- Hand in your copies of Catcher.
- Pick up your Part 1 answer forms, questions and answer explanations.
- Pick up your copies of Anthem.
Your assignments:
1. Review the information on Ayn Rand from the 3 links below. There will be a quiz tomorrow, Friday April 12th. We will be reading Ayn Rand's Anthem. There will be a short discussion and reading test on Anthem after the spring break. Students will be allowed to use their novels and annotations during the test. Read carefully and critically. Apply the philosophic elements of objectivism to your annotations.
2. Review your responses and the explanations from the Final Practice, mock AP earlier this week. Pay particular attention to the questions that you got wrong. Determine the primary reason for your incorrect answer. Compile a list of words and/or concepts that posed trouble. Determine issues you faced within the reading passages. Were they based on the passage, the directions or the questions themselves? After spending (significant) time reviewing your responses, post a 500 word blog. Your response must include:
- 3-5 vocabulary words that presented trouble.
- reflections on question types that are concerning you.
- literary terms that you need to better understand.
- a specific game plan to address your concerns... planning for the test on May 9th.
- blogs must be a minimum of 500 words.
- blogs are due on Monday, April 22nd.
Ayn Rand Background Readings:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_fiction_anthem
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro
From my baseline exam reflection, second exam breakdown, midterm exam, and fourth exam I can say that I have improved in some ways, and gotten worse in others. Overall, my multiple choice score has decreased since the previous exam; but this time my decreased score was mainly due to the overall difficulty of the test. As a whole however, I was able to answer a variety of question types comparatively to the other four. After reviewing the questions that were wrong in this exam, I was able to narrow the question types to fact-based, theme, diction, and word meaning questions.
ReplyDeleteAfter extensively reviewing my answers I got wrong, I am able to generalize my performance. This time around, I did well in structure, situation, images/figurative language/literary, grammar and rhetoric type questions. But some of my troubles continue, such as fact-based, theme, diction, and word meaning kinds of questions. My trouble in diction questions is evident in question number 2, “In line 3, the word ‘far’ probably modifies”. Here I selected answer choice D, “’call’ (line 3)” after referring to the line mentioned in context; however I failed to find the correct word being modified from the choices given and the correct answer was actually C, “’heard’ (line 3)” because as the answer packet states, “It is more likely that ‘far’ is an adverb than an adjective here. It means ‘from afar’, or ‘from a distance’ and modifies the verb ‘heard’”. Word meaning based questions were definitely an area of weakness in this test and in previous exams as well. An example of a question I marked wrong is evident in question number 4, “In line 7, the word ‘recompense’ is best understood to mean”. Here I selected choice A, “memory or recollection” because when I reached this question I thought of the literal or dictionary definition. However, after referring to the excerpt and answers I now understand why E, “reward or compensation” is correct because the narrator of the passage spoke about his face rewarding the lady.
My ability to better on images/figurative language/literary technique type questions can be directly linked to the quizzes we have been taking in class on the literary terms. Although recently I tend to get most of these question types correct, I still do not recognize words on the exam, such as, “synesthetic imagery” (question 5), and even though I got the question right, on the real exam such luck is not reliable, and hence I have to improve on some terms related to imagery and viewpoints. Two other words I had difficulty with on the exam were the different views such as, “third-person omniscient” and “third-person limited”. Nevertheless, I have shown consistent progress on them and on the final A-Z test I missed only two terms. Consequently, in order to constantly do well on such questions I must continue to constantly study these vocab words from BenchPrep. Using BenchPrep provides many advantages because the flashcards provide an example of the literary term in context and a simplified definition. The quizzes have forced me to study the literary devices and terms and overall my performance on these questions has improved. If there is another mock AP Literature exam, I hope to see continued improvement on these question types and improve my overall score.
After sitting through the multiple choice part of this exam for the fifth time, I can say I have learned a lot in terms of strategy. For example, from the baseline exam to this exam my time management skills have improved because I do not feel rushed to answer any multiple choice questions. Especially in the first two tests, some of the answers I got wrong were mainly due to the fact that I was not pacing myself at about a minute per question and therefore had to guess the last four or five. Also, my overall knowledge of literature and analyzing literary works is greater than it was in September because of in-class practice and BenchPrep flashcards.
Sana Suhail
ReplyDeleteAP Literature and Composition
Mrs. O’Donnell
April 15, 2013
This final round of testing before the actual AP exam in a few weeks proved to be incredibly beneficial in distinguishing between strategies to be continued, employed, and abandoned on the actual exam. As Monish pointed out, the test as a whole seemed more difficult than previous tests, and personally my multiple choice score when down significantly. However, on a more positive note, in retrospect, this multiple choice exam was perhaps the most helpful, because it revealed certain concepts and aspects of the exam that I need to focus on and improve upon.
Some strategies that I still need to work on involving poetry are learning the differences between poem types and classifications. For example, question 28 asked what the poem was an example of, followed by different types of poems: blank verse lyric, Shakespearean sonnet, ballad, Italian sonnet, and verse epistle. I was confused by the other types of poems since I didn’t know what they meant and guessed the first choice. If I had known what these different types of poems were, I could have answered this question with more confidence and wasted less time trying to decipher what the answer choices meant. A second strategy I need to work on is differentiating between my personal thoughts about a passage and what the particular question is referring to. This has been a concern that has run throughout my performances on these multiple choice exams, and I have improved over time, but I would like to read the passages even more objectively by the time the real AP exam rolls around. The AP questions sometimes ask what the author’s purpose was for including a specific sentence or literary rhetoric, but I find it hard to answer from an objective point of view, and therefore, get these types of questions incorrect.
Strategies I plan to continue to employ throughout the actual exam itself is beginning the multiple choice section with the prose passages instead of the poetry. I have been using this strategy from the past two tests and I noticed I was able to save a significant amount of time by doing so. Personally, I struggle with poetry more than prose, therefore, by starting with prose, I am not as overwhelmed and my mind is more prepared to tackle the poetry afterwards. Even among the prose questions, I read the questions first and determine which ones won’t take a lot of time to answer and which ones will, to manage my time more effectively. I skip the ones that require rereading of large chunks of the tests or interpreting the prose piece as a whole for things like author’s purpose and understanding of the meaning of rhetoric. Another strategy to continue is reading the poems two or three times before even looking at their corresponding questions. Reading the poem multiple times gives a broader view of the piece and the overall poem, rather than attempting to focus on the specifics right away, which can be daunting.
I plan to improve for the actual AP Exam by reviewing the literary terms and vocabulary terms on BenchPrep and reviewing some of my previous multiple choice exams for vocabulary words that present themselves frequently on the test and make sure I know the definitions of these, particularly the differences between the different poem types. A second strategy is to remain objective while answering questions that relate to prose and looking at the questions from the appropriate point of view, instead of the reader’s point of view. In summation, this round of multiple choice testing proved to be beneficial in discriminating among the usefulness of certain strategies over certain others, and figuring out what needs to be done in preparation of the actual AP exam.
Shakira Thompson
ReplyDeleteMs. O’Donnell
A.P Literature
April 22, 2013
Test Review
This test consists of 54 questions. Some of them were complicated while others were simple. Some of the questions are based on the literary terms, like knowing the definition in certain cases. Knowing the definition of the literary term is one thing, but understanding the use of them is mainly the most important aspect. When dealing with questions like these always have confidence in the first answer choice chosen. Also some of these questions were complicated but, paying close attention to how the words are used in context may make it a little easy to understand.
An example of a question I got correct was question number three. The question stated “The lines “I’d tunnel till my groove/ Pushed sudden through to his” are example of (A) hyperbole. (B) paradox. (C) simile (D) apostrophe (E) irony.” The correct answer was (A) hyperbole the reason was based on the definition, also because of how the sentence is structured it is obvious that there is an exaggeration. I eliminated answer choice C because simile uses ‘like’ or ‘as’ and those two words were absent. It was not E because there is nothing ironic in that line. It was obviously not D because based on the sentence nothing addresses to as if it were human. It was not B because it was not a self contradictory statement. So the only answer choice that made sense was answer choice A which is hyperbole.
An example of a question I got wrong was question number thirty-six; it stated “Which of the following best paraphrases “my muse had slept” in line 14? (A) I have never been in love. (B) I could not have written poetry. (C) My love did not awaken. (D) I could not think about her. (E) She has paid no attention to my love.” I chose answer choice A because it seems logic and made sense to me but, it was wrong. However, the correct answer was answer choice B, after reviewing the answer I realized why answer choice B made more sense. It did because if it was inserted in the place of “my muse had slept” it would make sense and it seems more complete.
My point of view on this test was that it was fairly good because most of the questions were complicated but, carefully reading them might simplify the meaning of the question as a whole. The literary term was not an issue for me on the test. I seem to struggle when it comes to the point where I have to substitute a word or phrase to replace or reword a sentence. Another thing that I could do better is re-read the passage or questions and if there is time left, go back and check my answers. My time management was good I had time to go back and check my test and make changes if possible.
Although this test may have been a struggle, it was created to help students to have knowledge of where they are and also to give the instructor an idea of where they need to educate the students’ ability. After this test both the student and their instructor will know what to do. The student will have an idea on what their weakness are and the teacher will find ways to help improve the students’ abilities. Overall, the test was a fair and challenging one, but it helps us to think outside of the box at times.
Ryan Lawson
ReplyDelete4/16/2013
A.P. Literature and Composition
Final AP Analysis
Like many of my classmates, my score went down on this last round of practice testing. I can attribute some of the blame to two exterior factors, one: the difference in the test manufacturer, and two: taking the multiple choice and written portions in reverse order. Regardless of these, there are still issues to be handled in my testing approach. First of all, there are a few vocabulary terms that I have to have memorized. Also, I have to work on my responses to questions that have to do with author’s craft. Finally, as always, I need to be able to take tests quickly, granting time for revision and editing.
After scanning my answers, it was clear that there were several key vocabulary terms that had hindered my performance on the exam. For example, in question number three, I was asked “The lines ‘I’d tunnel till my groove / Pushed sudden through to his’ are an example of” and I picked answer choice E, irony. The correct answer was actually choice A, hyperbole. The fact that I chose an answer choice with such a different meaning than the one that was actually correct shows that I need to study more about the term irony, as well as how I can spot instances of hyperbole. Also, question 11 asked, “On which of the following do lines 11 – 16 rely?” I chose answer choice E, apostrophe, when the correct answer was actually B, paradox. Now, while I must admit that I forgot the meaning of apostrophe while I did this, I did understand that choices A, C, and D were incorrect, and therefore eliminated them from my list of possible answers. Clearly however, knowing the definition of apostrophe would have made a 1 point difference in my favor. Therefore, I know that hyperbole, irony, paradox, and apostrophe are three words that I definitely need to study in depth before taking the exam.
I saw that my response to author’s craft questions has changed little. This is probably due to the fact that I felt extremely rushed due to the fact that I was taking the test in the reverse order, and therefore this was the final hour of the test, instead of the first. Ignoring this, my method for improvement is still the same: annotation. To keep from running out of time and feeding my paranoia, I will leave small letters as annotation. The letters will indicate the literary device being used. This will make it very easy to find the answers to questions concerning not only author’s craft, but literary devices in general. This drives into my next point, saving time.
My biggest worry on every test I take is saving as much time as possible. Due to my fear of taking my time, I often end up making many small mistakes over the exam that are just as detrimental to my final score as if I had not finished the test at all. To counter this, I need to learn how to take tests not just quickly, but efficiently. Anyone can move through a test quickly, but doing this will probably waste many points. Efficiency, however, means that I should try to get more correct answers in a shorter period of time. On a literary exam, one tool is essential in achieving this: annotation, and regardless of worries about time I need to learn how to annotate in order to take this exam efficiently.
That is my final analysis. I have all the tools and resources necessary to do well in the real exam. All I need to do now is prepare by learning vocabulary, and lose my unconscious disapproval of in-test annotation.
Josaua Desai
ReplyDeleteAP Literature and Composition
Ms. O’Donnell
4/20/13
Similar to almost all of my classmates, I saw my multiple choice score decrease significantly overall on this fourth round of testing. This was largely due to the change in difficulty of the multiple choice section of the test. Yet, despite, this decrease, similar to Sana, I found that it helped me better understand and consequently, employ a better understanding of concepts I need to improve on for the actual AP examination.
A specific strategy that has been consistently been harming my overall score is time management. From the first baseline examination to this full length mock exam, I have found that I have really struggled with this aspect of time management because I spend too much time on the questions at the beginning of the test and by the end I am simply skimming over the passages, causing my overall balanced score by the middle, to go to an extremely low score by the end of the test due to the increasing prominence of incorrect answers. I largely pinpoint this problem to my large expenditure of time upon the poetry section and its questions, which have caused less time available for me to spend on the prose sections, which generally have more questions following them and are longer in length. Accordingly, to resolve this issue I will begin with the prose passages, so I can read them thoroughly and answer a greater bulk of questions, and then I will move onto the poetry section, which does not need as much time
Furthermore, I felt that I struggled, like Ryan, with questions involving literary terms. From this test, I was able to see that I had trouble remembering the terms and their meaning, specifically through question 11, which asked what literary device a section of the poem relied on. The answer choices were a. understatement, b. paradox, c. personification, d. internal rhyme, and e. apostrophe. While, I was able to eliminate a few answer choices, I found for the most part that I was confused because although I knew the overall meaning of each of these terms, I was having trouble pinpointing exactly one answer within this context, thus I ended up taking a guess. However, after reviewing the meanings of all of the terms given as answers, I found that I realized that I further need to study each of these terms to the extent where I am able to remember their meaning, as well as identify them within a specific quote and piece of literature.
Moreover, I found that I got many of the “vocab in context” type questions incorrect. An example is question 4, which asks about the meaning of the word, “recompense” within the passage. Initially, I did not know the meaning of the word recompense, so I reviewed in the passage, in order to get an understanding of the word. However, this did not help very much because when I substituted all the options I found that I was only able to eliminate a few of the answer choices and I was still confused about the correct answer choice. As a result, I guessed and ended up getting the answer wrong because I was unable to interpret the context and I did not know the original meaning of the word, which could have helped me to obtain a better answer.
After this analysis, I have found various aspects on this examination, which will aid me that I had never even considered. These include annotating the entire passage in order to not have to review the passage as much and keep track of time; improving on how much time I spend on each question. Additionally, I will more intensely review BenchPrep’s study tools, including the flash cards, in order to better understand and interpret the various literary devices. Moreover, for vocab in context questions, I will review and study more ways in which I can better analyze specific areas of a piece of literature to better understand question. As a result, I believe that through the improvement in these areas and our upcoming, intensive unit on poetry, I will have the necessary tools and strategies in order to have success on the actual AP Literature and Composition Exam in May.
During this mock AP American Literature exam, my results shown that I have actually done a bit worse than usual, as compared to the previous practice exams. Although, looking at other peer responses it seems as if I was not the only one; I would have to say that this exam seemed more difficult than the previous ones and also seemed a bit different. Nevertheless, I was still able to get the through the exam in the appropriate amount of time.
ReplyDeleteDuring this exam I feel as if I lacked comprehension for a deeper analysis. In other words, there were many questions that asked how a certain word is used to modify or could be seen in a different meaning, thus questions like number thirty states “In live 4, the word ‘gall’ is used to suggest:” overall, I chose answer choice C, effrontery, the reason I choice C was merely because it was a simple guess, the reason for guessing was because I was not able to analyze the poem enough to properly understand what the meaning of not just the word but even what the line meant. Hence, question styles that specifically relate to the hidden meaning, like number thirty, that ask for what a certain word may suggest or mean, are question I need to excel in. How I could do this is by reading the passages so what I could get a deeper meaning out if it. In other words, many times I would just read the passage without highlighting or annotating, and it seems that in previous exam, where I did attempt to annotate and mark up the passage, I scored significantly higher, thus, in order to answer questions for a deeper meaning; on the AP exam I will spend time to thoroughly understand the passage first before answer the questions.
Also, compared to previous exams I have improved on questions relating to literary terms, however, there are still a few terms that have confused me or I still did not know the meaning of. For example, I had almost a similar situation to Ryan with question eleven which states “On which of the following do lines 11 – 16 chiefly rely?” although I did not have the same answer I Ryan, I had actually narrowed down my choices to just A, understatement, and B, paradox. However, these two terms are the one I was uncertain about, not really knowing the definition or the purpose they serve. Thus, as Ryan mentioned, knowing the definition of these two terms could have made a 1 point difference, since the correct answer was paradox. Overall, the terms that I had problems with the most were: paradox, understatement, apostrophe (from a previous question). Hence, I shall continue to use the Bench Prep flashcards as a reference to continually learning the terms before the AP exam.
Moreover, during this round I had taken a different approach in answer the questions, whereas I did not start from the first passage, instead I began doing all the prose passages first and then moved on to the poems next, the reason for doing so is because I felt that prose passages are easier to analyze as compared to poems, and overall I wanted to get over with the easer questions and spend more time on the more difficult ones, which in my case were the question relating to poems. Overall, I did do very well on the prose passages; however, I still did not do well on the poem passages. Therefore, I feel that during the actual AP exam I will start with poem passages first since they are the most difficult for me and it may be best to start with passages that are more difficult since I would usually be more concentrated at the beginning of the exam, whereas, since the prose passages seem simpler to me, I would not need to spend a significant amount of time and could probably be able to fly through them in the amount of time left after finishing the poem passages.
Overall, my action plan for the AP Exam is to one continually use the literary term flashcards to understand the terms that I am still uncomfortable with. Moreover, in terms of questions relating to hidden meaning, I will have to force myself to take the time to annotate, mark up or highlight parts of the passage to fully comprehend and be able to analyze the passage. Finally, I will also take a different approach to how I being to take the exam, whereas, this time I had begun with all the prose passages and I had actually done much better than I did in previous exams. Thus, I will take the approach of doing poem passages first so that I begin the exam in full concentration on analyzing and comprehending poems, thus leaving prose passages in the end since I would not need to spend as much time in analyzing and comprehending, also since I find prose passages simpler I may be able to fly through them in the amount of time I have left. Consequently, this is my approach to succeeding the AP American Literature exam on May 9th.
DeleteAsha Chen-Phang
ReplyDeleteApril 22, 2013
AP Literature
Ms. O’Donnell
While taking this AP Literature practice exam, I noticed that I experienced a greater amount of difficulty than usual on the multiple choice portion of the test. This is likely due to the fact that this was a different format of the exam that I had never seen before. This test was harder than any of the practice exams that we had ever taken, which is part of the reason that my score decreased to the extent that it did. However, there are still many aspects of the test that I need to focus my attention on improving in order to get the optimal score on the official AP exam in May.
One segment of the test of which I believe I experienced the most difficulty, although I answered a majority of them correctly, is the questions with the Roman numerals. I spent the greatest length of time on these questions as I had to ponder each answer in depth to determine whether it was correct or not. For instance, on question 47 I selected the incorrect answer E, instead of the correct answer D. This is because of my misunderstanding of a part of the passage concerning the protagonist’s grandmother. If I had understood that area of the prose passage I likely would’ve been able to respond to the question correctly. This demonstrates my need to take my time to examine the passages in depth as well as to annotate them for a deeper understanding. Additionally, the fact that I struggled in answering these types of questions shows that I need to find a better strategy when I am approached by such questions so that I can answer them accurately and efficiently. When I manage to do so, I should be well-equipped when I am faced by such questions on the actual exam.
Moreover, I realized that I improved greatly on the questions involving literary terms and devices. My continuous review of these terms on BenchPrep and the quizzes we take in class has allowed me to attain a more enhanced understanding of them and answer questions containing them. Many of the questions I got wrong were of the style, “All of the following words suggest … EXCEPT…” These are more so based on just ordinary vocabulary terms as opposed to literary terms. Similarly, some questions, such as 22, in which it asks how a term used within the passage “can best be defined” presented me with some difficulty. In question 22, I had an instinctive feeling that the word “bemused” refered to “puzzled” which was answer choice A. However, after referring back to the passage, it seemed as though the word had a different meaning of “annoyed” which was answer choice C. This just means that I need to do some studying of some higher level vocabulary terms. As well, I have to pay closer attention refer back to the passage in order to recognize the true use of the term in that specific instance. By the time actual AP exam comes, which is sooner than ever, I will be well prepared to have an exemplary performance on the multiple choice portion of the exam.
Archit Singh
ReplyDeleteApril 20 2013
My performance on this mock A.P. exam was worse than my first and it concerns me because I feel a significant number of points on this test. I agree with Sana and Josh because for me one thing that stood out was the difficulty of the passages in this test. Hopefully, it was because my performance was not where it should have been. One factor that might have led to a low score was because of tired eyes. Since we took the multiple choice portion of the test after the essay portion, it might have led to a lower score. Also, as many have already suggested, this portion was a little challenging compared to other tests that we have already taken.
Therefore, my game plan for the upcoming AP exam is to review the entire test I have taken so far, review test strategies, go back to our blog and review the other posts on the blog so I get an idea of to tackle the exam. I will visit the BenchPrep site to review the terms and learn other strategies.
The positives from the test were that I was successfully able to answer all the questions and finish the test with a few seconds left. I was able to eliminate answer choices for each question, although I eliminated some answer choices that were actually the right answers. I annotated and I made comments and I made sure to read the questions carefully. Basically, I did everything that I have been doing in the past few tests. However, I did not understand the first poem and I think that the nervousness that I felt after reading the poem caused the drop in points.
The negatives from the test were many. I did not understand the first poem because I could not interpret it; I had no clue how to start it. Therefore, I got questions like question 3 wrong that asked, ““I’d tunnel till my groove/Pushed sudden through to his” are an example of” and due to time constraints, I picked apostrophe but the answer was hyperbole. It is not really answer term that I need to review, it is just the way I interpret a piece of poem. Basically throughout the test main idea questions sort of hurt me because since my eyes were tired, questions like 14, 42, and 47. I got questions with roman numerals where I missed 47 and 48 where I had to choose and it always came down to two options. Other types of questions that concern me are word meaning questions and I feel like these are going to hurt me on the actual AP exam. For example, question 4 asks for the meaning of “recompense” and because I did not understand the poem, I got it wrong. I got silly questions like question 6 wrong that ask for conventional grammar, it is the silliness on my part. Hidden idea questions like question 17, I just had to interpret it more and read the passage more carefully to get it right. Word meaning questions hurt me as well because I got them wrong for the most part like question 30, 22, and 4. Words that really made me nervous while doing the test were periodic sentence, apostrophe, and paradox. What happened was that I knew the definition but for some reason I was not able to apply it to the test and therefore not only I need to review those terms, I have to apply them and practice them.
Overall, I found questions that I should have gotten right but didn’t due to my poor judgment. I have to work more on my MC and essay to get a 4, my goal for the AP test. This test has brought me back to reality and has clearly stated for me that I need to work harder or else I should say goodbye to that 4.
My performance on this mock AP exam was worse than my first and second one, and it concerns me a lot because I thought that I would actually do better than those ones. The major difficulties that I seemed to struggle with the most were the passages. The reason why I struggled with the passages were because of some of the vocabulary, either not knowing the definitions, or because I was just using the guess and check method when it came down to choosing the best answer. Moreover, one of the downfalls, which lead to this major drop in my score, was me being tired, and not getting enough sleep the night before. Just like Archit said, since we took the essay first, then the multiple choice right after due to the confusion in the beginning of the class, I felt a little drained out after writing all of those essays. Hopefully, on the day of the REAL exam, I know what I need to be prepared with and what strategies I need to have set with me.
ReplyDeleteSome of the issues that I had with facing the passages were things like the vocabulary words. For example, question #4 asks: In line 7, the word “recompense” is best understood to mean:
A: memory or recollection
B: punishment or penalty
C: survey or view
D: joy or happiness
E: reward or compensation
To be honest, most of the questions that I got wrong consisted of these type of questions anyway. These are my weak spots on the exam. Not every vocab word I know, so I mean maybe I need to start going back to the passage and looking for context clues to help me, because sometimes I just get totally lost and give up. 3 words in the exam that I really didn’t know were synthetic imagery, bemuse, and recompense, etc... I mean I realize that in order for me to get better at my vocab im going to have to study more a little or just go back in the passage and find clue words that will lead up to being the definition for that word. The positive things however from this test were things like: I finished all my essays, and multiple choice questions in time, and also I didn’t feel like I needed to rush like I did with the last two. I was able to eliminate answer choices that did not belong in the choices, and at least vary my answers down to like 2 or three correct ones.
In the end, I learned that I need to come up with a really good game plan to address my concerns. And I have 3 things that will help me do that, so I’ll be ready for may 9th:
1.) Get a good night sleep
2.) Review some of the vocab words that I have been seeing occur in some of the same passages over and over again
3.) If I don’t know a vocabulary word, look for context clues surrounding it to come to a meaning
Mariam Mohamed
ReplyDeleteAfter taking this practice multiple choice test, I realized that my score has been decreased by a lot of points compared to the score from the test we took last before. I think that may be due to the overall difficulty of the test. However, after reviewing the test clearly, I found out that I have I realized that I have improved in many of skills that I used to struggle before, however, there are still few types of questions in the test that still give me a hard time. Now that I have identified where my weakness is at the most, I should practice particularly on that are before the real AP exam
I noticed that I have improved a lot on questions literary term questions. This is because of the practice of literary terms that we did in Bench prep. For example, question 26 asks “All of the following techniques are used by the author except: A) parallel sentence structure, B) extended metaphor, C) dialect, D) made-up words, or E) allusion. Because of the review we did in bench prep, I was easily able to identify that the correct answer was choice C) dialect. In fact, I was able to find evidence that the other literary devises were present in the text.
I realized that I am still having trouble with questions that ask what the authors suggest by saying something. Question 53 is an example of this. I got this wrong because I was taking the literal meaning of the author’s phrase. Also, since this was towards the end and I was running out of time, I didn’t read the paragraph as carefully as I did with the ones before, so I got most of the questions in the end wrong. As Ryan said, taking a test efficiently is better than rushing to finish it. Since I rushed through the last questions without carefully referring back to the question, I got them wrong. Furthermore, one strategy that I am planning on using in the AP’s is skipping the questions that I don’t understand first so I can answer the once that I understand better and then come back to the once that I didn’t understand before. By doing this, I think I will save more time and get more answers correct. After all, answering the easy ones can actually help you answer some of the difficult once. But when I am not sure of a question even after coming back to it, I am going to use process of elimination and try my best to guess the correct answer.
The AP exams are coming up soon, so before that I am planning on reading the lessons in bench prep and reviewing strategies. As I went through my questions, I realized I misinterpreted some of them poems, so I should focus mainly on improving my skills in poem. Also, I am planning on reviewing the literary terms in bench prep again so that I can get those questions correct on the AP’s. Also, while taking the exams I shouldn’t become nervous because It drops my performance significantly.
Jossieanette Nieves
ReplyDeleteMrs. O’Donnell
4/20/13
AP Literature
Taking this mock AP exam and having this last round of practice testing was a great way to prepare myself even more for the actual AP exam in May. Given that this particular AP exam was harder, my score just like most of all classmates dropped. I noticed that some of my weaknesses were figuring out the author’s intent and working with the poems content, style and form as well as having to look the hidden meaning.
Furthermore, the fact that I was able to look through my answers and review carefully with more time, I was able to realize that I do need to work on the poems style and the hidden meaning within the poems. For example a question that presented me with trouble was question number 2, “In line 3, the word ‘far’ probably modifies…” A. “universe” (line 2). B. “rock” (line 2). C. “heard” (line 3). D. “call” (line 3). E. “side” (line 4).” For this particular question you have to really understand the poem in order to be able to answer the question correctly. In this case I did not fully understand the poem because it did not make much sense to me and due to the fact that I did not know what it was talking about it just led to make an educated guess.
Moreover, another particular question that presented me with some trouble was question number 5 “Which of the following is an example of synesthetic imagery, that is, the description of one sensory experience in terms of a different sense, such as Keats’ phrase, ‘aromatic pain.’ A. “minded walls (line 1) B. “universe . . . rock” (line 2) C. “silver call” (line 3) D. “my groove” (line 5) E. “looking in his eyes” (line 8).” With this question I read it over quickly and did not grasp onto what the question was really asking therefore, it was another question where I made an educated guess. For instance I chose answer choice B, but the correct answer was answer choice C because call is a sound, however, it is being described as a color by placing the adjective “silver.” When I read this question I automatically eliminated answer choice D, E and A because even though I did not fully understand the question I knew that these answer choices would be irrelevant to what the question was asking. After reviewing my answer I understood why answer choice C is the correct one.
Additionally, I also had trouble with the questions that dealt with the roman numerals. With these types of questions you cannot quickly eliminate answer choices which creates more confusion. For instance, an example of this type of question that presented me with trouble was question #33 “The implication of line 9 (“Chastity and Beauty, which were deadly foes”) is that… I. love is a battle between good and evil. II. The beautiful and the chaste are besieged by dangerous enemies. III. It is difficult to be both beautiful and chaste.” This question was complicated for me because I did not know some of the vocabulary and because there were different options to choose. I initially thought the correct answer was D because of the words in line 9-10 “deadly” and “reconciled” which lead to me think of evil and enemies for some odd reason and that lead me to chose answer choice D. However, the correct answer was answer choice B because the poem does not say that beauty is evil. It implies that it is not hard to be beautiful and unchaste.
Overall, my plan to do a better job when May 9th comes around, like Jenny said, I will have to force myself to annotate and highlight parts of the passage so that I can fully understand the passage. Moreover, I will go to bed earlier the night before and eat a good breakfast so that I can be ready to go.
After taking this final practice exam, I can see how beneficial the strategies I have conjured up and developed from the baseline exam until now have been. Although many of the issues that were apparent in the earlier exams disappeared by the time I took the latest exam, there were still some problem areas. As time has passed, my time management skills have greatly improved. I attribute this to the strategy devised by classmates Sana and Archit of leaving the poetry passages for last and focusing your initial attention on the prose passages. Though the prose passages are generally lengthier than the poetic pieces, they often require less interpretive questions and their answers seem to be more concrete (less prone to coming down to two choices). For this reason, I find myself doing better on prose passages when I am short on time. Furthermore, this observation was more extensively justified as I reflected on my score and found that most of my incorrect answers spawned from the poetry passages.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, this exam reflection served to make clear that there is no such thing as too much preparation. This came to mind when I saw that I was still answering incorrectly to some vocabulary-based questions. I may get near perfect scores on all our literary terms assessments, but when it comes down to testing day, there is no promise of perfect score. For instance, question 40 asks, “The poem employs all the following EXCEPT: A. rhetorical question B. personification C. antithesis D. contrary to fact construction E. understatement,” and I selected D, while the correct answer was E. Although there was a lack of textual support for my decision, I doubt that I would have chosen the correct answer anyway. This is because being able to identify the term on a vocab test is completely different from differentiating between them on an AP Exam. In order to improve my understanding and abilities when it comes to discerning the terms, I will not only have to keeping studying them -as that is only half the battle- but also have to better myself in the art of astuteness.
Consequently, the only “other” strategy that could be developed from the final round of test analysis is to become well acquainted with language that is more sophisticated. The effect of not knowing certain definitions on my outcome resulted in a few incorrect answers. For example, questions such as 22, 25 and 30 all centered on, not only knowing the definition of a certain word (gall, epiphany, bemused), but also being able to identify how such definition is used to emphasize a certain idea. In other words, we have to know the connotation of the denotation in order to provide the best answer, as we are well aware that there may be more than one “correct” answer.
Ultimately, in order to improve my level of comfort with the troubling poetry passages, I plan to pay as much attention as possible when we discuss it for the few pre-testing weeks. If I do manage to improve my poetry skills, I should be in phenomenal shape for the Judgment Day.
My performance of this mock AP exam was not what I was expecting. Throughout the year my scores on both the multiple choice and the essay questions have increased. But this test was different from the rest. Since there was an issue with the test which caused us to do the essay writing first, which Archit said, “It might have led to a lower score” which I would agree with. This test was also harder than the previous test which is a good and bad combination. This test being harder was beneficial because by doing decent on this test than one should be set for the real AP exam on May 9th. One of the cons of the test being harder is that if you did poor on the test than it would have a big impact on your grade.
ReplyDeleteOne of the vocab terms that presented trouble was in question 4. Question 4 said, In line 7, the word “recompense” is best understood to mean
A)Memory or recollection
B)Punishment or penalty
C)Survey or view
D)Joy or happiness
E)Reward or compensation
The correct answer was E but I chose answer A instead. This was one type of question that gave me trouble on the exam. Another type of question that I found to be also challenging would be the roman numeral questions. For example number 14, “Winter moves into [his face] and presides there”
I. Is an example of personification.
II. Suggests an unyielding expression.
III. Shows the narrator’s fear of her father
A.I and II only
B.I and III only
C.I only
D.II and III only
E.I, II, III
This type of question was difficult for me due to the types of possible answers that there were and that the possible answers were all logical answers. In part to not understanding the question could come from not understanding the poem or prose. For me not understanding the text directly affected how many questions that I got correct. The first prose passage was the poorest score because it was a piece of writing that I understood the least. One of my other habits that I tend to do while I’m reading is start off reading at a good pace but then I start reading faster and then rushing though the passage and rushing through the questions and not understanding them. One last type of questions that I was constantly making mistakes on was the questions that used except in it. I found that a good percentage of the questions that I got wrong was ones with the except in it. When I started the test I was very confident that I knew most of the lit terms but as I faced some I couldn't remember the meaning of them. Some like paradox and apostrophe were very simple but I couldn't remember there definitions; these were in question 11. My plan for May 9th is the night before getting my lunch made and all of my papers in my bag and ready for the morning so come the morning I can spend more time making a large breakfast. But that night before the test I will have a well needed 8 hours of sleep for the test the next day. That night before I will review all of my notes on how to write a well written essay and how to do well on the multiple choice questions. But for now I will focus on choosing answers at a decent pace and know what to look for in the reading. One more thing that I took away from the mock AP test was to take better notes and annotations while reading and before reading look at the questions first to know what to look for when reading.
For me, this was the hardest test we have taken so far. The wording of the questions and the types of questions were ones that I was not really comfortable with. After going over my test and looking and questions I got wrong, I came to a few big conclusions as to what I was having difficulty with. As far as vocabulary, there were not a lot of words that I did not know, due to studying from Bench Prep. However, on the questions I got wrong, there were a few words I did not have a complete understanding of. These words were apostrophe, paradox, and understatement. If I knew what these words meant, I would be able to identify them in the passage. Since I did not know these words I could not have a complete understanding of the question and could not pick the correct answer. It then came down to guessing which, clearly, was not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the types of questions I got wrong, there were 3 main types that I had trouble with. Questions that asked for the symbolic meaning or suggested meaning of words from the passage were my main problem. I have trouble with poetry, so when I had to read deeper into the poem and find symbolic meanings of words, I could not do it. I need to be able to have a clear understanding of the poem, and overall be more comfortable with poetry. Identifying primary purpose was also a problem for me. It seemed that I could understand the passage yet when it came down to the primary purpose I could not spot it. I would choose an answer that had something to do with the passage or was a piece of the passage but not the overall primary purpose. The last type of question that bothered me was the one that had I, II, and III options and then you had to choose a combination of which of the three were correct. My method of eliminating the obvious and choosing the most correct could not really work with this type of question. There were so many options, so I really had to completely understand the questions and know which answer was correct.
My game plan will help me get better for the AP test. I will study the last words that I do not truly know and have a complete understanding of. Then vocabulary will not be a problem for me on the test. I will also try to get comfortable with poetry. I will read more poetry and hopefully work on a few poems in class so that I will have the skills to be able to analyze poetry. The skills to analyze poetry will help me on the test and I will be able to identify the symbolic meanings of the poem. I also need to go over primary purpose so I can identify that. This test has made me realize the last few things that I need to work on so that I will be at my peek when I take the real test.
Sam Julmisse
ReplyDeleteDuring this final practice AP exam, I was challenged far more than the previous ones we had taken. One of main types of questions that I had the most difficulty on was the ones similar to question number 4. These questions require me to use the context to help identify what a certain word would mean in the area it is placed in, what the word is used to suggest, modify, etc. Question number 4 reads
In line 7, the word “recompense” is best understood to mean
A. Memory or recollection
B. Punishment or penalty
C. Survey or view
D. Joy or happiness
E. Reward or compensation
Initially I was able to remove answer choices a, b and d. it was simple to eliminate them because I tried placing the words into the line, but they did not make sense. Being left with c and e, I chose answer e because he speaks of looking at her, and view or survey immediately jumped out at me. After careful reviewing of the answers and explanation packet, it made more sense for choice e be correct. The speaker tells of how all of his hard work tunneling would be work not wasted as they she is just able to peer into his eyes. I have to have a better understanding of the poem to be able to grasp the meaning, and in general a better understanding of the passages that are given.
It is apparent to me that I should work more on questions that contain roman numerals. Having to choose between 3 different choices, and then given options with whether it is only one, two different ones which have been paired together, or all three. With so many options I tend to become uncomfortable and second guess myself frequently. What I must do is become comfortable with these types of questions to trust my gut answer. Take question 33 for example which reads:
The implications of line 9 (“Chastity and Beauty, which were deadly foes” is that
I. Love is a battle between good and evil
II. The beautiful and the chaste are besieged by dangerous enemies
III. It is difficult to be both beautiful and chaste
A. I only
B. III only
C. I and III only
D. II and III only
E. I, II, and III
Off the bat I was able to remove answers which had Roman numeral II, which was d and e. I felt Roman numeral II did not make sense because even though it speaks of enemies I got the sense that chastity and beauty were at war with one another, not so much they were being besieged by others outside of them. This left me with a, b and c. I got rid of answer choice a after that because line 9 did not really deal with love being a battle between the evil and good, at least without the idea that there is difficulty with being both beautiful and chaste. This led to the choosing of choice c. After reading the explanation I realized that answer choice b would have made more sense because it does not say that either those represent evil.
In order to address this problem for the exam on May 9th, I will study more poetry to feel more comfortable when faced with them on the real exam. The better I become at understanding the poems, the better I believe I will be able to answer correctly what the questions are asking. I will also work more on Roman numeral questions, become comfortable with them and second guess myself less. Some literary terms in which I am aware I need to study more vigorously for the exam would be ones primarily in the A section since I tend to get them confused since they sound similar. Some words include: paradox, apostrophe, internal rhyme; as well as types of points of views. All words should be reviewed during the next few weeks leading up to the exam to make sure that I have a full grasp upon them going into the exam.
All week long, my mom has had me working in my Barron's book. I've been doing the practice SATs inside. I've noticed that I have the same issue when doing critical reading sections in the SATs as I do when we do the multiple choice questiona for AP Lit. My main issue? I rush.
ReplyDeleteWhenever we do the tests, I'm rushing through them. I always want to get them done and get out of the testing situation, and it gets me to be jittery and impatient to the point where I rush in the attempt to finish it quickly. It seemed impossible to deal with at first, but my mom helped me to figure out two options. The first is the use of a watch. This way it is easier for me to tell how much time I have left and try to make myself read and decide on answers slower. It can help assure me that I have plenty of time left and I have no need to rush forwards. The second way is even simpler than the first. I discovered that it helped me to underline important things both in the passage and the question. This made me slow down when I read. It was easier and faster than annotating, yet it also helped me to slow down all the same.
Questions like question thirty-three seem to be a common issue for me. The roman numeral questions get confusing as there are options that I may be unsure of and it makes it hard to pick the correct answer. I had the same issue in the roman numeral questions that are in the SATs. The best way I have found to deal with these tricky questions is to cross off the options that I know are not true and then work on finding ones that could be true and work through those possibilities. It takes forever for me to pick the right one, but it does help to get the proper answer. Hopefully but doing more of these and by practicing more and more, I can get to the point where I do them very quickly.
Like Sam, I had an issue with vocab. I know some of the words, but the problem is that I don’t know the meaning of all the words. This causes me to be confused with some of the words because I never truly know what it means. I keep getting confused on words like antithesis. They’re words that I should know but I get confused on it because of the fact there are other words that either have a similar definition or sound similar to it and it messes me up. Studying the vocabulary more often and making flashcards so that I can study easier should help me to clear up this difficulty.
Overall I have issues with time management, I go too quickly, and vocab, I get it mixed up. I can wear a watch and underline important parts to fix my rushing and study vocab more to keep from getting mixed up.
Denisha Kuhlor
ReplyDeleteAP English
Completing this final round of testing before taking the actual AP Exam was very useful because it allowed me to have the most up to date account of how prepared I am for the test as well as what I need to focus on the most in my last weeks in getting ready for the exam.
When taking the exam I realized just how crucial preparation the night before directly impacts my performance on the test. Tips before standardized exams such as making sure you get a good night’s sleep, dressing in layers, and eating breakfast the morning before are very applicable. I also believe that it would be in my best interest to not try and heavily study or cram the night before but instead to just review outlines of essays.
Receiving my scores after completing the exam left me in an initial state of disappointment. My scores had dramatically declined and it was difficult for me to see this with the exam being in such close proximity. Although, I soon learned that my scores were not the only one to decline. I did notice that my vocabulary had improved and this was due to the vocabulary quiz. One thing I have to work on dramatically improving is remaining focused throughout the test. With the test being so long it becomes very easy to drift into a state of unfocus and waste time in the process. The best way to stay focused is to be actively processing the material which includes annotating the passages as I go through and going back and reviewing my work. I also need to become more familiar with poetry missing the poetry unit in the beginning of the year definitely had an impact on me navigating through poetry in the various passages.
I am going to continue actively reviewing my vocab words that way I don’t forget any as well as continue to learn some new ones. I am going to be actively trying to improve my comfort level with poetry by taking the time to review the poetry incorporated in the previous exams that I have taken to really understand why an answer I chose was wrong as well as why an answer was right also. A major thing I need to work on as well is dismissing all previous knowledge I might have about the topic as well as picking an answer based on me inferring my thoughts. When reviewing my results I realized often times that I had picked an answer not based on the background information that I was provided with but what I believed that I knew.
Lastly, a strategy that I really need to utilize is BenchPrep. BenchPrep has a variety of different tools to improve my performance on the exam whether it’s reading, flashcards, or taking a practice quiz. Although the time is quickly winding down before the actual exam there are still strategies that I can employ that will help me better my score.