1.3 Part II: Constructed-Response Questions (CRQs)
Key Takeaways
- Part II is two CRQ sets built on paired documents; across both sets you earn 7 one-credit points, so each task is worth exactly one point and must be answered separately.
- A historical-context task earns its credit by describing the broader historical circumstances surrounding a document's time and place - not by summarizing the document.
- Relationship tasks ask for cause-and-effect OR similarity-and-difference between the two documents; name the specific relationship and tie it to evidence from the sources.
- Source-analysis tasks award credit for identifying audience, purpose, point of view, or bias and explaining how that affects the document's reliability or usefulness.
- Answer exactly what each numbered task asks, use evidence from the cited document, and write in complete sentences - one-word answers and off-task summaries usually score zero.
How Part II Is Built
Part II contains two constructed-response question (CRQ) sets. Each set gives you a small group of related documents - typically a pair - and a short series of tasks. Across both sets you answer 7 one-credit items, so every task is worth exactly one point and is scored independently. There is no partial 'good effort' credit: a task either does what it asks (1 point) or it does not (0).
The tasks are deliberately varied so you cannot answer everything the same way. They cluster into three skills: historical context, a relationship (cause/effect or similarity/difference), and source analysis (audience, purpose, point of view, or bias). Read the task verb carefully - 'identify,' 'explain,' and 'describe' signal how much you must write.
Skill 1: Historical Context
A historical-context task asks you to describe the broader historical circumstances surrounding a document - the conditions of the time and place that help explain why it exists. The most common mistake is summarizing the document instead of giving context around it.
- Wrong: restating what Document 1 says.
- Right: naming the relevant period, event, or trend the document grew out of (for example, situating a 1919 document within the aftermath of World War I and the peace settlement).
To earn the credit, connect the document to a named event, movement, or condition and a rough time frame. A single well-chosen sentence that supplies real context usually earns the point.
Skill 2: Relationship Tasks (Cause/Effect or Similarity/Difference)
These tasks ask how the two documents relate. There are two flavors:
- Cause and effect - Identify how an event, idea, or development in one document led to something in the other. Use causal language ('led to,' 'resulted in,' 'caused') and state both the cause and the effect explicitly. A response that names only an effect, with no cause, misses the point.
- Similarity and difference - When asked to compare, give a specific similarity or a specific difference between what the two documents show, depending on the task. If the task asks for a difference, do not hand back a similarity.
Ground every relationship in evidence from the documents. A bare assertion ('they are different') without document-based support does not earn credit.
Skill 3: Source Analysis (Audience, Purpose, POV, Bias)
Source-analysis tasks ask you to think about who made the document and why, then explain how that shapes its reliability or usefulness. The four lenses:
| Lens | Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Who was meant to read/see this? | A speech to supporters differs from a private memo |
| Purpose | Why was it created - to persuade, record, justify? | Purpose shapes what is included or left out |
| Point of view (POV) | What is the author's perspective or stake? | A colonizer and a colonized subject describe events differently |
| Bias | Does the author have a reason to slant the account? | Bias affects how much you can trust the claims |
To earn credit you must identify the relevant feature AND explain its effect: 'Because this is a government propaganda poster (purpose), it presents an idealized image and may overstate support, so it is a limited source for measuring public opinion.' Naming 'bias' alone, with no explanation of how it affects the source, typically scores zero.
A Worked Example
Suppose CRQ Set 1 pairs a 1914 newspaper cartoon glorifying mobilization (Document 1) with a 1929 memoir describing trench warfare (Document 2). A typical task series:
- Identify the historical context of Document 1 - answer: the outbreak of World War I in 1914 amid the alliance system and nationalist enthusiasm for war.
- Explain a cause-and-effect relationship between the documents - answer: the eager mobilization and new military technology shown in Document 1 led to the mass casualties and disillusionment described in Document 2.
- Analyze source of Document 2 - answer: because it is a soldier's first-person memoir (point of view), it conveys the lived reality of trench warfare and is a useful but personal, possibly emotional, account.
Notice that each task is answered with a distinct, evidence-backed sentence. The cause/effect task names both the cause (enthusiastic mobilization) and the effect (devastation), and the source task names the feature (first-person POV) and its effect on usefulness.
Earning Every CRQ Credit
- Answer the exact task. Match the verb: 'identify' may need a phrase, 'explain' needs a because-clause.
- Use the cited document. Reference the specific document the task points to; pulling from the wrong document loses credit.
- Write complete sentences. One-word answers rarely satisfy 'explain' or 'describe' tasks.
- Treat each task separately. Seven items means seven distinct answers; do not blend two tasks into one paragraph.
- Do not skip any. Each is one point, and points here are easier to earn than essay points.
A Part II task says: 'Based on Document 2, explain the historical context surrounding this document.' Which response is most likely to earn the credit?
A source-analysis CRQ asks how the author's purpose affects the usefulness of a wartime propaganda poster. Which answer earns the point?