Interactive FRQ Practice
Choose a question, type your response to each part, then score yourself with the scoring guide and compare your work with the sample response. Your answers save automatically on this device.
Business Canvas Project Validation
Pitch your own project, explain how you tested a hypothesis, and respond to a challenge to its viability.
Personal Finance
Use an individual's or household's financial data to identify, describe, and explain.
Business Concept Application
Interpret a business's research or data and explain how to use it to reach a goal.
Business Decision
Act as a consultant: compare two proposals using financial and nonfinancial criteria, then recommend one.
Full Section II Simulation
Part A (FRQ 1) on its own 25-minute clock, then Part B (FRQs 2–4) together in 65 minutes, just like exam day. You can't go back to Part A once Part B starts.
FRQ Menu
The Four FRQs at a Glance
Section II is 90 minutes and worth 40% of your exam score. It comes in two separately timed parts.
| FRQ | What it asks | Time | Points | Share of exam score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part A · FRQ 1 Business Canvas Project Validation | Pitch your own Business Canvas Project product, explain how you tested a hypothesis and what you decided, and explain how a common entrepreneurial challenge affects your idea's viability. | 25 minutes | 10 | 15% |
| Part B · FRQ 2 Personal Finance | Interpret an individual's or household's financial data and goals, then explain how they could reach a goal. | About 12–13 minutes | 3 | 5% |
| Part B · FRQ 3 Business Concept Application | Interpret a business's research or data (often a chart or table) and explain how to use it to reach a business goal. | About 12–13 minutes | 3 | 5% |
| Part B · FRQ 4 Business Decision | Read a long case about a business choosing between two proposals, compare them using financial and nonfinancial criteria, and recommend one. | About 40 minutes, including about 15 minutes to read | 8 | 15% |
Point totals and timing follow College Board's published exam format. The point-by-point splits in this page's scoring guides are practice rubrics; official scoring guidelines may differ.
How to Earn Points on AP Business FRQs
Every point is tied to a task verb, and scorers reward specific, evidence-based answers. Short answers can earn full credit if they do exactly what the verb asks, use data from the scenario, and explain why the evidence matters. Label each part of your response (A, B, C, D(i)...) so a scorer can find it quickly.
Identify
Give a short, precise answer, often a number or name taken from the scenario.
Describe
Say what something is or what is happening, with a supporting detail or evidence.
Explain
Show cause and effect: how an action or factor leads to a result or helps reach a goal.
Recommend
Choose one course of action and support it with specific criteria and evidence.
FRQ 1 Guide: Business Canvas Project Validation
What it asks. There is no fictional scenario; the question is about the Business Canvas Project you built in class. Expect tasks like these: pitch your product (description, target customer, problem, and value), describe a reason behind a step in the process (such as validating problem-solution fit or building an MVP), explain how you tested a hypothesis (hypothesis, method, evidence, and the decision it led to), and respond to a challenge to your idea's viability, such as distribution, competition, funding, or costs.
How to earn the points. Rehearse your pitch before exam day, and know your numbers: survey results, prices, startup costs, and projected revenue. In the hypothesis test, the points come from the chain test → evidence → decision; always state what you changed or kept because of the evidence.
Common mistakes. Describing features before naming the customer and problem, giving a test with no results, or answering the viability challenge without any evidence from your project.
FRQ 2 Guide: Personal Finance
What it asks. A scenario about a person or household with a budget or other financial data and a set of goals. Part A usually asks you to identify something from the data, Part B to describe a challenge or opportunity, and Part C to explain how an action would help reach a goal.
How to earn the points. Do the math in Part A and show it. In Part B, quote numbers from the scenario. In Part C, name a specific action (not just “save more”) and finish the cause-and-effect chain to a stated goal.
Common mistakes. Using gross pay when the table gives net pay, describing a problem without evidence, and naming an action without explaining how it achieves the goal.
FRQ 3 Guide: Business Concept Application
What it asks. A short business scenario with research results or performance data, usually in a chart or table. You may need to describe the research method, describe a finding or trend, and explain how the business could use a finding to reach its goal.
How to earn the points. Name the method precisely (survey, A/B test, test market, secondary research) and say how it was carried out. Cite exact numbers for findings. Connect your recommended action to the business's stated goal.
Common mistakes. Misreading the chart, claiming the data proves a cause it can't show, and recommending an action unrelated to the goal.
FRQ 4 Guide: Business Decision
What it asks. You act as a consultant. A long case describes a business, its environment, and two competing proposals, with a KPI table and a financial table. You describe and explain a factor affecting the business, compare the proposals using total one-time investment costs, another financial criterion, and a nonfinancial criterion, then recommend one proposal supported by three criteria.
How to earn the points. Spend about 15 minutes reading and marking up the tables. In Part B, always give evidence for both proposals. Useful financial criteria include monthly profit (revenue minus recurring costs) and payback period (one-time cost divided by monthly profit). In Part C, either proposal can earn full credit; what matters is a clear choice with three specific, supported criteria.
Common mistakes. Giving numbers for only one proposal, reusing the same criterion twice, and recommending without explaining why.
Teacher Tip
Have students answer each FRQ before opening the scoring guide. Then have them check the boxes honestly and highlight the exact words in their response that earned each point. For FRQ 1, students can answer about their own Business Canvas Project or use one of the site's sample projects.