1. How-To: The Multiple Choice Section
5 Steps to a 5

2. Why so anxious?
Present several valid options as a response to a challenging and appropriate question
Questions are designed to separate the perceptive and thoughtful reader from the superficial and impulsive one
How to avoid anxiety? PRACTICE

3. Expectations
1 hour to answer between 45 and 60 questions on 4 or 5 prose and poetry selections
Prose: fiction, nonfiction, or drama
Poems: different time periods, forms, and styles (ex. Will not have 2 Shakespearean sonnets)

4. Expectations Follow sophisticated syntax Respond to diction
Be comfortable with upper-level vocabulary
Be familiar with literary terminology
Make inferences
Be sensitive to irony and tone
Recognize components of style
Frequently there will be biblical references (especially from works in earlier time periods) – be aware of basic allusions to biblical and mythological works

5. How to proceed Try to work at a pace of 1 question per minute
Skim questions before reading passage
Underline, circle, bracket, or highlight text
Pay attention to punctuation and rhythm
Read in your head as though you were reading aloud
Be aware of all information given (title, author, dates, footnotes, etc.)
When reading poetry, pay attention to enjambment and end-stopped lines because they carry meaning

6. Types of Questions The straightforward question
Ex: The poem is an example of C. lyric; The word “smooth” refers to B. his skin
Question that refers to specific lines and asks you to draw a conclusion or interpret
Ex: “Lines serve to” A. reinforce the author’s thesis

7. Types of Questions KILLER QUESTION: Roman numeral
Ex: In the poem “night” refers to
The death of the maiden
A pun on Sir Lancelot’s title
The end of the affair
I only
I and II
I and III
II and III
I, II, and III
Skip if you have problems or are short on time!

8. Strategies Work in order Write on your booklet
Don’t spend too much time on one question
There is no correlation between length and difficulty of questions
Consider all choices
Remember all parts of an answer must be correct
When in doubt, go to the text

9. Specific Techniques Process of elimination:
If no choice immediately strikes you as correct, you can
Eliminate those choice that are obviously wrong
Eliminate those choices that are too narrow or too broad
Eliminate illogical choices
Eliminate answers that are synonymous
Eliminate answers that cancel each other out
If two answers are close, do one or the other of the following:
Fine the one that is general enough to cover all aspects of the question
Find the one that is limited enough to be the detail the question is looking for

10. Specific Techniques Substitution/Fill in the Blank
Rephrase the question, leaving a blank where the answer should go
Use each of the choices to fill in the blank until you find the one that is the best fit.
Using Context
Consider the context when the question directs you to specific lines, words, or phrases
Locate the line and read the lines before and after to get clues

11. Survival Plan Scan the remaining questions and look for:
The shortest questions
The questions that refer to a specific line
Look for specific detail/definition questions
Look for self-contained questions – where you do not have to go to the passage to answer the questions