1. Preparing for the Multiple Choice Section

2. What is being assessed Your ability to… Follow sophisticated syntax
Comprehend scholarly diction
Draw from your own expansive understanding of literary terminology
Make inferences
Identify irony and tone (even when it is subtly used)
Recognize the different components of style

3. Remember… 55 questions in 1 hour
(some years it has been slightly fewer) in
1 hour
This accounts for 45% of your overall exam score

4. There is no penalty for guessing incorrectly!
Thus, if you don’t know: GUESS.

5. Pacing tips Work at a rate of approximately 50 seconds per question
Slow down to read the passages/poems
Underline, circle, bracket… the text as you read: this will keep you engaged with what you are reading
If you read it closely the first time you are less likely to feel a need to reread it later…
Never try to save time by skipping over the title, the footnotes, or any other information provided about a text
These often carry clues or critical information/detail

6. Homework Check Let’s correct your answers:
Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness
Let’s correct your answers:
179.A 186.A
180.E 187.C
181.B D B
182.C 190.C
183.A 191.B
184.B
185.C
Which questions did you find most difficult? Why?
Heart of Darkness

7. Your task: Answer the questions for the Macbeth passage.
You have 15 minutes
The Custom House

8. Correct them. Which questions gave you the most difficulty?
Macbeth
416. C
421. E
417. E
422. A
418. B
423. E
419. E
424. B
420. E
425. A
Which questions gave you the most difficulty?
With a partner, discuss 2 questions with which you struggled.
Macbeth discuss any questions they may have questions about

9. Homework Answer the questions for Hawthorne’s The Custom House
Set a timer – give yourself no more than 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, if you are not finished, make a note of how far you got.
Then, finish the questions.

10. Multiple Choice
Thursday

11. Correct your work
Hawthorne’s
“The Custom House”
450. D 451. C 452. E 453. B 454. A 455. C 456. B 457. B 458. A 459. B
Hawthorne – “The Custom House”

12. In a group of 2-3, work through the Hardy passage
Your task:
In a group of 2-3, work through the Hardy passage
You must come to a consensus on each question
You have 15 minutes
Talk through the process you are using to answer each. (Even if you all agree, talk it over. Why do you agree? What got you there? What were your thought processes?)
Keep track of which questions spark debate and why.
The Custom House

13. How did you do? First, correct your answers:
Thomas Hardy
“Nobody Comes”
First, correct your answers:
A 6. C
C 7. A
D 8. D
E 9. A
D 10.D
Which questions did you find most difficult? Why?

14. Homework Work on the Walt Whitman poem and questions.
For this passage give yourself 15 minutes.
Plan wisely and use your strategies to complete all of the questions in the time frame.

15. Check your work Answers:
Walt Whitman’s
“O Captain! My Captain!”
99. A
105. B
100. C
106. A
101. D
107. E
102. A
108. A
103. B
109. E
104. A
110. E
Which questions did you find most difficult? Why?
Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

16. In a group of 2-3, work through the Gibran poem
Your task:
In a group of 2-3, work through the Gibran poem
You must come to a consensus on each question
You have 15 minutes
Talk through the process you are using to answer each. (Even if you all agree, talk it over. Why do you agree? What got you there? What were your thought processes?)
Keep track of which questions spark debate and why.
The Custom House

17. Correct your work 121. E 126. A 122. E 127. D 123. D 128. E 124. A
Kahlil Gibran’s “Defeat”
121. E
126. A
122. E
127. D
123. D
128. E
124. A
129. B
125. C
130. A
Gibran poem

18. Mult. Choice Tips A few reminders/new ideas to keep in your back pocket

19. M.C. test section: FYIs
Focus on your strengths. If it works for you, do poetry first (or prose) to get in the groove of things
That said, know that sometimes the questions make more sense sequentially
Example: Question 8 may define a term that question 46 uses. If you started with the last section first, then you are at a detriment with this question…
Interact with the text: write, underline, box it in…
If you don’t know, skip it and come back or make an educated guess. Then, don’t dwell on it.
Always read all answer options—sometimes clues are embedded contextually in the answers themselves
If your answer to a current question contradicts your answer to a previous question, feel free to go back and reevaluate your answer to the prior question
Always remember, ALL parts of the selected answer must be correct in order for it to be the right answer

20. M.C. test section: Tips Use the process of elimination
Read all five options.
If no answer is obviously correct, then (a) eliminate those that are obviously wrong, (b) overly narrow or too broad, (c) illogical, or (d) cancel out another option
If still left with two possibilities, look again at the question. If it’s looking for general information, choose the option that is more general. If it seeks precise detail, chose the choice that is more specific.
Try substitution/fill in the blank
Rephrase the question, leaving a blank where the answer should go
Use each of the provided choices to fill in the blank until you find the best fit
And/or you can consider the context
If asked to return to a specific line/section, keep in mind the whole context of the poem/excerpt
Commonly, reviewing the few lines before and after the specific line/section is all you need, and then Ta-dah!

21. September rain falls on the house
September rain falls on the house. In the failing light, the old grandmother sits in the kitchen with the child beside the Little Marvel Stove, reading the jokes from the almanac, laughing and talking to hide her tears. She thinks that her equinoctial tears and the rain that beats on the roof of the house  were both foretold by the almanac, but only known to a grandmother. The iron kettle sings on the stove. She cuts some bread and says to the child, It's time for tea now; but the child is watching the teakettle's small hard tears dance like mad on the hot black stove, the way the rain must dance on the house. Tidying up, the old grandmother hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac hovers half open above the child, hovers above the old grandmother and her teacup full of dark brown tears. She shivers and says she thinks the house feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove. It was to be, says the Marvel Stove. I know what I know, says the almanac. With crayons the child draws a rigid house and a winding pathway. Then the child puts in a man with buttons like tears and shows it proudly to the grandmother. But secretly, while the grandmother busies herself about the stove, the little moons fall down like tears from between the pages of the almanac into the flower bed the child has carefully placed in the front of the house. Time to plant tears, says the almanac. The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove and the child draws another inscrutable house.