<p>I have seen that people on College Board generally recommend one or the other. The consolidated books page recommends Cliffs, whereas other posts state Princeton Review is the way to go. Which one do you think is the best, and why?</p>
<p>I took AP Lang this year and I’ve looked through the books my teacher had in his collection. They really aren’t much help. </p>
<p>I’ll explain the four parts of the exam (MC, E1,E2,E3) and direct you to the most help.</p>
<p>MC-- Your skill in this section is 90% based on what you’ve accomplished so far in the english language. If you’re well-read you will do decently. If you’re exceptionally well-read/“bookworm” you’ll fare much better one year can partly make up for the past 16 years but not by much. WORK ON THE RELEASED MC <— </p>
<p>MC- There’s two types of passages you’ll come across in the MC: Either very fact/scientific/detailed based Or Either very hard to comprehend, very intricate in language. The released MC has examples of both. 2012’s exam was very fact based. </p>
<p>Q1: Be well versed in current events. (if you’ve ever turned on the news at any point you would have heard something about the postal service’s problems. That’s a strong advantage, you’ll have a bountiful of information to draw from when formulating your argument. try the released frq’s they can really test on ANYTHING (pennies anybody?)</p>
<p>Q2: LEARN THE RHETORICAL FRAMEWORK. <— Be able to draw it out/completely understand its elements by time of the test, it is somewhat intricate. try the released frq’s that’s really the best help.</p>
<p>Q3: Hopefully you’ll be lucky and you won’t get a lame topic like the 2012 exam. The structure is the same though. </p>
<p>1st Para: 2-3 sentences context (why is it important) 1-2 sentences thesis: (what I’m proving is that) <- Remove that but finish it. </p>
<p>Keep Reading and Keep Writing they are your best friends. For this class and WELL beyond.</p>
<p>@div301: How do you recommend studying for the AP Language test multiple choice? Also, does it resemble the SAT Critical Reading section?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend any review guides for AP Lang because I honestly don’t think there’s any decent way to study. You can write practice essays, but most of the multiple choice section is about understanding the text rather than using formulas or something. If your teacher has released practice tests, that’s always helpful</p>
<p>It’s hard to study for AP Lang. I reviewed the 5 steps to a 5 book and that’s it. The book itself was good, but I don’t think it made much of a difference. With this test you really just have to practice the essays and be familiar with the MC choice format. Also make sure you’re comfortable with timing; I’m normally always good with time but on the actual test I felt rushed.</p>
<p>If you generally are an A/B student in English (language), you really don’t need to study much more than knowing what type of questions to expect. Going through a practice test may be helpful, but neither of my D’s spent any time on studying for the test (on had taken an AP Language course at h.s. and one “self-studied”). They both got 5’s, but English class was always a breeze for them and they both loved to read.</p>
<p>AP Lit is a bit more tricky, as you need to know some “great literature” to base your essays on, but again, both of my 2 self-studied (meaning not at all) and got 5’s there too.</p>
<p>Also, the format is different, but if you scored well on the CR section of SAT, you’ll be in good shape, too.</p>
<p>I ~cannot~ recommend “5 Steps to a 5” for AP English – at least, not the 2012-2013 edition, which is by Murphy and Rankin, as the answer key for the comprehension section (multiple choice) is poor…</p>
<p>The key to doing well on the comprehension section is to think the way the exam makers think in order to arrive at the same opinions that they hold. Few answers are actually “correct” because few questions are in fact objective. However, the authors attempt to reason logically in the explanations that they give in the answer key and the result is catastrophic: incoherent arguments, jumps to conclusions, ungrounded and unnatural assumptions, inconsistencies and out right contradictions, the omission of certain information and thus “selective reasoning”, etc. Moreover, the very reasoning presented in order to justify the winning answer of one question leads to the rejection of the winning answer of another question. The authors themselves can perhaps score well on the comprehension sections, but for reasons that they don’t seem to understand and certainly not in following their own explanations, as presented in the answer key. The answer key then is best avoided because it nurtures arbitrary thinking, which can be harmful and certainly isn’t helpful. It’s far better then to use one of the books that focuses on thinking like the exam maker and thus teaches how to pick the winning answers.</p>