AP English Multiple Choice Study Guide

Shalin Shah, Daniela Sanchez, and Roxanne Lebron.

Analytical Focus

Imagery --> is a description of a place, person and thing. Imagery questions in this exam are often worded differently so the reader has to analyze the importance of imagery in order to answer the question. Most of the time imagery questions are given in a form of "line" but in order to answer that question, you first need to find the purpose of the imagery so the question actually becomes easy. Read around the imagery! Use process of elimination in these questions because the test makers often use advance vocabulary to fool us. :(

Characterization --> is found everywhere in the passage but in order to answer the question correctly you need to understand the feelings of the character because characterization questions are very complex. Analyze the passage accordingly so you have an idea about the inner tone and feelings of the passage. Take proper notes because characterization often leads to revealing the point of the passage as well.

OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE PASSAGE --> Most of us don't understand the passage because of the limited time we have, however the best way to answer these questions is to find the tone of the passage. If you can find the OVERALL tone of the passage, you have a good chance of comprehending this question. Annotate with a purpose in mind so some of this question can become easier.

Purpose of… --> Understanding most, if not all, stanzas in a poem is crucial. In order to answer these questions, read around the line and try to get the main idea of the line and use POE to come up with a final answer. Support your answer with evidence from the passage. *COVER UP THE ANSWER AND COME UP WITH YOUR OWN TO MATCH IT WITH THE ANSWER CHOICE*

Irony --> is expressed often in most piece works of literature. Incidentally, we are given old texts and many times irony is shown and multiple choice questions often ask to find the importance or purpose of the irony provided. This is one of the hardest questions for me since I usually get stuck. The best strategy I can give would be to break down the irony and try to see the whole picture of the paragraph.

Shift --> These questions generally ask to analyze the change in a characters mood, tone, attitude, and such, mainly to see the shift of the story overall. When you notice any shift, annotate what the shift was and its importance so you don’t have to waste time reading the sentence over, and usually you’ll have to re-read the paragraph over because by now, you have forgotten what was even mentioned.

Ex) The sentence that begins in line 46 signals a change in the speaker’s

(B) Use of rhetoric from generalizations to specific examples

This shows how the speaker with intention of convincing others, thought necessary to become more specific rather than randomly mentioning.

Diction --> A single word or small complex phrase is provided to connect and give an inference. The phrase given is usually one of the most complex ones within the passage. These can have ambiguous and/or an abstract meaning, therefore you should make sure understand the rest of the passage, especially everything before this diction so you can have an easier time understanding the significance and true meaning of such phrase or word.

Ex) The speak provides the detail “and I in my pyjamas” (line 2) most probably as

(B) a subtle manifestation of his state of mind.

You might think that pyjamas means the character just got out of bed, but you have to keep in mind that for the most part, the authors of these exams will not make anything easy, and if it seems that way think twice before falling in their trap like choosing (a) an indication of the time of day.

Metaphor --> This common literary element can be found on any piece of literature given. The importance of identifying it and understanding its purpose is crucial due to the abstract connection it makes to the intended meaning, which can be tricky and challenging to understand.

Ex) In the context of the passage, the phrase “cover the whole ground” (line 32) is used as a metaphor for

(C) match those of any human being

A blue jay has all the characteristics of that of a human, meaning he fulfills our list long of traits – “cover the whole ground.”

*Understand the title and everything mentioned previous to metaphor and diction is important and a key advice I can give to understand what the writer means through these elements*

Thematic Focus
About the Multiple Choice:
The multiple choice is the first part of the exam.
It is based on 4-5 prose or poetry passages.
Each correct question adds on 1 point.
Each wrong question subtracts ¼ of a point.
Each question left blank has no effect on your grade.
It consists of 45-60 questions.
The questions will be on the content, form, and style of each passage.
Helpful Stuff:
-One of the most challenging things about this part of the exam is timing. You should spend about 1 minute per question. Since time is limited you really only have one chance to read the passage so make it good and actually read it. Skimming won’t really help.
-Annotating will really help too. While reading the passage try underlining and or circling. Chances are the text is going to be pretty difficult to read. Annotating will help you understand the text the first time and that way you don’t waste your time confused by what you’re reading.
-While reading the passage identify significant lines because it may come back in question form. Sometimes you can just tell that a certain line will show up as a question.
-When looking at the answers choices you can easily eliminate the choices that repeat themselves, too extreme or general.
Strategies or Techniques or whatever:
Process Of Elimination (POE.)
Covering the answers, making your own, and then comparing.
Rephrasing the question and putting in the answer choices.
If you narrow it down enough… GUESS!
-The passages are pretty lengthy and answering questions can become monotonous so your mind will probably wander off which may lead to running out of time; in case this incident happens:
Look for self contained questions such as “this line is an example of…” and questions that refer only to a specific line.
-Each question is worth the same amount of points. If running out of time skip the Roman numeral questions and “the following …. except”.

Vocabulary- Incidents In The Life of a Slave Girl

Aim: How is rhetoric illustrated in the preface of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?
Do Now: From your research: draw a KWL chart in your notebooks and identify 1 aspect of Jacobs’ life.
Recap Mini Lesson of what is Rhetoric:
Think about the Presidential Debate…what rhetoric do you know of exists in the last debate?

Whole Class: Teacher will read aloud the preface of Incidents.
Comprehension check:
Who is being addressed in the preface?
What was purposely done by the author?
Vocabulary:
What is a preface?
What is a pseudonym?
Literary Analysis:
What are the various settings?
Critical Thinking:
Why do you think she wants to “arouse women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the south…most of them far worse” (xiv).

Cooperative Learning:
Identify all the use of Rhetoric and Explain why this is rhetoric. Please use quotations

Vocabulary:
Preface
Pseudonym
Competent
Diligent
Leisure
Compelled
Motives
Presumptuous
Abominations

Read chapters 1-5 for Thursday’s class


preface- Introduction to a book.
pseudonym- fictitious name.
competent- adequately qualified or skilled.
diligent- hardworking.
leisure- free time, for recreation.
compelled- force ;constrain
motives- factor or circumstance that includes a person to act in a particular way.
presumptuous- unduly or overbearingly confident and presuming.
abominations- detest.

UNKNOWN WORDS
pauper- person without means ;begger.
drudger- at menial tasks.
penitentiary-state or federal prision.
deem- regard; consider; judge.
asylum- sanctuary ;protection.
bestowed- award.
piazza- public square or marketplace.
forbearance- patient selfcontrol ;tolerance.
cotempt- feeling of scorn or extreme reproach.
buoyant- able to keep afloat.
quarrels- verbal contention.
martyr- person who suffers or is put to death for refusing to renounce a faith or belief.
flogged- beat with a whip.
inquisition- intensive search or investigation.
seldom- rarely ;not often.
samstress- woman who sews proffessionally.
dower- window's share for life of her husband's estate.

Movie

I didn't watch the entire movie because I missed the beginning, so I was lost when I started watching it, but then I started catching on to it and relating events from the movie to 1984. The first thing that caught my eye was when one of the guys came in with some papers, I think the president's speech, and told the girl to put them in the 1930 documents. Just like in the book, they try to change history and it's scary to just think about how easy it is to switch things around and everyone is just so blind to trust the goverment with their eyes closed. People were covering the presidents back while he was having an affair with a girl so much younger than him right before the elections and because everyone had his back the other guys words, who was also running for president, were a zero to the left because everyone denied it.

& life can give you a 180 turn in a heart beat..!

When shit hits the fan, that's when you realize how much you love someone, or even if u love them at all..if you don't then "under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me." Under the pressure of death or your biggest fear, you'll give anything up, even your so called lover, just for your own sake. I didn't expect neither of them to have such big love for each other as they made it sound to exist, they just thought they loved one another because they were so alike, just because they both hated the Party with such passion, but love is much more than that, love is giving up your life, going through the biggest struggles and making such big sacrifices for another, love grows within a long period of time. Julia and Winston did many things, but didn't go through struggles and big sacrifices for each other to have grown IN love with each other. Through rough storms you learn to love someone, through hurricanes you prove you really do love them.
Crazy how at the end Winston ended up and died just the way the Party wanted him to die..with a good brain for the Party, loving Big Brother.
This story was crazy. It started off so boring and hard to understand, but some way or the other I started getting so into it, I guess when the story started reaching its climax. Thanks Sipkin, this book was BANANAS!(=

Chapters III & IV

1. O'Brien is a member of the Thought Police, do you think he can actually read Winston's mind? Did O'Brien actually permeate Winston's dream all those years ago? Explain your answer.

I don't think O'Brien can actually read Winston's mind, I think it's just that since he was in the same exact situation as Winston is now, O'Brien has had the same thoughts that Winston is having now.
Sometimes we have dreams that kind of foreshadow something that's going to happen later on, but what happens in the dream doesn't have to be exact as what will actually happen, it could be something like an indirect dream, in the dream something happens and you might conclude something out of it, but when it happens it's slightly different or turns out with a different meaning to the one you concluded at first. So this is probably what happened to Winston, he had a dream with O'Brien where he was telling Winston that they would meet in a place where there is no darkness, Winston as well as us, thought that this place where there's no darkness meant that the Party would be attacked and destroyed and "light", freedom in every sense, would finally be given back. But really what this meant was the Ministry of Love, this was just a misinterpretation of the dream.

2. O'Brien has made it clear the Party will kill Winston at some point. We know they want folks to understand and believe before they die, but.....if they are not going to release these people back into society, why do they bother with the time and expense of the torture and "rehabilitation"?

O'Brien said that if they're going to kill an individual, they want them to die with the correct and appropriate feeling towards the Party, the feeling of love and loyalty to BB. Die with a good brain to the Party.

3. What's in Room 101?   The most impressive answers will be those consisting of just one sentence.

I'm really not sure what Room 101 is, but I think it has to do with fear, because the last step is to learn how to love BB. A kind of fear that confuses feelings, love and hate. Confuses that fear they have forced into you and makes you think you love him instead. Just like the other people, I don't think they love BB, during the Two Minute hate ceremony people go insane when BB's picture comes up, they make it seem like they have this enormeous and endless love for him, but I think that their feelings are confused from hate to love. So in Room 101 they probably have this strategy to make your fear grow so intense that it actually makes you think you love him.

Chapter 8

In this chapter, O'Brien, Winston, Julia and Martin meet in the place where there is no darkness. O'Brien asks Winston many questions to see what Winston is really willing to do and how much he hates the Party to be able to join the Brotherhood. He was very brutal when asking those questions to Winston and apparently this was already a routine to O'brien probably because these are questions he's already asked himself many times. I think the Brotherhood and the Party is almost the same thing because if O'Brien asked if he's willing to throw sulphuric acid in a child's face, commit suicide if told to do so and such things well the Party is doing similiar things, killing innocent people if needed.
O'Brien said that Brotherhood can't be wiped out because it's not an organization in the ordinary sence, it's just an idea which can never be destroyed, it's an opinion of the people, something that can never be changed. Winston and even Julia feel a great admiration for O'Brien, from his ideas to his gestures like something as simple as the way he manipulated a cigarette. I feel a slight feeling of admiration for him but I view O'Brien more like a determine type of person who takes facts just as they are, he knows if he goes against the Party the way that he is, eventually he'll get caught and either have to commit suicide or get caught, tortured and killed right before confessing.
Goldstein's book is undestructible because as much as the Thought Police hunts it down and destroys them, the people that are part of the Brotherhood already have it memorized so once again this is also why Brotherhood is undestructible as well, because everyone part of this organization already knows what this book is all about and what the rules are and results might be. You become part of Brotherhood once you read that book, so Winston isn't even part of this group yet and he's telling O'Brien so many things that can get him killed if only O'Brien decided to confess, but Winston has already done so much that telling O'Brien all these things won't make much a difference when he gets caught, he's already sneaked around with Julia, had sex with her and now joining the Brotherhood, telling him what he's willing to do, he's secret place to meet with Julia is already guaranteed he'll get killed once caught.
When O'Brien finished the stanza of the poem, Winston felt much more comfortable with him than what he already was because that already made him know for a fact that O'Brien was just like him, that they both shared the same thoughts and opinions and how important it is to them the past.

Chapter 7

"It had all occurred inside the glass paperweight, but the surface of the glass was the dome of the sky, and inside the dome everything was flooded with the clear soft light in which one could see into the interminable distances." I think this dream was revealing how after Winston and Julia get caught, people will then start thinking about the world they're living in and the government that's controlling them and they'll rebell against it and after a big group gathers up to fight for their rights, they'll beat the Party and that's when that "clear soft light" will appear, meaning everyone will for once gain peace and freedom.
Winston and Julia are aware of the concequences that their actions will bring. They know that eventually they'll get caught, even if he confesses or not she'll get shot and he'll get tortured. But the only thing Winston holds on to is loyalty between them. Eventhough he knows that won't do much and at the end it won't change their destiny, he still holds on to that hope that she'll never betray him.
Winston says that no matter what his feelings for her will always exist no matter what the Party does to him because they both agreed that there's no way they could get inside you and they can make you say anything but they can't make you believe it.