I found inferential questions most challenging, specifically questions regarding the author or narrator and the effects of certain details. This, perhaps, is a struggle for most students. Personally, I find inferential questions to be extremely gray and unclear. I spend to much time deliberating between choices, and I lose confidence in my first choice. In addition, the longer prose passages are harder to follow in comparision to the poems; the shear length of the pieces and the sentences made it relatively easy for me to lose my focus.
My first goal would be rather straightforward, it would be to simply familiarize myself with literary terminology, upper-level vocabulary, sophisticated syntax, and basic allusions to biblical and mythological works. Fulfilling this goal would require frequent practice and memorization, but I think the payoff will be worthwhile because a lack of familiarity with these subjects caused me to be totally bewildered on some of the quesitons on the practice exam. I would give myself a time frame of about one to two months to accomplish this goal. My second goal would be to become a better reader. I find myself constantly having to go back and reread the same chunks of a passage time after time because I just can't get anything out of it, and by the time I'm ready to answer the question, I forget what I just read. I think that if I read actively and anticipated questions more, I could be more successful. This would take at least two months of practice before I would see much improvement and only have to read parts of the passage a second time.
My third and final goal would be to manage my time more effectively. In a way, accomplishing my other two goals would help be accomplish this goal since I would be spending less time being baffled by concepts I've never seen before and rereading passages. Just as the other goals, (actually even more so for time managment) I would need to do a lot of practice. When practicing, I would try my hardest to limit myself to spending around a minute per question and skipping questions that I'm stuck on. I would need at least three months of practice. When I can answer almost all the questions on the multiple-choice section within the time frame and with a fair amount of confidence, I'll know I'm ready.
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ReplyDeleteHi Christina! I totally agree with you on the inferential questions. They contain some of the most ambiguous answers, an absolute nightmare for us test takers. What I found to be helpful is to use the elimination method. This makes it significantly easier to narrow the choices down from having all probable answers to the most suitable. I’m glad you mentioned “numbering paragraphs” because that just brought back so many memories from last year’s AP Language and Composition adventure. I can already hear Mrs. Roth telling us tips like to circle the verbs if the questions asks for tone or mood. Wonderful times. It’s a shame I didn't remember those tips for the practice exam, but now I realize and will make note of it. Thanks for the reminder. The time limit is troublesome, but I wouldn't force yourself to process each question like they are part of an assembly lines. 5STA5 does mention that there is no difficulty progression, so I’d advise doing the ones you feel most comfortable with first. As far as terminology is concerned, I think the links on the AP summer reading pdf dealing with analysis of literature (towards the end of the pdf) would prove beneficial. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteMuch like you Christina, I felt most comfortable in answering questions where I could refer back to the passage and point to the exact answer, but as expected, that wasn't majority of the test. Analytical questions were relatively easy for me as well, and I also struggled with the technical questions and parts of the inference questions. Very odd that we struggled in such similar areas, or is it? Are these the common strengths and pitfalls at the beginning of the course? Possibly. I find it quite intriguing that our strengths and weaknesses coincide so perfectly. One difference between us though, is I am usually very adapt in knowing allusions, but much like you I aim to learn more about the technical literary terminology because it is very much a weakness of mine. I also detest the fact that I have to refer back to the passage multiple times and can't seem to derive anything from it. I like your well constructed goals with specific time frames such as "one or two months" because it allows it to be more of a priority because it has a deadline. I think your reflection of your pitfalls and successes are very accurate, and also common with the other people that took the test.
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