M.C. Questions on AP Test

1. How to deal with multiple choice questions – AP style • Taking a multiple choice test in an AP class is unlike any multiple choice test you’ve ever taken. The questions are harder and require much more critical thinking than tests you’ve taken in the past. • There will ALWAYS be questions that will have some term/phrase that you don’t know. This is true for the AP test, and for the multiple choice questions in class. It is up to you to be able to rule out distractors (choices that are wrong) in order to make a logical answer choice. • The AP test will have 80 multiple choice questions, and you will have 55 minutes. In class, the number of questions will vary, and I will at first give you one minute per question (i.e. 30 minutes for 30 questions) and gradually reduce the time so you are used to taking a long test in a short period of time. • The AP test will have MC questions ranging from 1450 to the present time. Our chapter tests will cover the chapter we just read, and then also questions from previous chapters. The questions from previous chapters will typically be large ideas, but it is up to you to keep reviewing past material. • For our class, I always curve the MC part of the test in your favor. Meaning that if the class average for the MC portion of the test if below a 70%, I will give points to each student in order to raise the class average. This is not necessarily true for the AP test – the College Board uses its own curve, but it is entirely different each year and you can’t count on there being one. M.C. Questions on AP Test

2. How to deal with MC questions – AP style, part 2 • AP questions have 5 choices, not 4 like you might be used to. • There are 5 styles of MC questions you will encounter: • Identification questions – these are basic “what did this person do” types of questions. For example: The writings of Mary Wollstonecraft argued • that Christian women should devote themselves to the proper maintenance of the household. • for equality among the sexes. • against women in the workplace and institutions of higher learning. • that France should restore the rights of the ancien regime. • that women of the lower classes should serve the women of the upper classes. • The answer, in case you’re wondering, is B. You probably won’t know that yet, but if you had studied Mary Wollstonecraft, the answer should come easily to you because you would remember she was for women’s rights. There are no tricks to this questions – it is just basically asking who she was and there is no critical thinking involved.

3. Analysis questions – these are harder because they require you to break down the question into smaller bits. Often they will make you try to see cause and effect, determine conclusions or causation, or to analyze events/people logically and come up with results. These types of questions can cause students the most problems! Here is an example: The Treaty of Versailles (1919) • convinced the United States to join the League of Nations. • placed blame on several European nations for the outbreak of war. • never really settled the issues that originally led to war. • Allowed Germany to keep all of its territories and colonies. • created the United Nations. • The correct answer is C. This questions is more difficult because you have to know what the Treaty is first, and then have to analyze what it did in order to figure out the answer. Later on, you will study that the Treaty of Versailles made the Germans mad and WWII happened only 20 years later, meaning that the treaty really didn’t solve anything. • THIS MIGHT BE THE HARDEST TYPE OF QUESTION TO MASTER! YOU SHOULD WORK ON THESE ON YOUR OWN!

4. Reading based questions – these are just what they sound like. You will read a passage, quote, or excerpt from a written work and then answer a question. Sometimes you’ll be asked who the author is, what the author meant, who most likely would agree, or something related to the time period but not anything really to do with the author. These questions are almost as difficult (and some students think they’re the worst) as analytical questions. Here’s an example: “The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of old ones.” The quotation is from the writings of • Machiavelli. • Sartre. • Darwin. • Locke. • Marx and Engels. • The answer is E. Now, if you come across a passage you don’t recognize, you can always work backwards. Meaning, if you know who Locke and Darwin are, you could rule them out. You should be able to (eventually) associate class struggle w/ Marx and Engels but if not, you could work backwards and get the right answer still.

5. EXCEPT questions – yikes!!! If I’ve noticed anything after teaching for some years now, it’s that students don’t read the entire question. Yeah, this means YOU. Students consistently miss words/phrases like “all of the following EXCEPT” or “Which of the following is NOT” so read the entire question! You’re being asked which of the distractors doesn’t fit the question or statement. An example: Martin Luther believed all the following EXCEPT • each man’s eternal fate has been predestined. • salvation is granted by the grace of God. • women should be good wives and mothers. • indulgences had no place in the church. • the Catholic church was in need of reform. • The answer is A. You’re looking for what doesn’t fit. So, basically Martin Luther believed in everything but distractor A. When you study Luther, you will know that he didn’t believe in predestination – that was John Calvin. IF YOU DON’T READ CAREFULLY, YOU WILL MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE SO MANY STUDENTS DO AND SEE “MARTIN LUTHER” AND THEN CHOOSE THE FIRST ANSWER THAT FITS. READ THE ENTIRE QUESTION!

6. E. Illustration based questions – again, just what they sound like. These are questions with pictures, drawings, artwork, charts, etc. attached with a question. These do usually involve analysis of some sort. An example: • The poster reflects the idea that • Hitler controlled all of Europe. • German citizens should be on the lookout for spies. • Indiscriminate conversation may allow Hitler to learn valuable secret information. • Prisoners of war should avoid confessions so as to not give information to the enemy. • Hitler has the power to solve all the problems of Europe. • The answer is C. By carefully studying the poster and the answers, you should be able to piece together the answer without even knowing anything about WWII or Hitler. The hand is dark and menacing with a swastika ring, a symbol of the Nazis. The hand is putting together a puzzle talking about England. This fits with answer C. Take your time with these types of questions and you should be able to get them right.

7. Big Hints and Strategies for MC questions – from Peterson’s Test Prep Book (all the previous tips are too!) • Read the question carefully. • Read each answer choice carefully. • As you read each question, underline or circle they key ideas or key words in the question (you may write on the AP test, and on mine too). • When you come to an EXCEPT question, circle the word EXCEPT. • As you eliminate answers, cross them out (but make sure you’re right!) • Go with your first instinct – very important, you’re usually right. • Make an educated guess after you’ve eliminated some of the answers – just don’t guess blindly. • Choose the best answer. • Don’t spend too much time on one question. • Don’t second guess yourself too much (I added this one.  )