AP English Language Exam: Multiple-Choice Reading Comprehension

Summary

In Marco Learning's engaging video, the focus is on effectively tackling the multiple-choice reading comprehension section of the AP English Language Exam. The creator begins with a strategic approach to reading passages, emphasizing the importance of skipping unnecessary instructions and focusing on big picture ideas. Viewers are guided through a sample passage by Helen Keller, learning techniques like skimming, identifying key ideas, and using context clues to answer questions efficiently. The video also emphasizes the importance of eliminating wrong answers, being decisive in choices, and maintaining a quick pace during the exam.

Highlights

• Start by skimming the passage to get a broad understanding. 📖
• Skip over detailed instructions that you already know. 👀
• Pay attention to the italicized blurb for context. ⚠️
• Identify the main point by focusing on the first and last sentences of paragraphs. ↔️
• Use Helen Keller's passage to illustrate optimism versus adversity. 🌟
• Look for contrast words like 'once' and 'now' for clarity. 👌
• Decide between answer choices by process of elimination. ✅

Key Takeaways

• Skip repetitive instructions to save time and focus on the passage. ⏩
• Focus on the big picture instead of getting lost in details. 🖼️
• Use skimming techniques to highlight main ideas quickly. ✨
• Be decisive and eliminate obviously wrong answers. 🚫
• Aim to make educated guesses to maintain pace. ⏱️
• Utilize line references for deeper analysis when needed. 🔍
• Understand the passage's structure for clearer comprehension. 📚

Overview

Navigating the reading comprehension section of the AP English Language Exam requires a strategic approach, as demonstrated by Marco Learning. The video suggests skipping over repetitive instructions to head straight to the meat of the passage. This method ensures candidates save time and focus more on significant points rather than minute details.

Throughout the passage analysis, skimming becomes a pivotal tool. By quickly scanning Helen Keller's excerpt, readers can discern the optimistic theme amidst her adversities. The examination of sentence structures, especially spotting contrasting phrases like 'once' and 'now,' further aids comprehension. This technique simplifies the array of ideas and assists in forming a holistic understanding necessary for answering questions accurately.

After gathering main ideas, the video stresses the importance of eliminating wrong answers decisively. Time management is crucial, hence making educated guesses can keep your pace steady, especially with a demanding exam structure. By aligning with the passage’s key themes and using line references for deeper analysis, you can confidently choose the best possible answers and move forward effectively.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to AP English Language Multiple-Choice Section The chapter provides an overview of the AP English Language multiple-choice section. It begins by presenting a sample reading passage, highlighting the common practice of skipping repetitive instructions and reminders. Key strategies are introduced, such as paying attention to words like 'not,' 'least,' and 'except,' and understanding the significance of the italicized introductory blurb in each section.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Understanding the Passage and Initial Thoughts In this chapter, the focus is on setting the context for examining an excerpt from a book by Helen Keller, published in 1903. The narrator anticipates encountering antiquated language in the passage and expects that Helen Keller will discuss themes either related to her personal experiences or broader subjects. The chapter introduces the reader to 88 lines of the text along with several related questions, laying the groundwork for deeper analysis.
• 01:00 - 05:30: Reading Strategies and Techniques The chapter titled 'Reading Strategies and Techniques' emphasizes the importance of strategic reading approaches such as previewing questions and marking up passages, though some individuals may not find this beneficial. A significant focus is placed on skimming to identify overarching concepts rather than reading word for word. This method involves quickly moving through text to locate essential information or 'big picture things,' as exemplified by the illustration of identifying thought-provoking statements and emotional indicators within a passage.
• 05:30 - 11:00: Analyzing Specific Questions and Answer Choices The chapter 'Analyzing Specific Questions and Answer Choices' discusses the journey from despair to hope and joy. It uses powerful imagery to contrast feelings of darkness and hopelessness with the liberation brought by love. The narrator reflects on how they, despite being blind and deaf, have found happiness and fulfillment. The passage emphasizes overcoming material concerns and finding inner peace. The structure of the narrative highlights a transition from a state of despair to one of hope and joy, illustrating a progression in the narrator's emotional state.

AP English Language Exam: Multiple-Choice Reading Comprehension Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] let's take a look at a sample reading passage on the ap english language multiple choice so here it is in front of me i always skip these instructions because they're the same i skip this reminder because i keep my eyes open for not and least and accept and now i'm going to get right to this little italicized blurb at the front now this doesn't give me a lot of
• 00:30 - 01:00 information but it says the following passage is excerpted from a book so it's from this longer work by helen keller published in 1903. this is a slightly older source i'm expecting more antiquated language and i'm expecting that helen keller who i'm familiar with will be writing about uh something related maybe to her own life or or to another broader subject so here i have let's see i'm going to scroll down i see 88 lines i also see a bunch of these questions now i can
• 01:00 - 01:30 i can preview the questions and mark up the passage some people like to do that i don't necessarily think that's going to help me i see a lot of line references so i'm going to go right to the passage and now i'm going to skim read and i want you to watch me as i do this because i'm not reading and you're not watching me read you're watching me cut through the passage to find big picture things so i see most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure question blah blah or exclamation lacking this gift they would be miserable uh blah blah blah i who cannot hear or
• 01:30 - 02:00 see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep wow and now i'm going to skip to the end of this paragraph once i knew the depth where no hope was and darkness lay on the face of all things then love came and set my soul free so people are focused on their material happiness i'm blind and deaf so i should have none but actually i'm happy that's kind of what i got out of this paragraph once i knew only darkness and stillness now i know hope and joy so that's a nice structure that helps me set this up once i fretted and beat
• 02:00 - 02:30 myself now i rejoice my life was without past or future death the pessimist would say etc quotes i'm skipping over all that can anyone who has escaped such captivity who has felt the thrill and glory of freedom be a pessimist she asks if i tried i could so she's asking all these questions about this kind of repeating the same point used to be really bad now things are good i couldn't check the momentum etc darkness cannot shut me in again lots of ellipses which means that they're they're excerpting the passage here um
• 02:30 - 03:00 notice i'm focusing on the first and last sentences of the paragraphs this is kind of helping me get a better sense of the main idea once by contact with evil could i have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness it's a mistake to always contemplate the good and ignore the evil because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster there's a dangerous optimism optimism that does this etc etc this is a little faster than i would actually read on the test but you see what i'm doing i'm letting go of the details i'm letting go of the
• 03:00 - 03:30 quotes i don't need them right now i can get them when i do the individual questions i know what evil is wow okay tell me about it once or twice i've wrestled with it and for a time it felt its chilling touch in my life so i speak with knowledge so she's appealing to her own credibility um she's an optimist more ellipses more the world is sown with good two generations ago carlisle i don't know who that is flung forth his gospel of work to the dreamers of the revolution etc and
• 03:30 - 04:00 demians all these references notice these notes i'm going to skip all those chaos the world all kinds of capital letters okay then i'm going to focus on the last paragraph sometimes that can really give me something substantial some have said carlisle was taking refuge from a hard world by bidding men grind and toil eyes to the earth etc etc skip skip skip it is plain what he says that work production okay all of this members of this chamber are practical people and i know you won't resent some practical advice when
• 04:00 - 04:30 people put their party's fortunes whatever the party whatever side of the aisle before the public good they court defeat not only for their country but for themselves and they will certainly deserve it so this is some political or some appeal at the end to crossing the party divides whatever those are i can get into the nitty-gritty of this so you could probably say i skimmed over that too quickly and now of course i'm talking out loud which i can't do on the test but i'm talking to myself i'm interrogating what is this about what is it not about um and and not
• 04:30 - 05:00 trying to over analyze it i'm not getting any points for reading all the points i'm about to earn as i do the questions so here i go i see in question one about lines eight through twelve so i can go back there and read that again lines 12 through 15. and these line references are really convenient because they give me a structure for what will be my second and much deeper read of the passage let's just take an example of a question let's take number two for example it
• 05:00 - 05:30 says the writer draws a parallel between herself and sinners in lines 12-15 in order to so notice that this is a question without a question mark i'm going to convert it into a question and she draws this in order to so why does she draw a parallel between herself and sinners so let's go back and see if we can find why she draws a parallel between herself and sinners and my line references here so i'll read a few lines above and a few lines below i'll start here if i am happy in spite
• 05:30 - 06:00 of my deprivations if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life if in short i am an optimist my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing so she believes in optimism notice of my skimming i kind of miss that point as sinners stand up in meeting and testified at the goodness of god so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life once
• 06:00 - 06:30 i knew the depth where no hope was and darkness lay on the face of all things then love came and set my soul free so as sinners stand up in the meeting so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness and testify to the goodness of life so why does she compare herself to sinners here i don't know sometimes i'd say about half the time i can come up with an answer and that's useful because then i'm going to go to the
• 06:30 - 07:00 answer choices and see what's there and see if i can almost in a sense find my answer so let's just see why does she do this i'm not sure does she do it to appeal to readers experiences with rebounding from adversity maybe does she do it to encourage readers to attend church meetings and seek relief now that's a problem that's way too literal of an explanation she's not literally saying in this section right here you should go to church she's referencing sinners in a church
• 07:00 - 07:30 but she's not suggesting as a command that they do that we don't know what her religious view is um c allude to reader's exposure to god's punishment well that's not really the theme this is about sinners talking about the goodness of god she's an optimist talking about the goodness of the world so that doesn't seem on topic then d engage readers who express themselves with conviction maybe i don't know what that means so i'll just leave it and then notice because notice what i'm doing i'm looking for wrong answers i'm not looking for right
• 07:30 - 08:00 answers so something could be right it's not necessarily wrong so i might leave it and that's my goal i'm always looking for wrong answers then i go to e to persuade readers that the origin of happiness lies within sin so if i sin a lot then i'll be happy that's definitely not what she's saying so notice what they did a couple of these recycled some of the religious language they misinterpreted this in an overly literal way and now it's either a or e why does she draw a parallel between herself and the sinners does she do to do it to appeal the
• 08:00 - 08:30 reader's experiences with adversity or engage with readers who express themselves with conviction i don't see any example of expressing herself with conviction so i'm going to go with a and i'm going to move on and that's really important i want to make sure that i'm being decisive here i've got 45 questions i have these five passages to get through i've got to move quickly to get these right let's try another one let's say i went to
• 08:30 - 09:00 this one here number three actually in the first four sentences of power of the second paragraph the primary reason the writer's sentence structure is effective is because it so why is the author's sentence structure effective so i'm going to go back up to the passage in the second paragraph here once i knew only darkness and stillness now this once i fretted and beat myself now i rejoice my life was without past or future death
• 09:00 - 09:30 the pessimist would say etc so with the sentence structure is this once now once i was this now i am this once i was lost now i am found so what's the effectiveness of this well it does set up a nice contrast it breaks down complex ideas with short sentences that seems to make sense to me they seem short repeats words to produce a lyrical tone maybe employs first-person narration to draw comparison
• 09:30 - 10:00 maybe indicates the sequence of events with clarity maybe emphasizes the contrast between the writers past and present maybe okay now i'm in trouble i couldn't eliminate any of the choices so i need to do a deeper read this is why i did a kind of a quicker read originally was to set up something that i can use as a more specific and more intentional reading later so the first four sentences of the second paragraph the reader's sentence structure the writer's sentence structure is effective
• 10:00 - 10:30 because it so why is this effective once i knew only darkness and stillness now i know hope and joy once i fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in now i rejoice in the consciousness that i can think act and attain heaven why is this effective well i noticed this last one's pretty the sentence is pretty long so it's not that it's so short repeats words it's only repeating the
• 10:30 - 11:00 initial phrases so once now once now that's not really setting up a kind of a poem here employs first-person narration to draw comparisons is that what really sets this off or is it this once and now thing right with this really it's about contrast so and it's not about sequence of events so now i can see it more clearly it's ease this is really really important i want you to know this that as you're going through these reading multiple choice
• 11:00 - 11:30 questions it's perfectly natural to let's say eliminate all five choices or eliminate none it's perfectly natural to be stuck between two choices the key is that you need to be decisive you need to take control of the whole testing environment and pick the best answer you can and move on