How Long is the AP Environmental Science

Exam? Tips to Manage Your Time for a 5

The AP Environmental Science exam tests your knowledge of environmental science, namely
the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the
interrelationships of the natural world. You will be asked to identify and analyze environmental
problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these
problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and preventing them.

To help you prepare, lets break down the AP Environmental Science exam into sections and
look at some tips on how to tackle each section effectively under the given time constraints
AP test time management is crucial to success on the exam.

How Long is the AP Environmental Science Exam?

The AP Environmental Science exam has two sections. The total exam is three hours long.
The details of each section and part are outlined in the table below:
100 Questions
1 hour 30 minutes
Section I: Multiple Choice 60% of total exam score

4 Questions
1 hour 30 minutes
Section II: Free-Response 40% of total exam score

Section I of the AP Environmental Science Exam.

How Long is the AP Environmental Science Exam Section I?
The first part of Section I of the AP Environmental Science Exam is Multiple Choice. You will
have one hour and 30 minutes to answer 100 questions, which works out to slightly under one
minute per question. This part accounts for 60% of your total exam score.
Here, you are given individual questions and questions in sets. The breakdown by topic is as
follows:
Earth Systems and Resources 10%15%

The Living World 10%15%

Population 10%15%

Land and Water Use 10%15%

Energy Resources and Consumption 10%15%

Pollution 25%30%

Global Change 10%15%

Practice questions in all topics so you can determine which areas you are weaker in this
should help guide your studying.
 How to Manage Your Time in Section I of the AP Environmental Science Exam
While the exam structure may appear daunting, there are some things you should keep in
mind to maximize your score on Section I:
1. It is important to recognize that most of the multiple-choice questions are independent.
If you are having trouble answering one question dont waste your valuable time struggling.
Remember, you have less than one minute per question! Instead, move on to the next
question, which you may be able to answer correctly. Cut your losses when you have to, and
keep in mind that you can always double back to work on skipped questions if you have
enough time. And in case you cant figure out the correct answer, just take an educated guess,
as there is no penalty for incorrect answers.
2. For questions that come in groups, try to use the information provided in some
questions to answer a question that you are confused by. Pay attention to chronology and
other context clues that you can pick up if you treat all the questions as belonging to a set. And
it is not necessarily true that if you do not know the answer to one question in a set, you will be
unable to answer all of them make sure you attempt them all.
3. Tailor your studying to the course outline. CollegeBoard provides a detailed list of
topics and focus areas that you should read thoroughly before you begin studying. Devote
most of your time to areas in which you are weak, and more importantly, topics that will make
up the bulk of the exam. For example, the Pollution topic should make up at least one-fourth of
the exam, whereas the Global Change topic could make up as little as one-tenth of the exam.
Naturally, it would not be in your best interest to spend the same amount of time reviewing
Global Change and Pollution.
4. The course outline also contains six themes that are viewed as integral to the course.
Understand why these themes are importance, and think about their relevance when you are
answering multiple-choice questions. Knowing why you are being asked a certain question can
often help you answer a confusing question. Hopefully, these tips will help you with your AP
Environmental Science test time management. Now, lets break down

Section II of the AP Environmental Science Exam.

How Long is the AP Environmental Science Exam Section II?
Section II of the AP Environmental Science Exam is the Free Response Section. As
you would expect, you are not given any choices to select. You have one hour and 30
minutes to answer four questions, which works to slightly over 22 minutes per
question. This section accounts for 40% of your total exam score.
There will be one data set question, one document-based question, and two synthesis
and evaluation questions.
These questions will test your ability to quickly formulate arguments, form inferences,
and craft analysis drawn from the sources provided to you. If you dont understand
early on how to go about following the instructions on the exam, you might find this
portion more difficult than the multiple-choice section.

How to Manage Your Time in Section II of the AP Environmental Science Exam

Free Response questions can be a little scary because you cant guess if youre not sure of
yourself. However, we believe these AP test time management tips will help you ace Section II:
1. Read the question multiple times to understand what is truly being asked. Getting to
the core of the prompt will help you craft a concise thesis that serves as the centerpiece to
your entire response.
2. Following the thesis, construct a roadmap that serves as a guide to your reader. It will
serve as an outline for subsequent paragraphs and conveys how they relate to your thesis.
 Organize the rest of your essay with topic sentences that directly follow from your thesis and
provide a summary of the rest of the paragraph. Then, provide context, cite your evidence, and
lastly, dive into the analysis that relates your evidence to your thesis. Following this strategy
will develop a clear structure that will add clarity to your responses.
3. Group your documents when answering the document-based question according to
each documents message and stance. Think about each source from the perspective of the 3
Es: environmental, ecological, and economic. Once you make proper groups, it will be easy
for your craft arguments using different groups of documents. This ensures you will make use
of all documents and do not contradict yourself. Furthermore, pay attention to the authors
perspective when analyzing documents. It is important to keep in mind that many sources are
biased depending on the author and time period in which the piece was written.
4. If you are asked to calculate something in a question, especially in the data set
question, make sure you neatly show all of your work. You can be awarded partial credit even
if you do not arrive at the correct answer, so be sure to include all intermediate steps.
Generally for these types of questions, you need to correctly set up the calculation (one point)
and arrive at a correct answer (one point), so you may earn half the points even if your answer
is incorrect.

How to Practice Time Management for AP Environmental Science?

In addition to the AP test time management tips provided above, you may find it helpful to
consult this post, which outlines the ultimate list of tips for the AP Environmental Science
exam. The post discusses the specific topics which will be covered on the exam, common
types of questions, and general strategies to help you solve them, along with a list of tips from
AP Environmental Science teachers. And if you want to get some practice, check out these
practice questions. The more you practice, the more familiarity you will build with different
types of questions. Eventually, you will be able to identify which areas you are weaker in and
can direct the bulk of your studying efforts to improving your understanding of those concepts.
Dont forget to time yourself while you work on practice questions so you can test yourself on
managing your time as well as reviewing concepts. Some multiple-choice questions are
notorious for being significant time drains, which can cost you when answering the rest of
Section I questions. If you find yourself stuck on a multiple-choice question for more than a
couple of minutes, it may be in your best interest to cut your losses and utilize the process of
elimination to guess the most likely answer. Dont let one question you cant solve prevent you
from answering multiple questions you can.
Hopefully, these tips help with your AP test time management. Best of luck with your exam!

SOURCE (of the above)

https://www.albert.io/blog/how-long-is-the-ap-environmental-science-exam-tips-to-
manage-your-time-for-a-5/?
utm_source=sendy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ap-environmental-
science-subscriber

EXAM: Wednesday 17th May 12:00 to 15:00hrs, Dumas

ALBERT BLOG, 1 MONTH STUDY GUIDE: https://www.albert.io/blog/one-month-ap-

environmental-science-study-guide/