The Multiple Choice Component for Pre-AP and AP English Classes

This is your Bible for the multiple choice section of the AP Exam. It is important that you understand that the multiple choice section of the AP is 45% of the entire test. If you get a 4 or 5 on the essays you could walk away with a 3 – so it is important you do well on the test.

Below is a list of the Most Frequently Used Skills in MC Stems1. Diction – there will always be a multiple choice diction question

a. Types - to analyze diction go to the nouns and verbs in the sentence. Choose two highlighters, they must be in different colors. Highlight all the nouns in one color only and write them on the left margin of your paper. What type of connotation do you get? Then, highlight all the verbs in the passage in another color. Write your verbs on the right margin of the paper. Remember these verbs will include feelings and emotions.

b. Diction is also monosyllabic and polysyllabic.i. Monosyllabic – only has one syllable. For example: bar, her, its why, just, not, both,

since, healthii. Polysyllabic – has three or more syllables. For example: exciting; wonderful; fantastic;

irregular; unnecessarily; wickedlyc. Contributing to tone and mood - how does diction (word choice) contribute to tone and mood.

i. Tone – is the attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject, or a character. In writing, tone is revealed by word choice. – give list of word choices.

ii. Mood is usually created through descriptive details and evocative language and to suggest the writer’s particular worldview.

d. Contributing to Author’s Style – Style is the writer’s characteristic manner of employing language (The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English, p. 16).

2. Tone – Side Note: Be aware that the TAKS test does not give the correct definition for tone. For some reason, TAKS has tone/mood listed as the same definition. The AP Board has informed the state of this but they have yet to change tone/mood to reflect separate definitions. If you see a tone question or an identity question you can expect a shift to occur somewhere in the reading passage.a. Identification (the tone)b. In passage as a whole (the tone)c. In one paragraphd. Shifts (in tone) – remember poetrye. Location in shift

3. Inference (Read in between lines to get hints)4. Vocabulary in Context5. Syntax – Sentence Structure – this is the function of simple sentences, the writer’s style. Also make

sure you know all the terminology to syntax.a. Quotient/verbal patternsb. Phrases, clauses, and sentences

6. Main Idea/Author’s Purpose – this is theme – there are several of these questions7. Function/Effect of

a. Word(s) – how it works in sentenceb. Phrases- functionc. Clausesd. Literary elementse. Rhetorical strategies – use of detail, repetition

8. Grammar – most grammar will be noun/pronoun reference9. Figures of Speech/Literary Terms

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a. Identificationb. Finding examplesc. Main types used in passages

10. Point of Viewa. Typesb. Multiple – when you see this you need to ask yourself, “What is the effect of multiple points of

view?”11. Cause and Effect12. Use of Irony – is the use of contrast13. Imagery

a. Typesi. Visual imagery - something described through sight, appears most commonly in poetry. 

ii. Auditory imagery - representation of a sound iii. Olfactory imagery - representation of a smell iv. Gustatory imagery - representation of a taste v. Tactile imagery - touch: hardness, softness, wetness, heat, cold

vi. Organic imagery - internal sensation, hunger, thirst, fatigue, nausea vii. Kinesthetic imagery - movement, physical tension

b. Frame of reference - is a way of looking at the world, whether that's seeing things only in good and bad or immigrant and nonimmigrant terms or it's a matter of thinking that the world operates around meritocracy -- that people earn and then deserve their place in life. For example identifying images using the Holocaust, Asian artwork, Indian music, cowboy setting, summertime vacation.

Let’s look at some examples of Multiple Choice questions found on a typical AP exam. Read the questions carefully – identify what each question is based on the component list given by your teacher.

Each poetry reading in the AP exam comes from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It is important to know these eras prior to taking the exam. Secondly, students will do well in the writing but will struggle with the multiple choice section of the test and it is 45% of the test. SAT scores are also considered the same.

Take a look at the exam given in this packet or below. Remember, there are going to be twelve skills you will need to know to answer the multiple choice section of the test; this will come from pages 1 and 2 of this packet.

Once you have identified the era (time period) of the test, go through and read the multiple choice questions that go with the test, label each question using the component list from pages 1 and 2 of your packet.

Begin now.

Students must receive a complete copy of a multiple choice exam so they know what they need to be prepared for in May. There 12 skills students will need to know.

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1994 ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITIONSECTION I

Time—1 hour

Directions: This section consists of selections from literary works and questions on their content, form, and style. After reading each passage or poem, choose the best answer to each question and fill in the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.

Note: Pay particular attention to the requirement of questions that contain the words NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT.

Questions 1-14. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers. Have students read the first paragraph in the passage and asked them what century or time period do they believe this passage to be from.

The Sunday morning service began when Brother Elisha sat down at the piano and raised a song. This moment and this music had been with John, so it seemed, since he had first drawn breath. It seemed that there had never been a time when be had not known this moment of waiting while the packed church paused—the sisters in white, heads raised, the brothers in blue, heads back; the white caps of the women seeming to glow in the charged air like crowns, the kinky, gleaming beads of the men seeming to be lifted up—and the rustling and the whispering ceased and the children were quiet; perhaps someone coughed, or the sound of a car horn, or a curse from the streets came in; then Elisha hit the keys, beginning at once to sing and everybody joined him, clapping their hands, and rising, and beating the tambourines.

The song might be: Down at the cross where my Saviour died!

Or. Jesus, I'll never forget how you set me free!Or Lord, hold my hand while I run this race!They sang with all the strength that was in them, and

clapped their hands for joy. There had never been a time when John had not sat watching the saints rejoice with terror in his heart, and wonder. Their singing caused him to believe in the presence of the Lord; indeed, it was no longer a question of belief, because they made that presence real. He did not feel it himself, the joy they felt, yet be could not doubt that it was, for them, the very bread of life—could not doubt it, that is,

until it was too late to doubt. Something happened to their faces and their voices, the rhythm of their bodies, and to the air they breathed; it was as though wherever they might be became the upper room, and the Holy Ghost were riding on the air. His father's face, always awful, became more awful now, his father's daily anger was transformed into prophetic wrath. His mother, her eyes raised to heaven, hands arced before her, moving, made real for John that patience, that endurance, that long suffering, which he had read of in the Bible and found so hard to imagine.

On Sunday mornings the women all seemed patient, all the men seemed mighty. While John watched, the Power struck someone, a man or woman; they cried out, a long, wordless crying, and, arms outstretched like wings, they began the Shout. Someone moved a chair a little to give them room, the rhythm paused, the singing stopped, only the pounding feet and the clapping hands were heard; then another cry, another dancer, then the tambourines began again, and the voices rose again, and the music swept on again, like fire, or flood, or judgment. Then the church seemed to swell with the Power it held, and, like a planet rocking in space, the temple rocked with the Power of God. John watched, watched the faces, and the weightless bodies, and listened to the timeless cries. One day, so everyone said, this Power would possess him; he would sing and cry as they did now, and dance before his King.

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From the 20th century because of “car horn”

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1. The passage is primarily concerned with(A) John's attitude toward the Sunday service(B) John's theories about the power of the Lord(C) the impact of music on John's church(D) John's relationship with his parents(E) the role of John's church in his future

2. In lines 12-14, the words ''perhaps someone coughed, or the sound of a car horn, or a curse from the streets came in" have which of the following effects?(A) They retard the tempo of the speaker's prose.(B) They satirize the faith of the churchgoers.(C) They highlight the distractions that spoil me audience's concentration.(D) They change, for a moment, the point of view of the speaker.(E) They emphasize, by contrast, the hushed

silence in the church.

3. Which of the following best describes the effect produced by the repetition of the phrase "there had never been a time when" in lines 5 end 22-23 ?(A) It signals to the reader that attending church is an unpleasant event for John.(B) II emphasizes how vague John's memory of his youth is.(C) It establishes the contrast between John's past and future. (D) It emphasizes the pervasiveness of the Sunday

service in John's memory.(E) Ii alerts the reader to John's naivete".

4. It can be inferred from the phrase "with terror in his heart, and wonder" (line 24) that John(A) dreaded attending church services on Sundays(B) responded strongly but ambivalently to the church service (C) found the music in the church mystifying and unpleasant(D) was indifferent to the emotional force that lay behind the singing(E) was disturbed by the iasineeriry of those singing

5. In lines 28-29, the pronoun "it" in the phrase "it •was, for them" refers to(A) "wonder" (line 24)(B) "singing" (line 24)(C) "question" (line 26)(D) "joy they felt" (lice 28)(E) "bread of life" (line 29)

6. The depiction of John's father's "prophetic wrath" and his mother's "long suffering" (lines 36-39) serves what specific function in the narrative progress of the passage?(A) It diverts the reader's attention from John's point of view.(B) It retards the pace of the narration prior to the climax.(C) It provides a specific example of a preceding general description.(D) It counters earlier references to the demeanor

of the congregation. (E) It offers a parallel to the transformation John •undergoes in the passage.

7. In context, "the saints" (line 23), "bread oi (line 29), and "arms outstretched like wingi .--';- (lines 44-45) serve to(A) evoke an otherworldly atmosphere resona the Bible(B) ornate the passage within a socially conservative framework

- (C) highlight the bitter, sardonic humor of thepassage

(D) mask the passage's truly secular emphasis . (E) endorse a particular approach to spiritual matters

8. The qualifiers "for them" (lines 28-29) and "so everyone said" (lines 55-56) suggest that

(A) John is confident that he will replace his doubt with joy and ecstasy(B) John shares the experience of those around him sympathetically

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(C) John feels himself to be isolated from the rest of the congregation(D) (be speaker views the congregation as the

ultimate authority over John (E) the speaker is more interested in the experienceof tie congregation than in that of John

9. The image of "a planet rocking in space" (line 52) suggests all of the following EXCEPT the

(A) energy* generated by the worshippers(B) power of God in the heavens(C) swaying of the congregation to the music -=v (B) cohesiveness and unity of the congregation!^ (E) despair of those who are bound to earth ^^

10. The attention the speaker pays to the details of sound serves primarily to(A) distract the reader from the disconcerting issues raised in the passage(B) offer the reader a physical sense of the church

service (Q construct a metaphor for John's position in thecongregation (D) entertain the reader prior to the presentation ofmore challenging material (E) eomplemem the ftSeation paid to the visual and

the tactile

11. "The style of the passage as a whole is characterized by(A) simple declarative sentences containing a minimum of descriptive language(B) complex sentences interspersed with short, exclamatory sentences(C) sentences that contain several modifying phrases and subordinate clauses(D) sentences thai grow progressively more argumentative is the passage continues(E) expository sentences at the beginning that give wey to interpretive sentences at the end

12. The irony in the passage as a whole rests chiefly on the conflict between(A) the solemnity of the occasion and the joy of the worshippers(B) John's father's prophetic wrath and his mother's long suffering(C) the air of expectancy prior to the morning service And the sounds from the street(D) John's acute observation of religious ecstasy and his inability to participate in it(E) the change that takes place in the churchgoers mi Sunday and their daily appearance and demeanor

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Now that you have matched your thirteen skills to the multiple choice questions given. Be aware that you should spend at least 1 minute and 15 seconds per question answering each question. You will only get 1 hour for multiple choice exam and 2 hours for three essays.

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Creating Multiple Choice Questions

Next, we are going to begin creating multiple choice questions, along with five answer choices for the current novel we are reading. Each question should consist of the following format:

In the answer section you will have to create one chief answer, two distractors, one chief distractor (these are to be eliminated right away), and on next distractor which will be partially true.

Your stem and key once you set up should look similar to the following.

Use the list of multiple choice stem questions you have previously analyzed to create your questions. Be sure your Key (answers) are similar to the answers on the questions you have already analyzed.

You can work in pairs if you like.

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Stem (Question)

Key (Answers)ABCDE

Stem (Question)

Key (Answers)A. AnswerB. Distractor (eliminate)C. Next distractor is partially trueD. Distractor (eliminate)E. Chief distractor

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Student Name_______________________________________Date_____________________Period_________

AP Multiple Choice Worksheet for Question Making

Title of Story:___________________________________________Stem (Question):

Key (Answers) – BE SURE TO LABEL WHAT TYPE OF ANSWERS THEY ARE!

A.B.C.D.E.

Stem (Question):

Key (Answers) – BE SURE TO LABEL WHAT TYPE OF ANSWERS THEY ARE!:

A.B.C.D.E.

Rules:1. The stem must read exactly like an AP multiple choice question.2. For the key – There should be five answer choices. A B C D E 3. There can only be one correct answer.4. Eliminate two key distractors right away.5. Only one “next distractor” must be partially true. (Ex: the distractor could be “personification”

when the true answer is “metonymy”).6. Chief distractor. (Ex the true answer could be “simile” therefore you could make the chief

distractor “characterization”)7. Circle the correct answer8. Label the answers appropriately.9. Make sure your questions are all directly related to the thirteen skills listed in your “AP Multiple Choice Packet”

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