How to write the AP Research Academic Paper and prepare the oral defense: exam skills quiz quiz

A multiple-choice exam (50 percent) and an essay (50 percent)

The Academic Paper (75 percent) and the Presentation and Oral Defense (25 percent)

A team project (40 percent) and an individual essay (60 percent)

The literature review (50 percent) and the method (50 percent)

1,000 to 2,000 words

2,500 to 3,500 words

8,000 to 10,000 words

4,000 to 5,000 words

A question with a known, agreed answer

A topic with no published writing at all

A specific space the existing scholarship leaves unanswered, unsettled, or untested in your context

Any subject a student finds interesting

Summarizing requires citations and synthesizing does not

Synthesizing is shorter than summarizing

Summarizing lists what each source says; synthesizing organizes sources by theme and shows how they relate

There is no difference

A detailed, replicable method whose alignment to the purpose is logically defended

Choosing the easiest method available

The longest possible description of the method

Using a survey regardless of the question

Semi-structured interviews analyzed for themes

A controlled laboratory experiment

A multiple-choice survey with fixed options

Analysis of published hospital budgets

Before any data is collected

After the data has been collected

Only if the study is published

Review is optional in AP Research

Claim the result holds for all students everywhere

State an association and note the design cannot establish causation

Conclude that more sleep causes higher grades

Ignore the finding because it was not predicted

Add as many new sources as possible

Justify a new understanding through a logical progression of reasoning that engages limitations

Simply restate the findings in new words

Summarize what was already known before the study

It does not; limitations should be hidden

It lets you avoid writing a discussion

It makes the paper longer

It shows you understand your method's boundaries, keeps claims accurate, and pre-empts criticism

Grammar, spelling, and formatting

Memorized facts, dates, and definitions

The research process, depth of understanding, and reflection

Other students' projects

Avoiding any mention of limitations

Keeping answers as short as possible

Reciting the paper from memory

Reasoning about your choices, justifying alignment and engaging limits, rather than reciting