AP Psychology · Free-response skill

Evidence from three studies

The move. State a claim about a research question and support it with a specific finding from each of two sources, explaining how each finding backs the claim.

How to do it

  1. Read all three summaries first. For each, note the design, who took part and the main result with its numbers.
  2. Write a claim that takes one clear side and that at least two sources can support. A claim is a sentence a reader could disagree with, not a topic.
  3. For each source you use, name it, give one concrete result (a number, a group difference or a trend), and then say in your own words why that result supports the claim.
  4. Use two different sources. If one source is correlational, you can still use it, but say it shows a link, not that one thing caused the other.
  5. Keep each part to two or three sentences. A finding without an explanation, or an explanation without a finding, does only half the job.

Practice prompt Try it

Source A (fictional). Okafor and Lind studied 120 high school students who read a passage about volcanoes. Students were randomly assigned to reread the passage three times or to read it once and then take two short practice quizzes on it. One week later, the quiz group recalled an average of 64 percent of the key facts, and the reread group recalled 45 percent. Source B (fictional). Varga surveyed 500 college students about how they study. Students who said they quiz themselves often had somewhat higher course grades than those who said they rarely do, with a correlation of r = 0.31. Source C (fictional). Haddad and Moreau taught 48 adults aged 60 to 75 the names that go with 20 faces. Half practiced by trying to recall each name, and half restudied the face-name pairs. On a test right after learning, the groups were close: 15 names for the restudy group and 14 for the recall group. Two days later, the recall group remembered 13 names and the restudy group remembered 9.

Use the three sources to respond to each part.

  1. Write a claim about whether quizzing yourself helps people remember material over time better than studying it again.
  2. Pick one source. Give a specific result from it that supports your claim, and explain how that result backs the claim.
  3. Pick a different source. Give a specific result from it that supports your claim, and explain how that result backs the claim.

Write each part, then check yourself against the checklist. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Check yourself and see a model answer

Checklist

Our own checklist of what a full answer does, one line per point. Tick each one your response earns.

0 of 5 points

Model answer, annotated

(a) Quizzing yourself helps people remember material over time better than studying it again.

  • Point 1 Takes one clear side in a full sentence, and the sources can back it.

(b) In Source A, students who took two practice quizzes recalled 64 percent of the key facts a week later, compared with 45 percent for students who reread the passage. Because students were randomly assigned, the groups differed mainly in how they studied, so the higher recall points to quizzing as the cause. This is the testing effect: pulling facts out of memory makes them easier to recall later.

  • Point 2 Names the source and gives the exact numbers for both groups.
  • Point 3 Links the result to the claim through a design feature (random assignment) and names the testing effect.

(c) In Source C, older adults who practiced recalling names remembered 13 names two days later, while the restudy group remembered only 9. This supports the claim because the recall group pulled ahead on the delayed test even though the groups were close right after learning, which shows that quizzing yourself pays off over time.

  • Point 4 Uses a different source from part b and gives specific numbers from it.
  • Point 5 Links the result to the claim through a design feature: the advantage appears on the delayed test, which is what the claim is about.