<p>Does anyone else think that the curve on this test is pretty steep (low)? I mean on the APUSH exam, for example, you could score 75% on the MC and get an average of 6/9 on the essays and be in the safe zone for a 5. In contrast, for this exam, you’re barely above a 5, if not a high 4, with the same stats. >_></p>
<p>MC wasn’t great for me. On the last passage, a lot of my answers were rushed guesses. Meh. I just really hope I got 40+
Synthesis was okay. Hoping 6/9
My rhetorical analysis was lovely! I feel like I safely got an 8/9 on that one.
Argument was pretty good. Hoping 7-8/9.
SOOO hopefully a 5 :</p>
<p>I never read the entire passage, that’s how I always do it, even on SATs. I got a 5 on a practice one we took after school (from 2003 I believe) with 45/54 MC. Strategy is different for each person, but I feel I would rather spend more time focusing on individual questions rather than on reading the passage. Besides that, I feel when I read the entire passage, I have too much going on in my head to think about the questions clearly. </p>
<p>I like to go into the questions with no bias, and then pull out what I need, using context if necessary. </p>
<p>Anyway…does anyone want to discuss some questions?</p>
<p>For passage 1, what did you guys put for the old man who opened himself up to people in concentration camps? I put a “book.”</p>
<p>And what about the frozen lake one?</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>We’re not allowed to discuss specific questions, just so you know.</p>
<p>I did awful, my brain was fried from studying for the AP Gov test yesterday so I did poorly. I’m expecting a 2 or 3.</p>
<p>soOOoOO easy - i was worried the analysis would be difficult because the MC was so simple but it was modern - i was thrilled</p>
<p>I thought the essays weren’t too bad. What kind of rhetorical strategies did you all use for the analysis essay? I used examples(states…etc), structure( Organization and shift), and tone(angry). I’m not so confident about it so I was just wondering what did you guys do?</p>
<p>I had only done 10 practice MC questions ever for this test because I was absent the other 2 days they did practice tests and forgot we had a packet of practice MC until this morning when the packet fell out of my backpack. Oops. Lol.</p>
<p>But either way, I just used the tricks I learned for the SAT I Critical Reading, so I hope I got 40+</p>
<p>As for the essays, I got an 8 on every single one we wrote these past few months in class, never able to get that perfect 9. I hope I was able to get scores like that again today, though. My final essay (argumentative or whatever it’s called) had a lot of voice, and I think I just managed to not make it too opinionated (when I thought I was about to, I caught myself and amended). My second essay (rhetorical analysis) had a fair amount of voice, I think, though certainly much less than the argumentative essay. And my synthesis essay, while cohesive and coherent (hopefully!) didn’t have a great deal of voice, though I think it would be hard in any case to insert any real sense of voice into essentially a DBQ about a food movement. That one was like 4 pages or something, so I hope I didn’t get too repetitive, though that definitely may have happened. </p>
<p>I’d like to cross my fingers for a 5, but I’ve heard that can be pretty hard to get on this test, so I guess I’ll see come July…</p>
<p>For the rhetorical strategies, I mentioned juxtaposition, parallelism, repetition, and alliteration.</p>
<p>With 54 questions, the MC equivalent is 1.25.</p>
<p>(M.C. is 45% of 150 pts - i.e. 67.5 points, 67.5 / 54 = 1.25)</p>
<p>Rhetorical analysis was simply awesome for me.
I had asyndeton, anaphora, absolute, imagery + pathos appeal (guilt), rhetorical questions, shift to using “we” at the end + more anaphora.</p>
<p>I put my focus on the author’s tone for my RA…probably not a good choice but I suck at analysis anyway. Thankfully it was a beautifully blatant analysis passage <3 I thought especially considering the random guess penalty being taken away, this would be a harder test.</p>
<p>The multiple choice was insanely easy. Might have gotten 50 right.
Essays were alright.
Overall, it was much easier than expected.</p>
<p>Thought I did pretty well on the MC. Easy’s were OK, but had some trouble on the synthesis.</p>
<p>Kinda sucks that we can’t just Google the multiple choice to get an idea of how we did…</p>
<p>MC was a joke; I finished it in 35 min. Score should be 48 - 54 / 54.</p>
<p>Essays: </p>
<p>Synthesis: meh. 7 - 8. Probably a 7.
Rhetoric: didn’t like the way that I structured it towards the end, so probably a 7.
Argument: 8 - 9, maybe an 8 because my conclusion was a little weak (“America’s fabric is tearing apart and it needs a seamstress” or some bs like that). It was one of the best essays that I’ve ever written. It had voice, and it wasn’t dogmatic.</p>
<p>Funny thing is that I didn’t write conclusions for the Synthesis or Rhetoric because of time, but my teacher is an AP Grader and she said that that shouldn’t detract from my score unless my grader is a hard-ass.</p>
<p>@WunderWuffle My strategy for all APs (and other such tests) has always been to write all of the essays without conclusions and then once <em>all</em> have been finished, I go back and write conclusions for all of them (or as many as I can get to in the time left). That way, I know I’ve finished the actual essay for all of them, with no pressure there. Plus, on all of those tests, a good essay without a conclusion is perfectly capable of receiving the same grade as another good essay of the same caliber, as long as you got your point across effectively. </p>
<p>I highly recommend that method to anyone who has trouble finishing all of the other essays in time. Like I said, you can still get a perfect score without a conclusion.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Couldn’t you have told us this earlier?!?!?!?!??!</p>
<p>Anyways, for those of you who found the MC section to be easy, how many MC tests / packets did you complete in class? If I recall, we maybe worked on two practice tests at the most the entire year, as we spent most of our time working on essays. Just wanted to know to see if my lack of practice with the MC was at least partly responsible for my perceived difficulty of the section.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>We worked on them throughout the year. We did one section nearly every other day towards the date of the exam, but my teacher put the focus on the essays.</p>
<p>The thing is, my teacher didn’t grade the essays himself. We did peer evaluations the whole year… 
So that makes me even more worried.</p>
<p>MC: 5-9 Questions wrong
Writing: I wrote that **** in pencil. ****. Please help somebody. I just called up an associate of CB today who informed me that writing in pencil is not really a big deal. He did say, however, that I should call up the specific department tomorrow anyhow.</p>
<p>THAT TEST WAS CAKE! I am so glad im done with it now, and honestly, there was no point in studying! MC was incredibly easy, and all 3 essays were below average prompts! I think we got lucky guys, but unfortunately that has the effect of making the curve more harsh!</p>