AP Business with Personal Finance

Unit 1 Review

Topics 1.1 to 1.7 · about 25 minutes · go at your own pace

Visualize

Before you answer anything

Almost everyone walks out of a checkpoint saying "I knew that one." Knowing something and being able to pull it out in forty seconds are two different skills, and only one of them gets measured.

Every question in here is built on a place where two course terms sit close enough together that people grab the wrong one under time pressure. Not obscure ones. The ordinary ones you would swear you already have.

So commit first. Pick the two topics you think would cost you the most points right now. You are going to find out whether you were right.

Pick 2

Nothing here is collected or sent anywhere. It stays in this browser window.

Only here for the written question? Open the FRQ guide.

Explore

Explore

What that actually showed

out of 26
topics to reopen

Topic by topic

TopicRight

Fewer than two-thirds right in a topic is the signal to reopen that section of your study guide before you do anything else.

Create

Build your own trap sheet

This is the part that does the work. A sheet somebody else wrote is something you read. A sheet you wrote is something you remember.

You decide what goes on it. Your misses are checked already because that is where the evidence points, but you are not stuck with them - add any mix-up you want, take off any you already own. Keep it to the ones you would actually reread.

Then put each one in your own words. Copying the line below it does nothing. Rewriting it is the whole exercise - if you can say it your way, you have it.

Create

Your trap sheet

Print it, or photograph it with your phone. Read it once more right before the checkpoint - it is short on purpose.

My Unit 1 trap sheet

Topics 1.1 to 1.7 · in my own words

    The written question

    The FRQ, in order

    Read this once. This page is for studying at home. You will not have it during the checkpoint - the only sheet allowed on your desk is the one-page FRQ Process Guide your teacher hands out. Everything below is about method: the order to write in, and the four places people throw away points they had already earned.
    1. What the verb is actually asking for

    A correct idea answering the wrong instruction earns nothing. Find the verb first, before you decide what to say.

    IdentifyName it. One correct term. No explanation, and no credit for adding one. DescribeThe term plus one or two of its characteristics. ExplainA claim, the word because, and the concept that connects them. CompareBOTH things named, ONE shared criterion, and the difference stated out loud. RecommendPick ONE and defend it. Never "both." Never "it depends." CalculateThe setup, the numbers, and the answer with its units.
    2. The formula: Claim, Concept, Because, Evidence

    Four moves, in that order, every time. If a sentence is missing one, it is missing points.

    • Claim - answer the question in one sentence, first.
    • Concept - name the course term. Use its actual name.
    • Because - the reasoning that links the claim to the concept.
    • Evidence - a number or a fact from the scenario in front of you, not from your own life.

    Worked on an example business. Prompt: Explain how Harbor Lane Bakery captures value.

    Zero points

    "They make really good bread and people like it, so they make money."

    Full credit

    "Harbor Lane captures value by charging more for a loaf than the loaf costs to make (claim and concept), because value capture is charging a price higher than the cost to produce (because), and the scenario says each loaf costs $2.10 in ingredients and labor and sells for $6 (evidence)."

    Same idea in both. Only one of them names the concept and points at a number.

    3. The Business Decision question, part by part

    This is the one with two options and a table. Each part asks for something specific, and the most common way to lose points here is doing more work than the question asked for.

    PartWhat it wants
    (a)TWO decision-making criteria, and why each one matters for this business. Not why it matters in general.
    (b)Pick ONE of your two criteria. Compare Option 1 and Option 2 on that one criterion, using a specific number or fact from the scenario or the table.
    (c)Recommend ONE option and defend it, naming at least one course concept - core competencies, competitive advantage, value capture, access to funding, control, stakeholders.
    (d)ONE risk of the option you picked, plus ONE thing the business could do to reduce it. Both halves - the fix is the half people leave out.
    Part (b) is the one to slow down on. It asks you to use one of your criteria, not both. Comparing both options on both criteria is double the writing for the same points, and it blurs the focus the question is rewarding. One criterion. Both options. A number.
    4. The criteria menu - pick from the course's own lists

    When part (a) asks for two criteria, take them from here rather than inventing one. Two from different rows usually makes a stronger answer than two from the same row.

    • Running the business: cost, quality, efficiency, convenience, risk
    • Owning the business: control over decision making, liability, access to funding
    • People: benefit or harm to each stakeholder group, internal and external
    • Identity: consistency with the vision, the mission, or the core values

    Whichever two you choose, part (a) has to say why that business cares about them. "Cost matters because businesses want to save money" earns nothing.

    5. Sentence starters, if you freeze
    • Identify: "One criterion is ______."
    • Explain: "______ matters for this business because ______."
    • Compare: "On ______, Option 1 ______ while Option 2 ______."
    • Recommend: "The business should choose Option ___ because ______."
    • Risk and fix: "One risk is ______. To reduce it, the business could ______."

    A starter is a way in, not the whole sentence. Finish every blank with something from the scenario.

    6. Four ways people throw away points they already earned
    • Recommending "both," or "it depends." Recommend means choose. A defended choice that turns out to be the harder one still scores; a fence does not.
    • Reasoning with no number in it. If the scenario gives you a table, the grader is looking for something out of that table.
    • Comparing on a criterion you never identified in part (a). The parts are supposed to connect.
    • Naming a risk and stopping. Part (d) asks for a risk and a fix. Leave the fix out and you have answered half the question - and it is always the half people leave out.

    There is no single right recommendation. Either option can earn full credit. What is scored is your criteria, your evidence, and your reasoning - never which one you picked.