You can imagine what several students decided to do with this one…
(If interested, google the buzzfeed article or the teen vogue article. Will keep this about the prompt, not about politics)
Care to place a wager @jym626 ? 
The question asks students to write an argumentative essay, which is pretty standard for the AP Lang Exam. There are many, many other examples that can support the student’s position, any of which probably will be more interesting to the graders, rather than the 100,000 essays that will use the obvious example.
Personally, I would be interested in some journalistic research on this question: for how long was AP deciding to use it? How much research is involved developing questions that show up on the test? In the past four months, or has it been researched and vetted for 12+? I’m guessing the latter.
LOL, @skieurope you are right. Its like the Common App essays. Pick and write one that won’t put the reader to sleep
or make them want to put a stick in their eye due to massive redundancy.
And kudos for students knowing the definition of “artifice”.
According to the CB, the process would have been started 2+ years ago.
https://aphighered.collegeboard.org/courses-exams/course-exam-development
My D took the test and she told me every single one of her friends used the same example.
Hahahaheeheeheehohohoho! I read the article on Buzzfeed and it made my day. I love it soooo much. Maybe there is hope for the country after all.
My son told me loads of kids were talking about it. Some did not write about the obvious example because they worried that the grader might be conservative. Other kids threw caution to the wind. They all get a five from me, at least. 
My daughter said most of the kids in her group did not know the meaning our the word artifice.