Tips to surviving the test By: coach Castillo Quick ap exam review Tips to surviving the test By: coach Castillo
52-55 m.c. questions (NO MORE THAN 55) 1 hour 1 minute per question Lay-out for m.c. 52-55 m.c. questions (NO MORE THAN 55) 1 hour 1 minute per question No penalty for guessing! With 1-2 minutes left, pick the same letter and bubble all the way down! Do not leave any blank or I will………….
How to approach m.c. 1. Answer easy questions immediately 2. On more difficult questions, write in your book—mark eliminated choices 3. use the verbs to help you!!!!!! 4. On questions that you find very difficult—return after you have answered the following questions—they may help shed some light on previous questions that you had trouble with. Hint: if you can narrow the choices down to three– go ahead and guess, 33% chance of guessing the right answer!
What to look for in each passage 3 things to pay attention to 1. tone 2. author’s purpose/goal (the verb) 3. intended audience
Synthesis essay (essay 1) JUST LIKE A CCI ( : You are taking a stance on the question being asked Although you may bring up a counter-argument for other side, you must stick with your stance/thesis Write a good, convincing thesis addressing prompt and reasons why You must use at least 3 sources and label them (source f, source g, etc) Work on stating your reasons and then using the source to back up your reason as evidence to why the reader should agree with you
Remember Create your own thesis—thus showing a sense of independence YOU are choosing your view and using the sources to support that view Weaker writers have a tendency to paraphrase and list—so, don’t do that, do not summarize sources Use at least three sources Cite/ attribute sources
What college board is looking for -Read critically -Analyze texts -Develop a position on a given topic -Support a position on a given topic -Support a position with appropriate evidence from outside sources -Incorporate outside sources into the text of the essay -Cite sources used
Rhetorical analysis (essay 2) YOUR GOAL: ARTICULATE HOW THE AUTHOR WRITES, RATHER THAN WHAT THEY WROTE AND WHY. DO THIS EFFECTIVELY, YOU WILL ANALYZE THE STRATEGIES THE AUTHOR USES TO ACHIEVE HIS/HER PURPOSE OF WHY THEY WROTE THAT PIECE. STRATEGY= HOW THEY USED IT AND WHY
Circle or underline the essential terms and elements in the prompt Rhetorical analysis Plan to spend about 2-3 minutes carefully reading and deconstructing the question Circle or underline the essential terms and elements in the prompt If the prompt requires more than one element, you must use more than one!
IEEc (what) I- INDENTIFY Identify a strategy (usually a repeated pattern) that the author is using intentional (Where) E-EVIDENCE provide actual “textual evidence” that shows the strategy being used and use quotation marks (Why) E-EFFECT The reasons why the author used it. Usually it implies the author’s purpose . (how) C- CONNECT Connect the strategy to author’s purpose using a verb (to illustrate, to portray, to persuade, to allude, to explain etc)
Remember your yellow wall paper and living like weasel sentence stems!!!!!!!
If all else fails…… If you are totally stuck use; diction, ethos, pathos, logos, or repetition! One of those are bound to be in any piece IF YOU DO NOT REMEMEBER THE NAME OF A DEVICE YOU CAN JUST TALK ABOUT IT AND WHAT IT IS DOING IN THE PASSAGE.
Argument (essay 3) Purpose of this essay is to argue/persuade readers to feel a certain way about the topic given, question asked, or sometimes a quote/piece of a passage.
Ask yourself this………… Do I think about this subject in the same way as the writer/ speaker?– defend/AGREE Do I think the writer/ speaker is totally wrong?– challenge/DISAGREE Do I think some of what is said is correct and some incorrect?– QUALIFY (stay away from this one unless you are an expert at the topic given) Remember—there are other words for “agree,” “refute,” “qualify”
Examples After writing a good strong thesis to your stance use the following for examples to back up your claim -novels/short stories Historical figures/events Movies/shows Current events Quotes facts/statistics Famous people Personal experience Make that crap up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE WORKED THIS WHOLE YEAR FOR THIS ONE TEST! DO YOUR VERY BEST AND KNOCK IT OUT OF THE PARK! I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I BELIEVE IN EACH OF YOU WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!!!!!
REVIEW. -Albert quizzes for practice…. -Review your test prep folder… REVIEW! -Albert quizzes for practice….. -Review your test prep folder….. -Go over old cci’s -get on ap central and read over prompts and student examples!!!! -go over the handout dr. mcclanahan made!!!