Multiple Choice Strategies
1. Look through some of the questions before reading the passage
- Reading through some of the questions before reading makes it easier to pick out information that is important for answering the questions
- However, make sure not to spend too much time reading over the questions, because you don't want to waste too much time
- It is crucial to read around the lines that are given in the question, as most of the time you can't get the whole answer to the question without reading around that area
- Sometimes reading a few lines before and after the lines given will completely change your answer choice
- If you are reading over your answers a second time, it may be difficult to restrain from changing your answers, so try not to overthink your answers because usually second-guessing yourself just makes you get it wrong
- Process of elimination is probably the most obvious and simple strategy that everyone uses on any test they've ever taken, but there are obvious wrong answers on pretty much every question
- Some questions it is easier for you to pick out which answers are wrong opposed to picking the right one out of all the choices. On these types of questions it's almost like you don't even have to know what the right answer is!
- You have a limited amount of time, so don't spend too much time on any one specific problem. If a problem is too hard, or takes too much time, skip it and come back to it once you have answered all the questions for that section
- If you are spending too much time on something and you can't figure out what the right answer is, guess! It doesn't sound that good to guess, but there is no penalty for doing it and a chance at getting a question right is better than not answering it at all
- Vocabulary is really important to get easy questions where they ask something like, this sentence here is an example of: and give you a list of literary devices. These should be easy points as long as you know your English vocabulary
Free Response Essay Tips
The essay portion of the AP test is extremely important for getting a good score. The first thing to do on an essay, before you even read the passage, is to annotate the prompt. It is important to pick to pick out the theme of the prompt. In essay one or two, pick out the theme that they want you to analyze from the piece before you even read. This will help you pick out important information as you read. The prompt also includes a few of literary devices that the author uses that you should analyze. Use all the information they give you in the prompt, they give it to you because it's good! As you are reading, start to piece together a claim that you will write about. Once you find your claim, you can find a few topics to write about. When you start writing, make sure not to merely summarize the piece. The only summary that should be done is when you introduce an idea which you will analyze. Like everything in writing, use variation when using evidence. Make sure to use a good variation between direct and indirect quotes so your writing sounds authentic and has a voice rather than a bland essay where you pick apart the piece of literature. With all the analysis that you will be doing, you might forget to rally focus on tying the work to your structure and tying the analysis together as a whole. Try not to use the cliché "5 paragraph essay" format that is ingrained into everyone's brain, because the readers will immediately lose some interest because it is such a cookie-cutter style. A big concept that you can never forget is to always relate every paragraph back to the main claim of the essay. As you write your essay, your claim might change a little bit, and that is a good thing. If you can make all your points support a unique, central claim, then your essay as a whole looks very good to a reader. In your closing paragraph, try to make your claim connect to the real world, and offer something that the piece of literature says about an aspect of life in general, rather than just what this author is doing in this one specific piece.
Each of the three essays are different, and need to be approached a little bit differently to get a 9.
Essay 1: Poetry Passage
The poetry passage is difficult to a lot of students, and seems very repulsive at first. A poem may be more difficult to comprehend than a novel, but you may find it easier to pick out the literary devices that are used because poets tend to be very creative in their literary devices. Poets often tell words with not only what they say, but how they say it. Use that to your advantage as you analyze the poem.
Essay 2: The Prose Passage
The first essay will be over a story, novel, etc. This is the most simple of the essays, as most people have more experience comprehending and analyzing an excerpt from a book rather than a poem or analyzing a book as a whole. This essay will probably be easier to comprehend and it will probably feel easier to write about since everyone has read a ton of novels, stories, etc. before. A lot of prose passages will be about characterization, so extra attention to that as you read the passage. Most novels have an overarching theme to illustrate, and it is often easier to pick out than a poem. If you are able to find it, make sure that you use it as your real-world connection.
Essay 3: Student's Choice
In this essay, you will be given a prompt in which you need to analyze a piece that you have read before to apply it to a certain theme. In preparation for this essay, it is crucial to have at least three good pieces of literature in your head that you can use. This essay is a lot harder to use evidence for, but just a few literary elements are required for this essay. The biggest focus on any piece of literature is characterization. Whatever you can do to explain the characterization in the piece that contributes to your greater claim and the theme, use it. Characterization is one of the easier things to remember rather than remembering all the little details about how the author wrote it. This essay gives you the advantage of already reading the whole thing a time or two before, so you should know the overarching themes. This essay also gives you an opportunity to explain why the piece was written, which is a very good piece of analysis to use in the essay.
Each of the three essays are different, and need to be approached a little bit differently to get a 9.
Essay 1: Poetry Passage
The poetry passage is difficult to a lot of students, and seems very repulsive at first. A poem may be more difficult to comprehend than a novel, but you may find it easier to pick out the literary devices that are used because poets tend to be very creative in their literary devices. Poets often tell words with not only what they say, but how they say it. Use that to your advantage as you analyze the poem.
Essay 2: The Prose Passage
The first essay will be over a story, novel, etc. This is the most simple of the essays, as most people have more experience comprehending and analyzing an excerpt from a book rather than a poem or analyzing a book as a whole. This essay will probably be easier to comprehend and it will probably feel easier to write about since everyone has read a ton of novels, stories, etc. before. A lot of prose passages will be about characterization, so extra attention to that as you read the passage. Most novels have an overarching theme to illustrate, and it is often easier to pick out than a poem. If you are able to find it, make sure that you use it as your real-world connection.
Essay 3: Student's Choice
In this essay, you will be given a prompt in which you need to analyze a piece that you have read before to apply it to a certain theme. In preparation for this essay, it is crucial to have at least three good pieces of literature in your head that you can use. This essay is a lot harder to use evidence for, but just a few literary elements are required for this essay. The biggest focus on any piece of literature is characterization. Whatever you can do to explain the characterization in the piece that contributes to your greater claim and the theme, use it. Characterization is one of the easier things to remember rather than remembering all the little details about how the author wrote it. This essay gives you the advantage of already reading the whole thing a time or two before, so you should know the overarching themes. This essay also gives you an opportunity to explain why the piece was written, which is a very good piece of analysis to use in the essay.
This handout from class is a great resource of how to write the AP Lit essays. It also has good examples of intros, body paragraphs, and conclusions from the practice test we took.
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tFX9pqtBME