On the test, you can pick which essay you want do to first right?
Yeah me too I made up some statistical data from the US Census on one of my practice argument essays, but idk if that will fly on the actual exam. The only examples I feel safe to bs are the life story examples, but it would be great and much easier if we can bs all of it.
Also, do you guys recommend reading the questions first because when I do that, I find that most of them require you to read the whole passage anyways?
@stemscholar
So if I make up examples (fake book), if they find out the evidence(s) are made up is my score bound to be low?
@schoolisfunforme For me I would just read the passage first before answering because I take more time looking back and forth between the passage and question, and I rarely understand what a specific line means if I didn’t know what the whole paragraph is about. But then again different methods work for different people. Have you tried to do this before? And how did it go for you?
@Ngzk07 Well…I have tried reading the passage first and the answering the questions and vice versa but neither method has been extremely effective…
@schoolisfunforme
I read the passage and then answer the questions, and occasionally go back to refer to line specific ones. I usually miss around 9-12
@stemscholar @lionbeast i agree BUT for that creativity one from last year, i talked about some professor named Dr. Nakamatsu who boosted creativity and blah blah blah <-- that’s not real but if they were to fact check everything, won’t that take forever considering the amount of people who take ap eng lang is a lot
Making up studies or obscure things like that or life events is completely fine in my opinion, they won’t fact check. Books and history on the other hand they’re much more aware of, it’s probably what they majored in, so I kind of wouldn’t.
@schoolisfunforme 
Then I honestly don’t know OTL. Those are the only two methods I know for the MC. x-x
@lionbeast thats pretty good and I intend on doing that tomorrow as well. I hope the passages are easier than the ones in the Barron’s practice tests…
But the thing is, you don’t need to cite a book in your argument essay, so why would you make up one?
Also for the synthesis essay can you use outside sources such as books/historical figures and then integrate the sources they give you or do you just use stuff from the sources given?
@schoolisfunforme Using outside sources will just be a waste of your time because they’re looking at how well you use their sources. Maybe if there was something super relevent you felt would make your essay I might consider it and if you had extra time, but there’s probably no reason to
@stemscholar Thanks for clarifying that. For the argumentative essay can you do one par supporting your position and one par as a counterargument showing that you take risks? I dont think I will have time for a 5 paragraph essay.
One of the instructions for the synthesis says “remember to atrribute to both direct and indirect references.” what does this mean? And how much outside info should we include for this essay?
@schoolisfunforme I would definitely not do that! They may take it as being wishy washy or not taking a clear stance. That’s the biggest mistake students make (not taking a clear stance). Acknowledge the other side in 1-2 sentences. For example, you may write “Some people argue that studying history is important, but recent (studies/events/people) demonstrate that it is not” obviously more eloquently but you get the point. That would be enough for that. However, good news is you don’t need a 5 paragraph essay. You can do 2 well thought out main idea paragraphs and succeed even more than someone who does 3 poorly developed ones.
Someone said not to use pathos/ethos/logos in the RA. Is this true? Why not?
@stemscholar I realize your concern but I meant like if I make a clear stance in my thesis but dedicate one par to a counterargument, is that fine? What other risks can I take?
@puregritaf from reading previous essays from past administrations of the exam, it seems like most people do not include any outside information… That seems contrary to the directions, but I looked at well scoring essays and they seem to assert their opinion and then back it up with information in the texts provided. I would probably not add too much outside info except in terms of vague statements that make your essay flow like “Many people find importance in letters.” (that’s your so called outside info) “95% of the population enjoys reeiving letters (Source A)” type of thing.
It’s up to you, feel free to look at the essays yourself too because that’s a pretty good source to see what they’re looking for, but that’s just my opinion(: