Saturday, April 12, 2014
Testing 1, 2, 3.
Write your reaction to the AP practice exam. What was hard, what was easy? How did you feel about taking it? Was it what you expected? If you had to make a plan for the actual exam, what things, what skills do you think you would improve upon. Make an estimated guess as to what you scored on the exam.
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Ripping on the AP Exam. Mwahahaha...
ReplyDeleteAddressing the first question. There were certain aspects of the whole doo-dad that was tricky. For instance, that brutal sonnet. I didn't know what they were talking about while reading it, answering the questions, and I still don't know what in the world it is about sitting here writing this blog. I don't know if the guy was mad at his friend, and I don't care why he was mad about his friend. As for the easy parts, I guess you just had to look for the bones that they were throwing you. For me I tried to imagine everyone as a bone by breaking the problem down and trudging through one after the other.
Was it what I expected? I actually expected it to be more like an SAT fashion, so it was not as hard as I had imagined. Don't get me wrong it was hard, but I was expecting a little harder and longer, which was good on my part. I benefitted from it by going into the home stretch strong.
So what would I improve on by going into the exam? If there was anything, which heck there's a ton of stuff, it would primarily be working on a stronger thesis statement for my essays. I've never been able to write a killer thesis statement in less than a few minutes, so I need to work on improving that. I did however like my time management with my essays. I had time to check them at the end and I thought I did pretty well for my own standards on there.
So my estimated score for this whole darn thing? -5. Ok maybe not that low. But I'll give myself a 3 or a 4, anything that qualifies as passing. Hey, it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as you get the job done right. I felt well prepared, especially with that Crime and Punishment essay after reading over my MWDS that morning. So other than getting my Ipad hacked by crazy people who just so happened to know my password during the day, I thought it was pretty successful. Peace out people!
Matt Bobby,
DeleteI agree that writing a thesis can be difficult. I try to just think to myself what am I trying to say with this paper. It doesn’t always work though. I also agree that that sonnet was probably the most awful thing ever. It was so hard. I like your approach of breaking down the problems. Nice thinking!
Matt Bobby,
DeleteYou are not alone in the struggle with the thesis statements, I felt that mine were not as good as they should have been. I should probably work on that as well. The sonnet was absolutely awful, I cringe just thinking about it...
Matt Bobby,
DeleteI think that working on thesis statements would be a great idea. I also think that the sonnet was very difficult part of the exam. Finally, thanks for getting my backpack man!
Oh the AP test.
ReplyDeleteI thought some of the multiple choice were really difficult. The sonnet especially just absolutely killed me. I couldn’t even handle that, especially because it looked so promising. The multiple choice questions about the article on criticism was actually kind of difficult too. Perhaps I would have done a little better on it if I could have figured out what the nuts the author was talking about, but I couldn’t. So that section was probably my lowest point in the exam. I am not very good at multiple choice guessing anyway, so the questions I guessed on probably won’t be right.
I guess the easy part would have been the essays for me. I definitely do better on essay tests than anything, and I actually understood the prompts. I didn’t think I got the first one until I had a nice chat with Danielle and Michaela to tell me that I did. I also think that I did rather nicely on the Crime and Punishment essay. I really liked that book so not doing good on the essay would be kind of disappointing.
Was it what I expected? Yes and no. I expected the essays to be like they were. I expected to need some serious planning time during the essays, which I got. The multiple choice I expected, but some of the harder ones really threw me. At least on past practice I have kind of had an idea for the questions, but some of the ones on our practice test I was like sure, whatever you say.
What would I improve upon for the AP test? A lot of things but I guess most of all I would want to go over my literary devices again. It would be pretty awful if I was taking the test and I suddenly forgot everything I ever learned. I would also improve on my quotes for next time as well. Crime and Punishment was not the book I was really expecting to use. It threw me off just a little because I wanted to use A Tale of Two Cities so bad. Next time, however, I will have a better memorization of the quotes.
What do I think I got? Quite honestly I think I got a 3 if I was even a little lucky a 4.
Megan,
DeleteI totally agree that the sonnet was killer. I knew that I did not do well on the sonnet already...so that will be interesting, haha not really. The essays were as expected, the multiple choice questions were very difficult and it was definitely my worst part of the exam. I should also memorize my quotes better as well
Megan,
DeleteI have a feeling that sonnet is going to go down in AP Lit history. But anyway, I'm glad your chat with Michaela and I could offer so comfort, though, speaking for myself here, am certainly not an authority on these matters. That is just simply what I got out of the poems. I'm sure your Crime and Punishment essay is well worth reading. You loved that book and did so well with it.
I really should have memorized my quotes better.
Nice job!
Megan,
ReplyDeleteYes, that sonnet was death. I still have no clue what they were talking about, and the majority of my questions missed will be from there. Other than that I found the multiple choice somewhat easy and somewhat hard, and the first story was actually quite enjoyable. Memorizing the quotes is something that I could improve upon too, even though I might've not mentioned it in my blog. Nice job!
Okay, I thought that the multiple choice was rather hard. The first reading was pretty easy and I really like the passage. The questions that followed were also pretty easy I thought. The sonnet was the worst passage by far, I had to read it like five or six times and I still am not sure what was going on. So I probably missed every single question on the sonnet. There was another passage with thee little girl and her parents that I also found to be kind of difficult. It wasn't hard to read, the questions were just contradictory to what I got from reading the passage. Like I thought that the father was more important than the mother, but the mother was the center of like two questions which confused me.
ReplyDeleteThe essays I thought were much better than the multiple choice questions. So, hopefully I did well on those to make up for my awful multiple choice score, cause I know that I did not do so hot on that part. It was as I expected it to be, I paced myself we'll and really paid attention to the clock because I wanted so see how I made out time wise. I did not think that a sonnet would be that hard so I was kinda surprised by that. I felt pretty good after the exam, I mean I was exhausted but I didn't t have the sickening feeling that I did terrible, but with my luck I probably did. So I guess I had mixed feelings about it.
I think that I would work on the multiple choice aspect of the exam and probably working on my introductory paragraphs. I think it took me a while to recalling get rolling so mother first parts of my essays are probably really bad. I think that I probably got a three, hopefully.
Michaela,
DeleteI agree that the sonnet was the hardest passage. I thought that it was difficult to comprehend as well. I was also confused by the passage with the girl. I think that working on the multiple choice section would help. Good luck!
Michaela Cashmer,
DeleteI feel ya, girl! The sonnet took my confidence level from a 5 to a 2. Haha! The multiple choice was definitely harder than the prompts. I totally agree! I also agree that as a class we should brush up on our multiple choice skills, because I feel the same way. I'm sure you got higher than a three, girl! Good luck on the real exam. :)
Well,
ReplyDeleteThe multiple choice portion of the test was not as bad as some of the practice tests. I thought that the reading texts that were given to us were reasonably easy to understand. I thought that they got progressively more difficult as the test progressed.
Next was the essay portion of the exam. I thought that the first essay was pretty easy. I think that I did the best out of all three on this one. I think the poems were pretty easy to compare and contrast. The second essay was the most difficult I thought. It was a difficult prompt for me to read and understand. I think that out of the three I did the worst on this one. That leaves the last essay regarding a novel we have read. I thought that this essay was pretty easy as well. I chose Crime and Punishment and I thought it flowed into the prompt very well.
Overall, on the test I think I got a solid 3. I think that the essays and multiple choice were easy enough for me to have not screwed up too bad, but not easy enough for me to have done any better. I think that the exam was what I expected because I had experience taking it last year.
If I was taking the actual exam, and to help prepare me for college and beyond, I would like to work on improving my sentence structure. I sometimes struggle with changing the word choice and overall structure of my sentences.
Kraus,
DeleteI applaud you for thinking the multiple choice was somewhat easy. I thought it was kind of hard. I also thought Crime and Punishment flowed really well into that prompt. I am sure you got at least a three! Nice job!
Luke Kraus,
DeleteI swear I did not look at your blog before I wrote my own! Ours are so similar! I totally agree that the multiple choice became harder as they progressed. I also agree that the second prompt was the hardest out of the three. Whoa! We're like twins! Haha! I think you probably got better than a 3 on the exam. I think it is very fascinating that you want to improve your sentence structure. That's a great goal! You're lucky you're done with the AP tests forever. I'm jealous! Haha!
Luke Kraus,
DeleteThat is a quality analysis. Other than lending me your back pack to walk over to the school and using it as a shield against the rain, it looks like you had a nice testing experience. You had time left over and you looked comfortable taking it. Based on your body language I'll give you a three too, even though I have no clue what you were thinking. Nice blog though!
Oh no! I don't want to talk about the exam anymore! Haha!
ReplyDeleteWhat was hard? The last two works in the multiple choice were challenging, especially the sonnet. I thought the other three or four before before the last two were not as difficult, but they still called for major critical thinking. In my opinion, all of the prompts were not too difficult. The hardest one was probably the second one, but even that was not awful. I think the AP Lang prompts were definitely more challenging last year!
What was easy? The first multiple choice was a nice way to ease into the test. Haha! That was not too harsh. I think the multiple choice progressively became more challenging as it went. I, personally, think that all of the prompts were fairly easy to decipher. I actually really enjoyed the first prompt with the poems and the third prompt about the novel. The second prompt was not very fun to read or to analyze, but it was not too difficult either.
How did I feel about taking it? I suppose I discovered that I was more prepared than I thought I was. I know I can tell you that I really am not looking forward to taking another exam. Haha! I kind of wish it was over! Oh well! Haha
To prepare for the actual exam I plan on brushing up on my vocabulary and reviewing poetic and literary devices.
I hope for the score of a four on the exam only since that is what I got on my exams last year.
Hooray! One down! One to go!
DeleteRachel,
I'm sure you did great in the exam. This stuff is kind your thing. I do agree that the first multiple choice was among the best we've had and a very good start the the exam. However, the sonnet was a very bad start to the ever grueling essays so...six in one half dozen in the other. I do agree I don't wanna do that again, but I am happy for the practice and am greatly anticipating my score to see how prepared I really am. Nice job.
How do I feel about the AP test? Oh gosh, what a question.
ReplyDeleteI was not a happy camper about taking it, especially after learning it was going to be our final. I felt impossibly unprepared, but that's how I tend to feel about most anything. I recall recounting to Ann on the walk to the elementary school that I was cold and nervous, which is exactly how I felt before track meets. And anyone who intimately knows my experience with track will realize that is a miserably experience for all involved.
However, all in all I believe the test went fairly well. The Multiple Choice actually felt substantially better then expected (except for that sonnet, ouch), which means one of two things: 1) I did entirely awesome or 2) I did tragically.
I tend to favor the latter.
I felt my essays were solid enough. I felt I lucked out on the poem prompt because I was familiar with Frost's poem and I understood what Dickinson was talking about with fair ease, a sporadic occurrence in the realm of poetry. However, I realize that. Y third essay probably could have been substantially better. My that I think it was bad, but I was very tried or writing and in feel it just wasn't my best.
To be honest, I slacked majorly on preparing for the practice exam. I didn't look at my major works data sheets until the morning. It was fortunate that I looked at them at all cuz I ended up using some of what I learned on the third essay. So, in order to prepare for the actually exam ill me actually, ya know, study more.
All in all I'd like to remain in fair optimism so I'll venture to say I got a 4.
But I really don't wanna endure that again.
Oh well. The fight goes on.