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Getting ready for the AP Exam. Test layout, helpful hints, and test strategies. 1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam:. - 2 sections: multiple choice and essay section -Need to know not just what will be tested, but how it will be tested. -tests knowledge and skills in expository writing and rhetoric.
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Getting ready for the AP Exam Test layout, helpful hints, and test strategies
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -2 sections: multiple choice and essay section • -Need to know not just what will be tested, but how it will be tested. • -tests knowledge and skills in expository writing and rhetoric
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -can take language and lit. tests the same year • -test is designed by high school and college professors • -test duration is 3 hours (180 min) • -Section 1: Multiple Choice (60 min)-Counts for 45% of grade; 50-55 questions
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -Section 2: Free response (120 min)- Counts for 55 % of your grade; composed of 3 essays • -1) Analysis of passage/Presentation of analysis (40 min essay) • -2) Argumentative Essay (40 min: supports, refutes, of qualifies a statement) • -3) Synthesis essay (55 min: integrates info from a variety of sources)
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -Final Score: • 1- Not qualified • 2- Possibly Qualified • 3- Qualified • 4- Well Qualified • 5- Extremely Qualified
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -Free Response Score (scored from 0-9) • -Criteria for a 9: “answers all facets of the question completely, making good use of specific examples to support its points, and is ‘well-written’ • -Criteria for a 0: means you basically wrote gibberish
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -Your final score is from 1-5 (Generated from a combination of your scores from the first 2 sections): Process is complicated. If you really want a detailed description of this process see me and I will show you a detailed explanation. • -Getting AP Credit: • - Need to check with colleges (counselor) to see if school accepts AP credit • - 4-5 will get you credit • - 3 usually will get you credit • - 1-2 will get you no credit
1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • - Test day: Bring comfortable clothes (dress in layers), a snack to eat during break, at least 2 #2 pencils, a few blue or black ink pens (they do care about the colors unlike me), and get sleep the night before.
Passages on the Exam • Multiple choice section is made up of 5-7 passages • They are followed by 5-12 multiple choice questions for each passage • Most works are from 19th and 20th centuries • You will probably see one passage that was written before 1800.
Passages on the Exam • Variety of Passages: • fiction, essays, biography, autobiography, diary entries, speeches, letters, pieces of journalism, literary criticism, science and nature writing, writings about politics or history
Passages on the Exam • Passages will be varied in types of: • Diction • Syntax • Imagery • Tone • Style • Points of view
Passages on the Exam • You MUST focus on: • Rhetorical devices • Figures of speech • Purpose of writings
Questions of Anonymity • Passages missing context clues • historical context • maybe title • explanatory notes • Possibly names of the authors
The Big Picture • DO NOT read the questions before you read the passage. • Why? Because you may filter your reading and ignore important information. • Imagine the first question will be, “What’s the gist of the passage?” • Questions may try to trick you into identifying wrong answers because you focus too much on a sentence/question.
Two-Pass System • 54 questions, 60 minutes to complete test, about 1 min. to answer each question • Should spend 8-12 minutes on each passage. • Make a first pass answering questions that are easy and circling those that are hard.
Two-Pass System • Steps to take: • 1. Answer all the easy questions first. • 2. Circle the hard questions. • 3. Look a watch to see how much time you have remaining out of the 8-12 allotted minutes. If you’re out of time, comeback after you’ve finished the rest of the passages in the section.
POE and Guessing • Some people think that guessing can hurt you, but that isn’t true. Your chances of guessing correctly will go up if you can eliminate one or more choices. Imagine that. • You should take your best guess as long as you can eliminate even one answer choice.
Recap • Read the passage for the big picture. • Pace yourself (use the two-pass system) • Use POE on every question.
Read Sample Passage #1: • Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
The Analysis • Dominant Rhetorical Strategy: analogy that compares the behavior of the ants with that of human being. • Dwells on details about the insects to lead us to a revelation about human beings • “He’s asking us to see that people are like ants and is commenting on the inappropriateness of associating warfare with grandiloquence and romance.” • This is the big picture.
The Analysis • Big picture questions will ask you to characterize the speaker’s tone, style, or attitude in a passage. • Another type will ask you to describe how a particular detail fits into the big picture-what a particular word means in context or how a reader is meant to interpret a word based on tone, style, or attitude in a passage.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 1) The author’s tone in this passage can best be described as one of • A. suspicion and confusion • B. horror and shock • C. detachment and criticism • D. condescension and bemusement • E. admiration and empathy
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer explanation: • The answer is D. • Need to consider the overall meaning or intent of the passage • “observer is to the ants as some higher being would be to humans”-this is why condescension is a valid answer • Both answers in the choice must be correct; if one is wrong then the whole choice is wrong.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 2. In this passage, the author exaggerates the greatness of the ants’ struggle to • A. exaggerate the greatness of nature • B. show the true greatness of nature • C. demonstrate the importance of war • D. illustrate the fierceness of ants • E. suggest the exaggerated greatness of humans
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer Explanation: • The answer is E. • C and D may have looked good, but were meant to deliberately trap readers who didn’t pay attention to the big picture.
Details and the Big Picture • Big picture questions usually come at the beginning or the end of the question set. • Detail questions are sandwiched in between.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 3. In lines 1-2, Thoreau changes “wood-pile” to “pile of stumps” because he wants to • A. enhance the scene of realism in the passage • B. trivialize the setting of the action • C. be thoroughly truthful in his depiction • D. create a sense of drama • E. make the setting more natural
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer Explanation: • Eliminate A, C, and E; from the big picture you know these answers aren’t valid • If you got the first two questions correct, B would have been a choice that reinforced your confidence. • Your answers should match each other.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 4. All of the following humorously aggrandize the battle EXCEPT • A. it was not a duellum, but a bellum (line 8) • B. the hills and the vales of my wood-yard (lines 11-12) • C. human soldiers never fought so resolutely (line 20) • D. whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it (lines 37-39) • E. Or perchance he was some Achilles (line 40)
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer Explanation: • The answer is C. • It is almost the only line in the passage that could be considered not tinged with humor.
The Questions (Thoreau) • The Details: • Don’t read the passage over for details. • As you come to detail questions (dealing with specific lines) go back and reread more closely. • ALWAYS reread those lines. • Questions that refer to words or lines in the same passage be sure to “read around the lines.”
The Questions (Thoreau) • The Details (con.) • Most non-big picture questions focus on detailed info. from passage. • Do NOT go back and read large portions of the text.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 5. In context, “pertinacity” (line 31) most nearly means • A. pertinence • B. loyalty • C. perspicacity • D. obstinacy • E. attentiveness
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer Explanation • “In context” guarantees that the answer won’t be the first meaning that pops into your head. • If you go back and look at the context you should be able to eliminate all answers except for D.
The Questions (Thoreau) • 6. The phrase “who had nourished his wrath apart” (lines 39-40) most nearly means • A. who was hungry for battle • B. who worked up great anger in private • C. who was only partly angry • D. who fought alone • E. who feasted alone
The Questions (Thoreau) • 7. The phrase “who had nourished his wrath apart” (lines 39-40) serves mainly to • A. create the impression of an epic tone • B. sustain the seriousness of the author’s point of view • C. highlight the extent of the hatred between the enemies • D. underscore the loneliness of the combatants • E. emphasize the cannibalistic nature of the combatants
The Questions (Thoreau) • Answer Explanations: • Question 6 is a translation question. The answer is B. • Question 7 is more of a big picture question. • Eliminate B because we have determined that there is playful humanization of the combat of the insects. • The answer is A. Thoreau’s aim is to have us understand the futility and insignificance of events in the grand scheme of things.
Format and Content of the Essay Section • Essay Section made up of the following: • 1 rhetorical analysis essay • 1 argumentative essay • 1synthesis essay
Format and Content of the Essay Section • Time: 2 hours to answer 3 essay questions • Need to write in pen (blue or black ink) • You are responsible for time management. (You will be given no cues) • Plan on spending 40 min. on each essay
Remember • You are not writing for your teacher. Your reader does not know you. • You’ll be graded at least as much on form and writing as on the content.
AP Essay Scoring • Given a score between 0-9 • About 65% of the essays receive a score in the middle range: 4,5,6 • Your goal is to have your essays stand out from the rest. • Your goal should be to at least get a 6 or 7.
AP Essay Scoring • Essays are scored holistically. • The readers are individuals who will make subjective judgments. • Avoid : • Being monotonous • Providing a generic essay • Doesn’t address the prompt
Analysis of the scoring guide • High scoring essays are: • Clear and well organized. • Use clear examples. • Are not mechanical.
How to make the reader give you a high score • Half the points you are given come from the content of an essay. • Make your essays readable. (legible) • If your thoughts are a mess your essay will be a mess. • The occasional scratch-out is fine. Too many and then you create a mess.
How to make the reader give you a high score • Indent: Indent twice as far as you normally would. • Paragraphs should be approximately the same length. • Write perfectly…for the first two sentences. • Write with pizzazz. • Use more precise, colorful wording.
How to make the reader give you a high score • Address the prompt.
Budget Your Time • Spend 40 min. on each essay. • Spend 3-5 min. planning before you begin writing. • Save a few minutes at the end for proofreading. • You may write your essays in any order. (But why would you?)
Quick pointers • Write a BRIEF outline. • You should plan to fill 2-3 lined pages in the essay booklet. • Write around 3 sentences in your intro. • 1st: Thesis • 2nd-3rd: contain enumeration of the main points that will support your thesis