I'll post a sample FRQ here about comparative government and politics almost every week day until May 6. They're for practice, since that one of the best ways of preparing for the exam.
I will post 3 sets of FRQs like the ones you'll see on the AP Exam. Each set will consist of 5 "short answer concept" questions, 1 "conceptual analysis" question, and 2 "country context" questions.
You can subscribe to these questions using the RSS feed (the little broadcast icon in the address bar), and you'll see them in your news reader when I post them.
You can submit an answer using the "Questions" e-mail link at the What You Need to Know web site. (Look in the lower, right-hand section of that page.)
If you submit the earliest best answer, I'll post your answer (without your name) and a critique here a week after the question was posted. It will be in the "Comments" section for that question.
Here's Question No. 1 (It's a Short Answer - Concept question.):
Explain why political scientists distinguish between regimes and governments.
(See pp. 32, 37, 40, and 43 in What You Need to Know.)
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1 comment:
We had a virtually anonymous answer to Question #1:
The question was: "Explain why political scientists distinguish between regimes and governments."
The rubric for this question was a 4-point rubric.
•One point is awarded for an accurate definition of "regime."
•One point is awarded for an accurate definition of "government."
•Up to two points are awarded for an explanation of why political scientists would find a distinction between the concepts helpful or useful.
A regime is a persistent pattern of organization for a political system. (It's often described in a constitution or supreme law, but that detail is not necessary to earn a point for this definition.)
A government is the part of the state that exercises legitimate public authority and the people or organizations that exercise that authority.
Political scientists find the distinction between the two concepts useful because
•it makes clear the difference between the structure of a political system and the actions and actors who make policy and take action in the name of the state (e.g. politics)
•it allows for case studies comparing political structures and others comparing politics
Overall, the distinction is important because it ensures that analyses and comparisons are looking at comparable elements of political systems.
The response submitted was:
"Political scientists distinguish between regimes and governments to better understand the way states operate and rule. The regimes can be characterized in categories such as a democratic regime, such as Great Britain, or an authoritarian regime, such as the Soviet Union."
Neither definition was included in this response.
The first sentence offers a vague rationale when it states the distinction makes it possible to "better understand the way states operate and rule."
I would award this response 1 point out of 4.
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