<p>I have an okay Lit. class, and we've done some practice essays this year. Although I think my teacher has been lenient with the grading, I have gotten 4's on all 3 practice essays she has given us (graded by her with the appropriate AP rubric).</p>
<p>However, we recently took a multiple choice test and that was a big flop.. I only got about 66% of the questions right. What should I do to get ready for the multiple choice portion of the exam? </p>
<p>(I feel like the problem was the vocabulary, and I've never had a problem with vocabulary on a test or in a book in my life. I have somewhat of a penchant for words, I read a lot, I look up literally every word that I don't know the meaning of..but some of those words were absurd.)</p>
<p>Well isn't 66% good? I assume you're aiming for a 4, and with a 66% i think your final score (with the -0.25 penalty taken into account), about 50%. Thats borderline 3/4 in my opinion.</p>
<p>Please correct me if I am wrong but thats what I think (and hope because I'm taking the exam, and i self-studied) the grading is like.</p>
<p>That's probably true. Technically speaking, though, if the majority of people get higher than a 66% and do just as well as I do on the essays, then I'd get a 3 or below because of the scoring system. It's curved. A 5 doesn't mean you got a perfect score, it means you were in the top tier (I believe top 20%) for the AP exam you took.</p>
<p>Still.. if I wanted to improve my score, what should I do?</p>
<p>Read up about the different literary and techniques on Wikipedia and learn how to apply them to the works you have read. Sometimes just mentioning an impressive word like "aphorism" or "author surrogacy" can mean the difference between a 3 and a 4</p>
<p>I'm going to say that atomic's claim is a moot point. One doesn't need to "read up" on techniques, just make sure to answer the prompt completely and support and impact each and every claim that one makes (usually concerning style, purpose, tone, attitude, et cetera). Cut the useless diction out of your analysis, and work on analyzing the author's diction. :P
I suggest picking up a copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.
Good luck though.</p>
<p>Your teacher used the appropriate AP rubric, and you got 4's on three essays...that is not good at all. You realize that is out of 9 right? In my school, if we get less than 6 on our first essay, we have to drop down to regular english. </p>
<p>And you are worried about the multiple choice, in which a 66% is rather good????</p>
<p>Don't listen to that nonsense. Just remember the stylistic elements and how they contribute to the work in its entirety, and you'll be fine for the essays. 66% on the multiple-choice portion is well above the norm, so just check your mistakes and see if there are any trends in your mistakes, or even your correct answers.</p>