One of the most challenging parts of the AP exam is to understand what a question is actually asking you to do. Here are some tips to get better at that. 

1. Underline and circle key verbs, nouns, conditions, etc as you read a problem. 

2. After you think you understand what it is asking, go back and read it again to make sure you did not miss something important.  

3. Make sure you know what the expectations of the collegeboard are for the verbs they use. (see list below). Don't spend time developing a thorough response to an "indicate" level question. 

4. Look for "dead give-a-way" phrases. make flashcards with what they indicate - notate those things on the side of a question when you see them. 

• Calculate: Perform mathematical steps to arrive at a final answer, including algebraic expressions, properly substituted numbers, and correct labeling of units and significant figures. Also phrased as “What is?”

• Compare: Provide a description or explanation of similarities and/or differences.

• Derive: Perform a series of mathematical steps using equations or laws to arrive at a final answer.

• Describe: Provide the relevant characteristics of a specified topic.

• Determine: Make a decision or arrive at a conclusion after reasoning, observation, or applying mathematical routines (calculations).

• Evaluate: Roughly calculate numerical quantities, values (greater than, equal to, less than), or signs (negative, positive) of quantities based on experimental evidence or provided data. When making estimations, showing steps in calculations are not required.

• Explain: Provide information about how or why a relationship, pattern, position, situation, or outcome occurs, using evidence and/or reasoning to support or qualify a claim.

  • Explain how typically requires analyzing the relationship, process, pattern, position, situation, or outcome; 

  • Explain why typically requires analysis of motivations or reasons for the relationship, process, pattern, position, situation, or outcome.

  • Does this make physical sense? check for 

    1. variable relationship correctness (does increasing or decreasing this variable in the equation match what is expected physically), 

    2. limit matching (what would happen if a value reach zero? can it continue to infinity in the equation and does that match real life)

    3. units working our (the units combined on the right hand side of the equation should be equivalent to the units on the left hand side). 

• Justify: Provide evidence to support, qualify, or defend a claim, and/or provide reasoning to explain how that evidence supports or qualifies the claim.

• Label: Provide labels indicating unit, scale, and/or components in a diagram, graph, model, or representation.

• Plot: Draw data points in a graph using a given scale or indicating the scale and units, demonstrating consistency between different types of representations.

• Sketch/Draw: Create a diagram, graph, representation, or model that illustrates or explains relationships or phenomena, demonstrating consistency between different types of representations. Labels may or may not be required.

• State/Indicate/Circle: Indicate or provide information about a specified topic, without elaboration or explanation. Also phrased as “What…?” or ”Would…?” interrogatory questions.

• Verify: Confirm that the conditions of a scientific definition, law, theorem, or test are met in order to explain why it applies in a given situation. Also, use empirical data, observations, tests, or experiments to prove, confirm, and/or justify a hypothesis.

• Rest: velocity equals zero (but acceleration may not necessarily be zero)

• Freefall: only accelerated by gravity (no other forces), a=g

• Equilibrium: balanced forces & balanced torques (do diagrams and net force & net torque equations)

• massless or lightweight pulley/rope/rod: ignore effects of the inertia of the object explained. (some implications: tension will be consistent throughout a string or rope rather than having extra tension on the leading side of a pulley or top of a string. Rotational inertia and net torque will not need to take into account the mass of the rod)

• Constant velocity: speed and direction are constant so a=0, net F=0

• Constant speed: check for centripetal acceleration (turning) before saying net F=0

• Total kinetic energy: consider rotational energy and translational energy (do bar charts)

• total linear acceleration: Consider vector addition of acceleration on more than one axis (X and Y or acceleration from turning and from changing speed)

• rough surface: friction matters - likely energy lost to thermal energy and impulse from friction. 

• smooth surface: friction likely negligible. 

• stick together: an inelastic collision occurred (mechanical energy was converted into thermal energy - use conservation of momentum, not energy). vs bounce apart: a collision occurred, but we cannot know if it was elastic or partially inelastic, so not sure if K was conserved or not (use conservation of momentum to predict velocities). 

• velocity of the center of mass: likely a question testing if you will confuse internal forces and external forces. isolated systems have no change in velocity while external forces cause changes acceleration to the center of mass, independent of the internal forces. 

• rolling without slipping: Friction is converting energy into rotational energy at the surface (bar charts) and tangential speed equals the speed of the center of mass (so butter, fisher, and door conversions not only convert angular quantities into tangential quantities, but those are equivalent to the linear quantities for the center of mass of the object).