What to Expect
How to Proceed Through the Section
Types of Questions
 One hour for 45-60 objective questions
 Selections from nonfiction and from different time
periods, styles and purposes
 These are NOT easy readings – they are college level
readings
Follow sophisticated syntax
Respond to diction
Be comfortable with upper-level vocabulary
Be familiar with rhetorical terminology
Make inferences
Be sensitive to irony and tone
Recognize components of organization and
style, and
 Be familiar with modes of discourse and
rhetorical strategies
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 The selection is self-contained. You won’t need to
know outside information on the subject in order
to successfully answer all of the questions
 Identifying Biblical and mythical allusions will
help in literary texts
 Take one minute to thumb through the
exam and look for
 The length of the selections
 The time periods of writing styles, if
you can recognize them
 the number of questions asked
Why skim through?
To get your mind in gear and know
what’s expected of you in this section
• Wear a watch
•The test breaks into 12 or 15 minute sections
•The test DOES NOT become more difficult
as it progresses
•Approx. 1 question per minute/all questions
worth the same points
•Don’t panic if a question is beyond you.
Don’t spend more than 2 min. on a question.
Try, then skip it and move on.
 Most people read just with their eyes – You want to
slow down and read with your senses of sight, sound
and touch
 Underline, circle, and highlight the text
 Read closely, paying attention to punctuation,
syntax, diction, pacing, and organization
 Read as if you are reading it aloud to an
audience, emphasizing meaning and intent
 Hear the words in your head
 Use your finger as a pointer
 Use all information given to you in the passage
 Title, author, dates, footnotes
 Be aware of thematic lines and sensitive
to details that might be question
material
 Go to the questions first
 Skim the question.
 If it refers to a specific line or set of lines, go to the
passage, put a bracket (]) next to the passage, and
write the question number next to it. IF the question
focuses on key words, circle them in the passages as
well, Like
 12
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It is not easy to write a familiar style. Many people mistake a familiar
for a vulgar style, and suppose that to write without affectation is to write
at random.
 This will save you precious time when you go back to
answer the questions because you won’t get lost in the
passage. This process should take about a minute.
 Start reading the passage. When you get to the bottom of
the bracket (after you’ve read that part of the passage),
go back to the question and attempt to answer it.
Eliminate wrong answers
Scrutinize each answer – looking for faults (see
the distractors below)
Don’t be tricked by what sounds good but was
not in the passage.
Re-read the bracketed text to be sure you’ve got
the right one.
 Mark your text to keep your focus. Like this:
Which of the following words is grammatically and thematically parallel
to the “tone” (line 21)?
1. “solemnity” (line 21)
2. “pulpit” (line 21)
3. “stage-declamation” (line 21)
4. “liberty” (line 21)
5. “venture” (line 22)
Once you’ve narrowed your choices to two, go back to the passage to confirm that
there is evidence to support your choice. Mark your answer and move on!
 “Au contrare” – the choice is the opposite of the right
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answer
“outside the Scope – an aspect of the choice was never
mentioned in the passage; it may sound plausible, but the
passage does not contain any evidence to support it
Distortion – material from another part of the passage has
been incorrectly applied
Sounds good, except for ONE word. That one word
invalidates the entire answer
Half right, half wrong. (Hint: Must be all right)
Fits, but it is not the “best answer. This choice may be of
secondary importance. It may describe PART of the
passage, but not all
1. The straightforward question
• The passage is an example of
 C. compare/contrast essay
 The pronoun “it” refers to
2. The question that refers you to
specific lines and asks you to draw a
conclusion or interpret
 Lines 52-57 serve to
 A. reinforce the author’s thesis
 The ALL…EXCEPT question requires more
time because it demands that you consider
every possibility
 Ex. The AP English Language and Composition
Exam is all of the following except
A. It is given in May of each year
B. Is it open to high school seniors
C. It is published in the New York Times
D. Is it used as a qualifier for college credit
E. It is a 3-hour 15 minute test
 The question that asks you to make an
inference or to abstract a concept not
directly stated in the passage.
 Ex. In “Letter from a Birmingham
Jail,” the reader can infer that the
speaker is
 E. religious
 This question is problematic and time consuming.
The exam will have at least a few of these.
 Ex. In the passage “night” refers to
 I. the death of the young woman
 II. a pun on Sir William’s title
 III. The end of the affair
 A. I only
 B. I and II
 C. I and III
 D. II and III
 E. I, II, and III
Tip: Skip if it causes you problems or if you are short on
time.
 Remember that you are
MUCH smarter than
your are giving yourself
credit for at this very
moment.
 The brain, the heart
and the soul all do
better with oxygen, and
confidence tends to fill
us with our own fresh
air, and that’s the best
kind.
May 10th is your day. Whether you
pass the test or not, you have won
because you have joined the tradition started by the great minds and
rhetoricians of old. Never again will you read or hear others’ words
without examining their meaning, their bias and their intent.
“Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.” Plato