Transcript AP Lit Test Taking Tips

AP Lit Test Taking Tips
Keys to Success on the AP Lit
The Night Before
 Relax! Don’t read for the test. Read
for pleasure. Watch a movie. Have
dinner with your family. Drink some
warm milk, get in your jammies, and
go to bed early!
The Morning Of
 Get up early. Don’t roll out of bed and into
the testing room. Take a shower. Wake up!
 Breakfast will be set up in Cafeteria B at
7:30 a.m. (Please make sure you have
something healthy to eat. Apples are best
for waking up—better than caffeine.)
 Morning Exams begin at 8 a.m.—doors
open at 7:45. Go to the potty before the
test.
In the testing room
 Dress in layers and wear socks. That way
you can adjust to the temperature of the
room.
 Bring a watch and tissues.
 Bring two pens, two sharp pencils, and
highlighters (if you use them).
 Leave backpacks, purses, etc. in lockers
 Leave your cell phone in the car!
 Be in your seat at 7:45 a.m. Give yourself
time to relax, look around, find the clock,
etc.
Multiple Choice
Multiple Choice
 Do the sections that are strongest for
you, whether prose or poetry, first.
 Look at the other two sections that are
weakest and choose the easiest. Do
that one next.
 Leave the hardest section until last.
Use Process of Elimination to guess
aggressively: Eliminate the obviously
wrong, then the half wrong, and guess
from what’s left.
The Seven-Minute Passage
 If you get to the last MC section and
have seven minutes or less, do not read
the passage. Go directly to the
questions and answer them. Some
require no reading at all and some
require only reading a few lines.
Answer those and guess on the rest.
Since this is your hardest and/or
weakest passage, you’ll probably do
about as well as if you had spent time
on it.
For Poetry Passages
 Read the poem twice unless it is your
seven-minute passage.
 Read for punctuation, not line
readings.
 Use visualization to get the meaning.
Remember, it’s poetry. It’s word
pictures. Try to make a mental image
of what’s being said.
Essays
Make it easy for the Reader
 Neatness counts so print, if necessary.
 Use double indents for paragraphs.
When in doubt, create a new
paragraph.
 Write perfectly for the first two and
last two sentences. Create an aura of
perfection.
 Try to use interesting words. Jazz up
your paper. Words don’t have to be
big, just interesting and/or vivid.
The essay questions
 Read the question. Read the whole
question.
 Answer the question. Answer the whole
question.
 If you write a great essay that doesn’t
answer the question, you’ll get a bad
score.
 Don’t forget to extrapolate to the work as
a whole on the open question. That puts
you ahead of 45% of the test taking
population.
The essays
 Choose the type of essay you’re best at—
poetry or prose—and do that first. Do the
open question second. Do the worst essay
last.
 Find the meaning. Find how the author gets
the meaning across: images, specific words
or phrases, opposition.
 Take a position and have confidence in it. If
you can prove it from the passage it is valid.
 Intro—Universal to specific
 Conclusion—specific to Universal
And Remember…
“Success is a consequence and must not
be a goal.”
--Gustave Flaubert
“This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
this ain’t no foolin’ around.”
--The Talking Heads
You know what to do so…
“Just do it.” --Nike