🗳️AP Comparative Government Review
AP Comparative Government Free Response Questions (FRQ)- Past Prompts
AP Comparative Government Free Response Questions (FRQ)- Past Prompts
We’ve compiled a sortable list of AP Comparative Government past prompts! Section II, the free-response section, is worth 50% of the total AP Comparative Government and Politics exam score; Section I, the multiple-choice section, is worth the other 50%.
The AP Comparative Government free-response section makes up 50% of the exam and includes four questions: Question 1 Conceptual Analysis, Question 2 Quantitative Analysis, Question 3 Comparative Analysis, and Question 4 Argument Essay.
Current FRQ section structure: 90 minutes total. Question 1 Conceptual Analysis (4 points, recommended 10 minutes), Question 2 Quantitative Analysis (5 points, recommended 20 minutes), Question 3 Comparative Analysis (5 points, recommended 20 minutes), Question 4 Argument Essay (5 points, recommended 40 minutes).
How the current FRQs test skills: FRQ 1 (Conceptual Analysis) assesses Practice 1: Concept Application; FRQ 2 (Quantitative Analysis) primarily assesses Practice 3: Data Analysis and also applies course concepts; FRQ 3 (Comparative Analysis) assesses Practice 2: Country Comparison; FRQ 4 (Argument Essay) assesses Practice 5: Argumentation.
By practicing with previously released free-response questions, you can strengthen your content knowledge and analytical skills. However, because many of these prompts predate the current exam format, use them mainly for concept review and skill-building rather than as exact models of today’s FRQs.
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The exam was redesigned for the current format, so many older released FRQs do not match today’s task names and structure exactly. In the current exam, students complete four FRQs: Conceptual Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Comparative Analysis, and Argument Essay.
Current FRQ Task Models
Before you dive into older prompts, make sure you know what the current four task types look like.
Question 1: Conceptual Analysis
What it asks you to do: Define, describe, explain, and sometimes apply a political concept to a course country or political scenario.
Representative current-style example:
Define political legitimacy. Describe one way a government can strengthen political legitimacy. Explain how a decline in legitimacy can affect political stability in one course country.
Question 2: Quantitative Analysis
What it asks you to do: Read a table, graph, map, chart, or infographic; describe a pattern or trend; and explain what the data suggests using course concepts.
Representative current-style example:
A graph shows voter turnout over time in Mexico and the United Kingdom. Describe one trend shown in the data. Describe one difference between the two countries’ turnout levels. Explain how one feature of an electoral system or political culture could account for that pattern.
Question 3: Comparative Analysis
What it asks you to do: Compare two course countries by explaining a similarity, difference, or implication connected to a political concept, institution, or process.
Representative current-style example:
Compare judicial independence in Russia and the United Kingdom. Describe one difference in how the judiciary operates in the two countries. Explain one implication of that difference for checks on executive power.
Question 4: Argument Essay
What it asks you to do: Make a clear claim, support it with evidence from one or more course countries, and explain your reasoning.
Representative current-style example:
Develop an argument about whether social movements are more effective than political parties in producing political change. Use evidence from one or more course countries to support your claim.
Older Released Prompts for Content Practice Only
Important note: These are older released prompts from before the current four-question FRQ structure. Use them for content practice, but note that the current exam uses Conceptual Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Comparative Analysis, and Argument Essay.
Special Note: Question 4 on the 2016 exam was re-scored according to the newer rubric for the argument essay, and the scoring guides/commentaries for that prompt can be found here.
| Year | Historical Prompt Format | Unit (Topic) | Prompt | Mean Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 2 (parliamentary systems, executive systems) | Describe one power of the British prime minister. Describe one way that the British parliamentary system restrains the power of the prime minister. Explain how parliamentary systems enhance the power of the prime minister in the policy-making process | 1.52 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 3 (political culture, values and beliefs) and Unit 1 (political stability) | Identify an agent of political socialization. Describe the process of political socialization. Explain how political socialization affects a regime’s stability | 1.5 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 3 (civil society) and Unit 1 (democracy vs. authoritarianism) | Define civil society. Explain one way in which civil society can strengthen democracy. Explain why authoritarian regimes restrict civil society | .95 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Unit 2 (executive systems, Iran's Supreme Leader) | Describe one constitutional responsibility of the supreme leader in Iran. Describe the constitutionally defined relationship between the supreme leader and the Assembly of Experts. Describe the political relationship between the supreme leader and the Revolutionary Guard. | 1.33 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 3 (political participation, civil rights and liberties) and Unit 1 (authoritarianism) | Explain two reasons why an authoritarian state would allow citizens to criticize the government. Describe a specific policy adopted by Russia, China, or Iran to restrict criticism of the government | 1.34 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (concept-focused multipart prompt) | Unit 4 (party systems, electoral systems and rules) | There are different types of party systems around the world. (a) Describe one type of party system. Explain one way that type of party system influences policy making. (b) Describe another type of party system. Explain one way that type of party system influences policy making. (c) Explain how a country’s party system is influenced by the type of electoral system in the country. (d) Explain how regime change can lead to a change in the type of party system in a country. Useful for practicing concepts now assessed in FRQ 1, but not an exact current-format prompt. | 2.36 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (country-specific style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 1 (democracy vs. authoritarianism) and Unit 4 (elections and electoral systems) | Elections are held in both democratic and authoritarian regimes. (a) Describe one reason that authoritarian regimes hold elections. (b) Explain how presidential elections since 2000 strengthened or weakened democracy in Russia. (c) Explain how presidential elections since 2000 strengthened or weakened democracy in Mexico. (d) Identify one factor other than elections that strengthens democracy. Explain how that factor contributes to democracy. | 3.49 |
| Set 1: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (country-specific style) | Unit 5 (demographic change/age structure) | The population pyramids illustrate the age and sex structure of China’s and Nigeria’s populations. (a) Using the population pyramids, describe one difference in the age structure of China compared to that of Nigeria. (b) Describe one governmental policy that influenced the age structure in China. (c) Describe one economic consequence of the age structure of Nigeria. (d) Describe one economic consequence of the age structure of China. (e) Explain a political consequence of having a disproportionately younger population structure | 2.83 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Unit 1 (change in power and authority/regime change) | Define the concept of regime change. Identify a country studied in the AP Comparative Government and Politics course that has experienced a regime change since 1990. Explain how a change in regime is different from a change in government. | 1.57 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 5 (adaptation of social policies, industrialization and economic development) | Identify one indicator that measures income inequality. Describe one political consequence of income inequality. Describe a policy that governments use to reduce income inequality | 1.49 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 5 (impact of natural resources, political and economic development) | Describe the goal of sustainable development. Identify one sector of Nigeria’s economy in which sustainable development has been a serious challenge. Explain how economic factors influence environmental policy in Nigeria | 1.61 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Unit 3 (civil rights and civil liberties) | Explain one reason why both authoritarian states and democratic states use coercion domestically. Describe two ways that democratic states are constrained in their use of coercion. | 1.22 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (short-answer style) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 3 (political ideologies) and Unit 5 (economic liberalization) | Describe how the economic ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has changed since the time Deng Xiaoping held power. Explain two reasons why the CCP has changed its economic ideology over the past 30 years. | 1.35 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (concept-focused multipart prompt) | Approximate current alignment: Unit 1 (political legitimacy) with supporting institutions context; note that bureaucracy is not a standalone current topic heading | Bureaucracies can play a vital role in building legitimacy in political systems. (a) Describe two functions of a bureaucracy in a political system. (b) Identify one way governments recruit civil servants in a merit-based bureaucracy. Explain how this method of recruitment can build legitimacy in a political system. (c) Identify one way governments recruit civil servants in a non-merit-based bureaucracy. Explain how this method of recruitment can build legitimacy in a political system. Aligns loosely to skills now seen in FRQ 1, but predates the current exam structure. | 2.66 |
| Set 2: 2019 | Legacy pre-2020 format (country-specific style) | Unit 2 (executive systems; parliamentary vs. presidential systems) | The selection process for the chief executive helps distinguish systems that fuse powers from systems that separate powers. (a) Describe two steps in the process of selecting the British prime minister. (b) Explain how the selection process for the British prime minister reflects a fusion of power. (c) Describe the process of selecting the Mexican president. (d) Explain how the selection process for the Mexican president reflects a separation of power | 2.87 |