DBQ Prep: Sample Essay Scores!

Hopefully, by this point you have read, annotated, and scored the two sample essays included in the packet you picked up on Friday.  It’s time now to see how accurate you were in your assessment, so get out the essays and your scores, and let’s see what the College Board says:

Sample 1A — Score: 8

The thesis outlines factors shaping the modern Olympics and correctly places them in the relevant historical context of the time period (1 point). There are four groupings: peace, political interests, economic interests (“incentive for sponsoring as well as hosting the games”), and social reform (female athletes) (1 point). The essay demonstrates understanding of all 10 documents (1 point) and correctly uses evidence from 9 documents to answer the question (2 points). Document 5 is inverted, expressing the effects of the Olympics on Japan, and therefore did not count for evidence of factors that affected the Olympics. There is analysis of point of view for three documents (Documents 4, 6, and 10) (1 point). The request for additional documents from people who were not athletes or people from Africa and South America shows awareness of other factors that could have affected the Olympics in the time period (1 point). An expanded core point was earned for additional analysis of documents through groupings and of point of view (1 point).

Sample 1C — Score: 4

The thesis identifies three factors that shaped the modern Olympic movement: “nationalism,” “host country to show off,” and “feminism” (1 point). There are three document groupings: peace (Documents 1 and 6), nationalism (Documents 3, 4, and 10), and feminism (Documents 2 and 8) (1 point). The essay demonstrates understanding of all 10 documents (1 point). No points were awarded for evidence because the documents are used to support the inverse of the question, i.e., how the Olympics had consequences or effects. There is analysis of point of view for three documents (Documents 3, 4, and 7) (1 point). No point was earned for the request of an additional document because the explanation of how the requested documents would help assess a factor that shaped the modern Olympics is incomplete.

So.  How accurate were you?  Don’t forget to quickly explain any discrepancy between your original score and the one assessed by the College Board!