<p>I’m a junior in high school and I am currently taking the Advance Placement Language and Composition course offered at my school. I really see no point in taking the class if you have no intentions on passing the class with at least a 4 on the exam. So my question to you is, what steps do I need to take in order to pass the exam with the highest score possible? My question is mainly targeted to people who’ve either scored high on the exam or teach the class itself. Any books or outside material that you might recommend besides study guides such at the cliff’s and Princeton review? Please, anything would be helpful. Thanks.</p>
<p>For the MC section, do lots of practice MC and know the rhetoric / literary technique terms very well. Cliffs has lots of excellent practice MC questions. </p>
<p>As for the FRQ, the best advice is to do lots and reading and writing, and practice on old AP prompts. It also helps to be familiar with famous speeches, arguments, and literary works for the argument essay. But again, the best way to prepare for the test is to do lots and lots of practice and to read over previous high-scoring essays.</p>
<p>Your practice for this exam has been your last 16 years learning the english language. The test, is simply an exam to test literacy at the college level. </p>
<p>MC, if you can read at the college level you’ll do just fine. look over the old AP MC’s… they are difficult. The newer exam is much easier (IMO, i took at last year, with the exception of one passage many of the questions were limited in any actual analysis and only 3-4 questions dealt with “literary vocabulary” more questions on understanding how to read footnotes) </p>
<p>Look over how well, the 7-8-9 writers write their essays. Take risks, and come up with strong NEW arguments. </p>
<p>Essays scoring guidelines:</p>
<p>Simplistic Argument+ Syntax = 3,4,5</p>
<p>Effective Argument OR syntax =5,6,7</p>
<p>Effective Argument AND syntax =6,7,8,9</p>
<p>ALSO, be able to take apart of piece of writing and rewrite it in active voice. I’ll do yours for an example. You then can take your essays and make these revisions </p>
<p>understand your purpose: to receive help
audience: CC, (list kinds of people that make up CC)
goal: to be simple and easy to answer </p>
<p>I don’t understand why i should take Advanced Placement Language and Composition if I feel that i cannot pass the test with a 4 or higher. </p>
<p>Could people with experience (on the exam) please help guide me to further instruction on how to score high on the exam? What supplemental materials should i obtain?</p>
<p>Do alot of essays, try to do one per week and real ALOT. Also go get help from your teacher</p>
<p>Honestly, DON’T waste your time memorizing all Lang terms in your review books. I took the exam last year, and the terms were really easy. Terms like zeugma and litote are NOT on the exam! The MC is easier than those in prep books. For the essays, the best way is to analyze released exams and understand WHY a particular essay got a 9. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I scored a 5 on the exam last year.</p>
<p>I would say practice MC, but I will admit some days I did horribly on them and others I did really well. I found the actual MC portion easy. I have to agree with practicing passive vs. active voice. The distinction is simple, but it’s a bad habit to break, especially for us scientific folk. Don’t memorize terms, but it might be helpful to put some literary terms, such as apostrophe and metonymy, around your room, just to become familiar.</p>
<p>Also, I had difficulties with time constraints and would therefore suggest practicing all the types of essays with the time allotted. Being able to write concisely is critical.</p>
<p>Finally, learn to closely analyze language. A good focus, especially for the analysis essay, is the rhetorical triangle. I used the rhetorical triangle as a basis on the analysis FRQ last year and it helped me organize my thoughts. I also underlined/circled key phrases, repetition, important syntax, etc. Every reader has a slightly different approach, but that worked best for me.</p>
<p>I also scored a 5 last year. For the rhetorical analysis/argumentative essay, practice is key. We practiced every other week in class, and my first few were terrible - my teacher grades on the AP scale, and my essays scored around the 3-4 range for a while, but they slowly got better. It does take a little while to get used to the timed write. As you read the argument for the first time to prepare your essay, underline phrases or sentences in which the speaker uses effective rhetoric. That makes it easier to figure out /why/ it’s effective, and you can go from there. Depending on the essay you’re given and your personal preference, you can structure your essay either in chronological order (from the beginning to the end of the essay, not in time) or with a paragraph for each device. My teacher recommended staying away from the traditional 5-paragraph model, and my essays were usually 4 paragraphs… not on purpose! It just sort of happened :P</p>
<p>Don’t obsessively study literary terms, but do be able to recognize them. They’ll come in handy on the MC and the rhetorical analysis essay. The MC is not too difficult if you read a lot. Do know that there is usually at least one passage from ca. ~16-1700s, which will probably give you a lot more trouble than the others. This passage will be SO much easier if you’re used to reading that type of language, so practice! Read a lot. (And I’m sure you’ve heard this, but reading is the BEST way to improve your vocabulary.)</p>
<p>For the synthesis essay, you need to know how to argue for something even if you don’t care either way. Knowledge of current events can often help on these. Fit the documents you’re given into your argument; they can often be interpreted to fit either side of the argument, which helps you. I don’t recommend taking an “it doesn’t matter either way” stance, even if that’s how you feel about the issue - that won’t show the AP readers that you’re a strong writer, because they want to know that you can form a coherent argument. Same goes for the final free response. Even if you’re at a loss (like I was last year!), just make up an argument and supporting points. Current and historical events will also help you here, as you’re not given any documents to fall back on.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>