<p>Hmm okay I just found another reference for the grade conversion</p>
<p>At <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_set.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_set.html</a>, collegeboard reveals that for the 2001 exam, the cutoffs are at 108, 93, 72, 43, and at 2002 they are 113, 96, 76, 48. So judging from those two sets of data, there is a very high chance that the actual cutoffs for this year's test will be even highter.</p>
<p>As the only person in my school to get a 5 on the AP Lang and Comp test last year, hopefully I can offer some advice.</p>
<p>This test ISN'T the time to write a five-paragraph essay or start paragraphs that restate the question. If you play it safe, you will fail! I guarantee it! Everyone who took the test in my school last year got 2's for the most part. I think only two other people passed at all. </p>
<p>Lang and Comp is a lot different than the Lit test. Lit depends on how well you know and interpret works you read in class. Lang is about being creative and thinking (or writing) outside the box. I found it to be enjoyable compared to the other AP tests I took last year.</p>
<p>On last year's test we had to analyze a satirical article from The Onion. My opening sentence? "The American people are idiots." My other essays were similar in their approach. You want to grab the reader's attention. If you're the type of person who's able to pull off writing with a sense of humor, now's the time to do it. Use advanced vocabulary if possible, and varied sentence lengths. As you're writing your essay, make sure you're answering the question. I devoted a couple of minutes to jotting down some ideas, but I tried to focus more on making a lasting impression.</p>
<p>As for the multiple choice, that comes down more to one's natural ability to read and interpret. I tend to read over the questions even before I read the passage, so I know what should stand out to me when I go through it. I skip all the questions I get really stuck on and go back at the end if I have time.</p>
<p>Feel free to ask me any other questions about it. Hope I helped!</p>
<p>anyone know any sites or where i can brush up on that not so contemporary writing? like back in the day 1600 and so on?</p>
<p>Lisa - </p>
<p>About your advice on the essays, which of the 3 essays are you refering to because i believe the rhetorical analysis is more of a straightfoward explaination of an author's techniques and how they support his/her argument while the contemporary issue is more of an argumentive paper demonstrating our own rhetoric. The only essay left is the observation validity paper, which is similar to the contemporary issue paper. I don't see which one of these essay could incorporate creativity. Perhaps I am confused, or maybe you could elaborate more with examples? Thank you.</p>
<p>lazybutsmart--</p>
<p>It's not as clear in my head as it would have been a year ago, but I'll do my best. Obviously your main focus is discussing the effectiveness of the author, techniques, etc. You shouldn't lose that in an attempt to really go crazy with being creative, but unless you really put your own touch on your essays, you probably won't get anywhere. </p>
<p>What I'm really just emphasizing is to think outside the box and figure out different ways to word things, I guess. </p>
<p>"the contemporary issue is more of an argumentive paper demonstrating our own rhetoric."</p>
<p>I think that's the perfect essay to let loose and really show your creativity and writing style. That's exactly it-- It's your OWN rhetoric. You want it to have YOUR voice! :)</p>
<p>Let's say you begin paragraphs with something like, "In this essay the author demonstrates the use of imagery by describing the night sky." (Random example) You're getting the point across, but there's absolutely nothing special about the way that sentence is worded. An AP reader will read thousands of essays worded like that, and of course those thousands won't receive 5's or even 4's. But if you say something like, "The sheer vastness of the night sky ignites one's senses, as described by the author throughout the essay," you're guaranteed to capture the reader's attention a little more. (Sorry for the horrible examples, it's like 2AM)</p>
<p>I think I was a little misleading in my last post. I'm not saying write your essays in haiku form or anything, but infuse your own voice and creativity into the essay. Don't be afraid to take a couple of risks in your writing. I think the reason so many people did bad in my school was because they were intimidated by the test, and therefore played it safe by writing really conventional, dull essays.</p>
<p>Wow thanks lisa for the great tips.</p>
<p>I'm self studying so all the advice on this thread has been reaaaally helpful.</p>
<p>Judging from the model essays from Cliffs, I think advanced vocab is a must. I'm trying to memorise all my SAT words again.. it's so hard......</p>
<p>LisaG dont tell me you wrote that, I see that as an automatic 2.. if not a 1</p>
<p>LisaG: Nice job on the 5! Your advice pretty much sounds like the "game plan" I'm taking for the AP this year. </p>
<p>Am filled with hopes that the AP supplies an essay as humorous & interesting as the "MagnaSoles" one last year..</p>
<p>How'd you get last year's test?</p>
<p>all past tests are on collegeboard ap central. log on as a teacher and you'll get everything (essay wise).</p>
<p>When you input your own voice and make it "creative", that's what gets you the 9 on essays. If you stick to just analyzing it pretty well with good vocab, that's what gets you a 7-8. Honestly, you have 2 hours to write 3 essays. Screw creative; I rather get the 7-8s just straight up writing it.</p>
<p>We do a timed writing every week; my teacher says to get a 9, you need to employ some kind of unique rhetoric device, like a metaphor. I usually get 7s and 8s, and I don't really use impressive vocab., just fitting words, like serene or idyllic. Nothing like egregious or acrimonious. I think alot of people miosuse words that, and it ultimatley hurts yor writing. I would rahter look smart with my style/insight/correct analysis than tyhrough vocabulary.</p>
<p>Just my $.02</p>
<p>any help on MC, im doing terrible on practice ones, i can't even finish all 4 passages and im always guessing!</p>
<p>well, i've never been good on mcs either. but what im noticing is that you can easily eliminate three choices. and usually, the one that is more general is the correct answer. this strategy, however, is quite time consuming, so im not sure if it would help u =x</p>
<p>which prep books would you recommend?
barrons, princeton, cliffnotes, kaplan.... (does kaplan and princeton even have english language and composition prep books?)</p>
<p>thanks..</p>
<p>by the way, i heard barrons is a killer.. solving how many barrons MCQs would get you on the safe side??</p>
<p>most of the people recommend cliffs.</p>
<p>thanks : )</p>
<p>
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<p>Yeah... I just did a Barron's practice test and got most wrong, like 70% :(... but then I am not good at english mc's either... been getting around a 35 raw MC on cliff.</p>
<p>anyone knows exactly how hard is barron's? and what other book to use besides cliffs (i finished it already)?</p>
<p>Can anybody tell me how many I need top get right on the Barrons AP to predict a 4 or 5 on the real thing? Thanks!</p>
<p>I was afriad to come in here... I've been the underdog all year.. the highest grade(9 weeks) I've had is a B... the closest i got to an A was an 89.1... Just yesterday, we got our mock Ap exams back.. also known as our semester exam... I got a 2 , coming out to a 69 grade wise. (THere was other drama that ensued.) But wow I need a 5 ,badly, because AP English has inspired me to never want to take english again ( although I'm taking AP Lit next year.)
Ironically, I sit in back of my ex- almost friend(who told me to quit my whining) , who also got a 2... and to right is kid who always skips the class whom also got a 2.
But this is how it stacked up...
Multiple choice : I answered 49 and got 40 right
Essays(out of 9): 1, 0, 3 ... I thought I had a 6, 7, 8/9
You may be wonder why i even thought I would do decent, well in the past weeks all my essays in that class that were usually 6's were 9's... I got a lot of praise from my teacher, I was feeling pretty confident about the essays... I don't have a clue how I got those scores, I mean thee test was afterschool, the whole time this once kid was coughing/sneezing /blowing his nose near me and I tried to protect myself... almost every prompt was a full page essay.
But crap, the test is Monday... I don't want to say it, but i'm screwed.</p>