Well, as I may have told some of you on Friday, I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming weeks ahead. I know that I have repeatedly drilled into your head that April is the month where we truly separate the “men from the boys” as it were.
Sidebar: isn’t it weird how so many of those banal adages exclusively use male/masculine pronouns/references etc? Why is that?
Anyway, Word is telling me to reword that tired old cliché to read: “distinguish the professionals from the amateurs” which does sound better I suppose.
I know for the past few months I have been referring to April as “Death Month” which, in hindsight, really doesn’t reflect what I want it to. In fact, it is a terrible phrase and I am sorry those inimical words ever tumbled from my mouth because that is not how I want you all to look at it. Rather, I want you to take it, and the work that will need to be done to prepare for it, seriously, but I also want you to understand that that’s really all you need to do. You’ve already done the hard stuff—you’ve learned it. April is just extra time to master what you already know, and maybe to clarify some things about which you aren’t entirely confident yet.
And that, poppets, is where this week’s blog comes in.
What I would like you to do is think about the things we’ve learned so far. This and next week will be entirely devoted to writing, but consider carefully the things we have done in class up until this point. What, if any, are the obstacles that you foresee to getting a 4 or 5 on the exam? What do you think your weak areas are, and what would you like to review more of come April? What do you think are the best ways to review? Your responses here will determine how I break up the different areas for Exam Review Month (Death Month’s new and improved moniker), so please be as precise as possible.
(No word count, but I expect some serious and reflective thoughts/50pts)
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I am one hundred percent positive that AP Lang has shaped me into a more conscientious person. I think more deeply and more thoroughly, but still more quickly than I did before. I find myself using rhetorical devices (most recently zeugma) in conversation without having to put much thought into it, noticing literary and thematic devices and figurative language in most everything I read or hear, and analyzing the structure and writing style of casual literature objectively. However, I am light-years away from mastering the art of rhetoric and still a few steps short of being confident that I will score a four or a five.
ReplyDeleteAs has been the trend in my life, thinking leads to over thinking. It’s great that I am able to analyze readings mentally and from multiple perspectives and that I notice rhetorical devices, but I am now an extremely slow writer. I mull over each and every word and overanalyze my own wordings and interpretations until I have only two or three paragraphs by the time the bell rings.
Even when I am writing with good pace, I often cannot name the rhetorical devices I’ve identified. I am well aware that there is a term that refers to what I am reading, but I continuously struggle to remember the term itself, but I suppose that is an issue best resolved by further laboring over the flashcard collection I started while working on my summer assignments.
Finally, what the heck is a synthesis essay? I know it’s like a DBQ and mini research paper, but I don’t know how to approach a synthesis essay.
I assure you this is not the end of my list, as I am positive it will expand after I read other posts. However, I am hoping it will shrink in this coming month.
Jourdan- I do the exact same thing like when I read or hear something I think to myself what kind of device is that? And when I write anything I focus on every word, even though it still never turns out very successful. I also have the same problem with naming rhetoric devices!!!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly why I'm not very good in this class. The problem for me is that I can't read. It seriously takes me hours to read a chapter of any book and when I have to read those stories for the AP practice tests, I take forever. Then when I'm finally finished, I have no clue what I just read. Nothing really sticks and I just completely forget and can't focus on what I've read. So, when I have to answer any questions about the reading, I don't even know what to put. Or if I have to do ts/td's- I don't know what the paragraph is saying, let alone what it even does.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that is holding me back is the fact that I try too hard to write better, but it's actually making it worse. I used to be such a good write in middle school, but that may be because Mrs. Garofalo and Mrs. Robinson were just really easy with grading. Either way, my writing got worse. I read or listen to my friends' work and think to myself “Why don't I write like that?” Then I try to write like them, which usually just ends up sounding stupid.
The only way that my reading problem can be fixed is if I learn to focus. Usually I have a hard time concentrating on things because my mind wanders and I think of crazy things. That leads to even crazier things and then before you know it 44 minutes have passed and Lang is over...
But in April I really want to review literary devices and play that game with the index cards. I think that game is the best because it is repetition and that helps memorize definitions. Also I want to learn how to successfully do ts/td's because I think once I can do that better then I will be able to read better. The best way to review that is by working in groups and doing ts/td's together because I learn from example. I know I'm supposed to write what the text does, but if I had a lot of examples from my friend's I would definitely get a better hang of it.I'm sure that there are other weak areas of mine, but those are the main two.
Personally, the obstacles that I have in the way of me getting a 4 or 5 on the exam is simply confidence in my writing and my ability. For me, who tends to never do quite well on tests in general, I really need all the confidence I can get to get me through this test in one piece. I still haven't been able to do particularly well on the AP multiple choice tests we've taken, and I haven't been able to identify what my problem is exactly that's keeping me from doing well and I haven't had much practice with each of the other different kinds of essays such as synthesis essays and process analysis and all the other kinds of essays that could pop up during the exam. I feel since I didn't have much experience and we had to cover things so quickly and briefly, that I don't have confidence in my writing and my skills which will make me inable to do well because I'm so convinced that I won't. I would definitely want to just keep practicing doing these multiple choice tests and I think my weakest points are simply just writing well on a timed basis and knowing what I need to know for the exam, which is identifying what kinds of essays I should be doing by clues in the prompts. Another thing that I feel I am very weak on, is my ability to pull support from outside sources, such as Shakespeare or Greek Mythology. I haven't quite gotten around to doing those things. Though, the articles are helpful keeping me informed about different areas of the world, I'm not drinking in all the information well enough that I can just pull it out of thin air to reference to it later, but I suppose that's mostly on me. For me, the best way to review is to analyze techniques and examples and then practicing. Looking at essays that were nines and the critiques on them were a big help to me and were beneficial to my mindset because I had a better idea of what I should be doing or what my essay should be sounding like and what AP graders are looking for. And I definitely need the constant practice. I need to analyze techniques for say, multiple choice, and then practice, practice, practice until I start to get the hang of multiple choice instead of failing them all. Overall, I simply need the reinforcement and the confidence and support for all that I've learned this year. I know I have the tools, it's just sharpening them and polishing them that I need. Once I have the tools, the confidence will come and I'll be ready for a 5!
ReplyDeleteAs I look towards the past and the future, AP Lang has, without a doubt, been the most challenging, but most rewarding course I've taken in my entire career as a student. And as the time nears for all of this to be over, I inwardly celebrate my own personal success and mourn my failures, hoping both will last just a bit longer. But, with AP tests just around the corner, I know that Lang, out of my other five AP tests, will be the toughest.
ReplyDeleteMy BIGGEST Obstacle: Time. (Why must time always be the enemy?!) Whenever we take multiple-choice practice tests, I never finish. The very first test was literally the only one I finished completely--even though it was my worst. Each successive time, I concentrated more thoroughly on the questions and received better grades, but I always left several at the end blank because time was up. In fact, on the most recent test, I did not even finish reading the third passage before the bell rang. Analyzing the passage is not my problem; it's the short amount of time I have to read and get through the questions. This, I believe, is the main obstacle that will prevent me from receiving a four or a five. Thankfully, it's a common one.
My weakness: Understanding the main point of the essay questions. I really hope we review more on what the essay questions are asking. While I understand that for some essays we have to "consider the extent that such-and-such holds true," I don't really know what they want. What are the graders looking for in our essays? I still do not understand what a "qualify" essay involves. And what are we supposed to discuss in a synthesis essay?! The one type of essay I fully comprehend is the "analyze the rhetorical strategies of..."-type questions. Otherwise, I'm a bit lost.
To review in the multiple-choice area, I think we should have many more practice tests. Possibly one a week? I know as a collective class, our test scores haven't been the greatest. And practice makes perfect right? And it would also help if we got our tests back within a few days with an answer key. Without one, we were blindly doing the same mistakes and not improving.
To review the essay portion, I would LOVE it if you, Bunje, gave us a huge stack of sample essays questions and high-scoring responses from previous years. I remember you mentioned you have a copy of all your student's answers. The one student's (I think he was from Ohio or Utah) essay truly helped me. Even if we don't have time to answer them, it would be nice to see different types of prompts and examples of essays that received 9's. The same goes for multiple-choice: if you gave us all the multiple-choice tests you own, I would be eternally grateful!
Basically, in April, I'm hoping for TONS of practice tests with answers and TONS of example essays to learn from. From that, I know (I NGO!) I can get a 4 or 5!
Shirley - I completely agree with you. Sometimes I don't know what the essay is truly asking, which makes it hard for me to keep my essays focused, and in a limited amount of time, every word counts and a writer can't be doubling back on what they've been talking about for the past ten minutes. This exam will probably be the most challenging seeing as for the other two exams, we've never had to seriously write before. The government exam essays were bulleted and so were the stats ones.
ReplyDeleteJourdan - I completely agree with you as well on the fact that learning about devices helps us. Learning about devices were nice in itself, seeing as I've been using some and I didn't even know there were names for it! Though learning devices helps our writing, I feel there is more than that that we need to concentrate on.
Hannah - I find it very interesting that you said that doing group TSTDs helps you out. I feel like if we all don't know how to do them, (which, I distinctly remember Bunje saying that only a few AP students really knew how to do them correctly) then us helping each other probably wouldn't help without guidance from Bunje. But, I do agree that we need help on the skill that TSTDs are supposed to be teaching as well. I myself have trouble taking in the things I'm reading during the tests.
Jourdan—
ReplyDelete“but I am now an extremely slow writer. I mull over each and every word and overanalyze my own wordings and interpretations until I have only two or three paragraphs by the time the bell rings.”
Lang has definitely made me grow ten-times more as a writer than in the past 10 years combined! But I have the same problem: I waste so much time trying to formulate my ideas into words. Before, I would simply breeze through writing, but it would always end up like typical writing, nothing amazing. This class has truly made my thoughts more profound and interesting, but they are harder to get into words. I’m afraid this slowness is going to prevent me from even finishing my essays on the AP test. D=
Hannah—
Especially for SATs, I used to hate reading passages and I found it extremely hard to focus on boring topics that didn’t interest me. For this class, however, I forced myself to enjoy whatever the author is writing about. Eventually, liking the writing just comes naturally. I just create a voice and that voice reads to me. I think you need to concentrate more on liking the writing so you are more intertwined with the piece and less distracted by crazy things.
Also, I don’t think that game with the index card really helped me understand the rhetorical devices. I know the definitions, but whenever I read a passage, it’s hard to identify what it is.
Alexis—
“Another thing that I feel I am very weak on, is my ability to pull support from outside sources, such as Shakespeare or Greek Mythology.” I thought about this before, especially after we did that prompt on adversity. And I decided on multi-tasking: use references from AP US History. There has to be something in America’s history that applies to the question! Thus, you’ll need to review things for the History test while reviewing for the Lang test.
Regarding your reference to how cliché’s almost always use masculine pronouns, I, in the course of my high school studies, have found something similarly peculiar. Why, when referencing something divine and God-given, do men reference feminine facets? If women were considered so inferior, why, in my history textbook when trying to capture the essence of Manifest Destiny, did the male artist draw a woman deity flying across the Great Plains? Examples like this are everywhere, as with the Statue of Liberty. I know this is off topic, but I found Bunje’s point begging a response.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the blog topic. I really, really, really want to get a 4 or 5 on this exam. With my other AP classes, it’s just a matter of mastering skills. But with AP Language and Composition, it’s about proving to myself that my love for writing is legitimate. I’ve always loved everything involved with language, whether it be books, speeches, essays -- you name it. However, I sometimes feel that a love not nurtured turns into a waste. Thus, I have a very personal stake on this exam, and want to pass it more than any other.
In the way, however, is time. Time. Time. Time. When it comes to the essays, I’m fine, for the most part. Although I am still unsure on how to write a synthesis essay, I think I could pull off a decent argumentative essay and rhetorical analysis essay. Multiple choice, on the other hand, is a bit of a problem. First of all, I never have passed a multiple choice section of the AP exam; every test that Bunje has given, I failed, my highest being a 65. So, I can’t afford not having the last six to eight questions unanswered. Usually when there’s ten minutes left, I’ve just started reading the third passage. I panic, so I pick wrong answers. If I could improve on anything, it would be the multiple choice section. If I could at least pass this section, then I could assuage the duress on the essays.
With that being said, I’d like to write more in April. I know it might seem like we write a lot already, but I’d like to write more assignments geared towards the AP essays. For example, I think if I wrote one of each type of essay after seeing what a few illustrations of a nine essay, I would be better off. Regarding multiple choice, I just want more practice with them in general: more in-class tests. That way, I can improve on my time management.
And, I think that’s it :D
Jourdan: Haha, what IS a synthesis essay? For some reason, don’t you think a History DBQ is easier? The fact that we can’t make notes for the fifteen minute period in Lang is, I think, one thing that makes it harder. Plus, with History, at least you do have some background knowledge. With Lang, you have to pull examples, experiences, etc from a wider base, the range of your entire lifetime actually, as opposed to a text book. Anyway, when you figure that out, let me know!
ReplyDeleteShirley: I agree with your biggest obstacle! I don’t know how I’m expected to give a thoughtful analysis of a passage in such a short amount of time! I can barely even read the excerpts, let alone interpret them. Nonetheless Shirley, I do think you are better off than you know. You might think you aren’t going to do so well, but I honestly believe in you. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and I’m sure that five will come!
Hannah: I read slow, too. I guess that’s why time is such an issue for us all. Also, although I’ve never read anything you wrote besides blogs, I don’t think your writing is horrible as you may think. After all, you’re a hard worker, and I think you can pull through anything. I also agree with you completely with the literary devices!!! I feel if we honestly knew and understood more devices, then the essays would be easier since we wouldn’t have trouble picking them out in passages.
The area of the AP test that I fear most is the multiple choice section. While I’m not the most amazing writer ever, I think that I will be able to do far better in the essay portion of the AP test than the multiple choice section. The multiple choice tests we’ve taken in class have been killing me. I’ll peruse the readings and, for the most part, think I understand what the author is saying, but then I’ll get to the questions and freeze up. The ones where a few answer choices seem possible throw me off, and I have a bad habit of over thinking things. Sometimes, a question will have a simple answer and I, thinking that the AP test doesn’t believe in simple answers, will overanalyze. Case in point: an AP mini-test question from way back asked about the literary form that the writer of Letters from an American Farmer employed. The answer: epistle. I knew well enough that epistula means letter, but I looked way too deep and came out with the wrong answer. Another problem I have is getting lost when reading the article—loosing focus or just generally becoming confused—and as a result totally losing sight of the author’s message. I’m usually more or less okay with TSTDs, because I can take (and do take) hours reading, rereading, and analyzing the text, but I have trouble examining the text as effectively under pressure.
ReplyDeleteTo remedy this problem, I think I really just need more practice answering multiple-choice style questions, though on my own I get lost. I would, therefore, really like to review more multiple-choice style questions this April. Also, for me, this would be most effective if we were able to do so as a group. We could read and analyze snippets of text together, or take more mini-tests—in class or, if time is an issue, for homework—and talk about the right answers and why they’re right. I’d also like to talk more about strategies for reading and analyzing the essays on the test more effectively under pressure. While anything with “AP multiple-choice” attached to it will probably destroy my GPA, I think practicing these questions will help me succeed come May.
I’m a good writer, I know I am. I’m good on most tests, I really am. But there’s just something about those gosh darn AP practice tests that’s completely throws me off. I can’t write as well with the pressure of the clock, I can’t dissect the readings the way the test expects them dissected in the allotted time, I just can’t do them. I like to think. When I’m given an essay, I may procrastinate in actually getting words to paper, but for the time before it, I’m constantly thinking of a basic outline. I can’t do this on practice tests. It’s pen to paper, write. And I’ve never done well on the multiple choice. I don’t get it, I read the piece, think I’m getting it, answer the questions accordingly, then BOOM! 20 are wrong! It’s so frustrating because I know I can do these things, I just can’t do them when it means something. I can run through a Ts/td and find all of these lit terms, but ask me what _____ is and I can’t separate one term from the next.
ReplyDeleteSo that’s that. My obstacles are the clock and somehow learning a strategy to multiple choice. Like those times we’ve gone over the multiple choice, those were really helpful. It’s one thing to know what’s wrong, but I need to know why it’s wrong and why the right answer is right. And I need to do that a lot to get the hang of it. And those lit terms. Ohhh lit terms. I’ve done horrible on every quiz/test for those. I can tell you a definition, that I can do. But I can’t identify on tests. WHY????? I just have these unfortunate moments when one of those tests is placed before me and I read a sentence and I’m like: ummmm… yea I got nothing. I don’t know why this happens but any way to make it stop and to start improving on identifying them is 100% necessary. That flash card game may be helpful. Reviews that are formatted like the lit tests, but not tests, that would relieve the OMGGG I’M GOING TO FAIL THIS pressure while still benefitting greatly.
I guess practice makes perfect. More practice tests with reviews following them, like going over the questions in depthly. And maybe possibly, some ungraded practice tests because the impending failure gets me all nervous. I know grades shouldn’t be the end all be all, but until I get the hang of it, they’re just going to do wonders to my average. Right and more Lit terms practice and the class circles going over essay questions is also really helpful to learn how to pull apart a question to best answer. That’s what I think I need to be confident in my abilities to pull off a 4 or maybe even a 5.
Deanna,
ReplyDelete“Why, when referencing something divine and God-given, do men reference feminine facets?”
Off topic, yes. But this is a good point. If men were so high and mighty, why wouldn’t they have aligned their sex with ACTUAL high and mighty. Seems odd… Any who, I’m completely with you on the whole multiple choice thing. I just think I know what the answer is and turns out I’ve read nearly the entire passage the wrong way, it’s really frustrating.
Shirley,
“As I look towards the past and the future, AP Lang has, without a doubt, been the most challenging, but most rewarding course I've taken in my entire career as a student.”
I couldn’t agree more with this. I generally pick a priority class each year. Last year it was government, this year it’s Lang. I work on it for hours, it’s the one class you just cannot wait till the period before to work on, at least I can’t. But it is also so rewarding! After an entire year of writing maybe once or twice, I really didn’t know I could. I’d never really been given the opportunity to flourish as a writer and I’m really glad this class has given that.
Hamah,
“But in April I really want to review literary devices and play that game with the index cards. I think that game is the best because it is repetition and that helps memorize definitions.”
I definitely agree that lit terms are NOT my strong suit. But I’m ok with definitions, I’m not great, but I can generally give a loose definition. But when given one, my mind jumbles together all of them and all the words seem interchangeable and I just don’t understand a thing. For this, I think I just need to go over more examples to make more sense of everything.
Alexis:
ReplyDeleteI totally feel your pain regarding the ability (or better, inablility) to pull support from outside sources, especially sophisticated ones. I'm one to remember the overarching concept of something I read, but not details like character's or author's names or titles. I remember Mr. Costal saying to memorize two, maybe three flexible quotes, and plan to use them on SAT essays no matter what. I suppose memorizing flexible information may be the key, and it worked pretty well because of the essa topic on my SAT tests, but I know I really need to touch up on and retain some mythology, famous historical events, and religious information.
On another note, what do you mean you're not confident in your writing?!?! I can't say too much only because I haven't read a whole lot of your writing this year, but in the past, you've always been one of the people whose writing I am, basically, jealous of and aspire to match. I do, however, relate to not being confident in writing specific types of essay that may arise on the AP exam.
T-Palm!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine passed some advice on to me regarding timed tests. A tutor told her to time herself on all of her homework and see how far she gets in the time allotted. She said that for practice's sake, she should go over everything and not just stop when the timer dings. Consequently my friend had a lot of trouble finishing SAT practice tests in the time period given, so she limited the time she took to do her math homework. Before long, she learned when to skip questions, when to spend a little longer, and how to ignore the pressure of the clock, all while attaining a better concept of time.
Hannah:
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me that you don't think you are a good writer. I haven't read any of your more formal pieces, but your blogs always seem well thought out and well written. You're such a hard worker and seem to take academics seriously, so have study like you probably always do, practice a little bit, and have some faith. You'll do well.
Part One-
ReplyDeleteIt’s crazy that we are already entering 4th marking period I still cannot fathom that idea. Also we have made it all the way to April. In these we have put a lot of dedication and determination into our work. Now, what’s left to do is review?
For me there are a few major obstacles that I think need to be achieved before I take the test in order to guarantee a three or four. I definitely would love to utilize this time to focus on time management. I feel this is a major concern for me because I am very elaborate in my writing. Though I need to be quicker I want to be efficient and thorough. I know we have gone over techniques for that, but I feel like I need more timed essay then getting however many amounts of days to do them. I feel I will benefit because I want be scourging for a few extra minutes, I will be completely finished. Another obstacles is my organization, writing is where I definitely need concrete organization. For me my brain is in 10 different directions when I am writing, ideas are spilling out every 10 seconds, so the words that come out on the paper are like a scramble that the audience has to decipher. I know I am talking about writing but that is my major obstacle right now. I need organization and time management in order to feel confident in the notorious writing section. Also time management comes into play in the multiple choice, considering you get an hour to read about 4 sections and analysis. In the practice exams I failed miserably because I had hardly any time to finish the sections. Thus, I basically just circled answers. I don’t want to do that during the test, so I need help in that area. I feel that I personally need more strategies that quicken the pace in the multiple choice section.
There are other obstacles and weak areas besides time management and organization that are deterring me in believing that I can pass this exam. I feel like I want to go over the many types of different tones people can have. Maybe take a quiz, because sometimes I feel like I only can remember like 5 tones and it gets repetitive. I know tone can be anything but I feel like maybe we should review that paper and talk about what the different tones on the list mean, just
PArt 2
ReplyDeletefor reference that is diverse and direction. Also I like that day where Ms. Bunje gave us a card and we had to right in the tone, that definitely gives you perspective and shows you little techniques and signs to look for when people write in a certain tone. Literary devices I know some, but I feel I need to be refreshed on a few, I know this sounds ridiculous but playing a game may help. The one day we came in and played the game where we read the cards and that person had to identify from the lit device that got and it repeated in that cycle. I feel we became more familiar with words. It also was much different from just reading over the definition of the lit terms because you examples are put in front of you and it’s your decision to identify if it’s correct term, so the chain can go on. I mean maybe we could play a game where you write a sentence or phrase on the board and we have to write down what lit device they are referring to and it can only be one. It’s just a suggestion but ideas like that I feel even if they sound ridiculous help us. I feel that we need pressure so quizzes are a good idea because they bring the heat that we will experience during the exam and it will keep us calm.
I feel that my major concerns fall around getting my point well carried out, organized and finished in my writing. I know we are devoting this week to it but I definitely need to execute all those components. Also I want to go over some strategies to speed up my multiple choice section and also to get the correct answer. Lastly, I feel I need to brush up on all the lit terms I learned and I feel games , reviewing and quizzes will help keep me fresh. At this moment, those are the skills I feel aren’t defined yet and need practice. Hopefully, reviewing all these elements through this April- month will help me feel more confident towards May!
Taylor- yeah, I totally get you about the clock. The give you know time at all to read those excerpts. It's like literally 5 minutes per each in order to complete all the multiple choice. I feel that's why everyone's is so wrong because we know what we are doing but as soon as the clock comes in the mix, forget it for some of us. Your point also brings me to think about those dreaded multiple choice questions that when you narrow it down you come down to two that can be correct. I really want to know how to decipher how to idenify what one is correct. I feel that will also help with my multiple choice.
ReplyDeleteHannah- I am so glad that I am not the only one that thought that index card game was helpful. It just really exemplified what the words meant and it repeated over and over again. Yeah, trying to hard in your writing will really hurt you. That is my problem and that's I am not the most strongest writer. Stick to your natural thoughts and dont try to make it sound any better just let it come to you. It's great that you idenified that as a writer most people never distinguish that when they are writing because half the time they are trying to impress and believe they are good writer.
ReplyDeleteAlexis- I agree with all your views! I need to practice to at everything, if I dont practice I fall behind. Confidence is also key, confidence is the key to everything. Your write if you arent reinforced and have confidence how can you rise to your very best. That's a valid point but the only thing that can really be done there is to believe that we did the very best. Though all your points were dead on about whatI need to work on too.
ReplyDeleteTaylor sp?- yesterday I was set on doing that index card game too, but thinking about it now it would only help if we knew how to identify those terms. Maybe there should be a new game that instead of having the definitions it has examples and we have to see which device it is. That would be the most helpful way, I think.
ReplyDeleteBrynne- With your whole time management and organization problem, you should write a small little outline first. That way you know exactly what each paragraph is going to say/do and if you get any néw ideas while youre writing you can just add them to the list. That's what I do and it usuallly helps!
ReplyDeleteMy greatest obstacle on getting a 4 or 5 on this AP test would have to be my confidence. After receiving the worst grades I have ever seen, writing the worst papers of my life, and reading “not working at AP level” on all my interims/ report cards, I am going to have a hard time ever believing that I could do well on this exam. I feel as though my weaknesses were not only revealed this year but grew worse as the year continued. As my family problems grew behind me, my mind was never able to fully focus on just what I needed to fix in school. I may have learned the stuff but how to apply it into my writing seems like a goal I cannot achieve. Sadly, I am not just unconfident about this exam, I am actually dreading it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my weakest areas is identifying the tone of a passage. When I read something, I do not necessarily get the same impression that my peers do. Sometimes, I believe a tone to be one thing and my peers believe something very similar, most times, however, I feel as though my impression of a piece is far off what a majority of the people saw when they read it. One of my other problems would have to be finding the word to describe the tone. I suppose I should study the sheet that Bunje gave us in the beginning of the year more closely, almost memorize it so that I have the word that my mind has been trying to think up.
Another weakness of mine would have to be my vocabulary. Although my Vocabulary test grades have gone up from last marking period, I am unable to use the words in my writing because I do not feel comfortable with them. It seems to come back to my confidence, which I basically lack completely. I feel as though I am not using them in the correct way. So, instead of looking stupid when I use them incorrectly, I use the cheesy words I have known since kindergarten. I think dead month, or whatever its new name will be, should incorporate some sort of vocabulary sentences. Maybe a paper where there should be a certain amount of vocabulary words incorporated into it to get full credit.
My last weakness would have to be my voice. Most of what we write about in class, I do not have a strong opinion on, so my voice falls near the way side. I want to be bold and strong but I am not like that myself. Because I am intimidated by the class or the teacher reading the work, I am even more afraid to reveal myself in my writing. I am not sure about how to fix this one in the slightest.
As the AP exams become another day closer, I find myself more and more stressed. I am so scared. There is so much studying to be done but finding the time for it with everything going on seems almost impossible. My fear for these exams make me ever more on the edge because I almost feel there is no point because I will just fail anyway. Maybe taking it one day at a time and separating each AP class into its own sections of worry will be easier, but right now I am scared out of my mind for these exams.
Alexis:
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have a very similar problem. My confidence is what lacks as well. Reading your response reminded me of something that I have missed. I have test anxiety which causes my mind to almost blank out when there is an extreme amount of pressure put on one test. Instead of brushing it off like I wish I could, the stress of the test seems to be thrust onto my shoulders and my mind goes blank. Like you, also, I have no even come close to passing one of those AP practice tests. It would seem as though all odds are against me.
Taylor:
I agree with one thing you said. The time given on these tests do make it suddenly so much harder. If we were given an persuasive paper to write, I could probably go it in a half hour but when a time limit is placed on it, suddenly my thoughts and understanding take more time than they ever would have before the time limit.
Kale:
I found your little response to Bunje about female's being inferior but holding the most important positions in history quite a point to think about. I recall the picture of Manifest Destiny with the woman flying in the air and the Statue of Liberty is indeed a woman. Maybe these woman were seen as Gods because Gods are seen to have ever changing minds, like men believed woman to also have. Most guys I know always say women change their minds faster and more frequently than any of their guy friends. The Gods were also seen to have done the same thing and that is why the people felt the need to pray to them and show their love for their God so often. Just a thought.
I have come to realize that I am just a failure! I seem to need help with a lot more than I 'd like to admit. Like everyone else, I've bombed every multiple choice test. We've been told to follow our gut instinct, but mine always proves to be wrong. How the hell do I get my instincts to be correct? Maybe the strategies of mulitiple choice can help me out. I'm not sure. But I need to fully understand the types of questions and best ways to answer before I can see any improvement. A bunch of people have mentioned in their blogs that they desire more multiple choice practice exams. While the practice will help, I feel that we really need to discuss said strategies before being bombarded with tests that could potentially harm our GPA's (I mean, come on, who wants to get kicked out of the NHS? HA!)
ReplyDeleteAnother obvious weakness is my writing. It seems as though the essays I felt most confident about and most satisfied with received the lowest grades. I know it is a lot to ask for if I were to ask that you help us with our writing on a more specific, personal level, especially if you are unable to stay after with us. You've given us a bajillion tips and writing workshops, so I guess the improvement here is on me. But maybe a little review on the examples of nines, as mentioned in everyone else's blogs, would prove helpful.
TIME MANAGEMENT! I am working with the schedule that you made for me and it is working pretty well, which I am thankful for :). But when it comes to an AP essay, I always seem to rush through, worried that I will not have sufficient time to complete it. I usually finish in about 20 to 25 minutes, and re-read and edit for the rest of the time. This might seem pretty good, but I always end up disliking what I've written and wishing I could start over. Maybe this just falls in with the writing weakness I just mentioned? I'm not sure. But I would love to work on this before I take the AP exam!
The final thing I would like to mention: my attitude towards taking the test. I could walk in with the most confident attitude, take the exam, and feel pretty optimistic about my answers, but when I get the grade, I realize I've failed. How should I feel walking in, if no matter my attitude, I do poorly? I don't even know if you can answer that, or if it is just once again, on me.
Jourdan: I seem to have the same problems as you. It is hard for me to memorize all of the names of the devices I recognize, and so I get frustrated. I've found that looking over the blue packet of devices before I read a passage, and keeping it by my side when I do, helps me to remember what it is I have come across :)
ReplyDeleteAlexis: Pulling outside sources IS hard. I have noticed that all of the ones I tend to use are common, insignificant examples; this is something I need to work on. Sometimes it seems like the sources the AP graders expect us to use should be common knowledge to students in this class, but in our previous years of schooling, we were never introduced to the topics. This is frustrating, and I can relate to you!
Hannah: I agree that we should do more group work on things such as TS/TDs. This could help because teachers think like teachers, and students think like students. While it is easy to work with Bunje and understand what she tells us, sometimes talking to one of our peers can be helpful because we are all in the same boat.
Whenever I have to write an essay in a short amount of time, my biggest obstacle is almost always where to start. I want to have a nice specific outline before I begin writing. However often this isn't as easy for me as it sounds. How do i decide how to organize my examples? How should my ideas progress in the essay? What the heck does this prompt want from me in the first place? The short time definetly doesn't help either. I've always been the type of writer, who writes when i feel like it. I'll take breaks or brainstorm in the middle of sentences. Glancing at the clock every few seconds (not an exaggeration) and trying to figure out how much time I need to spend writing each paragraph can destroy me. Sometimes I'm just happy if I write everything I outlined.
ReplyDeleteAs for the multiple choice, I feel like there are a lot of terms or phrases I am not familiar with. However the bigger problem seems to be how long it takes me to figure out what the question is asking or what I have to consider to answer it. Going over multiple choice tests as a group, and talking about them is helpful to me. Taking lots of practice tests and making the same mistakes on each one does nothing for me. I like having writing workshops, and discussing people's essays as a group.
A big challenge will be to come up with answers quickly. There are always a few literary terms that come to mind, but others i never think of unless I just looked at them. Memorizing their definitions probably won't be enough to change this. Using them somehow will probably help me more.
This class has been one of my most difficult, but I have learned a lot. I'm really nervous for the AP exam because even if I feel more confident in my writing, I do not feel as if I'm ready for the actual exam. I'm more afraid of the multiple choice than the essays even though I still haven't mastered those yet either.
ReplyDeleteI'd really like to do a ton of prep for the multiple choice section. It would be helpful to do a test every day and then discuss why each letter choice is wrong or right. I'm just afraid of those being a grade because I'm still not doing so hot on that multiple choice. I'd also like to do the same thing with the essays. We could maybe do multiple choice prep every Tueday and Thursday and an essay every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My studying ways have always included the method of "practice makes perfect" so this would really be a comfortable way of preparing me for the test.
I feel comfortable with RRL's but would like to have more to master the process of analyzing readings.
T-Palm :" read the piece, think I’m getting it, answer the questions accordingly, then BOOM! 20 are wrong! It’s so frustrating because I know I can do these things, I just can’t do them when it means something. "
ReplyDeleteI KNOW. I think maybe my own opinions are getting in the way of answering the questions on a reading? I get the wrong answer even on questions I feel confident about and you're right that it's frustrating! I feel really discouraged. With more practice, perhaps we'll get it soon enough.
Brynne - "Though I need to be quicker I want to be efficient and thorough. I know we have gone over techniques for that, but I feel like I need more timed essay then getting however many amounts of days to do them. I feel I will benefit because I want be scourging for a few extra minutes, I will be completely finished."
Yeah, the timed essays really freak me out, but that's how it's going to be on the day of the exam, so it would be good to discuss strategies and then practice a lot of essays that are timed so we get used to it and feel less pressured when the time comes.
Hannah - “But in April I really want to review literary devices and play that game with the index cards. I think that game is the best because it is repetition and that helps memorize definitions.”
Yes, I really want to master as many lit terms as I can too. Perhaps more RRLs will help with that also? Maybe we could just be handed some writing pieces and have to find as many lit terms as possible so that we'll improve our speed and efficiency?
Sarah: “However the bigger problem seems to be how long it takes me to figure out what the question is asking or what I have to consider to answer it.… Taking lots of practice tests and making the same mistakes on each one does nothing for me.”
ReplyDeleteI’m with you on both points. If I don’t fully understand a multiple choice question, I take what feels like an eternity to determine what the question wants or to go back through the text in an attempt to find the best possible answer choice. Also, I feel like I get so much more out of tests that we go over, otherwise, I’m usually lost as to where exactly I went wrong or why the right choice is right.
Kyra: “I usually finish in about 20 to 25 minutes, and re-read and edit for the rest of the time.”
Ahhhh! I take at least 40 minutes on a good day to write an AP essay—I guess I have to work on speeding up a bit! If you finish that quickly consistently, perhaps if you took a deep breath and some extra time before writing to plan, you would feel more confident in what you write from the start. It sounds like you can write at a quick pace, so if you’re still worried about not finishing in time, maybe you could try to slow down just a bit for the first few paragraphs then check the clock and adjust your speed as necessary half-way through.
Steph: “One of my other problems would have to be finding the word to describe the tone. I suppose I should study the sheet that Bunje gave us in the beginning of the year more closely.”
Thanks for reminding me of my other little problem. ; ) Identifying the tone of a passage has been an issue for me too, and though I’ve been getting better at it, I suppose I should go over the tone sheet again as well.
I don’t think I will have much of a problem with the writing sections of the Lang exam. What will trouble me most is probably the multiple choice section. In the beginning of the year, I passed every Lang practice test I took. However, as the year went on, my grades on these tests curiously dropped until they were all failing grades. I’m not really sure why it happened, but taking more of these practice tests certainly couldn’t hurt.
ReplyDeleteA more specific problem is that of identifying rhetorical devices. When reading a text, I can pick out a section that uses a rhetorical device and describe the impact it has on the piece, but I can never name the actual device. I feel like there are masses of devices that I have never even heard of, but probably should learn. If given the name of a device, I can define it, but I cannot call that name up when reviewing a text. I suppose a way to rectify this problem would be to play a game in which groups were presented with a sentence or two and had to identify the rhetorical device within.
In a similar vein, I often find myself struggling to identify tone in a passage. I know quite a few tone words, but none of them ever seem to fit what I am reading perfectly. I usually end up settling for something that seems less than perfect, and this obviously isn’t a good thing. I’m not really sure how to review something like this, as it can vary from reader to reader, but I suppose doing the identifying over and over, with the answers at hand, would be helpful.
Other than that, I think I am pretty prepared to take the Lang exam. I’m as confident as I will ever be, and my writing skills have improved drastically. As long as I don’t struggle to identify devices and tone, I should be fine. Hopefully, I duplicate my brother’s results and get a 5 on the exam, but honestly, who knows at this point? I will only know after I take the exam. Until then, I just need to study devices and tone words.
Jourdan S:
ReplyDeleteThat happened to me too. I used to write very quickly, but now I take much more time to articulate largely the same ideas. This isn't a bad thing when writing at home, but in a timed environment this could be a potential issue. When I only have forty minutes on the clock, I really can't sit around and consider every possible angle on something. If I did, I would never even write one word.
Hannah S:
ReplyDeleteI found that after I learned how to do TS/TDs the right way, or at least what I figure is right, everything else got better. Suddenly, RRLs weren't hard anymore. My writing also started to improve, as I focused more on what my points were instead of just rambling. Also, I share your reading problem. There have been numerous occasions when I read ten pages in a textbook and then stopped and realized that I didn't recall anything I just read. I have a tendency to zone out when I read, and I really haven't figured out a remedy for it. It certainly would help if there was some secret though.
Shirley N:
ReplyDeleteA "qualify" essay (correct me if I'm wrong, Bunje) is when the writer writes about the merits of an argument. In a debate, someone can recognize his opponent's points as valid without actually agreeing with them. I'm pretty sure that a qualifying essay takes note of reasons for a certain position without actually stating the author's opinion.
One thing I am sure of, though, is that examples work. I agree with you when you say that having examples of the proper ways to do things helps. However, I think it is most beneficial when paired with an actual assignment. This is totally anti-Lang, but take Calculus as an example. It's great to have all the examples Mrs. Baird gives in class, but they only really help when coupled with homework that covers the same material. When used correctly, examples can be very effective teaching tools.
Honestly there are a lot of things that I feel like I need to improve at but there are a few specific things that I would like to focus on. My writing is, well, not the best to say the least. Sometimes I feel like I struggle with everything involved in writing. I know what I want to say most of the time but I just can’t find the right words to say it and even when I do I am still unable to organize them in a way that sounds like they should. I really don’t have much confidence in my writing. I need to find a better understanding of what I am doing wrong. Every time I write a paper I am never sure as to whether this one might turn out better or if it will sound just as bad as others that I have written. I would really like to see more examples of essays from the past that received higher scores; some kind of sample that I can look at and say to myself “okay so that’s what it should sound like and this is what I am doing wrong.” I can usually learn much from examples. My multiple choice tests have not been wonderful either so adding a few of them in could definitely help. While I’d like to focus on them also I’m still majorly concerned with my writing. The one part of the test that I am dreading is the essay part. Also time has had a huge effect on everything I’ve done in Lang. I crack under pressure. As soon as I feel like I’m limited to a certain amount of time I stress out and rush through things. The results, well they’re absolutely horrible. Maybe I need more limits as far as time but I just wish I knew how far I should be at certain times. I don’t want to rush through what I’m doing but I also don’t want to leave questions unanswered. So I need to practice managing my time as far as both writing and multiple choice. As much as I hate saying it, I think I need more timed practice tests/essays. Those are the main things that I need to work on.
ReplyDeleteJessie—“Sometimes, a question will have a simple answer and I, thinking that the AP test doesn’t believe in simple answers, will overanalyze.”
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing! I’ll look at the question and answers and then think to myself that there is no way it can be simple. I look for a deeper answer no matter what because I always think that is what they are looking for. Then I become so caught up in wondering if maybe it could possibly be that simple that I just pick the answer that seems to only make sense in my mind.
Sarah L—“Taking lots of practice tests and making the same mistakes on each one does nothing for me.”
That’s pretty much how I feel. I realize I’m doing something wrong according to my grades but I’m not always sure what exactly I’m doing wrong. Since I don’t know what I’m doing wrong I don’t really change anything about what I’m doing. I have tried to change certain little things in my writing even and I think at times it’s made my writing even worse so I then switch back to old writing habits. I just need some kind of guide telling me what I should look towards avoiding.
Stephanie—“Although my Vocabulary test grades have gone up from last marking period, I am unable to use the words in my writing because I do not feel comfortable with them. It seems to come back to my confidence, which I basically lack completely.”
As far as the whole confidence thing, I’m in the same boat. I’m not confident in my writing and I resist using many vocabulary words because there’s always something in the back of my mind telling me I’m going to use them incorrectly. My confidence is severely low when it comes to Lang but after all of the work and all of the things that I have learned in this class I still have hope for passing the AP test. I’m not sure my confidence level will be much higher when test time comes around but either way my plan is to just focus on the work and hopefully find more of an understanding for everything so that I can see a passing grade when test results come back.
Let me start off by saying that I can honestly say that I feel like I’ve learned the most in AP Lang out of any of my other classes. All the work this year seemed like a major nuisance, but I think, or hope, that it will all be well worth it when my AP scores come this summer. Anyways, although I’ve learned much this year, English has always been my weakest subject. I’ve always had to put a lot more effort into it than any of my other classes in order to receive the same grades. So more work for one more month may, unfortunately, be very necessary for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat do I exactly need help on? Although, I could sharpen my skills in all areas, I’m going to attempt to pick out my weakest points. When doing reading logs, I always find myself breezing through all the literary devices, except when it comes to tone and theme. These two I always seem to get a bit hung up on. I have trouble wrapping up a whole bunch of words into one sentence. How can one sentence sum up the message of an entire selection? I’m not sure how else I could become better at distinguishing an overall message from a passage other than just practicing. However, when it comes to tone, there are a bunch of exercises we could do. We have done some in the past that I believe I benefited from, like when we received a tone card and had to write a paragraph completely in that tone. Although this has helped me establish some tone in my own writing, I still have a bit of trouble trying to figure out the tones of other pieces. It’s always hard for me to find one word that fits it in every way. I know there are tone shifts sometimes, creating a need for more than one word, but still I have trouble finding them.
Other than trouble while doing reading logs, a problem that I foresee having on the AP Exam itself is multiple choice questions. I think going over some multiple choice strategies would help. I usually am able to narrow it down to two possible answers, but I find myself usually picking the wrong choice. I think taking more mini AP multiple choice practice tests (like the ones with only ten questions) would be beneficial. By doing this, we can thoroughly discuss the choices and why some are right and others are wrong. My only problem with suggesting this is that I know that I don’t always do well on them and I don’t want these to hurt my grade. Maybe we don’t have to count them all or for not as much? Just using these for practice would be awesome, without the worry of how my grade may be damaged as a result of them.
Just as I explained above of how to strengthen my scores in the multiple choice section, I think the same goes for the essay portion. I grasped a much better understanding of the proper way for essays to be written in order to receive a high score by looking at and analyzing the writing of others. By being provided the comments from the AP scorer was also a big help. I think more of these would be very beneficial with ample discussion as to the reasons behind the student’s decision to write certain things a certain way. Exercises such as these, I believe, will help increase my chances of receiving a four or five on the exam in May.
Hannah: I’m sure you can read. You’ve made it this far. Let me suggest something to you though: read more on your own. I think reading different books by different authors will allow you to get used to different writing styles, making them easier to interpret when it’s necessary to on the exam. I know reading may not be your favorite thing to do but I think this is a way for you to overcome this problem. On the other hand, just like you, I learn by example. I think reading and analyzing the work of others would greatly benefit not only me and you, but everyone.
ReplyDeleteJessie: I know exactly where you’re coming from! Overanalyzing simple multiple choice questions is a problem for me also. I can usually narrow them down but then I think too much and end up picking the word one because the other seems too obvious. However, at the same time, I don’t want to change my multiple choice strategies because then I think that the few I do get right, I’ll get wrong. This is also an issue for me that needs to be solved before the exam.
Sarah L: Like you, I also have trouble organizing my thoughts for my essays. I am a neat, organized person that needs everything planned out, down to the second. Unfortunately, with the limited time to complete the exam, there isn’t much left over for this organization. But I don’t know how else to organize my thoughts without forgetting anything besides taking some time to outline them. I would love if somehow I could figure out another way to gather my thoughts without wasting and worrying about time!
First of all, I just want to add that I love calling April ‘Exam Review Month’. Whenever I heard the term ‘Death Month’, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and hibernate for a few years. Anyway...
ReplyDeleteAs it has been mentioned plenty of times before, one of my main problems is time. However, my problem with time is not that I simply can’t finish between the set limits; I just find it nearly impossible to start writing in general. I’m one of those people where I have to read something, read it again, comprehend it, read it again, say it to myself, read it again just to be safe and then start to write down some ideas. On a normal night, this process takes between half an hour to an hour. The only problem with that is.. I have about 15 minutes to do all of that on the day of the actual test. I’ve noticed that once I get the general idea, I can write non-stop, and even more than I thought, I was capable of writing. I just have the hardest time trying to find that right starting words. My ideas are usually vague, and tend to dance around the topic, which is a really bad problem that I need to fix pronto. The one thing that I’ve noticed has helped me the most is when we do those writing circles where we read another students essay. Getting to read and look at what makes a 9, or 2 helped me a lot because I was able to visualize the road that I should be heading down when I start writing on my own.
Another area that I'm not so sure about is multiple choice questions. It’s mainly just a comprehension thing, but every once in awhile I noticed that certain questions just stump me. I understand the piece, and I feel pretty strong when I'm answering the questions, but once I get my results back, they reflect the exact opposite. I think that just practicing these tests more, and perhaps discussing how to recognize what the question is exactly asking, will help me dramatically.
OH! I just thought of something else. I want to do a bit more of those flashcard things. I mean, I know I should be memorizing those terms by myself, but whenever I’m in the classroom, I tend to go stupid and forget what one word means from the next one. We don’t have to do it of often, maybe just once or twice. And we should time is…cause I like those competitive things. Just to make sure that I’m not only learning the words, but that I am also able to think about the definitions of those words quickly and efficiently.
Kaitlin!
ReplyDeleteEnglish has always been my weakest subject also. I've always been alright in math, because all you have to do is follow a process, the same goes for science and some part of history. But I have always had trouble in English whenever it came to being creative or a strong writer. Obviously, our desire to better ourselves in this subject has done us some good, or else we wouldn't be in this course in the first place. And hopefully all this hard work will reflect in our AP scores as well.
Brittany!
'Every time I write a paper I am never sure as to whether this one might turn out better or if it will sound just as bad as others that I have written.'
I used to have the exact same worry! But then I realized that if I constantly worried about trying to making my paper sound 'amazing', I would often lose clarity, strong examples, as well as my voice. I know that part of this is a confidence issue, and although that may take awhile to build, I think we should start by trying to improve little skills one or two at a time. Over time, this should [ hopefully ] make us more comfortable with our written work.
Jourdan!
'I mull over each and every word and overanalyze my own wordings and interpretations until I have only two or three paragraphs by the time the bell rings.'
...You're lucky you even get to three paragraphs. >.< I don't necessarily have a problem with over analyzing, but i know exactly what you mean about barely being able to write anything down before the bell rings. It makes me feel really dumb sometimes, and although I'm aware that everyone learns at a different pace, I just can't seem to understand why I still have such a problem with writing. Hopefully, 'Exam Review Month' will address and fix these problems. Or else we're in big trouble. O.o
Dear Time,
ReplyDeletePlease allow for more hours in the day, or somehow make the hours that I’m doing homework longer so I can study! Thanks!
-Paola
If I had a good solid week to study for each of my AP classes, there would be no reason for me not to score a four or five. However, since that’s not reality, time remains my enemy. Maybe my time management should be altered, but there’s really not much to work with. My weak areas seem to be at times, my lack of focus. When doing homework for a I get distracted. Which then leads to procrastination, and that seems to be everyone’s problem! Another weakness, dragging me down, is my frustration. When I cannot fulfill my homework, grades, and working goals, I get mad at myself, because I know I am capable of more. Much more. Come April, I hope we are able to review the vocabulary words, as well as the literary terms and devices. I feel as if reviewing, and being given some sort of packet to study would definitely help overcome part of my weakness, because there’d be almost no excuse. The only reviewing that seems to work for me, is recite and repeat. I need to go over and over what ever I need to know, but not superficially. I must understand what I am repeating. So maybe, if I was able to make more connections? Either way, practice makes perfect! Doing a project also seems to help me focus on the specific topic the project’s about, I feel as if that might help people with what their main struggles are. So if someone had a hard time with literary devices, they could do some sort of project with them? No matter, what April brings, I hope it’s as effective as it’s been with previous classes, so we can all get fours and fives. ;)
To be completely honest, the AP Lang exam frightens me the most out of the three AP tests I'll be taking in May. Psychology and History are both fact based exams, meaning as long as you know what short term memory and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 are you can answer the questions. Lang requires deeper examination and critical thought. That's not to say that I have trouble with examining and critical thinking, but for as long as I can remember I've always been a slow thinker. I take my time considering all the different options laid out before me. This means I'm also a slow reader. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, in fact most people would consider it a good thing, but on the Lang exam there simply isn't enough time. Worst of all, when I start to run out of time I panic, and when I'm panicked I make bad decisions. I need to work on finding the key information faster without sacrificing my ability to analyze and think critically.
ReplyDeleteMy weakest area is the multiple choice section, which is especially aggravating because I know I know most of the information the questions are asking me for. The only way for me to get better, and faster, is to practice. Take reader response logs for example. At the beginning of the year, RRLs used to take up an entire day of my weekend, but after practicing them so much I've gotten faster and better at them. I'm still diligent, thoughtful, and analytical, but I've gotten much more efficient. Since I'm fairly confident that I know what the multiple choices questions are asking for, my problem is obviously efficiency.
After all this, I'm still confident about taking the AP Lang exam. I've learned so much this year about rhetoric, writing, and much more. If you compare my work from last year and the beginning of this year to now I think you can see a dramatic improvement. I attribute this improvement to Ms. Bunje and all the practice we've done in her class. I already have most of the knowledge I need to do well, I just need to work on accessing and processing faster.
Gwen:"OH! I just thought of something else. I want to do a bit more of those flashcard things. I mean, I know I should be memorizing those terms by myself, but whenever I’m in the classroom, I tend to go stupid and forget what one word means from the next one."
ReplyDeleteAGREED!!! I hate the feeling, when you know that you know something, but simply blank on it! I didn't mention that in my blog, but after reading yours, i definitely feel that group flashcard exercises would be a great idea.
Kaitlin: "I think more of these would be very beneficial with ample discussion as to the reasons behind the student’s decision to write certain things a certain way."
Learning whats wrong, and why would help a lot of us make the connections in our writing that we seem to be lacking. However, time again is the enemy :( I wish we had more time to be able to do that.
Brittany: From your blog, it seems the only thing that you would need to score a four or five is confidence. If you do as well as you say on multiple choice, then you must understand all the literary devices used. If that's true, then all you need is the confidence to apply your knowledge to your writing.
Gwen:
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem when I'm writing! Unless it's a prompt I feel totally confident discussing (ahem, politics) I have a lot of trouble finding the time to think about what to write. When I'm under that much pressure I feel like my brain is totally stalled. I think my biggest problem is the stress of the time restraint, which is something I really need to fix.
Stephen:
ReplyDelete'To be completely honest, the AP Lang exam frightens me the most out of the three AP tests I'll be taking in May.'
Oh man, I know that feeling. haha. I want to succeed in all my AP tests, but AP Lang seems to be at the top because I've worked so hard on it over the course of the school year. All my classes are important, and they all require the same attention, but this class always seems to come in at the top of my list.
Sarah L:
ReplyDelete"However the bigger problem seems to be how long it takes me to figure out what the question is asking or what I have to consider to answer it."
I have this problem too! I feel like I waste so much time just trying to figure out what the question is asking me. My issue is rapidly processing what I need to do. The best way for me to fix this is through practice and review.
I know I'm not very successful in this class, and I believe it's because of my horrible memory for vocabulary words and literary devices. I think analyzing and reading is absolutely not a problem for me, but when I have to put what is written in front of me in writing then Houston we have a problem. I can analyze through all the feelings I get out of the piece yet I would not know how to exactly pin point where the literary devices and techniques and describe them.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing this could only be solved if I sit there and memorize even more, but I feel like if I'm just reading to look for those then I missed the overall point of the reading. It's like I can either read and comprehend, or analyze and look for techniques and devices. This causes me to read it twice which is not acceptable in a time period for the test. If I do analyze and look for the techniques I'll be second guessing my way through every single one and in the end that won't have much of an effect.
I have seen so many examples of Ts/Tds and I am still absolutely in the middle of the Pacific when I do mine. My Ts/Tds and RRls are massacres and I hand them in in shame. Literally. While every time I think I did it right all I need to do is look at someone else's and realize that mine are likely to be more understandable in hieroglyphics. I think I need not only examples but why so and how so.
The most urgent thing I would need in April for the test would be practice for the multiple choice and more AP essays. I'm not sure if I'm the only one but some answers seem obvious to me then I get them wrong. I'm like WHAT!?!? It makes total sense. Sometimes you need like background information to know somethings that I apparently missed out on. In multiple choice time isn't a big enemy as much as I sometimes don't understand how one answer is a better answer or logic. I'm not sure how that could be helped though. TIME! I need to better organize my time with essays to more them concise and effective. That all comes with practice though. I always complain about how I think if I had moved here in the beginning of the year then I would have been better off and things would be easier and I still believe so but after this blog I realized I'm not alone. :)
I hope and pray five times a day that I get a 4 on the AP test because this is supposed to be my thing, it's what I love, it's what I claim and promise to have in my future, it's to prove to my parents it's useful BUT if I don't past the Ap test (which would suck for the 80 bucks. Ha!), which I'm not sure I will because it just so happens I'm not as good as others in my own passion, I won't be angry, maybe sad but not angry because I know I learned other things from this class that will definitely help me out in the future and I took it because I love it and for the knowledge, not for the people at collegeboard to tell me I'm good enough to write or read. Basically I think we just need more practice that would micmic the AP test or we model more (9) essays.
KTG:
ReplyDeleteI think I really need a lot of practice on the multiple choice section as well, I talked about it in my post. I think it would be really helpful, like you said, if we went over the questions in class and talk about why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right answers are right. This would also allow us to see how to take apart the question and see exactly what it is asking.
As I wrote my horrible thesis statement for our synthesis essay, I realized my weak points in AP Lang. I can't write under pressure. If you think about it, that really blows. It really blows because we're taking a timed test at the end of the year and me not being able to write under that type of pressure will be the death of me.
ReplyDeleteThere have been times when I'm really inspired and writing under pressure is no big deal. But that experience of inspiration doesn't happen to me too often nowadays. I know that all the tools I need, like rhetorical devices and a conscience for speech, are there in my mind to use but somehow I just need to put them in a place where they can be accessible.
I think Exam Training Month will not be the death of me though. I think it's like boot camp. I'll definitely like it. As some of you in my gym class might know, I'm an aggressive person. I like rigorous activity that brings out the fierce lion inside me. Playing sports brings out my competitiveness. So, what I'll do is just think of April as a long practice that will help me win the game on May 12th.
Anyways, Bunje, I think the thing that I need the most is just working under pressure. I just need drills specially with things such as rhetorical devices. So, from what was described about April, I think it'll help me a lot more. So, drills. Drills. Drills. I just need drills to bring out the lion that will help me with the exam.
My weakest area, I would have to say, is everything. To be honest, I feel that my highest score is probably going to be a 2—unless this last month works wonders, that is. I mean really, my multiple-choice scores are horrendous and my writing is dull. Give me a multiple choice test with fifty questions, and I’ll probably only get twenty right at most; give me a writing task—whether synthesis or open-ended—and I’ll probably get no higher than a five.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if I had two hours to do the multiple-choice section I could score 31/42 (I spent all two hours during midterms and still was not absolutely positively finished). But the fact is, I don’t, and within forty-five minutes, I can’t answer anything a single question with certainty or confidence. With this said, I feel I need to learn how to answer these multiple-choice questions faster. With enough time, I can get them right. I want to learn how to shorten the time needed. I want to be able to finish the questions before time expires and have extra time to check my work.
As for writing, I need monumental assistance. I can scarcely even figure out what to write about. When the directions say, “analyze the rhetorical strategies,” words regarding what I want to talk about explode in my head. Tone! Syntax! Diction! Figurative language! Rhetorical devices! I realize that these are the topics I need to cover, but I don’t know how to cover them without sounding like a boring robot—“The author lures her audience into the piece by depicting a melancholy tone that appeals to the pathos. This tone is strengthened by her selective diction such as blah, blah, and blah. Hey look! She uses a metaphor here, a periodic sentence here, and inference here!” Okay, so I know the topics I need to cover, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to identify enough strategies that are significant enough to write about!
What I think I need, Bunje, is for you to guide me (us?) through writing an essay—whether it is “analyzing rhetorical strategies” or “support, qualify, or dispute Frodo’s claim.” And if that isn’t possible, perhaps you could teach us how to write 9s? I remember you saying that you would use the work of your past successful students and help us write like them, but we never carried this out (maybe it’s because of the snow?).
As for multiple-choice questions, can you teach us why certain answers are correct and how to identify what the questions are asking for? I (we?) want your explanations—not collegeboard’s because they suck.
Paola: I love your little introduction letter. It made me smile. Coincidentally, I wrote "There's not enough time in the day," as my Facebook status. I think time is a curse. It doesn't move quickly enough when we're staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring in our dreaded class, yet we beg for more time, claiming that it moves too quickly. It's never on our side :( I have the same problem.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to add one more thing!
ReplyDeleteI think the best ways to review is being under complete pressure, just like the four minute vocab quizzes. As much as I hate to say it ,because I know it'll kill, I think they're the best ways to review. It helps with those, like me, who have trouble with test taking.
Shirley,
ReplyDeleteYour weakness is somewhat like mine in that it's the cause of my weakness. Today when we read our synthesis topic, I cracked under pressure because I couldn't understand what the prompt was really asking. It really seems like sometimes the question is open to interpretation. My worry is: what if you interpret it weird and then everything is at a loss?
Hannah- Either way, my writing got worse. I read or listen to my friends' work and think to myself “Why don't I write like that?” Then I try to write like them, which usually just ends up sounding stupid.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. I write and write and feel accomplished then I read someone else's and I secretly want to stab my paper... or rip it up! It's very hard to read my work out loud when someone before me read theirs and it's like the angels start singing then I read it and the angels drop dead all over the place. Then when I attempt to write like them, it's not executed very well and I just don't feel like the writing, as if it were my own.
Jessie - The multiple choice tests we’ve taken in class have been killing me. I’ll peruse the readings and, for the most part, think I understand what the author is saying, but then I’ll get to the questions and freeze up. The ones where a few answer choices seem possible throw me off, and I have a bad habit of over thinking things.
I have the same problem, I over think so much that I think ( this is just a theory) that I fabricate an idea in my mind from assumptions and make whatever answer I picked work in my eyes. It's hard not to over think when it's like my nature too and also time doesn't allow for that which is another downfall to it.
Kyra-I have come to realize that I am just a failure! I seem to need help with a lot more than I 'd like to admit. Like everyone else, I've bombed every multiple choice test. We've been told to follow our gut instinct, but mine always proves to be wrong. How the hell do I get my instincts to be correct?
YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE! Maybe white :) but NOT A FAILURE. I have that problem ( I seem to have too many of those. lol) also that whole gut instinct. I follow my gut and it leads me to the gutters! I think I need more help but it's hard to ask for so much when you're an AP student and a lot of pressure for you to get it naturally or not be struggling to an extent is there. Tomorrow though we can peer edit and work together in our lonely classroom :)
First of all, I would like to make a comment regarding the masculine pronoun issue. This just goes to show how sexist our society truly is. Why is it that the masculine pronouns are only considered for people’s good characteristics yet a tornado or hurricane is often referred to as “her” or “she”? That is a load of baloney if you ask me (sorry, it just gets me a wee bit infuriated). We claim that we are progressive yet we prove ourselves to be just as primitive, in regards to gender bias and stereotypes, as the people in third world countries ( the very places we mock) where women are predestined to only cook and clean. The only difference is that we are better at hiding our sexism and racism. Yet, it always seems to find a way to leak back into how we think and articulate ourselves.
ReplyDeleteNow, to the real blog question!
I have many issues. With the test, I mean. First of all, I like to engulf myself in information and let it work its way through the inner workings of my dim-witted mind. Therefore, as one can easily hypothesize, being placed on a strict time limit does not bode well with my overall sense of confidence. When I am told how much time I have to do an assignment, I go through a five minute shock phase, after which I usually freak out some more ( just in a more subtle manner). These freak-outs really affect not only how fast you can work but also how well you can understand a text or write an essay. How can I get a good score on the AP test if I am too freaked out to think?!
Secondly, I abhor the multiple choice questions. Since the beginning of the year, they have been my downfall, seeing as I have not passed ONE with a decent enough grade (usually my scores are really pitiful). I would like to learn some “tricks” to perhaps not epically failing. I feel as if I am making the same mistakes over and over again.
At the moment, I have no other suggestion for review besides repetition. Repetition would help us get a feel for how the test would be. It would also help us by allowing us to learn from our mistakes. If we do many MC, and review them in class or perhaps do test correction then the test will seem less intimidating. A little confidence does not hurt anyone.
So what I basically saying is that I suck, and I have no idea how not to stink.
Sorry…
Alexis,
ReplyDeleteI also have the same dilemma as you in my confidence in writing. Whenever we read things out loud in class, I always feel embarrassed and somewhat stupid of what I wrote. Everyone else reads their intros and thesis statements and I feel like mine can never reach their level.
To Simon: I know what you mean…My analysis turns out to be so dry. I feel like I am writing a Spark notes version of what the author said (you know what I mean “The metaphor here….etc etc). My papers are kind of pathetic. But we’ll get better. Look at the bright side: we cant get any worse
ReplyDeleteGwen
ReplyDelete“Whenever I heard the term ‘Death Month’, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and hibernate for a few years.” I laughed at this comment.
“I’m one of those people where I have to read something, read it again, comprehend it, read it again, say it to myself, read it again just to be safe and then start to write down some ideas.”—me too!
“I want to do a bit more of those flashcard things.” I don’t think the flashcards things will help anymore. Simply getting the concrete definition is totally different from finding the examples in writing. To recognize the definitions are easier than recognizing examples. What is better for us, I think, is to have a passage on the projector filled with terms, separate the class into groups, and to have each group find as many terms as possible!
Kyra
“We've been told to follow our gut instinct, but mine always proves to be wrong”—unfortunate, isn’t it?
“I feel that we really need to discuss said strategies.” Yes, I agree—especially those with roman numerals!
Wow Kyra, I am amazed that you can finish writing a prompt in “20 to 25 minutes.” Maybe this is a bad idea, but I feel that instead of spending the rest of the time editing, perhaps you could spend some time prewriting?
Hannah
“Then when I'm finally finished, I have no clue what I just read.” Trying to read faster because we have a limited amount of time, doesn’t help does it?
I already said this to Gwen but I’ll say it to you too because you probably won’t read my comments for Gwen. Hannah, I don’t think the flashcard game will be very helpful. It may help you remember the definitions strongly, but I think it will weakly help you recognize terms.
I don’t know if it will help you, but at least for me, when I have a difficult time concentrating, I like to close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then, I would put my hands around my eyes and give myself tunnel vision so that I could only see the text (find a way to position your hands that work for you). You should give this method a try.
I'm not the best student. Bunje has realized that I tend to put more effort into the things that I like. I'm not always motivated, I neglect to do assignments for most of my classes, and my grades are beginning to plummet. I've always loved school, and somehow high school changed that. What I have come to realize though, is that I feel a sense of accomplishment with AP Lang. It's the only class I do my work for, not only because I'd shamefully walk into class if it wasn't done, but because I care. I know it's a waste of money to take these tests with an attitude like mine, but I will settle for a 3 in other classes. Or even if I received a 2, I can't say that I'd honestly be too upset. But in AP Lang, I want a 4 or a 5. I've put more time and effort into it than any other class, and I could even tell, simply from the HSPA, that my writing has significantly improved. What I have already learned tremendously benefited me already, and will continue to do so throughout my life.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, there are some aspects that I need to clarify in order to successfully get that 4 or 5, most of which are on me, like reading more to become more well-read, and focusing more. I also need to put aside my emotion towards a certain topic and try my hardest, even given the worst prompt. There are many struggles I have, on my part, but I'm currently working on them in preparation for the test.
There are, however, things I need more work on in class. I think it would be to my benefit to explain, not how to do ts/tds, but what I've been doing wrong. I do them completely wrong, but I don't know what is wrong about them. I think that corrections are vital to my learning. They give me more practice, as well as a better understanding of how the assignment is to be done. The ts/tds will help me in the area I struggle the most with, which is the multiple choice. I need a better understanding of the text. As for the questions themselves, I feel as if I over think the answers. Mostly, the answer that I think sounded too cliche and too easy was in fact the correct answer. I always seem to fail on the multiple choice. I do better with grammatical questions, like the ones on the SATS, but the ones on the AP exam are those that I can never seem to answer. I definitely need more help with them. As for the writing, it comes back to me. I need to review what makes up certain modes, but that can simply be done with some refreshing. My biggest concern for the exam is the multiple choice.
Kyra,
ReplyDeleteMultiple choice kills me too. I think my gut is all twisted. That's why every time I take multiple choice practice tests, I usually don't get many of them right. I think it's just our interpretations of things and I agree that we should get, if there are any other, multiple choice strategies.
Roosa
ReplyDelete"Look at the bright side: we cant get any worse." I'm looking at the bright side, but unfortunately, my writing is stuck on the dark side!
To JV:
ReplyDeleteThat’s the spirit! I completely agree with you drills and repetition is our only chance at receiving a 4 or 5 (I want to say 3, which technically is passing, but I will not out of fear that Bunj just might shank me). We can do it. I know we can.
Hannah: I felt like I wrote the beginning of your blog. I am the exact same way! It takes me a while to read a passage, and it seems that I can't ever recall what I've just read. I always hated when a teacher would say, "read this chapter," and then give a test on it the next day and say "you didn't read it," when I failed. Really, I did read it, but I couldn't recall what I read. It's horrible, but I have the same problem.
ReplyDeleteWhew! I was pretty scared for death month. I picture coming home.. Or going to track.. with a fried brain day after day. But anyways… during ‘death month’ I want more practice on everything. More specifically tests. I want to diagnose each question and answer them together because I’m so lost on those sections. I prefer we do ones we already did and failed. I’m pretty sure you (Ms. Bunje) planned a day but I don’t believe we go to it, I hope we get to it though because I want to understand what is being asked in the readings and how to eliminate choices.
ReplyDeleteSome other things I’m less confident about is my analysis in readings. Especially when we do Reading Logs and TSTD’s. I’m pretty sure I’m doing fine in Reading Logs, but of course you would know :] . The same with TSTD’s. I want more clarification on how to analyze the readings properly since you’ve said before that only a few out of us do them right. And I admit, when I come home and work on the tstd’s, I’m kind of struggling with them. I figured, before, that if I do more of them, I’d get the hang of them and finish them quickly. Does not really happen. Maybe we can go over a tstds? Ones that we already did in the past, that is. I believe by doing so, I can figure out what I’ve been doing wrong and right. Or you can correct them, or show more examples of what you like to see in tstds.
Lastly, I know my writing sucks. Not a forte of mine. But I’ve been working hard this year and I can pretty much say it has improved, well better than last year. Yet they aren’t good enough for this AP class. I truly need guidance. I need to have corrections made on my papers, and suggestions especially from you (Bunje) because you have an idea of what the AP exam graders(?) want. I’m not suggesting that you write parts of the paper for me, which was one of your reasoning as to why you don’t do that, but I’d like to see some sort of a direction so then I can make corrections myself. I hope that made sense. Maybe we can do about three or four rough drafts, however many it takes, for you to see and also peer edit so that we can have the ‘perfect AP paper’. So then I can know that I have to ability to write one :D
Those are my main three problems. I also suggest that you don’t cram in a lot of work, not cause I’m lazy, but because it would be too overwhelming. But then again you’re the teacher, so you would know what’s best. It may also seem like a lot, of what I’m asking, but really it‘s just clarification I need (not like relearning anything). Other than that I think I’m good to go for the exam.. Well at least have confidence.
To Simon: "Look at the bright side: we cant get any worse." I'm looking at the bright side, but unfortunately, my writing is stuck on the dark side!
ReplyDeleteNo its not, look you just used a metaphor right in your comment, silly :P If that is not the mark of good writing I dont what is...
To Paola
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean!!!I don't even have time to breath anymore lol. But we will male time and we will study and we will succeed. WE SHALL OVERCOME!!!
Jessie: So I just wrote my blog and then I read yours and I realized that they are extremely similar: that we over analyze things. And the hard part is deciding when we are or aren't over analyzing things, because a lot of the questions require a lot of thinking when other have clear answers that we overlook. But I beg to differ about your writing. You have such a way with words when you write. :)
ReplyDeleteThe biggest obstacle I foresee hindering my 4 or 5 is, like many others, the multiple choice section. I, like almost all of my peers, have failed every AP multiple choice practice exam I have taken. In the beginning, I didn’t worry so much; I expected my scores to get better as the year progressed. This is hardly the case. My scores have only gotten better by a small margin, my time management skills still almost as terrible as they were on the very first multiple choice practice exam. Even when given a two hour time limit instead of a meager forty five minutes, I still failed to “pass”.
ReplyDeleteI think my problem with multiple choice questions in this particular class is the ambiguity of the answers. For many of the questions, I can honestly not choose between two answers. In many cases, I could strongly argue either answer. This is my problem. I almost always narrow the answer down to two choices. There is rarely ever a case when I can’t narrow it down. My problem is that I always choose the wrong answer, with a 50/50 chance; I still fail to choose the correct answer. I always kick myself when I get the test back and I see that I have crossed out all of the choices but the correct one and the incorrect one that I happened to choose. Also, the inconsistency of the lengths of passages throws me off sometimes in regards to the multiple choice section. One passage will be two pages, another will be four and a half. I sometimes find myself left with only a small portion of the allotted time and more than a few questions left, mostly because it takes me too long to thoroughly read and analyze a particular passage. I was excited when I saw a day dedicated to the multiple choice section on our calendar, but sadly, we never got to it.
I also would like to view more examples of high scoring essays. I feel like my essays are decent, but I often feel that there’s something lacking. Seeing high scoring essays and being able to build my own essays off of those high scoring essays would greatly help me. Also, I feel as if I have never really been told how to write each individual essay. Sure, there’s a prompt with clear instructions, but I don’t feel as if I completely grasp the concept of writing each individual type of essay. I’d like it if we could spend time thoroughly discussing how to write each type of essay and the kinds of things that should definitely be included in each. I only have a vague understanding of each essay type and I think this hinders me from writing a great 8-9 essay.
I hope that “death month” won’t be completely “deathly”. I enjoy review and honestly learn better with interactive games or a casual review. I wish that more teachers incorporated that into their reviews. Whatever the case, I hope that I can vastly increase my AP Lang skills in the month of April.
Oh, my Simon:
ReplyDeleteHmm, that's actually a good idea. I wouldn't mind doing that either. As long as I get some help in memorizing all those terms!
Lang is the only exam that I really want to exceed on, which is terrible in my shoes but I can't change what I love. And that brings me to my problem - I love Lang. I love writing and I love reading. The problem I face often is relating pieces to questions, like the synthesis essays that we do... well pretty much any essay that we do. I find it tough to bring in previous knowledge and I feel like that's a personal problem but if there's any way that I can find this task easier, please tell me!
ReplyDeleteThen there's multiple choice... When I took the mid-term, I was so sure of myself and I felt so confident in every answer I circled. I went over the exam twice and agreed with all my answers, finding sense in them all and feeling as if I was correct and was finally going to make Bunje proud. HA! Totally not the case - I think I pulled through with a weak 17. Wow. That's all I could think after finding out and I was so upset that I just sat in the room for the rest of the time. So if we could go over multiple choice strategies, more in depth, I think a lot of us would benefit from that.
The best ways to review for my two requests, and any others I presume, would be the circle that we do together, I think. I like when we all throw in our opinions and are able to talk and learn rather than sitting in silence and staring at paper. Even if we don't physically make a circle, but we did the type of class that we did today (excluding Alexis' idea :D) would help greatly. Something that Bunje said today made me think of why I love Lang. She said that she knows she asks us unanswerable questions but that's why she does so - and when we talk about it I feel like we get an answer as a class. Talking about the topic or lesson together and all throwing in different bits of knownledge, I feel like we'd be able to learn the tough lessons easier.
Another thing that I just remembered from class is the idea of learning how to relax and take question by question. I'm really interested in learning that for the fact that I'm a terrible serious test taker, as I know a few others are. To attack this, I think it should be done by more class talking and doing our little debates that we do already!
Looking back on the year there have been different things, in my opinion that haven’t been crystal clear, now I understand almost everything, I just need some things clarified. (Wow that sounds weird, the majority of this year went by so fast!) First off doing that exercise of putting the different Lit terms into categories really showed me how many words I had no clue what they were. I believe we should have lit term tests on the different words, clarifying each word through more than the definition. By this I mean examining all the lit terms in actual context, in order to connect the term to more than just a definition.
ReplyDeleteNow literary terms are defiantly not my weakest area, but I believe it is important to drill these terms into our heads. Writing overall needs to be addressed a little more, in order to do this we could go through multiple student-written AP essays and pick out the good and bad, making our writing better towards all the different possibilities that could face us in the exam. Therefore broadening the techniques we practice will make us more prepared for any type of essay given. The literary technique essays I think need a little more clarification on what the readers are particularly looking for. In order to do this, I think we need to know how exactly to structure the terms used—in other words instead of just naming off the techniques, how do we make the essay flow better while incorporating the devices and techniques the author uses.
Last and most importantly are the Multiple choice questions of the AP exam, which others share the problem of totally bombing these sections. The major problem I see with the multiple choice part of the exam is seeing that there is more than one possible answer; and in History they tell us which answer is “more correct” but I just can’t do it for the multiple choice in Lang! It seems that the only way I can actually be confident in my answers if I have a lot of time to go back in the passage and analyze and compare and contrast the answers—except we don’t have much time at all! Could you please Bunje, give me some miracle formula that allows me to sit back and go “ok this is wrong because…” because as of now I really can’t. I have been trying to read on my spare time and analyze the devices, but it still hasn’t fully prepared me for the multiple choice, could we please practice this portion!
Overall I believe connecting lit terms to tangible ideas, and drilling them into our heads will work. The same goes for our essays, by analyzing others work and deciding the good and bad we could determine what not to do in our essays, and also what to do. As for the multiple choice I don’t really have a suggestion for the best way to study besides going through different types of questions and actually know what to look for the different questions. Once we have distinguished what’s what, its practice, practice, practice, from there on out. I’m sorry if my suggestions and explanations sound confusing or vague, but I tried to make them as accurate as possible without leaving out important portions that I saw that needed to be addressed.
Since I have taken on the intense workload of four AP classes- for those of you who have five of them, bless your hearts- I have to budget my time wisely. I have softball until about six every night and by the time get home, eat, and shower, I have about four hours until it’s midnight and I pass out. Mathematically, (sorry, Bunj) this allows me only an hour per class to study every might. My toughest obstacle in the next month is going to be spending enough time per night on each class to master my skills. I need more than an extra hour per night to polish my knowledge. In order to become a complete whiz in AP Lang and get a 4 or 5 on the exam, I need more than that extra hour.
ReplyDeleteMy weakness in Lang is writing. I can’t express my thoughts as poetically, regally, or creatively as any of my classmates. I feel like my work, compared to my classmates is crap. I don’t know why I’ve been cursed with simple language and rambling thoughts, but I can’t seem to break the curse. I try so hard in this class to get to the level of my classmates. I stay up until one I the morning every night so I can get an extra hour in on my Lang homework, but it doesn’t seem to ever benefit me. I feel like my efforts are getting me nowhere and that’s why I would like to review everything about writing before the exam. By everything, I mean rhetorical modes and the different kinds of AP essays we will be required to write. I know I should do decent on the multiple choice questions because I’m good at reading comprehension, but I’m terrified of the writing section.
That blog introduction was very reassuring, and I sighed with relief as I noticed the new adjective to describe this upcoming month. Anyways, to answer the blog question, I have a very simple answer. Multiple Choice. You asked what my weak areas are and instantaneously my midterm exam grade tackled my mind. My absolutely horrible grade on the midterm reflects this fault. You could say I like to over think things a little bit. Okay, I admit, I might have gotten a few wrong on the HSPA because I thought the answers were too stupid to be correct. Anyways, when it comes to multiple choice, I freeze up and my mind lets loose a "brainfart". It’s truly a weakness. I felt as though I was both ill-prepared and completely ashamed as I was given my midterm grade. I actually thought I was a promising and well-adapt AP Lang student, and I didn’t believe my eyes as I saw the horrendous grade. I guess I overestimated my abilities.
ReplyDeleteTo overcome this struggle, if the class were to discuss the multiple choice questions together, I thoroughly believe it would help me substantially. Class discussions, without a doubt, truly make a difference. If we discuss it together as a class (more so a family), we both motivate each other and benefit from the continuous practice. And besides, like that old cliché saying, practicing (with the proper strategies) makes perfect.
So, in this forthcoming month of extreme preparation, I am not scared of working my butt off. English is my forte, so I will seriously do whatever necessary to lock in a passing exam grade. To be frank, I kick butt in writing. Sure, I need to brush up on my shaky synthesis skills, but I’m mostly content with my average AP essay. But, on the road to a 4 or a 5 on this exam, the multiple choice question will undoubtedly be the obstacle. Other than that, I feel as though our class has already mastered the difficult concepts. TSTD’s and RRL’s, as frequent and strenuous as they may be, have completely changed the way I read. In fact, that’s a pretty awesome achievement. I identify with tone, diction and syntax now more than ever! Also, when reading a book, I can now easily identify rhetorical devices, allowing me to appreciate the English language more often.
I guess working in groups, holding frequent class discussions, and simply practicing will definitely help me prepare better. I feel as though I’ll enter the test room on May with a face shining in confidence knowing that I am fully equipped with the skills to defeat any multiple choice question that tries to attack me.
I think the best way to go about reviewing for the writing portion of the exam is to just practice in class essays at least once a week. I need to work on piecing together a brilliant essay under pressure, and the only way to do this is in an academically competitive environment. At home, I can memorize the rhetorical modes and literary devices.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what, I’m going to walk into the testing room with my head held high because I know I worked my ass off to try and get where I need to be. If I fail, which could happen, I’m just glad I put in the effort to make myself better and came out learning the most in Lang out of any class.
Hannah - I totally forgot about that flashcard game! I want to do that too, a few times to get more literary devices in my head. However, do you ever catch yourself calling out devices in other classes or in conversations? I've found myself countless times in Spanish with Kaitlin, Lauren, Kelsey and Simon just calling out sarcasm, irony or something even cooler.
ReplyDeleteGwen: I agree with your frustration with the devices. I understand the term and can see it if it is pointed out, but I don't always pick up on teh devices while reading a passage. I think more practice with flashcard-like reviews would really help me with this problem.
ReplyDeletePaola: I feel as if there isn't enough time for anythign either. The problem with time is that if I sit down and do all of my work, I will, and do, go to bed at 12 o clock or later. I then have problems with staying alert and awake in school, which leads to less understanding which leads to even more time spent laboring over homework. It's like a never enging cycle and I can never find time to actually sit down and review a concept.
Lucas: I can understand your problems with identifying devices within a passage. I have the same problem, I can never pick out many particular devices. When another person points them out, I can easily see the device and understand its effect. I could certainly also use practice in this area.
Pooja-
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned something I forgot to say and I'm glad you did because I need it so bad. I NEED corrrections on my papers. I need to know what I'm doing wrong so I can fix it. I remember that my essay on how to pick a prom dress was the best thing I've ever written. I was so devastated to find out that I didn't even get a 7 on it, but when I got it back and had to do corrections I had no clue what to do. For the first time I expresed my thoughts as I saw them exactly and I didn't want to fix anything. Now, with that being said, I'm no AP grader, so I didn't know if I did something really wrong. If I had markings on my paper, I may have been able to fix it, but I didn't have any and so I literally couldn't fix it.
Sorry about the rant :)
AP Lang has kicked my ass all over the place. I appreciate the value in that butt whoopin, and its brought me a long way. Am I ready for the AP test? I don’t know. My biggest problem is usually second guessing myself on the multiple choice, so I expect that may be a hindrance to my testing. At least I can always narrow them down to two answers, one of which is always the right one. But I also have this annoying habit of thinking longer than I write, which leads to unfinished documents and low essay scores. Alone, these two wouldn’t be AS concerning, but since I suffer from both ailments I am a bit concerned.
ReplyDeleteOnce April roles around I’d like to really crack down on writing effectively. When I’m on my game, I’m ON, but when I’m off….well….not good. Besides writing I’d like to review some rhetorical devices and just some quick clarification on RRL words. I always confuse my rhetorical devices, so some elaboration would be greatly appreciated. As for those RRL words, I’m just paranoid and want to ensure that I FULLY grasp the meanings of them.
About the review, I’d like to do some small group work or class discussion. I seem to pick up more when we talk, possibly because I am forced to come up with my own answer….synthesize the answer…after hearing my classmates talk. It also helps to hear someone else define or explain a concept (our class comes up with some interesting responses). Class discussions cover all the bases too. Sometimes I forget what I originally didn’t know, but another student will ask the question for me. Sometimes I just don’t know I don’t know something. I’d like to have more group time for sure.
Lucas:
ReplyDelete“In a similar vein, I often find myself struggling to identify tone in a passage.”
Which I forgot to add in my suggestion was this particular problem, I often find myself not being confident in my answer to a tone, or it seems that there are a combination of tones but I cannot exactly point out a tone shift! It is frustrating, and I too think that addressing this issue may help a lot of us.
Justin:
It seems that we have practically the same “weak areas” along with many other of the students in AP lang. The multiple choice section is giving us all huge problems, and it seems that once narrowing down the answers there never seems to be an answer that jumps out over the other, they both seem right almost all the time. We need some serious MC help!
Shirley:
“Understanding the main point of the essay questions.”
For some reason right after I clicked “post” for my blog, this exact point hit me. Understanding the main point of an essay question is a very huge problem, because frankly if we can’t decipher what the essay question is asking, then even if our writing in superb the best we can hope for is a 2, and by not understanding ONE question can practically ruin your chances of getting a 4 or 5.
Kaitlin-
ReplyDeleteWe were jsut talking about this in the bathroom the other day. I agree with you. I have learned the most in AP lang this year out of every class I have. It sucks big time because I'm not doig good at all in this class, but I feel like I'm learning the concepts extremely well. I think it all starts with our sissy background in english in middle school. We need a good foundation, and unfortunately we never got one.
Shirley - In your opening paragraph, I can hear your quiet voice say the parenthesis statement (Which relates me to what I said to Hannah because I always call out parenthesis!). Anyway, I agree with what you requested for April, definitely practice tests. With the essay questions, do you ever feel like after reading a high-scored response that you have no ideas besides the one on that paper? Well, that's my problem, like I've said before - the whole relating between previous knowledge and the questions information. I wish you the best, I'm stuck on the same!
ReplyDeleteChrissy H-- I totally understand your habit of overthinking. I used to do that (last year a lot), but I found that one thing that helps is looking for what DOESN'T fit instead of what does. If you're looking for things that are correct, your mind will make up reasons for all the answers to fit. if you just try to focus on whats not acceptable, you'll be able to knock out some of the coices at least.
ReplyDeleteChrissy-
ReplyDeleteDon't gear the multiple choice. I think you're just overthinking the questions. A lot of the questions are logic based and when you think about them too hard, your mind starts to drift to the "what-ifs". What is this answer was right? Or what about that one? Don't let yourself waste time on logic questions by overthinking. Have confidence adn don't be afraid to fail. "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
KTG-
ReplyDeleteYou're blog basically covered everything I mentioned. I am also not so hot on those multiple choice, and I always feel horrible when I recieve a bad grade on them. I feel as though it would definitely benefit us if we were to take tests every week. But, you just mentioned taking the tests. I also believe that, as a class, we should go through them and discuss the answers. With these strategies Bunje gives us, then we apply the "practice makes perfect" policy. Those multiple choice really kill me...
Chrissy - I found myself nodding my head in agreement during your whole blog. Immediately, I giggled as you sighed with relief because I imagined you doing it - your life is so stressful because of Drama and all your APs! Also, I'm reassured that I'm not the only one having trouble on Multiple Choice - it scared me for a while. My midterm as probably worse than yours, so keep your head up! But as I've already said, I'd like to do strategies for the multiple choice in more depth because they always get me! But there's hope, Chrissy!
ReplyDeleteSo far in AP Lang, I feel like my writing has improved drastically. However, I still have a long way to go. I feel the best way I can prepare for the exam is by eliminating the element of surprise.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of different types of essays on the test, and we’ve done most of them already in class. I think this helps so much. The quality of my essays has improves with every practice essay we do in whether it be in class or at home.
The things that have helped me the most this year has been TS/TDs and RRL. RRLs were the most difficult thing in the world in September they used to take me hours. Now I can blow one out in forty-five minutes max. The same thing applies with TS/TDs. Though they still take me quite some time to analyze everything, they are a million times easier now then they were when we first started doing them.
I believe my weakest areas are multiple-choice right now. I have yet to not fail. I don’t really know what can be done about this, because the same thing applies for the SAT’s (I got like a 530 last year on reading).
I believe that the best ways to review is simply to constantly practice. I think we have mastered the steps such as TS/TDs and RRLs. However, areas such as multiple-choice and essays are where I need the most help in.
You are notorious for your kids getting high scores on the AP Test. So even if April is “Death Month” I have no doubt it will all pay of in the end.
Taylor
ReplyDelete"It’s so frustrating because I know I can do these things, I just can’t do them when it means something."
I know exactly what you mean. When we did those practice tests where we had to explain our reason for picking every multiple choice I felt like all my reasons made sense. However, most of them wound up being wrong, but when Bunje went over them all her answers made total sense, and i thought to my self why didn't I put that down in the first place.
Dylan M:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first paragraph. Everytime I read a book or newspaper, after learning about rhetorical devices, I would notice a sentence or a phrase that is a literary device but can’t pick one out! It drives me crazy. But then I move on cause I don’t carry my literary terms with me. It’s not just that I don’t remember the literary devices, I have a hard time recognizing them fully. Sometimes I think the sentence has more than two devices other times I’m unsure. I need clarifying on that too.
Hannah S:
I believe the flashcard game is a great idea for reviewing in death month! I’d also, like Dylan said, like to apply or pick out those devices among readings as well. So then we won’t just know them only by definition but be able to recognize them more fully, cause I believe they can get pretty tricky. I also have the same problem when it comes to reading, I find the AP Lang practice test passages much harder, it’s hard not to zone out. I guess practice reading would help.
Shirley N:
Time can be your best friend or your worst enemy, but nobody wants it to end. Unfortunately for the AP exam, it conflicts with you, adding more pressure as the time lessens. I have a problem with that too, especially with the passages to read. I take so much time reading it that by the time I get to the multiple choice section, I’m hurrying to finish so I can read the next section. I don’t know why I do that, maybe I panic or am in a rush to just get it done in hopes that I’m right with what I’ve circled. But yeah, ultimately, we need practice.
Pooja- I definately agree with your commentary bit (Bunje writing on our papers). I understand its difficult to comment so much on all of them, but some of em every so often when somethings REALLY amiss would help so much. I feel like my writing hasn't gotten real criticism (it sounds like you do too). It seems more like we have to self reflect, which has its benefits, but also its weaknesses. (Not to knock peer editing but I don't find that it accomplishes much very often)
ReplyDeleteDylan
ReplyDelete"First off doing that exercise of putting the different Lit terms into categories really showed me how many words I had no clue what they were."
I agree with you one hundred percent, I forgot all about this. When we did this exercise I felt the same way. It was so frustrating, to think that you knew something, but then someone would challenge it and then would seem right. Then you would both be confused not knowing exactly what went where.
P.S. Chrissy thank god you were in our group!!
Before I start my post, I want to share my thoughts on the “sidebar.” As much as we don’t want to admit it and act like the women’s rights movement has moved mountains and parted seas, it hasn’t. Society is male dominated and always will be. Men are too jealous and power-hungry to give their dominance to women. I’m not saying I agree with this, but it’s never going to change. Anyway…
ReplyDeleteEndurance is the one obstacle I’m most worried about for the AP exam. I am afraid that near the end of the exam, when the throbbing in my brain sets in, I won’t think rationally, and will choose answers that do not make sense, or write sentences that have no relevance to my original point. I would hate to work hard all year and then founder on the exam because I am not mentally prepared and relaxed.
The multiple-choice questions have always been my weakness. I can never decipher the basic question, and therefore cannot choose the correct answer. The wording always throws me off! I feel especially uncomfortable with questions that give roman numeral answers because more than one statement can be right, and the questions that ask which of the choices isn’t correct. Throughout April, it would be beneficial for me if we reviewed different strategies for taking the test and practiced them as well. I know that we have completed exercises similar to this, but I’m still shaky in these areas.
To review, I would like to go over sample multiple choice and essay questions and break them down into language that is easily understood. Personally, I like to work in small groups because I feel that when I teach certain concepts to my peers, I understand them more thoroughly and can retain the knowledge for longer periods of time. Basically, I want to continue to do what we’ve been doing all year so I can master my AP Lang skills and rock the exam! :-)
Jourdan:
ReplyDeleteWhoa! You’re like an AP Lang ninja! It’s so awesome that analyzing comes second nature; I guess that’s what happens after seven months of continuous studying. However, after you said that, I realized that I do the same thing. I’ll just be reading a book and all of the sudden I recognize parallel structure, extended metaphors, and chiasmus. I definitely get more out of reading now, but I miss leisurely reading.
Hannah:
Whenever we do practice AP tests, I always forget what I’ve read and then cannot answer the multiple-choice questions; it’s hard to concentrate when the topic of the passage is boring and the language is difficult to understand. I definitely think that doing TS/TD’s in groups would be very helpful!
Brynne:
I really liked the tone exercise, too! It was hard to write in a specific tone, but I felt that I had blossomed into a better writer when I was finished. I also want to work on speed for the multiple-choice sections. It’s so hard to work rapidly and efficiently considering all of the pressures associated with the exam. We should definitely study together since we’re unsure of the same thin
Simon
ReplyDelete". But the fact is, I don’t, and within forty-five minutes, I can’t answer anything a single question with certainty or confidence. "
I think this is how most of us feel. However, i believe that MC will after death month wined up being like TS/TDs or RRLs, easy peasy. We just need practice, the more practice we do the quicker we will get.
Alex N-- Your improvement is evident even in your OPs. They're always written really well! Don't lose faith!! Those multi-choice things can be conquered with some practice, so I definately agree that we need to work on em a littled bit. Maybe we could do one together as a group, come up with the answer to each question together and have Bunje audit (?). It could help thought process....
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say I have never really been a good writer. Following a prompt or guideline is not my problem, the real issue is thinking outside the box. Writing, in my opinion, stems from what type of readings a person has been exposed to growing up. Growing up I never was exposed to any type of novels. For example while most of my friends divulged into Harry Potter, I could not even count the number of pages. Books were not the issue, I loved them, the issue was time. This probably sounds weird, but I had a very stressful and busy childhood. All of this high school madness seems very trivial compared to what I use to deal with on a day to day basis. Having no time, and probably having little to no creativity, I was a recipe for disaster in the writing department.
ReplyDeleteOne obstacle standing in my way of getting a 4 or 5 is the fact that I cannot concentrate for a long period of time. Often times I find myself reading one sentence and daydreaming the next during a multiple choice practice exam. The passages are difficult and when you skip over a sentence, the whole passage can be misunderstood. Another obstacle I find myself trying to hurdle is understanding exactly what the prompt is asking. Staying on task will be a major part of my exam.
Some major weak areas are, time management, and multiple choice questions. When pressured on time in an everyday life situation, I usually half-ass certain things get through the day. While in Lang I end up just skimming or speed reading an article and not fully understand the content. Inevitably, when I read multiple choice questions I have no idea how to answer or even guess. I am the worst at multiple choice questions. Usually, I cross off two choices that I think could never be correct, and one of those choices is the right answer. For the review weeks ahead, I feel it would be beneficial to take a few practice exams and spend a period or so going through every answer and understanding why it is right or wrong. Also, as much as I hate saying this, I think it is important we do more practice essays. Writing essays like the ones on the exam is another one of my weaker points. I have great ideas in my head, but once I try to put them on paper they are a jumbled mess. Exam Review Month seems pretty legit and I can’t wait to feel prepared for the AP exam.
Hannah- Oh Hannah. You are a good writer, you just have to believe in yourself. Remember when we use to write all those stories in Ms. Hudson’s class? You have a wild imagination, put it to good use! Try having a night with not distractions and I am sure you can produce a great essay. Some of the ideas you had for in class ts/tds would be a great idea since you are write, many of our classmates are amazing writers. Just take some extra time trying to figure it out and don’t get frustrated!
ReplyDeletePaola- I also wish there were more hours in a day. Completing assignments correctly and handing in the best work is hard this year. It sucks to know that when you hand in a paper something else could have been better. I know that happens to me all the time. Procrastination is the biggest problem in everyone’s life, yet we do nothing about it. Eh, we’re only kids once thought!:) Try not to get frustrated and just spread out your time so you accomplish certain things each night.
Simon- The first problem you have is you are doubting yourself. If you think your score is going to be so horrible, my advice would be to either ask Bunje how to get practice multiple choice tests, or buy a review book and take one a week. It wouldn’t hurt getting some extra practice on your own, and most books give test taking strategies. Hopefully April will do wonders on all of us, but Bunje can’t teach us too much more, it’s on us now.
AP Lang has taught me so much, each and everyday I see myself improving, both in writing and critical thinking. I still feel as though I am not ready for this exam just yet. I need to work on all areas, but mostly multiple choice. In the multiple-choice section I seem to have the answer initially or not at all. When I come up with the answer initially I tend to over think it and instead write down something else. The other scenario is that the actual answer is the one I cross off first and completely ignore from my choices. In April I would defiantly like to see more practice exams. These exams don’t have to be graded, but better off as homework I think. When under the pressure of grading I seem to rethink my answers and choose the complete wrong one. So an environment where I am not stressed will definitely benefit me on the AP exam. Another potential problem I see myself running into are time constraints. I always finish on time, but my quality of writing seems to decrease, and I always return to 5-paragraph format for fear of time. I feel as though I will always have to sacrifice quality for quantity. I would like to see some lessons on how to handle your time properly during the test. At the start of the year I was fearing death months arrival, but I now see this is going to be the extra boost I need to really boost my scores once the AP test rolls in.
ReplyDeleteKyra-
ReplyDelete"I have come to realize that I am just a failure!"
That's not the best way of entering next month! In fact, self-doubt will prevent you from running towards a passing grade! Girl, straighten up and believe in yourself! Anyways,you are totally right when talking about the multiple choice section. I also believe that we need to learn and practice strategies, instead of simply taking tests over and over again with no correction. Like you, my gut and I seem to have a hasty relationship. My mind will instantly tell me the answer, but I pick another one because I doubt myself. Thus, I get it wrong. Another reason not to doubt! Speaking of which, referring to your last tiny paragraph, you make a valid point about the additude of the test. However, you also don't want to enter the test room with the mindset of failing. I'm going to go in confident, but not setting my expectations to high. If you know you're going to pass, there's no reason to doubt and consider getting your expectations crushed in July.
Alex N-
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by
"Chrissy thank god you were in our group"
Jessie-
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty funny how similar everyone's weaknesses are. Your weakness concerning multiple choice was described almost exactly like mine in my blog! Exactly like you, I freeze up, and tend to over-think and overanalyze. And concerning with your lack of concentration with reading the passages, I totally understand where you are coming from. With the constant pressure of time, I seem to always "over-concentrate" and then I lose focus, probably because I'm worrying about time. What I've learned from practicing these exams is to identify tone, diction, syntax, and anything familiar while you're reading. It makes it both easier to understand and creates more of an incentive to concentrate better.
One of my biggest obstacles for the exam would have to be the limited time. I don’t think there is enough time for me to think things over and form an intelligent answer to questions. I have never been a fan of rushing things but it seems like this year that is all I have done with my work. With a steady and patient pace that allows me to think about all aspects and organize those thoughts into ideas and examples for the writing, I could write a decent essay. But the makers of the standardized testing want us to work under pressure where our writing will not even reach its full potential. Why is that though? Why not give us enough time to show what we are capable of? Ugh, one of the many reasons why I hate standardized testing.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I think my weaknesses for writing are not being able to organize my thoughts into well written sentences, transitioning, not having voice and tone, and writing a kick-ass thesis statement. For the multiple choice, my weakness is that I always have to go back to the reading and reread certain parts which wastes time. That’s why I end up not being able to even get to the last reading on the practice tests. I would like to spend more time on how to create a universal outline for the essays so that when it comes to the exam, I can think about that outline that I would have memorized to write a decent essay. I don’t really know of a best way to review for an English exam because it’s not like chemistry or calculus where you can memorize formulas that you know will definitely appear on the exam. I think just getting familiar with the types of questions and answers is an effective way to prepare for the exam because when we familiarize ourselves with the diction of the questions, it will not be as time consuming to think about it when it appears in front of us on test day. Other than that, I really don’t know how to review for this exam.
Well first off, Ms. Bunje, I don't know about all “banal adages,” but in this case I'm pretty sure that turning a boy into a man and turning a girl into a woman have two completely different meanings, one of which being just a little more inappropriate than the other, if ya' know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I've got no clue about what my major weaknesses are in AP Lang (besides everything and everything else), but if I had to pick one thing that I think could use some improvement, it would be the overall integration of the things we've learned and done that might not be directly related to the AP Exam (RRLs, TSTDs, Rhetorical Modes, etc) into the AP Exam (and practice exams and such). When I get something wrong on a practice test, for example, how can that be explained to me in a way that corresponds with everything we've been doing so far this year. When I'm analyzing an essay for a practice test, I want to be able to identify elements in the essay (and in my analyzation technique) that relate back to the fundamentals of what I've been taught of analyzing essays all this year, having an idea of what the author is explicitly stating and what he wants his text to accomplish on an underlying level based on what I know from TSTDs, for example. I think that this would provide us with the simplest, most objective (based on what we already know) way to systematically construct our techniques for dealing with the wide variety of unknown material that will be on the AP Exam, because right now (especially when I analyze essays) I don't really have a set plan for how I'm going to proceed, and if I did, I'd certainly be at least more comfortable taking the AP Exam, because right now, I've got no clue what to expect. Also, I remember a while back, Ms. Bunje, you said you were going to give us quizzes every day in April. Are you going to go over those quizzes and practice exams with a lot of detail? Because, last year, I could honestly say that my greatest resource for getting a 5 on the AP Gov Exam was taking about a dozen practice exams, both in school and on my own time, and going back over them with a fine tooth comb every time.
Brittany O.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need more examples of great essays and a greater emphasis on what we're actually doing wrong when reviewing our mistakes. Trial and error is (or at least it seems to be) the simplest way to master just about anything. As for the cracking under pressure thing, just relax. That's what I do (though maybe not as much as some people claim) whenever I'm under pressure. If I screw up, it's no big deal. If I do well, well then woo hoo! Also, try and finish early so you still have time to go back and revise; that's what I do (though I'm usually too “relaxed” to go over every little detail).
Kaitlin H.
It seems like everyone's having trouble with the multiple choice, so there's a good chance that we're going to be working a lot on that in April. As for tone and theme, just as in analyzing all the other literary devices, it's important to look at the text from the perspective of the author. Understanding why an author writes the way they write will certainly help in actually being able to put a label to a tone and describing a theme in just a few sentences.
Lauren D.
For endurance, just take more practice exams. Set aside four hours or so and take two in a row (what I did last year in Gov). It the easiest way to make the actual AP Lang Exam seem like just a walk in the park. The more practice exams you take, the less of a strain the actual AP Exam will put on your brain.
Pooja- I kind of agree with you about cramming in a bunch of work. I think that the pressure and stress will get to us too much and by the time its exam time, our brains will be fried and unable to function properly. Especially considering some of us have 4 or more AP classes that also need our attention in order for us to pass those exams.
ReplyDeleteStephen W – “I take my time considering all the different options laid out before me. This means I'm also a slow reader.”
I am the same way. It takes me forever to read the stories AND the questions. I reread and reread and it consumes so much time. I wish the test creators knew we aren’t super humans that read and analyze information at lightning speed.
Brittany – “Sometimes I feel like I struggle with everything involved in writing. I know what I want to say most of the time but I just can’t find the right words to say it and even when I do I am still unable to organize them in a way that sounds like they should.”
Me too! It seems like in my head the information is fitting together but then when it comes to translating that into words it’s like a jigsaw puzzle all over again. My problem is that to me things make sense because my mind already knows what it wants to say, but other people don’t and it’s because I don’t know how to make them understand.
Kyle and Bunje
ReplyDelete"integration of the things we've learned and done that might not be directly related to the AP Exam (RRLs, TSTDs, Rhetorical Modes, etc) into the AP Exam"
Yes Bunje, that would be nice. I understand how they relate, but it would be nice to hear your words on how everything ties together. Can you tell us how we can incorporate the skills we learned from RRLs and TSTDs into the AP Exam?
Alex N
ReplyDeleteYeah, RRLs are indeed much easier than they used to be.