when you familiarize

yourself with the science behind them

and the apes vocabulary behind them

you're going to set yourself up to write

really quality

frqs all right everybody thanks for

watching today

again please subscribe to the channel if

you don't already watch out for those

upcoming three videos in the

writing like a scholar series and if you

haven't make sure to check out the apes

video notes

to the side here and as always

think like a mountain write like a

scholar