Log In | Join AACT | Renew Membership

« Return to AACT homepage

AACT Member-Only Content

You have to be an AACT member to access this content, but good news: anyone can join!

Need Help?

Intermolecular Forces

Started over 5 years ago by Kimberly Duncan.

Hello all - We had a couple of questions concerning intermolecular forces during the "Lessons Learned from the 2018 AP Chemistry Exam" webinar last week. I thought that I would post them there to see if anyone out there has some words of advice. Please post a response! Is "LDF" acceptable for London Disperson Forces? Can students use the abbreviation IMF on the test for intermolecular forces, and as long as they use it correctly, still earn points? Question 4a...so it was not necessary for Ss to speak about the greather polarizability of CS2 as the reason for the stronger LDFs?

2 Comments

  • Christine Taylor

    Posted over 5 years ago

    I agree with Linda. As readers we do our best to award points for good chemistry. LDF and IMF are both reasonable answers. As for 4a I did not read that question but based upon the rubric I do not think polarizability was necessary.

  • Linda Cummings

    Posted over 5 years ago

    LDF and IMF are both acceptable abbreviations on the AP Exam, and will earn the same points as the phrases written out. Readers try very hard to understand any abbreviation we see - I've never seen one that I couldn't figure out from the context.