<p>Okay.. I found out I need to take the english ap test and I'm wondering how I could study for it. Anyone have any good tips and/or suggestions in how to do well on the test? Any study guide suggestions... etc.?</p>
<p>Any comments will be appreciated thanks.</p>
<p>Take the AP English Lang Class 
In all seriousness though I would buy a study book (princeton review and cliff notes have good ones) and review the rhetorical devices/terms listed in the book (there are several websites that list these terms as well.) Knowledge of rhetoric and rhetorical devices is extremely important on the AP Lang exam as it accounts for 1/3 if your essay score and and a good portion of the MC (I’d say combined rhetorical devices probably account for 25-35% of the total score.)</p>
<p>Other than that all I can say is write, write write! College Board releases several of the past essay questions, and if you buy a study book they should also contain some. The essay portion accounts for 55% of your final score (it is made up of 1 Rhetorical Analysis, 1 Argumentative, and Synthesis (basically combining a DBQ with an argumentative essay.)</p>
<p>I’ve got the Cliff book and it contains a comprehensive list of all the terms you need to know for MC and essays. It also includes 6 practice tests w/ explanations. However, it doesn’t give much guidance in terms of strategies for attacking the questions. While I’m a good essay writer, I particularly have a hard time with the MC and would like some strategies for improving. </p>
<p>Could any one provide a strategies they use and detail how effective they are, such as read questions first, skim passage, what to look for, underline, etc.</p>
<p>I think that CliffsNotes is ultimately the best prep book for AP Eng. Lang. mostly because it has so many accurate MC that you can practice from (there are 5 or 6 practice tests in that book? I don’t remember). Trust me, I was the same way where I would do so-so on the MC during class practice but around this time last year my teacher set up study sessions to just practice MC under the timed environment and discuss the questions and answers with others. So, definitely, practice practice practice MC both on your own and with others so that you can maybe flesh out your reasoning abilities for the passage questions and not just memorize answers. If good MC takers (your teacher, or even other students) show you what they saw when they read the passage and why they picked specific answers because they pointed out those things (while maybe you necessarily didn’t), then it’ll become a habit to notice the subtle details that go into the test.</p>
<p>Do well on SAT CR + SAT W and you’ll get a 5. I took the exam cold and got a 5 'cause I could critical read and write.</p>
<p>Don’t stress out too much if you aren’t doing well in you AP Eng Lang class. I got A-'s and B’s all year and then got a 5 on the ap test. Just understand the format of writing each essay type. If you are taking AP US history the DBQ’s really really help with synthesis essays! Best of Luck!</p>
<p>I made this study guide last year and got a 5…the most important thing though, as they said above was to write write write</p>
<p>General Essay Writing:
Answer the prompt, what are they asking?
Read all introduction material
Underline action words (analyze, discuss, evaluate, etc.)
Double check while writing to make sure that you are answering the prompt and that you have not wandered off topic (this is very important!!!)
30/70 Rule
o 30% data, excerpts
o 70% analysis, discussion, so what?
Address complexity of the question
Look for underlying issues/themes
Take time to organize/outline
Do not change to different points of view (usually keep it in third person)
Use higher level vocabulary
Use present tense
Do not state the obvious! </p>
<p>Style Analysis Essay:
Look for tone shifts
Use two-word tones
Look for irony (if it is there, mention it)
Relate techniques to purpose
Read all the way to the end of the passage (it is that long for a reason)
No excerpts in the topic sentence
Do not describe or summarize
Do not laundry list techniques
How is it (the excerpt, data) relevant?
Remember the tools: (SOAPS, DIDLS)
o Speaker
o Occasion
o Audience
o Purpose
o Subject</p>
<p>o Diction
o Imagery
o Details
o Language
o Syntax</p>
<p>Argument Essay:
Take a position
Make position clear (not necessarily simple, but clear)
Support claim with SOLID EVIDENCE
If the prompt says evaluate both sides, then evaluate both sides EVENLY</p>
<p>Synthesis Essay:
Do NOT just summarize the documents
Use documents for support
Use at least 3 sources
Analyze authors point of view, bias, etc.
Read and incorporate background information
Use indirect and direct citations
Cite sources!
Use sources that are neutral or that support your claim, do not support your argument with excerpts from documents that oppose you</p>
<p>Multiple Choice:
Scan questions quickly before reading passage
Make notes on rhetorical techniques while reading
Note purpose and overall message of passage
Make sure you know what the question is asking
Is an option “parallel syntax”? Usually the answer
Do not pick an answer just because it sounds advanced and you dont know what it means; thats probably not it
Make note of words that could mean more than one thing, they will probably ask you to figure it out based on context
Make note of the tone and any tone shifts</p>
<p>Physical Preparation/Miscellaneous Things To Remember/Relaxation Notes:
Sleep 1.5 hours more than usual the night before
Eat breakfast, drink coffee (if you normally do)
Bring water, but dont drink too much right before the exam
Deep breaths
Stay focused
Bring a sweater
Wear closed-toe shoes, your feet might get cold
Wear comfortable clothes, layers
Two pens (check ink or bring ink refill)
2 No. 2 Pencils (with good erasers)
Pencil sharpener
Watch
Make note of start time and end time
Take advantage of breaks to walk and eat and get re-focused for the rest of the exam
Relax. In three hours youll be finished and you never have to do it again. The world will still be revolving around its axis even if you do horribly on this exam.
If youre nervous, pretend youre not. Eventually youll believe it.</p>
<p>My simple advice is: BS.</p>
<p>BS and lots of it.</p>
<p>It got me my 5.</p>
<p>Make random **** up and justify it.</p>
<p>(Also, be observant about the text. Then make up random *<strong><em>. Defend it. Notice tiny litte details in language and shifts in style. Then make random *</em></strong> up about it. Rinse and repeat. For MCQ it’s a little harder but basically rack your mind with all the BS explanations you can come up with until you find a best match.)</p>
<p>BS’ing about things you don’t really know will win you half the exam. The rest is common sense.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily.</p>
<p>You can definitely use opposing evidence and turn the argument on its head (either by confronting it, showing where the author of the opposing side went wrong, etc. etc.) </p>
<p>Again, it’s all about being confident in your writing and BS’ing it.</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to ATTACK arguments you dislike. Notice what’s wrong with them and smash them to pieces. </p>
<p>Sometimes this will do you good on the MCQ, where a speaker is being intentionally pandering or is making a fallacious argument, or basically some BS is going on. Find out what’s wrong and BS back.</p>
<p>That will also win you your 5.</p>
<p>Also: join some sort of academic debate. This trains you in the ability to spot BS, as well as come up with your own BS on the fly. If you remember the secret to half the exam is BS, then you will do well.</p>
<p>galosein is right on. I didn’t take the class, crack any “AP” book, or study at all for the test and I got a 5. All you have to do is get a good night of sleep the night before the test. ******** your way through it and make keen points in your essays that they wont hear from everyone else. It is the best test ever because you don’t have to prepare anything at all. There will only be a few questions on literary devices and crap like that so review it if you want but I didn’t and it was not a big deal.</p>
<p>Luckily I’m good a BSing when it comes to essays…BSing the MCQs seems a bit more complex :p</p>
<p>MCQ strategy consists of ruling out the most BS answers and taking the one left over.</p>
<p>A lot of my MCQ choices were guided by my emotion and gut instinct than my head, really. Which isn’t surprising, considering the three appeals of rhetoric … a lot of the message is supposed to “get to you” beautifully without much effort.</p>
<p>Two questions I found myself asking to help me ace the exam:
<ol>
<li>Something in this argument doesn’t feel right. Where’s the BS?</li>
</ol>
<p>“• Use sources that are neutral or that support your claim, do not support your argument with excerpts from documents that oppose you”</p>
<p>oh I wasn’t talking about not attacking arguments or anything
one time in class I used an excerpt from a document that was against my claim, and it was just kind of odd.
like I said, this was a personal study guide, so I knew what I meant.
sorry for confusion. </p>
<p>I agree. BS is a major part of it.</p>
<p>“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” --W.C. Fields
:]</p>
<p>Another good tip is to make sure that the test questions aren’t the first thing you read tomorrow morning. Whether it’s a magazine article or the blurb on the back of the cereal box, warm up your mind with something.</p>
<p>—A question…how long is the exam? Is it 3 1/2 hours?</p>
<p>I’m an awful writer and yet I’m one of 2 A’s in my entire AP english Lang class…</p>
<p>How?</p>
<p>I BS!</p>
<p>All that is needed to succeed in English is a modicum of intelligence and vocabulary combined with a supreme aptitude in BS. Just make up stuff that sounds RIDICULOUS. Half the time the most ridiculous connection you find in text will be the correct one. This is because writers are not normal people like you and I, they think OUT there. Put yourself out there and you will do fine.</p>
<p>It’s all BS. There’s no prep you can really do. Do sample tests before to make sure you’re good at BSing, but there’s nothing else to do. I learned absolutely nothing in English class, we have maybe 3 grades a quarter, most of which are in school presentations on books no one reads, so everyone gets an A. But we still have a crazy high passage rate. Because you know it or you don’t and the kids here know it.</p>