TODD BEACH: Hi, everyone.
My name is Todd Beach.
I teach AP European History at Eastview High School
in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
That's a suburb of Minneapolis in Saint Paul.
We're here today to talk with you about the Short Answer
Question, the SAQ.
KATIE LANDSEA: And I'm Katie Landsea.
I teach at Coral Gables Senior High School in Miami, Florida.
And as we move into the SAQ--
on our first SAQ video, we talked about this.
But we're going to reiterate exactly what your tests are
going to be on the AP exam.
You are going to write three short answer questions,
and those three short answer questions
are going to be 40 minutes and the first part of the AP exam,
and it's going to comprise 20% of your total score
in the exam.
So SAQ 1 or the first question is
going to be either one or two secondary source
interpretations.
It's going to focus on developments or processes
between the years 1600 and 2001.
We practiced one of those in our video number two.
So if you'd like to see that, please check that out.
We are going to make sure that we
are looking at secondary sources for that question.
Our question 2, which is what we're going to focus on today,
will be a primary source, and will also
focus on historical developments between 1600 and 2001.
And then, in questions 3 and 4, students get a choice.
They get to choose which of the two questions they prefer.
There are going to be no sources on these questions.
They're just going to be prompts that they have to respond
to the three different parts.
And we can kind of unpack how we should format those SAQ
questions.
Todd, if you want to take this.
TODD BEACH: Great.
Thanks, Katie.
As we think about the short answer question,
we want to make sure that we look at their-- there
are three different parts.
There's an A task, a B task, and a C task.
We do want you to label each part.
And then, there's going to be a task verb in each part.
Sometimes those task verbs get more difficult
as you progress through the question.
So what are the task verbs?
The first one is to identify--
that just indicate or provide information about a topic.
B-- the next task verb would be to describe something,
just tell us what happened.
Provide relevant information about a specific topic.
And then, they often will also use explain as a task verb.
This is a bit of a higher bar task verb
because you have to tell us what happened,
a historical situation or the outcome or something,
with evidence.
But you also give us-- have to give us the how, why,
or because.
If it says explain, you must give us that how, why,
or because.
So as we think about a structure, a paragraph
structure to write your SAQ, one of the structures
that Katie and I suggest is called a "TEA" structure.
So first, as I said, you're going to label your response.
Is this the A-- response to A, response to B,
or response to C.
Then we want you to use the stem of the prompt
to begin your response to the prompt.
And that will help you construct a topic sentence.
Because what we talk about with a TEA structure,
it's T-E-A, or something similar.
Your teacher may have taught you a different structure,
but we're suggesting this one.
And if your teachers taught you one,
you should definitely use that.
But T is the topic sentence for the paragraph, followed by E,
we're going to provide relevant evidence and example that
supports what we're saying in that topic sentence.
And then, A is our analysis, and gets at how, why, or because,
the linking to what was being said in the topic sentence that
demonstrates that reasoning that we're definitely looking for.
So TEA structure for the SAQ.
KATIE LANDSEA: OK.
So we're going to do a little practice question.
We're going to actually use a question that
was on last year's AP exam, and you can see here the image.
The source is at the bottom.
And just like any time that there is a passage or a source,
we want you to really have a look at what the source is.
We have the time, 1891.
The artist name, Kennington, and it
is called The Pinch of Poverty.
And take a look and see what's going on in the picture.
We have this mother with her children,
and the girl is selling flowers, and the mother has the baby.
So you really want to take all that in,
and you want to do it in the context of the time period
because one of the tasks is going to actually ask
you to think about the context.
But the first task in A is asking
you to describe the attitude towards poverty that's
expressed in the painting.
So you're going to really go through,
and you're going to think about what is the attitude that we're
seeing in this picture, and what does it say about poverty
and having a look at the time period.
The second task, the B task asks you
to describe a broader context in which the painting is produced.
So you really need to have a look quickly
and think about what's happening during that time period
when the artist painted this picture.
And then, in C, we have that higher bar task
that Todd just talked about and making sure
that you do more with this.
Explain one way in which reformers
during the late 1800s and early 1900s
attempted to address the problems of poverty in Europe.
So we want to make sure that you're
very clear about this explanation task verb.
All right.
And then, again, we want to look at the time period of the task
to make sure that the evidence that you're bringing in
fits during that time period.
All right.
So Todd, why don't you take A?
TODD BEACH: We're going to begin with a student response
from last year's exam for task A.
And again, we're thinking what was task A?
They're asking us to describe the attitude toward poverty
in the painting.
So task-- or excuse me, the sample reads the attitude
towards poverty in the painting--
notice that they're using the stem of that prompt to begin
responding to the prompt--
attitude towards poverty in the painting
is that of respect and sadness.
We have a topic sentence.
OK, so there's our T.
It continues.
Now we're looking for the E part.
The painting depicts the family with sort of down or sad look
on their faces.
But they are depicted not corrupt or lazy.
OK, so we're giving evidence of what
is going on in the painting.
And then, it continues.
The mother with three young children
relays a feeling of sadness or pity to the viewer,
depicting poverty as people in need of help
that are not criminal or lazy.
So this is definitely going to earn the response.
That's our analysis because they have given us
a description of the attitude toward poverty in the painting.
It describes that artist's view.
People living in poverty need help because they
are neither criminal or lazy.
So this one would earn the point.
KATIE LANDSEA: Great.
TODD BEACH: You want to do task B, Katie?
KATIE LANDSEA: I will.
So task B, again, has that skill of contextualization.
Describe a broader context in which
the painting was produced.
And so, we have this student response
that talks very specifically.
Again, it does what we want it to do.
Using the language of the question,
the broader context in which this was produced
was after the industrialization of cities
and the rise of poverty in urban areas because of it.
So we've got our topic sentence there.
Throughout the 19th century, cities became more populated.
And as a result, they became more
filled with people in poverty who were unable to work
or worked for low wages and factories
which led to poor and crowded cities.
The picture shows these families in large, dirty areas--
large, dirty cities as a result of industrialization
and urban growth.
So we had our evidence there.
We had a bit of analysis at the end,
and we definitely have industrialization
as the context for the picture.
And that's accurate.
So it's the effects of industrialization.
It shows how industrialization and urbanization
led to crowded, dirty cities where people lived in poverty
and had to work for low wages possibly in factories.
So we definitely have context here.
We have the language of the question being used.
It's a nice response that earns the point for B.
TODD BEACH: Yeah.
Great job with that response.
Sample C, then, is the task or sample--
response for task C. And again, C
is explain one way in which reformers
during the late 1800s and early 1900s
attempted to address the problems of poverty in Europe.
So we have to know more than what we can see in the image.
So it reads, one way in which reformers
attempted to address the problem was with welfare programs.
So notice how they use the stem or some language of that
prompt to begin responding to the prompt and then
gave an answer, like, with welfare programs.
We have now a topic sentence.
It continues.
Reformers began to push for welfare programs that
would help the elderly, sick or unemployed, or "deserving
poor."
So that gives us an evidence or example.
Notice they went beyond just saying "welfare programs,"
some label.
They're going to go in deeper and give us a little bit more.
And then, finally, it says, reformers tied to-- tried,
excuse me, to push these welfare programs in order
to help people in poverty rise out of poverty.
So what were they doing that for, or how
did they address the problems?
That how do they address the problems-- remember
what we said, you've got to give us the how, why, or because.
The how is they're attempting to get people in poverty
to rise out by using these programs.
So we definitely are going to get all-- the full point
on this.
We have our T, and our E, and the A of the A structure.
And that last bullet point says, European states
by pushing for welfare programs for the sick, elderly,
and other groups classified as that "deserving poor."
So you can see it doesn't have to be too long a response,
but it needs to really be on point.
And they've done each of those parts.
And I think the TEA structure helps you with that.
KATIE LANDSEA: Yeah.
I think it does too.
It really keeps you focused and especially
with the higher bar task, it makes sure
that you rise at least to that level of analysis.
So that's great.
All right.
So our key takeaways.
Our key takeaways are, of course,
the strategies for writing the SAQ.
We want you to label and want you
to respond to each of the tasks.
Like, It's really important that you do that.
We want you to use the stem of the prompt
to begin your response.
It just really helps keep you, as the writer, focused on what
the prompt is asking you to do.
We really recommend that you use a structure.
We like the TEA structure.
Your teacher may have a different structure,
and that's totally fine.
But I think having structure, even in these smaller questions
is really valuable.
Having the topic sentence, following that up
with evidence or an example, and ending
with analysis which is required in the explain part--
the explain task verb, which is a how, a why, or a because.
And I think that will help keep you focused.
All right.
Thank you very much for watching.
TODD BEACH: We hope that helped you.
Thank you again.
Take care.