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Getting ready for the AP Exam

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

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  1. Getting ready for the AP Exam Test layout, helpful hints, and test strategies

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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)

  5. 1. Brief Intro. To AP Exam: • -Final Score: • 1- Not qualified • 2- Possibly Qualified • 3- Qualified • 4- Well Qualified • 5- Extremely Qualified

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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.

  9. 2. Cracking the System: The Multiple Choice Section

  10. 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.

  11. 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

  12. Passages on the Exam • Passages will be varied in types of: • Diction • Syntax • Imagery • Tone • Style • Points of view

  13. Passages on the Exam • You MUST focus on: • Rhetorical devices • Figures of speech • Purpose of writings

  14. Questions of Anonymity • Passages missing context clues • historical context • maybe title • explanatory notes • Possibly names of the authors

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. Recap • Read the passage for the big picture. • Pace yourself (use the two-pass system) • Use POE on every question.

  20. Read Sample Passage #1: • Henry David Thoreau’s Walden

  21. 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.

  22. 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.

  23. 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

  24. 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.

  25. 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

  26. 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.

  27. 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.

  28. 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

  29. 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.

  30. 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)

  31. 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.

  32. 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.”

  33. 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.

  34. The Questions (Thoreau) • 5. In context, “pertinacity” (line 31) most nearly means • A. pertinence • B. loyalty • C. perspicacity • D. obstinacy • E. attentiveness

  35. 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.

  36. 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

  37. 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

  38. 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.

  39. 3. Basic Principles of the Essay Section

  40. Format and Content of the Essay Section • Essay Section made up of the following: • 1 rhetorical analysis essay • 1 argumentative essay • 1synthesis essay

  41. 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

  42. 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.

  43. 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.

  44. 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

  45. Analysis of the scoring guide • High scoring essays are: • Clear and well organized. • Use clear examples. • Are not mechanical.

  46. 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.

  47. 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.

  48. How to make the reader give you a high score • Address the prompt.

  49. 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?)

  50. 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

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