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Tasks
Performance Task 1
IRR: Individual Research Report TMP: Team Multimedia Presentation
Performance Task 2
IWA: Individual Written Argument IMP: Individual Multimedia Presentation Oral Defense
End-of-Course Exam
EOC Part A EOC Part B Tools Practice Rubrics Citations Calendar Overview
End-of-Course Exam

EOC Part B: Evidence-Based Argument

Overview

B

EOC Part B

A mini IWA, worth 70% of the EOC. Four College Board sources connected by a theme are the backbone of your evidence. You build an argument that is not already represented in the sources, synthesizing at least 2 of them. Plan for 90 minutes.

4 sources, 1 essay70% of EOC = 31.5% of your AP score. The single biggest piece of your AP score. ~90 min.

Next due date: see the calendar

Build it

How Part B Works

Source Packet Strategy

1Read All Four SourcesTake notes on scrap paper about the major arguments already represented in the texts. Skip sources you do not fully understand; you only need 2.
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2Find Your AngleBuild an argument from a stakeholder group not represented in the texts, or look at the theme through a different lens. It must be something people can disagree with.
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3Stake a Defensible ThesisAlthough (counterargument), (main argument) because (supporting 1 and supporting 2). State your perspective with "because."
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4Outline, Then WritePen an outline before you draft. Watch your time and save minutes to proofread.

Key Moves

Thesis Builder

Same engine as the IWA: arguable, specific, provable. Open the builder for templates and the five-quality check.

Evidence Selection

Two of the four sources is the floor, not the target. One source scores a 0 on Row 3, two used accurately is a 4, and the 6 comes from putting sources in conversation, which usually means three or four. The four sources are your evidence. Outside knowledge belongs in your hook or your conclusion, never in a body paragraph: readers score what you do with the sources, and a paragraph built on your own experience reads as anecdote.

Essay Structure

One format, every time:

Intro: establish the theme, then your perspective with "because."

Body 1, Define: what the sources show.

Body 2, Complicate: what they miss or oversimplify.

Body 3, Implication: why your perspective matters.

Conclusion: reinforce why it matters, plus a call to action, solution, or limitation.

The 6/6 Move

Put sources in conversation with each other, not in a line: "Where Source A emphasizes ___, Source C complicates this by ___." Use one source to clarify or push back on another. Do not just stack quotes. Your evidence is not your argument; your commentary is what makes the synthesis work.

Timed Writing Strategy: Mrs. Cohen's Order

1. Start with EOC B (90 minutes). Your brain is freshest at the start, and Part B is the longer, harder, higher-stakes piece. Do not warm up with Part A; save the easier piece for when you are tired.

2. Then EOC A, in this order: Q2, then Q3, then Q1. Q2 (line of reasoning) forces you to map the author's claims. Q3 is also worth 6 points and benefits from the close reading Q2 just made you do. Q1 is only 3 points, and once Q2 has done the analytical work, it almost writes itself: come back and finish it in 3 to 5 minutes with a much sharper sentence.

You can move between sections the whole time; the exam is one continuous block. This is a strategy, not a rule: if a different order works for you in practice, trust your training.

Part B Checklist

0/4
My thesis stakes a perspective not already represented in the sources, stated with "because."
I synthesize at least 2 sources and put them in conversation, not in a line.
I complicate: I name what the sources miss, oversimplify, or overlook.
I end with implications and I proofread before time is called.

Tools

Thesis Builder

Two modes: an argumentative thesis for the IWA and EOC B (you take a side), and a framing statement for the IRR (a research report frames the conversation and does not argue for a solution). Sentence starters, a five-quality checklist, and weak-vs-developed examples.

What is synthesis, anyway?

What synthesis is, what it is not, where it scores, and the three synthesis moves.

EOC Part B Essay Organizer

The one-format-every-time essay frame: thesis template, Define/Complicate/Implication structure, and the 6/6 synthesis move.

Stuck on a sentence?

Sentence templates and transitions for introducing sources, quoting, naming naysayers, conceding, disagreeing, and clinching why it matters.

Square Root Curve Chart

How raw rubric scores convert to gradebook percentages for the IRR, TMP, IWA, IMP, Oral Defense, EOC A, EOC B, and current events.

Rubric

Common Mistakes

Response does not answer the prompt

What it looks like

The UK trial, the commuting numbers, and Schor show different perspectives on the four-day week.

What it should look like

Together, the three suggest the strongest case for the four-day week may not be the productivity claim the article leads with but the hours nobody spent commuting, a case the article never makes for itself, and one it never tests against anyone who lost out.

Stake a distinction the sources do not state themselves. A thesis that announces the topic is a non-thesis (the rubric calls this dominated by summary), and a claim the sources already make is synthesis without argument: trite or overly general.

Describing sources instead of using them

What it looks like

First, the UK trial found that almost half of workers said productivity improved and 86% wanted to keep the schedule (WEF). Next, commuting time fell from 3.5 hours a week to just under 2.6 (WEF). Finally, Schor argues that a shorter working week is key to cutting carbon emissions (WEF).

What it should look like

The UK trial's productivity result seems to settle the question, but it comes from the workers reporting on themselves: almost half said productivity improved, and 86% wanted to keep the schedule, which measures how the week felt as much as what it produced. The commuting finding is the harder number, a drop from 3.5 hours a week to just under 2.6, and it is what lets Schor's argument about carbon emissions attach to this trial at all.

The top score requires sources in conversation: what do these sources together say that neither says alone? Walking through the sources one at a time, paragraph by paragraph, caps the evidence row.

The late perspective

What it looks like

Three body paragraphs walk through the sources, and the last paragraph finally says what the student thinks. It is the best idea in the essay, and it arrives after the argument is over.

What it should look like

That last-paragraph idea is the thesis, in paragraph 1, and every body paragraph earns it.

Row 1, 6 points: responses "are driven by the student's perspective." Row 2, 6 points: "points are intentionally ordered."

The stack

What it looks like

"Source A says remote work raises productivity. Source B says it lowers connection. Source C says hybrid is a compromise. Therefore, hybrid is best."

What it should look like

"Schor's productivity gains hold only for the employees Rivera shows were already well connected, which is why the hybrid compromise in Source C solves the wrong problem." Two sources in one sentence, with your inference doing the connecting.

Row 3, 4 points: "use quotations or paraphrases that generally match the claims." Row 3, 6 points: "put the sources into conversation with one another."

The misread

What it looks like

A source is described as arguing the opposite of what it argues, because the essay was built before the reading.

What it should look like

Reread the source before you use it, state what it argues in one accurate sentence, then decide what it can do for your claim.

Row 3, 2 points: responses "draw obviously mistaken conclusions from the sources."

Outside knowledge doing the sources' job

What it looks like

A full paragraph on addiction and gambling in an essay about surveillance, built from memory, while the four sources sit as scenery.

What it should look like

The sources are the evidence. Outside knowledge lives in the hook or the conclusion, never in a body paragraph.

Row 3, 0 points: "uses one or none of the provided sources." Row 3, 6 points: "the evidence is not the argument itself."

A perspective from somewhere else

What it looks like

An environmental and transportation argument built on a privacy and surveillance source set. Original, and a 2.

What it should look like

The perspective comes out of the theme the four sources share; original means a position they do not already take on that theme, not a new theme.

Row 1, 2 points: "the response's perspective is unclear or unrelated to the sources."

The borrowed perspective

What it looks like

The thesis restates Source A's argument in the student's words.

What it should look like

A position none of the sources takes, or an insightful angle on one of them, with a because that two or more sources make possible.

Row 1, 4 points: "offer a clear perspective that is derived from a single source." Row 1, 6 points: "a perspective that is not represented in one of the sources OR brings a particularly insightful approach to one of the perspectives."

Sequence words instead of logic

What it looks like

"First, remote work raises productivity. Next, it lowers connection. Finally, hybrid balances the two."

What it should look like

"Because the productivity gains depend on connection, any schedule that protects one at the expense of the other defeats itself, which is why..." Each claim exists because the one before it made it necessary.

Row 2, 4 points: "a line of reasoning that is difficult to follow at times." Row 2, 6 points: "the links between claims and evidence are logical and convincing."

The dropped quote

What it looks like

A quotation ends the paragraph, and no sentence after it says what it proves.

What it should look like

Introduce the source (who, where, when), quote or paraphrase, then two sentences of commentary that connect the evidence to the claim.

Row 2, 2 points: "the response lacks commentary." Row 4, 6 points: material from sources "is clearly introduced, integrated, or embedded into the text."

Ending on a question

What it looks like

"So should companies adopt the four-day week? Only time will tell."

What it should look like

"Companies should adopt the four-day week where commuting is the hidden cost, and the sources show where that is." A claim closes the argument.

Row 2, College Board's definition: a line of reasoning "leads to a conclusion." Row 2, 2 points: "a line of reasoning that fails."

Practice

EOC B Timed Synthesis

The full EOC B: read four provided sources, take your own arguable perspective on the theme they share, and argue it in a 90 minute synthesis essay. AI practice feedback scores all four rows (Perspective, Reasoning, Evidence, Conventions) out of 24, with the curved percent. Short on time? Switch to the Rows 3+4 mini inside. Practice feedback, not your real score.