Sample Comparative FRQs

Each weekday between now and May 1, Ken Wedding is posting a question about comparative government and politics.

You submit an answer to the "Questions" e-mail link at the What You Need to Know web site.

(You can also win a pair of WYNTK pencils by posing a question that gets used here.)

Here's Question No. 12:

Since Putin's reforms in the past three years seem to be reducing the choices available to voters, what has he done to promote legitimacy of the Russian regime and his government?

Anonymous' answer is:"I think, that although Putin has narrowed the number of choices on the ballot, he still gave the facade of legitimacy by holding elections"

and"since Putin has a good control of the media in Russia. he also will be able to influence public opinion though the media. which, for the most part, would show him in a good light and having a good impact on the country of Russia and most likely never have anything negative that he has done, which would also give him legitimacy in the light of the people of Russia."

_________________

(From the former Chief Reader)

This would be a two-point question.

My rubric lists the following "things" that could be done to promote the legitimacy of the Russian regime and Putin's government while he was reducing the role of representation (there might be other good answers, but unlike the committees who write rubrics for the exam questions, I'm working alone on this.

• holding apparently competitive elections
• acting nationalistically
• improving standards of living
• maintaining stability and law and order
• demonstrating the power of the government
• acting powerfully in the international sphere
• promoting the appearance of effective government
• organizing public support (like United Russia or Nashi)

There could be several examples for some of those items. Any one would earn a point. Two examples are necessary to earn both possible points.Anonymous' example would earn both points.

Two things to remember:

• The first sentence of Anonymous' answer is important because the rubrics used for the AP exams often require that kind of introduction (although there are no points awarded for it).
• If you're unsure if one of your examples is appropriate, list a third one (or a fourth or a fifth).

Just don't spend too much time on your effort because you need time for the other 7 questions on the FRQ section of the exam. On the AP exam there's no penalty for having more than enough right answers and there's no penalty for having an incorrect response. Your answer begins the grading process by being worth zero (0) points. It will earn points for including appropriate information or logic that are on the graders' rubric. You won't earn extra credit for more right answers than required. For instance, there's no way to get more than 2 points for this question.

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