What You MUST Know For the AP
Exam
YOU CAN DO THIS!
AP English Language and
Composition (AP English III)
Mr. Johnson
The Test
• You have a total of three hours.
• There is no timer, per se; you must watch your
times accordingly;
– 60 minutes (1 hour) for multiple choice
– 15 minute reading period (synthesis first,
rhetorical analysis passage if time)
– 1 hour and 45 minutes for writing the three essays
Scoring
• Multiple choice=45 %
• Essays/timed writes/FRQs=55 %
• The scoring formula:
– [# correct –(1/4 x # wrong) x 1.2] = raw MC score
– (Essay 1 score + Essay 2 score + Essay 3 score)= raw essay
score
– Add both scores to find total raw score
– 0-145 overall range, so typically (there will be a slight
curve):
• Low 70s=3
• Low 90s=4
• 105 or higher=5
You need to score…
• At least 50 % on the MC!
• At least 5s on all essays!
• To determine what you are likely to get, use
your most recent MC raw score and your last
three timed write scores (ideally one of each)
Estimating What You Need to Score
• You can also estimate what you need to score on
one section alone as follows:
– Figure out what you will likely get on one section (i.e.
let’s say you score a 43.2 raw score, (71 %) correct on
the MC). (39 right, 4 left out, 12 wrong).
– You want a 4.
– Subtract 43.2 from 90 (the baseline 4 range)=46.8
– This means your raw score for the essay section must
be at least 46.8/3.3, or 14.2. There are three essays,
so divide 14.2 by 3=4.7; you would need a 5 or higher
on each essay to earn a 4.
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Diction: the words that the author selects to achieve
particular effects
– Connotation: the implied meaning, NOT the surface level
meaning. Usually carries emotional implications, and subtly
helps to convey a thesis.
• If asked for the connotation(s) of a particular word, you MUST
consider the context of the sentence in which it appears, and often,
the paragraph or the passage. DO NOT assume the connotation and
denotation match—the test is checking you understanding of implied
meaning here, NOT the actual definition!
– Denotation: simply the dictionary denotation. Usually asked on
the exam in the form of words in context (i.e. “In the passage
___________ might be best understood to mean…”
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Fun with Syntax!
– Syntax: the structure of sentences in a piece of
writing.
• Asyndeton: the omission of conjunctions in a list or
between clauses
• Polysyndeton: the use of more conjunctions than is
gramatically necessary.
• Together, these are known as parataxis. You probably
won’t be asked about that, but it can’t hurt to know it!
Multiple Choice Terminology
• More fun with syntax!
• Parallel Structure—they ask about this almost
every year.
– Varieties of parallelism (a partial list)
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Anaphora
Epistrophe
Anadiplosis
Juxtaposition
Antithesis, in certain cases
Tricolon/Isocolon
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Even more fun with syntax!
– Loose sentence
– Periodic sentence
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Tone: the author’s attitude towards a
particular subject or topic
– DO NOT confuse tone with mood!
– Mood: (much less important on the exam, but
may appear) the emotion evoked by the text
– The difference: Tone refers to the author’s
feelings, and mood to the reader’s feelings. Make
sure you understand this!
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Grammar Stuff
– Pronoun-antecedent agreement is the most common
grammatical concept tested.
• Antecedent: the noun to which the pronoun refers.
• Usually on the exam, these questions will be asked of
passages in which the pronoun and antecedent are widely
separated by a variety of other sentence parts (clauses,
phrases, etc.), or even across sentences.
• Eliminate the extra “stuff” and figure out what that accursed
“it,” “he,” “she,” “they,” etc. actually refers to!
• Circle the pronoun and draw an arrow back to the
antecedent if need be.
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Logic
– Deductive
– Inductive
– Syllogism
– Premise
– Invalid logic
Rhetorical Appeals
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Logos
Ethos
Pathos
Watch out for pathos disguised as logos—if
the author is trying to get us to feel, rather
than think, a certain way, this is a
manipulation of pathos, not logos.
Multiple Choice Terminology
• Those danged fallacies…
– The most common (in no particular order):
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Begging the question
Slippery Slope
Ad Hominem
Bandwagon/ad populum
Hasty generalization/faulty generalization
False analogy
Appeal to authority
Appeal to ignorance
Circular argument
False dilemma
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• Time! Is! Of! The! Essence!
– Don’t take forever on any one question; you do not
lose or gain points for omitting a question (this does
negatively impact your score, but less so than does a
wrong answer). If you have no clue, circle it and come
back to it if you have time.
– I have told you that the questions get progressively
harder. Mea culpa! The questions are scattered in
terms of difficulty. If a question seems to be easy,
make sure there’s nothing else being asked—you may
have just encountered a “gimme”—take it and run!
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• If short on time, look for questions that don’t
require you to refer to the text (i.e. the answer
is provided clearly)
– For example, a question that asks something like
“Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers” is
an example of:
• A) Paradox
• B) Asyndeton
• C) Alliteration
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• Educated guessing is advisable, blind guessing
is stupid.
– Narrow down your options. If you can get down to
2 possibilities, you have 50/50 odds; not too
shabby on an exam that sets the passing rate
under 60 % overall!
– NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER select an
answer with a word/phrase/term you don’t know
unless you are 100 % CERTAIN that none of the
other answers are correct!
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• If you’re short on time, skim the questions and answer
those with specific line references or particular words
to define. You might get a couple of easy questions
you’d otherwise leave blank.
• ANNOTATE! This ensures you’re reading actively and
that you are noticing elements of the text.
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Underline, or otherwise mark, the thesis of the passage
DIDLS
PELIDS
SOAPSTone
Don’t take forever to annotate—mark what you notice,
keeping the above acronyms in mind.
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• Consider reading the questions first. Some students do
better reading both questions and answers, some just the
questions. The College Board suggests just reading the
questions to establish a purpose for your reading, so if you
don’t trust me (shame on you!), you can take their advice,
at least.
– Many times, the questions will provide useful hints as to the
meaning of the passage!
• Look over the MC section before taking it and try to
determine how much time you can allot to each passage.
There will be at least four.
– Divide the total time (60 minutes) by the number of passages to
determine roughly how long you can spend on any one passage.
Approaches and Problems on the MC
Section
• Make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you know what
the question is asking.
– Be careful not to ignore “except” and other
qualifiers.
Approaches and Problems on the MC
section
• You WILL get older passages (17th century
especially) that have convoluted and challenging
syntax
– Don’t get overwhelmed. You’ve survived my class,
you’ll survive this.
– Identify the topic of the piece first; what are the
abstract concepts that the piece deals with?
• For example, Catch 22 deals with war, bureaucracy,
absurdity, etc.
• Next, formulate a statement of the author’s thesis—what is
his/her opinion regarding this abstract concept? Heller, for
example, is clearly not in favor of war and bureaucracy! So,
what then is he saying about these ideas?
Approaches and Problems on the MC
section
• Simplify the syntax, as this is the most
problematic part of older writing
– Look for the statement made in any given sentence.
This may require ignoring/skipping the dependent
clauses and added independent clauses that “clutter”
many of these sentences.
– Generally, independent clauses (stand-alone clauses
that could be their own sentences) make the
statements; the other “stuff” is added description
most of the time.
– This approach helps with difficult rhetorical analysis
passages, too!
Rhetorical Analysis Essay Tips
• The thesis statement
– In your thesis, avoid vaguery and say-nothing
sentences.
• No good: “the author uses diction and imagery to
convey his feelings and opinion.”
– Duh! But WHAT sort of diction? What sort of imagery? WHAT
ARE HIS FEELINGS AND OPINIONS?
– If it doesn’t add to the piece, leave it out. Concision is the
domain of the wise (a Johnson original!)
Rhetorical Analysis Essay Tips
• If you choose to discuss fallacies (there are
many times it is appropriate to do so), DO NOT
merely label the fallacy. Does the fallacy
damage or further the argument? Was the
fallacy intended to “trick” or manipulate the
reader, or was it the result of poor logic?
– As with everything else, effect and intent are
everything with fallacies.
Rhetorical Analysis Essay Tips
• Don’t use “how” when you mean “that”;
– “The author shows how good dogs go bad when
they are abused.” This SHOULD read “the author
shows that good dogs go bad when they are
abused.”
• Avoid imprecise diction and say nothing
words/phrases/sentences;
– “deep,” “dark,” good,” “bad,” “positive,”
“negative”; these don’t give us any real sense of
what you mean!