Write the Synthesis Essay

Goal: read a synthesis prompt and six sources, take your own position first, choose and group the sources that support it, name each source the AP way, explain how the evidence proves your claims, handle a source that complicates your position, and write a whole synthesis essay on the clock.

Time: three sittings of about 30 to 35 minutes, one 15-minute return day, and one timed essay when you have about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Help: you can do this on your own or with family. You do not need a tutor. The Forms score your answers, the answer key explains every choice, and this module shows you how to score the Thesis, Evidence and Commentary, and Sophistication rows on your own essay.

How it works: start at the top and work down in order. When you reach a line that says Stop here, you are done for that day.

Get these ready:

• Your tracker. Use the same copy you used in Modules 1 to 7.
• The answer key for Module 8. Keep it closed until a step tells you to open it.
• Your Tool Card: Rhetorical Analysis (Student). You will use its POWre section. The rest of the card is built for analyzing a speaker, so this module gives you its own synthesis tools in a table below.
• Paper and a pencil, or your own copy of this doc.
• A timer.
• For Part 6: a blank doc to type your essay in.

Why it is built this way: Question 1 is the only essay that gives you evidence, and that is the trap. Students most often lose points in three ways. Their thesis only summarizes what the sources say. Their paragraphs go through the sources one at a time (Source A says, Source B says), so the sources do the talking and the student does not. Their explanations retell a source and do not say why it proves a point. This module has you take your own position first, group the sources by the point each one supports, and keep your voice first and the sources second.

If you get stuck

Do these in order:

1. Read the explanation in your Form results or the answer key.
2. Open the Synthesis tools table below and find the step you are stuck on.
3. Add the question to the My Mistakes tab, keep going, and try it again at your next sitting.
4. Still stuck? Post your question in the Community Stream in the Student Hub. Start your post with Q: so tutors and other students can answer it. Nobody scores essays in this kit, so ask about one specific step.

Doing this with your family

A family member does not need to know the answers. They can read your thesis out loud and ask, "Could a smart person argue the opposite?" They can cover the sources and ask, "Do I know your position?" They can read each piece of evidence and ask, "Which source is that from?" If the answer to the first is no, to the second is no, or to the third is a shrug, the sentence needs work. They should not write your thesis or score your essay for you. The score is useful only when you do the scoring.

Your synthesis tools

These tools come from the earlier modules and from the FFW argument workbook. You will use each one in this module.

Try first (about 5 minutes)

Open the Try First Check. Answer all 5 questions before you read anything below. Mark how sure you are on each one. It is fine to miss some, because trying first helps you remember the answers later.

When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker.

Got 5 out of 5? Skip Part 1 and go to Part 2.

Part 1: Read the prompt and the sources (about 15 minutes)

Question 1 is the synthesis essay. You get a short prompt about an issue, then six short sources, and one task. To synthesize means to take your own position and use several sources together to support it. The sources are evidence. They are not the essay. At least one source is a chart, graph, picture, or table.

On the exam, the first 15 minutes is a reading period for Question 1, so you can read the sources before you start writing. Then you have about 40 minutes to write it. This module trains both parts.

What every synthesis prompt asks for

The directions are the same every year. Here they are in our own words.

Read the six sources, including the short introduction to each one. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the issue. In your essay, do these five things: take a position that answers the prompt; use evidence from at least three of the sources; show which source each piece of evidence comes from; explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning; and use clear grammar and punctuation.

What the three scoring rows ask for in a synthesis essay

The three rows are the same as in the other essays, but the words change because you are using sources. The words in the table are our own, written for practice. You can also read the official scoring rubrics from College Board, which cover all three free-response questions. This table follows the same pattern as the Module 1 table.

This score is practice feedback on one essay. It is not an official AP score, and it does not predict your exam score.

Pick apart the prompt: Do and What

The first step of POWre is to find what the prompt asks you to Do, and about What. Here is the practice prompt for Parts 1 to 5. The sources follow it.

Prompt: Many teenagers take part-time jobs while they are in high school. Some people say that work teaches responsibility and skills that classes do not. Others say that a job takes time and energy that students need for school and sleep. Read the six sources provided, including the introduction to each. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the extent to which teenagers should work during the school year.

Original practice prompt written for Future-Focused Writing in the AP synthesis format. The sources are excerpts from U.S. government pages and from books published before 1929.

Read the sources: the Source Table

You will not have time to read every word twice. Read each source in four quick steps and write the result in a Source Table.

A chart or table needs a few more questions.

The six sources for the practice prompt

Source A (U.S. Department of Labor, rules on work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds)

Introduction: The U.S. Department of Labor explains the federal rules for young workers on its YouthRules website. States also have rules, and employers must follow both.

"If you are 14 or 15 years old, you can only work outside of school hours. ... You may not work:

More than 3 hours on a school day, including Friday;

More than 18 hours per week when school is in session;

More than 8 hours per day when school is not in session;

More than 40 hours per week when school is not in session; and

Before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. on any day, except from June 1 through Labor Day, when nighttime work hours are extended to 9:00 p.m."

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, YouthRules!, "Non-Agricultural Jobs - 14-15," dol.gov.

Source B (chart: percent of young people with a job in July)

Introduction: The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts the percent of people who have a job. July is usually the highest month for young workers. The figures below are for July only, and they are not adjusted for the season.

Percent of people in each age group who had a job in July. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Economics Daily, August 26, 2026 (Current Population Survey, not seasonally adjusted).

Source C (Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, 1901)

Introduction: Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. In his autobiography he explains why the students there did the work of building and running the school as well as taking classes. The spelling is from the original.

"From the very beginning, at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was to have them, while performing this service, taught the latest and best methods of labour, so that the school would not only get the benefit of their efforts, but the students themselves would be taught to see not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity; would be taught, in fact, how to lift labour up from mere drudgery and toil, and would learn to love work for its own sake."

Source: Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography (1901), public domain.

Source D (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen sleep)

Introduction: The CDC surveys U.S. high school students every two years. This page reports how many of them get the sleep the CDC recommends. The CDC says teenagers need about 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night.

The CDC states: "Too little sleep can make concentrating harder, affect mental health, and increase risky behaviors, especially unsafe driving."

The page reports that 24 percent of high school students got at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night in 2025. The same figure was 27 percent in 2015. In 2025, by grade, the figure was 31 percent for 9th graders, 25 percent for 10th graders, 20 percent for 11th graders, and 20 percent for 12th graders.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, "Sleep," cdc.gov.

Source E (Bureau of Labor Statistics article on teen summer jobs, 2017)

Introduction: A Bureau of Labor Statistics economist wrote this article for a government magazine about careers. It is from 2017 and uses 2016 numbers. It is about summer jobs.

The article begins by listing earning money, gaining experience, and building confidence as "just a few of the rewards for teens who work."

It explains why teens often take certain jobs: "Occupations that employed large numbers of young workers typically require no formal educational credential or experience to enter, and none usually require more than 1 month of on-the-job training to attain competency." Its table lists cashiers (738,000 workers ages 16 to 19 in 2016), waiters and waitresses (326,000), and retail salespersons (290,000) as the largest groups.

Source: Domingo Angeles, "Summer employment: A snapshot of teen workers," Career Outlook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2017.

Source F (chart: injuries at work by age group)

Introduction: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the CDC, gathers numbers on young workers who are hurt. The numbers come from several different data systems, so they are estimates. A full-time equivalent (FTE) worker is one year of full-time hours.

NIOSH estimates that 26,900 injuries to 15- to 17-year-old workers were treated in emergency departments in 2022. It reports 19 work-related deaths of young people under 18 in 2022.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIOSH, "Young Worker Employment, Injuries and Illnesses Charts," cdc.gov (March 2026).

Your turn

Read the six sources above and fill in the Source Table on paper. Write the main point in five words or fewer, which side it helps, and one detail you could use. Then pick apart the prompt: write the task, the issue, and the qualifier. When you are done, open the answer key, Part 1, to compare.

Part 2: Take your own position first (about 12 minutes)

A thesis in a synthesis essay does one job: it takes a position that answers the prompt. The Thesis row is worth 1 point, and it is pass or fail. A thesis that only summarizes the sources earns 0, even if the summary is correct.

Your position comes first, and the sources come second

Read the sources to learn about the issue. Then decide what you think. Then go back and choose the sources that help you. Do not start with the sources and let them decide for you. The Position-first test: cover the sources. Do I still know your position?

The thesis formula

"Although [the other side's best point], [your position] because [your main reason]." Although brings in the other side, which is often the strongest source against you. Your position answers the prompt. Because starts your line of reasoning.

Three checks for your thesis

1. The disagree test. Could a smart person argue the opposite? If not, add a limit such as mostly, only when, or as long as, or take the less common side.
2. The position-first test. Cover the sources. Do I still know your position?
3. It has a because. It gives a reason, which starts your line of reasoning.

A thesis for a synthesis essay does not use the frame from Module 3 (speaker, accurate verb, purpose, by, moves). That frame is for analyzing a speaker. Here you are the one making the argument.

Your turn

The worked example in this part argues that teenagers should limit school-year work. Take the other side. Use the Source Table you filled in, and decide whether you can prove that teenagers should be free to work. On paper: (1) write your thesis with the formula; (2) run the three checks. Then open the answer key, Part 2, to compare.

Replay Game 1 and try to beat your score.

Part 3: Choose sources, group them by point, and build a line of reasoning (about 15 minutes)

You do not need all six

You must use at least three sources. Using all six usually means one weak sentence for each. Three or four sources used well, each with a claim, a specific detail, and commentary, score higher. Choose a source because it does a job for one of your claims.

Group the sources by the point they support

Do not go through the sources in the order they appear. Sort them by the point each one supports. Each of your claims gets one or two sources. Here is the worked example for the practice prompt. It uses the thesis from Part 2: Although a job can teach what a class cannot, teenagers should keep school-year work to a few hours a week, because sleep and study time are already short and a job takes both.

This position uses five sources and leaves out none by accident. Source B is used only to answer the other side. On the exam, three or four sources used well is enough.

A line of reasoning, not a list

Your claims connect to each other and build toward your thesis. The Shuffle Test: if you could swap your paragraphs without changing anything, you have a list. Start with the claim that is easiest for the reader to accept, then move to a harder one, and put the other side third. Say how each claim connects to the one before it in one sentence before you write. Some words show a connection, and some only list.

Your turn

Use your thesis from Part 2, the side that says teenagers should be free to work. Write your three claims in order, with the other side third. Under each claim, write the source letters and the details you would use. For each claim after the first, write one sentence that says how it connects to the one before it. Then open the answer key, Part 3, to compare.

Part 4: Name the source, put your voice first, and explain (about 15 minutes)

Name every source

The reader must always know which source you are using. You can name a source by its letter, by the writer or group named in its heading, or by its title in your own sentence. You do not need page numbers or a works-cited list.

Here are three ways that students name a source too loosely, and how to fix them.

Quote with care. A short exact phrase inside your own sentence is stronger than a long quotation. A paraphrase or a number is also allowed. If you paraphrase, still name the source. Use a verb that fits what the source does.

Your voice first, the sources second

Every body paragraph has the same order. Your claim comes first. Then the evidence from the source, in your sentence. Then your commentary. Then your link back to the thesis. If the first thing in a paragraph is a source, the paragraph is a summary of that source.

This is CECL, from Module 7, with one change. In Module 7 you brought your own evidence. Here the evidence is in the sources, so naming the source is part of the Evidence step.

Commentary in a synthesis essay does two jobs

• Say what the evidence shows and why it proves your claim. Run the Retell Test. If you only say the source again, it is not commentary yet.
• Put two sources in conversation. Say what two sources show together that neither shows alone. A good way is to say how one source builds on, adds to, or complicates another. Example: the sleep numbers in Source D and the hours rule in Source A together show a gap that neither shows alone.

Commentary starters: "This shows that..." "This matters because..." "Together, these sources show..." "The reason this works is..." "Without this..." "This explains why..." Use a starter only if what comes after it says why, and not just what.

Open the Practice Set and answer the questions there. The Form asks how sure you are on each one, scores your answers, and explains every choice.

If you prefer paper, answer below, mark each one 1 (guess), 2 (maybe), or 3 (sure), and check them in the answer key.

Question 1. A student uses evidence from only two of the six sources, and uses both well. Using the Evidence and Commentary row in this module, what is the highest score this essay can earn on that row?

A) 2, because a 3 or a 4 needs specific evidence from at least three sources.

B) 4, because the two sources are used well.

C) 3, if the commentary is very strong.

D) 0, because every essay must use all six sources.

Question 2. A student reads this table. Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds with a job in July: 1978, 60.1; 1998, 54.7; 2008, 39.2; 2026, 36.5. Which statement is a fact the table shows?

A) Teenagers stopped working because school became harder.

B) The share of 16- to 19-year-olds with a job in July fell from 60.1 percent in 1978 to 36.5 percent in 2026.

C) Fewer teenagers work during the school year than in 1978.

D) Teenagers today do not want jobs.

Question 3. Which thesis answers the prompt about teenagers working during the school year with a position that has a limit?

A) Teenagers working during the school year is a topic with many views.

B) Teenagers should work during the school year to some extent.

C) Teenagers should work during the school year only when the job leaves time to sleep and finish schoolwork, because lost sleep cannot be made up later.

D) According to the sources, many teenagers work in restaurants and stores.

Question 4. A student's claim is that a few hours of work give a teenager the main benefits of a job. Which sentence best begins the body paragraph?

A) Source E says that teen jobs have rewards.

B) Jobs are important for many reasons.

C) There are many sources about teenagers and work.

D) A teenager does not need a long shift to gain the main benefits of a job, because the jobs most teenagers hold can be learned in about a month.

Question 5. A student's three claims are: (1) teenagers are short on sleep and school time, (2) a few hours of work give the main benefits, (3) the other side's best points are that jobs are safer than people think and that fewer teenagers work than before. Which source detail belongs with claim 3?

A) Workers ages 15 to 17 had 1.6 treated injuries per 100 full-time workers in 2020, lower than the 2.3 for workers 18 to 24.

B) Only 20 percent of 11th and 12th graders got at least 8 hours of sleep.

C) A 14- or 15-year-old may work no more than 3 hours on a school day.

D) Students were taught "to love work for its own sake."

Question 6. Which sentence blends a short quotation from Source E into the student's own sentence and names the source?

A) Source E lists earning money, gaining experience, and building confidence as "a few of the rewards for teens who work," so a job pays in more ways than a paycheck.

B) Source E: "Earning money, gaining experience, building confidence, these are just a few of the rewards for teens who work."

C) An article says that teens gain a lot from jobs.

D) Rewards for teens who work are described.

Question 7. The evidence is: Source D reports that only 24 percent of high school students got at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night in 2025. The claim is that teenagers have little sleep to spare. Which next sentence is the strongest commentary?

A) This shows that 24 percent of students got enough sleep.

B) Because about three in four students already fall short of the sleep they need, a job that runs into the evening takes hours from a supply that is already too small.

C) Source D is a very important source.

D) This proves that jobs are bad for teenagers.

Question 8. Source B shows July figures, and Source E describes summer jobs. The prompt asks about the school year. What should a student do with these sources?

A) Ignore them, because the prompt says school year.

B) Use them and say they prove that school-year work has fallen.

C) Use them without mentioning the difference, so the essay stays simple.

D) Use them for what they show, and say that they measure summer and not the school year.

Read the explanation for every choice, including the ones you got right. You can find them in your Form results and in the answer key.

Write your score on the My Scores tab. For each question you missed or rated 1 or 2, add a row to the My Mistakes tab.

Replay Game 2 and try to beat your score.

Part 5: Study a strong paragraph, a complication, and a weak paragraph (about 20 minutes)

The paragraphs below were written for this kit on the practice prompt. They are not College Board samples. Remember the thesis: Although a job can teach what a class cannot, teenagers should keep school-year work to a few hours a week, because sleep and study time are already short and a job takes both.

5A: A strong body paragraph with two sources

Each line is one sentence from a paragraph that argues that teenagers are already short on sleep and school time.

[1] Teenagers already have too little time to sleep, so a job has to take its hours from rest or from school.

[2] Source D reports that only 24 percent of high school students got at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night in 2025, and only 20 percent of 11th and 12th graders did.

[3] The Department of Labor already treats school as the first claim on a young teenager's day: a 14- or 15-year-old may work no more than 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week.

[4] Together, the two sources show a gap. The rule covers only 14- and 15-year-olds, while the students with the least sleep are the oldest ones, and Source A names no limit for them.

[5] That gap is the reason for a limit on school-year hours: the students who are shortest on sleep are the ones with the fewest limits, and a job takes hours from them first.

[6] Because sleep and school time are already short for older teenagers, school-year work should be a few hours a week, which supports the thesis.

On paper, label each sentence C (claim), E (evidence), Co (commentary), or L (link). Then write how each source is named. Then find the sentence that puts the two sources in conversation. Then open the answer key, Part 5, to compare.

5B: A paragraph that handles a source that complicates the position

This paragraph uses the complication move. Each line is one sentence.

[1] Some argue that teenage jobs are dangerous and should be limited for that reason, and Source F seems to support them.

[2] The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates that 26,900 injuries to 15- to 17-year-old workers were treated in emergency departments in 2022.

[3] That number has merit, but the same source gives a rate that cuts the other way: in 2020, workers ages 15 to 17 had 1.6 treated injuries per 100 full-time workers, and workers ages 18 to 24 had 2.3.

[4] However, those figures do not show that teenage jobs are especially dangerous, so they do not belong in the case for limiting hours.

[5] The better reason is the one in Source D: it is the hours, not the hazard, that teenagers cannot spare, so the limit should rest on sleep.

Here is the move in four steps. A source can complicate your position in several ways, and the second table shows five.

On paper, mark the words in the paragraph that match each step. Then answer this question: does the last sentence agree with the thesis, or does it give in? Open the answer key, Part 5, to compare.

5C: Fix a weak paragraph

This paragraph is on the same claim as 5A, written weakly on purpose.

Source A is from the Department of Labor. It says that 14- and 15-year-olds cannot work more than 3 hours on a school day. Source B is a chart. It shows that the percent of teens with a job went down. Source D is from the CDC. It says that teens need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. These sources show that teenagers should not work too much. This is important because teens need to focus on school.

1. On paper, find at least four problems, using the codes above.
2. Rewrite the paragraph in five to seven sentences. Start with a claim in your own voice. Use details from two sources, name each one, and explain how they work together. Use only the details printed in Part 1.
3. Open the answer key, Part 5. Check your problems and your rewrite. Your wording will differ. Check that your rewrite has a claim that comes first, specific evidence with named sources, commentary that says why, and a link.

Exit Check (about 5 minutes)

Open the Exit Check. Answer all 5 questions without your notes. When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker. Add any question you missed to the My Mistakes tab.

4 or 5 right: you are ready for your return day. 3 or fewer right: replay Game 3 and reread Part 4 before your return day.

Set your return date. Pick a date one to two weeks from today. Write it on the Next Step tab of your tracker and on your calendar.

1. Replay the game that felt hardest.
2. Retake the Exit Check without your notes.
3. Write your score on the My Scores tab and compare it with your first try.

4 or 5 right: go to Part 6, and then to Module 9. 3 or fewer right: open the help for the questions you missed, then retake the Exit Check in a few days.

Do this when you have about 1 hour and 30 minutes. You will write one full synthesis essay on a new set of sources, score it on all three rows, compare it with our model, and log it on your tracker. A low score is useful, because it tells you what to work on. Do not open the answer key until step 9.

The plan follows the exam: a 15-minute reading period for Question 1, then about 40 minutes to write. So you will use about 15 minutes to read and plan, and 40 minutes to write. That is 55 minutes on the clock. The total time with scoring is about 90 minutes.

Before the clock: the introduction, the ending, and the Word Check

• Introduction, two sentences. Sentence 1 names the issue and why people argue about it. Sentence 2 is your thesis. Skip the hook, because the rubric has no point for one. If you finish early, add one. Here is an example for the teenagers and jobs prompt: Every teenager has an opinion about homework and sleep, but a job adds a third demand on the same day. Although a job can teach what a class cannot, teenagers should keep school-year work to a few hours a week, because sleep and study time are already short and a job takes both.
• Ending, one or two sentences. Say what follows from your position. Do not repeat your thesis, and do not write "In conclusion." The best endings add one new idea. Here is an example for the same prompt: If a teenager's sleep and study time are the limit, then the useful question for a family is not whether to work but how many hours the week can hold. That question works for a student with one job and for a student thinking about a second.
• Word Check. Delete very, really, stuff, things, a lot, I think, I believe, and you. Check that every piece of evidence has a source named, and that every paragraph has commentary that says why.
• Sophistication. In an argument essay the thinking is in the issue. In a synthesis essay it can also be in the sources. Your Although clause names a tension. Your third body paragraph names the source that complicates your position and says what it does not show. Your ending says what follows. When the same tension shows up in all three places, the thinking runs through the essay.

Prompt

Prompt: The United States has set aside national parks so that people can enjoy them and so that future generations can enjoy them too. As the number of visitors has grown, some people say that parks must limit visitors in order to protect them. Others say that parks belong to the public and should stay open to everyone. Read the six sources provided, including the introduction to each. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the extent to which national parks should limit the number of people who visit them.

Original practice prompt written for Future-Focused Writing in the AP synthesis format. The sources are excerpts from U.S. government pages and from books published before 1929.

The six sources

Source A (National Park Service Organic Act, 1916)

Introduction: Congress created the National Park Service in 1916. This sentence states the purpose of the national parks.

"... to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

Source: National Park Service Organic Act, August 25, 1916, as quoted by the National Park Service, nps.gov.

Source B (Theodore Roosevelt, speech at the Grand Canyon, 1903)

Introduction: President Roosevelt spoke to a crowd at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The canyon was not yet a national park. It became one in 1919.

"I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel, or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American, if he can travel at all, should see."

Source: Theodore Roosevelt, remarks at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, May 6, 1903, The American Presidency Project, presidency.ucsb.edu.

Source C (John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901)

Introduction: John Muir was a writer and a founder of the Sierra Club. In 1901 he wrote about why more Americans were visiting wild places.

"The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see. Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."

Source: John Muir, Our National Parks (1901), public domain.

Source D (chart: recreation visits to National Park Service areas)

Introduction: The National Park Service counts recreation visits to the areas it manages. The number of areas that report a count grew over time. The table shows selected years.

Source: National Park Service, Visitation Statistics and Annual Visitation Summary Report for 2023, nps.gov.

Source E (Gifford Pinchot, The Fight for Conservation, 1910)

Introduction: Gifford Pinchot was the first head of the U.S. Forest Service. In this book he explains what he means by conservation. He is writing about natural resources in general, such as forests, water, and coal, and not only about parks.

"Conservation does mean provision for the future, but it means also and first of all the recognition of the right of the present generation to the fullest necessary use of all the resources with which this country is so abundantly blessed. Conservation demands the welfare of this generation first, and afterward the welfare of the generations to follow. ... Conservation means the greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time."

Source: Gifford Pinchot, The Fight for Conservation (1910), public domain.

Source F (National Park Service, Arches National Park, report on a timed entry test, 2022)

Introduction: In 2022, Arches National Park in Utah tested a system in which visitors reserved a time to enter during the busy season. This is the park's summary of its report.

"Arches National Park implemented a pilot timed entry system in 2022 to help determine if a timed entry system could be viable as a future solution for managed access at the park."

The park reports that the data showed three main findings: visitor experience quality improved; parking access improved; and vehicle processing times increased, but temporary closures were eliminated. For 2023, the park reduced the hours when a timed entry ticket was needed, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. down to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., "which allows more access to the park before and after operational hours."

Source: National Park Service, Arches National Park, "2022 Timed Entry Pilot Report Findings," nps.gov.

The clock

Steps

1. Open a blank doc. Put your phone away. Ask a family member to run the timer, or set it yourself. Keep the Synthesis tools table where you can see it. Do not look anything up.
2. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Read the prompt, and write the task, the issue, and the qualifier. Read each source in four quick steps, and fill in a Source Table on paper. Decide your position, choose three or four sources, and write your thesis with the Although formula. Write your three claims in order, with the source details for each, and one sentence for how each connects to the one before it. Do not start your essay yet.
3. Set a timer for 40 minutes. Type your essay. Write a two-sentence introduction. Use CECL in each body paragraph, with your claim first and each source named. Stop when the timer ends, even if you are not done.
4. Take a 5-minute break. Then read your essay once, from the top, as if someone else wrote it.
5. Run the Specificity Test: circle the name, number, or short quote in each piece of evidence. Check that each source is named by its letter, its writer or group, or its title. Run the Word Check. Mark where your tension or your answer to the source that complicates your position appears: introduction, body, ending.
6. Score all three rows with the table below, before you open any other file. Write one reason for each row. Add the rows for your total. Find your lowest row.
7. If the Sophistication row is 0, rewrite only your third body paragraph and your ending so the tension and the complicating source appear. Do not add long words. This takes about 5 minutes.
8. Check your Evidence and Commentary row against the source count. If you used fewer than three sources, the row cannot be higher than a 2.
9. Open the answer key, Part 6. Read our model essay and our middle-scoring sample. Change your scores if they show you scored too high or too low.
10. Write your final scores on the My Essays tab. Fill in these columns: Date, Module (8), Essay type (Synthesis), Prompt or passage (National parks and visitors, Module 8), Minutes (55), Thesis, Evidence and Commentary, Sophistication, and Compared with a scored sample (yes if you also did the optional College Board comparison below). The tracker fills in the total and the lowest row.
11. In the One fix for next time column, write one fix for your lowest row. If the Evidence and Commentary row was your lowest, your fix can be: start each body paragraph with my own claim, and add a sentence that says what two sources show together.

This score is practice feedback on one essay. It is not an official AP score, and it does not predict your exam score. Our model is not a College Board sample.

Optional: more practice with College Board's own prompts

Use College Board's files on College Board's site only. Do not paste official questions, sources, or scoring guides into AI tools, because College Board does not allow its content to be used with them.

1. Open College Board's past exam questions page. Under any year, open Free-Response Questions, Set 1 or Set 2, and go to Question 1, the synthesis question.
2. Do the 15-minute reading period on the clock, and plan the essay. If you have time, write it in 40 minutes. Then score it with the table above.
3. On the same page, open the Scoring Guidelines and the Sample Responses for Question 1. Read one high-scoring and one middle-scoring sample. Change your scores if the samples show you scored too high or too low.

Want more practice? Write another essay on the clock in a week. Choose a College Board Question 1 that you have not written on before, and score it the same way.

Next step: open the Next Step tab of your tracker, then open the help for your top sticking point. Then go to Module 9.

AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this product.