1. Preparation for the Mid-Term
Read the excerpt and answer questions 1-4 in your daybook

2. Advice for approaching Multiple Choice Questions
The Multiple-Choice AP Language exam will test your ability to take tests…which is both good and bad
It is important to study vocabulary as much as possible, though
Use different techniques to answer every question (which should help your score)
The exam is made up of 5-7 passages (this will be reduced for the mid- term)
At least one passage will be pre-1800
Variety is the spice of life—texts will vary from fiction, essays, speeches and so on

3. Advice (cont.) Do not read the questions before reading the passage!
You have 54 questions to answer in 60 minutes
This means that you have roughly 1 minute per question
Get the big picture before going to the details.
Two strategies for looking at the Multiple-Choices
Two-Pass System
POE

4. Two-Pass System
Questions are all based on the readings that you have looked at
There are 5-7 passages (roughly spend 8-12 mins. per passage)
Steps:
First: Glance through the entire exam and see how many passages you have
Second: Answer all of the easy questions first
Third: Circle the Hard Questions
Fourth: Check your time per passage (the 8-12 mins), if you have answered all of the easy questions and have 5 mins left, tackle the hard questions, if not move on and come back after tackling the other passaged

5. POE and Guessing POE: Process of Elimination/“The Educated Guess”
On the AP Language Exam, every question has 5 answer options
You get a point for correct answer
You lose ¼ of a point for wrong answers
If you can eliminate at least one answer choice you should feel confident to guess!

6. Practice
Read the selection
As you read think about the big picture!

7. The Big Picture Questions
The author’s tone in this passage can be best described as one of
A. Suspicion and confusion
B. Horror and Shock
C. Detachment and Criticism
D. Condescension and bemusement
E. Admiration and Empathy

8. Big Picture Questions
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

9. Details and the Big Picture
In lines 1-2, Thoreau changes “wood-pile” to “piles of stump’ because he wants to
A. Enhance the sense 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

10. The Big Picture and Details
All of the following humorously aggrandize the battle EXCEPT:
A. it was not a duellum, but a bellum (line 8)
B. the hill and 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 )
E. Or perchance he was some Achilles (line 40)

11. The Details (READ THE LINES not the Passage again)
In context, “pertinacity” (line 31) most nearly means
A. Pertinence
B. Loyalty
C. Perspicacity
D. Obstinacy
E. Attentiveness

12. Details
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