Free AP Environmental Science Tests
AP Environmental Science FRQ Example 1
After answering AP Environmental Science FRQ 1, you can evaluate this sample response, which would receive a perfect score:
Sample Student Response
(a) Permeability, pH, composition, water retention, nutrient availability (any two of these).
(b) The amount of sand amended into the soil.
(c) The plot that was not amended by sand.
(d) More sand will decrease water retention.
(e) Decreased water retention can wash nutrients out of the soil.
(f) You would amend with calcium carbonate to reduce the pH to a more neutral level.
(g) Crop rotation, green manure, cover crops, no till, drip irrigation.
(h) Growing crops that add nitrogen to the soil like beans, cover crops and green manure adding nutrients back to the soil, no till reducing erosion of topsoil, drip irrigation limiting nutrient leaching out of the soil (correct answer will depend on previous answer).
(i) Increasing soil water retention, increasing irrigation, using GMO crops that require less water, moving to two harvests per year to increase yields (any one of these).