AP Literature Test
Practice and Review
Session #1-Multiple Choice
AP Review Session 1_MC
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF TEST
Date? Early May— MAY
10, 2012, 8AM-NOON
[START TIME: 8:30AM]
TOTAL TIME: 3 HOURS
Section I: Multiple choice (60 minutes)—45% of your overall grade
Total number of questions: 55
Four or five prose and poetry passages: 10-15 questions per
passage
Section II: Essays (120) minutes—55% of your overall grade
Three Essays:
– Analysis of poetry (40-minute essay on a single poem, or a
comparison of two poems)
– Analysis of prose (40-minute essay on a given story, novel excerpt,
or essay)
– Open essay (40-minute essay on a given literary topic supported
by your own reading)
AP Review Session 1_MC
SCORING: What does your final score mean?
Scores Approximate percentage of all test takers
receiving this score at participating
colleges=Equivalent first-year college course grade
(expected performance)
Will you receive credit for this score?
5-Extremely well qualified=10.6%_A_Yes
4-Well qualified=22.4%_A-B+_Yes
3-Qualified=35.8%_B-, C_Maybe
2-Possibly Qualified=25.1%_C,D_Very Rarely
1-No Recommendation=6.2%_D_No
You, nor your colleges, will ever know what your
individual section scores are.
You just get a final score of 1-5.
AP Review Session 1_MC
• Overall strategy: A good way to
strategize passing the Multiple-Choice
sections is to at least answer 30
questions correctly and to earn at least
15 points on the essays. These two
scores will net you a final passing
grade of 3. Increases in either category
can help your final scores, too.
AP Review Session 1_MC
THREE STUDY STRATEGIES for the exam:
• Study to eliminate weaknesses, but on the
test—emphasize your strength
• Don’t disregard the Multiple Choice section
• Prepare for the WHOLE test; don’t fixate on
the open essay—YOUR ESSAYS ARE READ
BY A SPECIFIC READER WHO IS FAMILIAR
WITH THE CONTENT YOU CHOSE.
AP Review Session 1_MC
To do well on this section, two testing strategies you
must incorporate are:
• Manage a limited amount of time well.
• Guess wisely and aggressively.
• Guessing? Yes! WHY NOT? THERE’S NO
PENALTY ANYMORE!!!!
– “Guessing wisely and aggressively” means you need the
ability (and courage) to use partial knowledge. Guessing on
questions “blindly” is not a good idea. Guessing randomly
will really not help you. Always answer if you have read
the passage, the question and the answer choices (even if it
ends up being a “guess”).
– Princeton Review™ uses their coined phrase of POE—
Process of Elimination—to answer questions you are not
sure about the correct answer. That means it is better to
answer a question you are unsure about by eliminating the
wrong answers first. Note: if half the answer seems wrong,
it is safe to assume the whole answer is wrong (aka:
“halfbad=allbad” technique).
AP Review Session 1_MC
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Suggested Test Strategizing Plan:
Note the time and the number of passages
Pick a passage to do first
Pick a passage to do last (or skip)
Work the passage (Work doesn’t mean just
read—it means, ….)
Answer the questions, in the order that you
choose applying appropriate (helpful)
techniques—for example, POE;
halfbad=allbad; or 7-minute passage.
AP Review Session 1_MC
Reading the passages in the MC section
require that you:
• Read in order to answer the questions.
• Know what you will be asked to answer
and go back to the passage as you
answer the question/s.
• Figure out the main idea and how it is
structured so you can answer the
questions.
AP Review Session 1_MC
To answer all MC questions efficiently, you
need to recognize three types of questions:
• General comprehension
questions
• Detail comprehension
questions
• Factual knowledge questions
AP Review Session 1_MC
#1: General comprehension questions:
These questions ask about the overall passage.
Ex: The passage is primarily concerned with…?
Which one of the following choices best describes
the tone of the passage?
Which one of the
following choices best describes the narrator’s
relationship to her mother? To whom does the
speaker of the poem address his speech?
It is evident in the passage that the author feels
his hometown is…? Which of the following best
describes the author’s changing attitude over the
course of first, second, and third stanzas,
respectively?
AP Review Session 1_MC
#2: Detail questions always send you back to
specific places in the passage.
Ex: What significant change occurs in the
author’s attitude toward her mother in
lines_-_?
How do the final words of the
third paragraph, “….” alters the remainder of
the passage? What does the author mean by
“formalist” (line___)?
Which of the following is the best paraphrase
for the sentence that begins at line ___?
AP Review Session 1_MC
#3: Factual Knowledge questions:
These questions ask you about English language
and its grammar and the basic terminology of
criticism and poetry.
Ex: Which of the following literary devices most
contributes to the mood of the poem?
What
parallel structure helps to emphasize the attitude of
the speaker?
In the context of the following lines
(__-__), the phrase “This loaf’s big” is used as a
metaphor for the ________? Which is the subject of
“hidden?”
When in the third stanza the playwright character
says, “I believe…” he is referring to…