Consider the following original claim: “A measurement becomes dangerous when success on the measure replaces success in the underlying task.” Write an essay that argues your position on the extent to which this claim is valid. Support your reasoning with evidence from reading, observation, or experience.
What the evaluator is looking for
AP readers look for a defensible thesis, relevant specific evidence, commentary that establishes a line of reasoning, and sophistication through qualification, broader context, or recognition of tensions.
Planning approach
Demonstrate metric substitution in education and policing, then argue for multiple measures, audits, and revision tied to underlying goals.
Model response
A measurement becomes dangerous when institutions reward the number so strongly that participants can improve it while worsening the underlying task. Metrics are necessary for learning and accountability, but no proxy should be mistaken for the purpose it only partially represents.
Standardized scores can reveal patterns across schools. Once attached to severe rewards, however, they may encourage narrow test preparation, exclusion of likely low scorers, or neglect of untested subjects. The reported indicator rises while curiosity and broad knowledge decline. Police departments face a similar risk when success is defined by arrest totals. Officers can generate more arrests through minor enforcement without making residents safer or improving trust.
Abandoning measurement would protect weak institutions from scrutiny. A better response uses several indicators, checks for predictable gaming, and combines quantitative trends with independent observation. Schools might examine growth, student work, attendance, climate, and later outcomes. Public-safety agencies could report victimization, response quality, case resolution, complaints, and community experience. Leaders should ask whether behavior changed after a target was introduced and revise the target when it distorts priorities. Numbers are maps: indispensable for navigation, selective by design, and dangerous only when travelers confuse the map's symbols with the territory itself.
Structural breakdown
The essay explains proxy failure, applies it to schooling and policing, rejects metric-free management, and proposes portfolios plus behavioral audits before ending with a concise analogy.
- Name the underlying goal and its proxy.
- Show behavior changing to game the number.
- Retain accountability through multiple indicators.
- Review incentives after targets are introduced.
Format reference: College Board: AP English Language Past Exam Questions. This model is original and is not an official or accepted submission.