<p>This is my first post here, and I might as well provide a brief inventory.</p>
<p>I am an eighteen-year-old high school junior with Asperger’s syndrome who is currently taking two Advanced Placement courses in Palm Beach County. I first attended the public school system in Broward County from 2002-2003, whence I transferred to the Palm Beach County district and attended through middle school. Because I had read extensively since I was quite young - about the age of three, in fact - I had very high cognitive and analytical abilities; notably, I had facility in determining the mood and message of literature. On the 2004 Grade Seven FCAT Reading test, I scored in the ninety-fifth percentile and was eligible for Stetson University’s HATS (High Achieving Talented Students) talent-searching test program; however, I was not aware of it, and of the potential Stetson scholarships I knew nothing.</p>
<p>Because I did not mesh well with the school environment and received little assistance with peer-to-peer interaction, I was homeschooled from 2005-2009, during which period I took five credits at Florida Virtual School (FLVS; 2007-2009). The credits, with their respective grades, were as follows:</p>
<p>•2007-2008: English I (A), Earth-Space Science (A), World History (B; only one term), Algebra IA (C - did not take Algebra IIA)
•2008-2009: English II (A), American Government (A), Biology (B), Algebra II (C; only one term)</p>
<p>This period was arduous because it was intended as an emergency measure, not a coherent strategy, and was marked by little real knowledge, so I did not in all respects receive the best educational structure. At the time, I was emotionally and physiologically scarred from previous experiences in the public school system, most of which occurred during middle school. So I could not control my senses and behaviors to the fullest possible extent, and I was thus deprived of the means to focus wholeheartedly on academics.My parents were not aware of the treatment options when I was first removed from the Palm Beach County district, and I was inadvertently prescribed the wrong medication at one point (which seems irrelevant, but I will get to the point).</p>
<p>Part of it was also my reticence and my inability to communicate properly, even through the end of the FLVS period. During 2008 and 2009, I had some intermittent tutoring in Algebra I, but it was uncoordinated and unfocused. Some of it was based upon the Official SAT Study Guide and Gruber’s Complete SAT Guide, but I could not cope with the ponderous nature of it, so I did not study as much, nor as effectively, as I should have. I now know that I could have taken an Extended School Year (ESY) to address these and other psychological issues, but I couldn’t construct an adequate understanding of my problems at the time. Once my parents’ efforts failed to achieve results, I was also largely left to my own resolution.</p>
<p>During this period, I did engage in limited volunteer work in 2008 on behalf of the Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC), under which I briefly researched and updated local plant inventories at a city park. In 2007, I independently collected two plants at the same site, and in 2009 I worked with a former nature-center executive to update plant data and to recommend species for a restoration project. In all, in 2009 I completed 120 hours of community service there, and I also worked with the National Hurricane Center (≥200 hours, 2008-2011) to reassess and document historical tropical cyclones. Some of the changes were entered as published research in 2011, and the data are now available online.</p>
<p>Because I did not finish World History, I am currently retaking the credit and am spending an extra year (2011-2012) to obtain an AP Macro-/Microeconomics credit. I am also taking AP English Language and Composition this year, and in each credit I finished with As through the third quarter. I am also a copy editor at the school newspaper, under which I have written several articles and have had five published. I have taken the SAT (May 2010) and have registered to do so again on June 4, 2011. I have not yet taken the ACT, but I recently registered for the full June 11 test with writing. The raw 2010 SAT scores were 680 Verbal, 760 Writing, and 340 Math; in the latter category I am deficient because, as mentioned, I did not endeavor to practice sufficiently.</p>
<p>Over the past week and a half, I have taken three full-length AP Eng. Lang. practice tests: two from the Princeton Review guide and one from the 2007 released exam. I have written seven essays - five from the Review, plus two from the CliffsAP guide - and have finished two small multiple-choice sections today. During a recent conversation, my AP English teacher posited that she believes the CliffsAP guide is closest to the actual test insofar as content is concerned.</p>
<p>In my observations, I have noticed that the CliffsAP multiple choice tends to focus more on the textual message, with greater emphasis on subtleties such as tone, transition, and diction. In some places, the questions even seem to assume previous knowledge of the excerpt. For example, in one piece the significance of the diction seemed so unclear that I could not delineate the nuanced tone shifts. On each of the two CliffsAP multiple-choice sample passages, I only scored about fifty percent. The first passage was long - about one full page - and was associated with fifteen questions. The second passage was shorter (eleven questions), yet it also presented difficulties as far as style and motive were concerned.</p>
<p>Although I am an avid reader, I find this trend disconcerting, for I have mainly focused on rhetoric and have not accrued substantial experience with some of these elements. Although I scored very well on the released 2007 exam (of the forty-eight questions I answered, I only missed five), I had previously done the multiple-choice sections in class, although I adjusted my strategy and was able to improve substantially. On average, I have correctly answered about twenty to thirty of the multiple-choice questions. Therefore, I am wondering as to the repercussions of the practice exams. Although I may be able to ace the essay section and still carry a four or five, perhaps the multiple-choice performance can predicate performance in upper-level college composition classes (if, of course, college credit is conferred upon me). For me, it depends upon the type of analysis and reading that is conducted. Does anyone have quantifiable knowledge about the multiple choice’s role as a portent here?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Edit: Please forgive me if this is the inopportune subforum.</p>