June 2006 - Latin

<p>after six years of latin the grammar points are slowly slipping form my mind</p>

<p>I've taken 5 years of latin, I-AP Catullus/Ovid (Vergil is next year for us...). I've gotten 3 NLE golds (I-38, III-38?, V-36) and 1 silver (II). I don't believe performance on the NLE corresponds to high SAT performance. They're very different exams. Personally, i found the SAT II to be easy because grammar is my strong point. I wasn't sure w. the question on changing the gender of a comparative adverb (don't want to be too specific bc i'll violate collegeboard rules...). I thought changing a regular adverb to a comparative was tricky too. I wasn't sure whether or not licere took the subjunctive in an indirect statement, but i chose that it did. To answer an earlier question, -que did connect verbs. I thought the passages were easy bc the second one was very short (didn't know what incidunt meant but i figured it out in context...) and the third one gave a ridiculous amount of vocabulary. I also struggled a little w. the ablative absolutes... i translated one of them as "with (subject) (verb)ing" and another "after (subject) (verb)(can't remember if it was a present or past participle)." In general i thought it was a fair test, but i wouldn't advise taking it until after AP because it just isn't necessary... take it as late as you can in your junior year. I was definitely a better translator for having a year of Catullus/Ovid. </p>

<p>My advice to future latin students: do practice tests, but studying will only get you so far with latin grammar. Do the translations in your class, and learn grammar you don't know as it comes up. Learn hic, haec, hoc, is, ea, id, etc. Learn the adjectives with irregular comparatives, and grow familiar with the kinds of nominatives that correspond to certain genders. I barely studied at all for the latin SAT because i'd learned lots and lots of latin grammar over 5 years. Its much better that way. </p>

<p>Also, more practical advice, there's always (ALWAYS) a necessity replacement question. There will be a question where you have to interchange a ut purpose clause, gerund of purpose (ad + gerund), or a qui purpose clause. I guarantee that WILL be on future SAT IIs. </p>

<p>And finally, i'd love a copy of the curve chart. Could you send it to <a href="mailto:kwijiborjt@aol.com">kwijiborjt@aol.com</a>?</p>

<p>Anybody else that took the exam have comments about it????</p>

<p>Ler730, Kwijiborjt- My son started self studing Latin Ap [vergil] for 2 weeks now with a great tutor. He is aiming for 4 on the exam next year. is satll similar to the Ap? Have you taken the Ap? do you think having latin Ap on your transcript is a bit unique since not that many are taking the exam.
I have noticed that on m/c of the Ap vergil exam there are many more things you have to know than just vergil.<br>
Do you need to know more than just vergil to get 4-5 on the exam?
thank you</p>