Test taking tips and strategies AP Multiple choice Test taking tips and strategies

Test taking tips 1. Read actively--Get that pencil moving! 2. Start by bracketing each passage. 3. skipping questions can only be done among questions related to one passage. 4. Guessing—there is no penalty for it. As always, try to narrow the choices first.

Deconstructing the test Usually 4 passages, but sometimes 5. you need to be aware of time. The level of difficulty usually comes from the text itself, not the question.

4 types of questions on most standardized tests According to David Jolliffe (“On Reading and Writing Analytically: Theory, Method, Crisis, Action Plan.” AP English Language Reading and Writing Analytically. College Board. 12), multiple-choice questions on most standardized tests are dominated by four types of questions that ask students to identify: A central idea or gist of a passage A meaning that can be attributed to a particular passage based on inferences A “correct” answer about the content of a particular section of the passage A grammatical error in an underlined portion of a sentence or how a sentence might be improved by some type of revision

Ap mult choice question types AP Multiple-choice questions will include some of these same types of questions but will also include others. 1. Comprehension questions 2. Identifying the author’s (or speaker’s) purpose or intention 3. Identifying a rhetorical device, style feature, or mode of development 4. Inference questions 5. Function questions 6. Reference or antecedent questions 7. Shift or transition questions 8. EXCEPT questions 9. Multiple/multiple-choice

Strategies 1. Don’t waste time reading the directions: they are always the same for each passage. 2. Skim the questions In the passage (not the choices) to identify the focus of the passage.

Strategies cont. 3. Mark any rhetorical shifts usually identified with conjunctions such as “but”, “although”, “since”, etc. 4. Read the passages actively by circling the items that seem to be addressed in the questions. Alternately, you could bracket the text when you first get it. (I recommend this strategy)

5. read all answer choices before you circle one 5. read all answer choices before you circle one. Cross out obvious wrong answers. 6. watch your time by avoiding re-reading the passage. Read carefully the first time.