How Many FRQ on AP Bio? Exam Format Explained
There are 2 free-response questions (FRQs) on the AP Biology exam, and they are worth 50% of your total score. So when students ask how many FRQ on AP Bio they’ll face, the answer is simple: two long-form questions that together carry as much weight as the entire multiple-choice section.
AP Bio FRQ Count
You get exactly 2 FRQs, and they’re both “long” free-response questions. Unlike some AP exams that mix short and long answers, AP Bio sticks to two extended questions, each worth 25% of your exam score.
Each FRQ is scored on a 0–10 point rubric, so the two questions total 20 possible FRQ points. College Board sets the official timing for the whole section at 90 minutes. Answers are written in prose, often requiring a graph, table, or labeled diagram alongside your explanation.
A quick example: one FRQ might describe an experiment on enzyme activity. You’d be asked to interpret the data, justify a claim with evidence, and predict how a change in pH affects reaction rate — all in the same question.
Question Types You Will Actually See
AP Bio FRQs come from four “big ideas” — evolution, cellular processes, genetics and information transfer, and interactions. Each question ties to at least one, but they frequently overlap. For instance, a genetics question about a dihybrid cross (cellular process plus information transfer) may ask you to compute a phenotypic ratio and then explain why the observed data deviate from the expected ratio.
A worked example: suppose a question gives you F2 generation counts from a dihybrid cross and asks whether the results fit a 9:3:3:1 ratio. You would calculate expected values, apply a chi-square test, compare your statistic to a critical value, and then state whether to reject the null hypothesis — all within one FRQ, with partial credit for each correct step (College Board).
Key Takeaways
- There are exactly 2 FRQs on the AP Biology exam, both long-form.
- FRQs are worth 50% of your total exam score — equal to all 60 multiple-choice questions combined.
- Each FRQ is scored on a 0–10 point rubric, totaling 20 possible points.
- You have about 90 minutes for Section II.
- Command verbs like identify, describe, and justify map to distinct scoring rules — match the verb exactly.
