Using This Book to Improve Your AP Score

PREVIEW: YOUR KNOWLEDGE, YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Your route to a high score on the AP English Language and Composition Exam depends a lot on how you plan to use this book. Respond to the following questions.

YOUR GUIDE TO USING THIS BOOK

This book is organized to provide as much—or as little—support as you need, so you can use this book in whatever way will be most helpful to improving your score on the AP English Language and Composition Exam.

• The remainder of Part I provides guidance on how to use this book and helps you determine your strengths and weaknesses.

• Part II contains Practice Test 1, its answers and explanations, and a scoring guide. We strongly recommend that you take this test before going any further, in order to realistically determine:

  • your starting point right now

  • which question types you’re ready for and which you might need to practice

  • which content topics you are familiar with and which you will want to carefully review

  Once you have nailed down your strengths and weaknesses with regard to this exam, you can focus your test preparation, build a study plan, and be efficient with your time.

• Part III of this book:

  • provides information about the structure, scoring, and content of the AP English Language and Composition Exam

  • will help you to make a study plan

  • points you toward additional resources

• Part IV explores various strategies, including:

  • how to attack multiple-choice questions

  • how to write effective essays

  • how to manage your time to maximize the number of points available to you

• Part V of this book is a review of the terms and rhetorical modes that will give you an edge on the AP English Language and Composition Exam.

• Part VI, VII, and VIII contain Practice Tests 2, 3, and 4, their answers and explanations, and a scoring guide. If you skipped Practice Test 1, we recommend that you do all the tests (with at least a day or two between each of them) so that you can track your progress. Additionally, this will help to identify any external issues: if you get a certain type of question wrong each time, you probably need to review it. If you got it wrong only once, you may have run out of time or been distracted by something. In either case, this will allow you to focus on the factors that caused the discrepancy in scores and to be as prepared as possible on the day of the test.

• Online Resources contain three additional practice tests. Follow the study guide based on the amount of time you have to study for the 2020 exam. Use the key terms to improve your vocabulary by creating flashcards to help you learn words you might see on the test.

You may choose to use some parts of this book over others, or you may work through the entire book. Your approach will depend on your needs and how much time you have. Let’s now look at how to make this determination.

HOW TO BEGIN

1. Take a Test

Before you can decide how to use this book, you need to take a practice test. Doing so will give you insight into your strengths and weaknesses, and the test will also help you create an effective study plan. If you’re feeling test-phobic, remind yourself that a practice test is a tool for diagnosing yourself—it’s not how well you do that matters but how you use information gleaned from your performance to guide your preparation.

So, before you read further, take Practice Test 1 starting at this page of this book. Be sure to do so in one sitting, following the instructions that appear before the test.

2. Check Your Answers

Using the answer key on this page, count the number of multiple-choice questions you answered correctly and how many you missed. Don’t worry about the explanations for now, and don’t worry about why you missed questions. We’ll get to that soon.

3. Reflect on the Test

After you take your first test, respond to the following questions:

• How much time did you spend on the multiple-choice questions?

• How much time did you spend on each essay?

• How many multiple-choice questions did you miss?

• Do you feel you had the knowledge to address the subject matter of the essays?

• Do you feel you wrote well-organized, thoughtful essays?

4. Read Part III and Complete the Self-Evaluation

Part III provides information on how the test is structured and scored. As you read Part III, re-evaluate your answers to the questions above. At the end of Part III, you will revisit and refine the questions you answered above. You will then be able to make a study plan, based on your needs and time available, that will allow you to use this book most effectively.

5. Engage with Parts IV and V as Needed

Notice the word engage. You’ll get more out of this book if you use it intentionally than if you read it passively, hoping for an improved score through osmosis.

The Strategy chapters will help you think about your approach to the question types on this exam. Part IV opens with a reminder to think about how you approach questions now and then closes with a reflection section asking you to think about how or whether you will change your approach in the future.

The Terms and Modes chapters in Part V are designed to provide a review of the terminology you are likely to encounter on the exam, and will help you to identify the rhetorical fallacies and modes used in both test passages and student essays. You will have the opportunity to assess your mastery of the content of each chapter through test-appropriate questions and a reflection section.

6. Take More Practice Tests and Assess Your Performance

Once you feel you have developed the strategies you need and gained the knowledge you lacked, you should take Practice Test 2, which starts at this page. You should do so in one sitting, following the instructions at the beginning of the test.

When you complete the test, check your answers to the multiple-choice sections against the answer key on this page. If possible, find a teacher to read your essays and provide feedback.

Once you have taken the test, reflect on what areas you still need to work on, and revisit the chapters in this book that address those deficiencies. Through this type of reflection and engagement, you will continue to improve. Then, take Practice Tests 3 and 4 in this book and Practice Tests A, B, and C online.

7. Keep Working

As we will discuss in Part III, there are other resources available to you, including a wealth of information on AP Students: apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-english-language-and-composition. You can continue to explore and engage in areas needing improvement right up to the day of the test.

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