Improve Your Scores NOW: 5 Tips to Better Your AP* English Multiple Choice

Summary

Tim Freitas from the Garden of English provides a five-step guide to enhance multiple choice scores for AP Literature and Language exams. The countdown includes active reading without distractions, frequent practice of multiple-choice questions, and effective test-day strategies like planning and eliminating common wrong answer traps. Emphasis is placed on understanding the context and improving reading skills through consistent practice. The video also highlights resources like the Garden of English ultimate review packet and other tools to assist students in preparation.

Highlights

• Tim encourages students to read without distractions, like phones, to improve their focus and comprehension 📵
• He recommends consistent practice of multiple-choice questions to build familiarity and confidence 📈
• By understanding context clues, students can improve their reading skills and tackle unfamiliar words effectively 🌟
• Developing a test-day game plan tailored to individual strengths and weaknesses is crucial 🧠
• Tim shares insights on identifying common wrong answer traps to refine decision-making in exams 🔍

Key Takeaways

• Active reading without distractions boosts comprehension and scores 📚
• Consistency in practice leads to improvement in multiple-choice questions ✅
• Understanding common wrong answer traps helps in effective elimination 🚫
• Creating a personalized test-day strategy alleviates anxiety and enhances performance ✍️
• Utilizing available resources can provide a strategic edge over challenging aspects 🔍

Overview

Tim Freitas, host of the Garden of English, serves up a fun yet insightful guide for students aspiring to ace their AP Literature and Language multiple-choice sections. Starting with the simple yet often overlooked tip—read more without your phone—Tim sets the stage for enhanced comprehension. With catchy phrases and amusing metaphors, he inspires viewers to dive into a world of words, where digital distractions are left behind.

A major highlight is Tim’s emphasis on doing regular multiple-choice practice, which not only sharpens test-taking skills but also reinforces one's reading prowess. By accessing resources like the Garden of English's ultimate review pack, students can align their practice with real exam scenarios. And who doesn’t love the idea of a supportive mentor suggesting the best materials for acing one’s tests?

Tim’s advice crescendos with personalizing a test-day strategy. The mantra: prepare your game plan in advance, not on the test day! From handling different types of questions to avoiding common answer traps, he provides tips that can make or break the experience on the big day. This video, with its engaging style, demystifies the often dreaded multiple-choice segment, turning it into an achievable feat.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview In this introductory chapter, Tim Freitas from the Garden of English presents a guide for improving multiple-choice scores in AP Literature and AP Language exams. Acknowledging the common frustration among students regarding these scores, he promises actionable strategies to help students enhance their performance. He teases a top-five countdown of tips that students can immediately implement to boost their scores, emphasizing the importance of taking initiative.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Tip 5: The Importance of Reading Reading is essential and should be done without distractions like a phone, or at least notifications should be turned off. It's not about reading texts or social media posts, nor about tackling complex classics unless they appeal to you. Instead, find material that genuinely interests you, such as books, magazines, websites, or even blogs, and start reading.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Tip 5 (cont.): Reading for AP English The chapter focuses on strategies to improve reading skills for AP English students. It emphasizes exploring diverse reading materials available on the internet, such as ESPN for sports, National Geographic for nature, and The New Yorker for contemporary pop culture. It also highlights the importance of reading more poetry to overcome challenges with this form. Resources like poetryfoundation.org are recommended for free poetry material. Following these suggestions can lead to rapid improvement in reading skills.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Tip 4: Practice Multiple Choice Questions Tip 4 emphasizes the importance of practicing multiple choice questions frequently. The chapter suggests that regular practice not only improves multiple choice scores but also enhances reading output. By practicing multiple choice questions, you simultaneously address Tip 5, which involves increasing reading efforts. For those seeking multiple choice practice resources, the chapter recommends the Garden of English's Ultimate Review Packet for AP Lang, which is available via a link in the description.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Tip 4 (cont.): Strategies for Multiple Choice Practice This chapter offers strategies for practicing multiple-choice questions, particularly for the AP Language exam. The speaker mentions the availability of over 23 readings and 130 multiple-choice questions to aid in reviewing necessary content. For AP Literature students, another resource is recommended. If additional practice is needed, students are advised to ask their teachers to unlock more practice sets in AP Classroom, which the speaker does for their students upon request. The importance of leveraging these resources to build skills is emphasized.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Tip 3: Dealing with Unknown Words The chapter discusses a strategy for dealing with unknown words while reading. It suggests that if you don't understand a word, you should keep reading instead of stopping, similar to a concept from 'Finding Nemo.' This approach not only helps you maintain the flow of reading but also aims to improve your overall reading skills. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of reasoning out why the correct answer is correct in exams, rather than just reading provided rationales, by finding textual evidence and reflecting on your reasoning to enhance thinking and performance.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Tip 3 (cont.): Using Context Clues The chapter discusses the importance of using context clues while reading. It advises students to keep reading even when they encounter unfamiliar words and not to get frustrated. The speaker shares a strategy of deriving meaning from the rest of the text and using known parts of complex words to make educated guesses about unknown words. An example given is the title "The Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine," where the speaker breaks down the word 'triune' by recognizing 'tri-' as meaning three and 'diminutive' as small, based on their understanding of 'swine' as pig. This approach helps in understanding the text better without knowing every single word.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Tip 2: Developing a Multiple Choice Game Plan This chapter focuses on the strategy of using context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, particularly in the setting of multiple-choice exams like the AP exam. The author suggests techniques such as circling unknown words and drawing arrows to surrounding words that might help elucidate its meaning. An example provided is the word 'laborious,' where recognizing the root word 'labor' can offer hints to its definition.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Tip 2 (cont.): Handling Different Reading Types Tip 2 (cont.): Handling Different Reading Types discusses the importance of hard work and preparation for multiple-choice tests. It emphasizes the need for developing a game plan for test day, especially for those struggling with time management. The narrative encourages focusing on maximizing effort in the initial part of the exam period.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Tip 2 (cont.): Personalizing Your Exam Strategy The speaker advises on effective strategies for personalized exam pacing. They suggest working at a pace that maximizes efficiency and, with five minutes remaining, ensure all unanswered questions have an answer. There is a debate on whether using a single letter for guessing is statistically advantageous. The speaker highlights that answers chosen, even randomly, are statistically more likely to be correct than leaving them blank. Ultimately, it does not matter whether students choose one letter or multiple letters; the key point is ensuring all answers are filled.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Tip 1: Understanding Wrong Answer Types This chapter discusses strategies for understanding and dealing with different types of mistakes when answering questions. It suggests that test-takers should consider their personal challenges, such as difficulty with archaic readings or other specific reading types, and develop a plan to tackle these efficiently during an exam. The focus is on ensuring that all potential points are secured by not leaving answers blank and strategically approaching difficult tasks based on individual preferences.
• 05:30 - 06:00: Tip 1 (cont.): Identifying Lead Distractors The chapter continues discussing strategies for identifying lead distractors in exams. It highlights the importance of personalizing your approach to tackling questions, like deciding whether to address poetry questions first based on your personality. It also warns about the potential pitfalls of altering the question order, specifically the risk of mismarking the answer sheet. Planning your test-taking strategy beforehand, rather than on the morning of the exam, is emphasized as a means to reduce multiple-choice anxiety.
• 06:00 - 06:30: Conclusion and Additional Resources The chapter, 'Conclusion and Additional Resources,' emphasizes the importance of having a strategic plan before starting an exam. It advises students to play to their strengths by choosing whether to tackle writing or reading multiple choice questions first based on their preferences and skills. Additionally, it acknowledges different approaches, suggesting that some students might prefer starting with the challenging parts of a test. Overall, the chapter encourages students to stick to a plan that suits their individual characteristics and strengths.

Improve Your Scores NOW: 5 Tips to Better Your AP* English Multiple Choice Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 and we're back i'm tim freitas from the garden of english and today i'm coming to you with an ap lit and ap lang video let's talk about multiple choice so often students are frustrated with their multiple choice scores you may be one of them and today we can work to fix that but you will have to take action do you want to actually do something to get better i hope so so if your answer is yes well then action okay here's a top five countdown for the things that you can start doing right now to improve your multiple choice scores whether you're a litt student or a lang student coming in at number five the best tip i
• 00:30 - 01:00 can give you is to actually read yeah that's all you need to do wait no you need to read without your phone in the room with you or if it's with you at least turn off your notifications you can do it i promise anyway clearly i'm not talking about reading text messages or message boards or just the text bubbles that show up on tick tock or instagram reels and i'm also not talking about reading those incredibly dense classics honestly find a book magazine or website that's your jam and get to it even blogs work and there are blogs for
• 01:00 - 01:30 everything out there on the internet like sports how about sports illustrated or espn.com nature how about national geographic contemporary pop culture check out the new yorker i think you get my drift and if you're an ap which student i know you struggle with poetry so you know what i think you should do read more poetry poetry foundation.org has you covered for that and it's all free okay i understand my first wreck is easier said than done but if you do what i just suggested your reading skills will build pretty quickly every year
• 01:30 - 02:00 there is a correlation between my avid readers and their high multiple choice scores i want that for you too let's shift to number four in the countdown the best advice i can offer now is that you practice multiple choice often what's nice about this is that if you practice a lot of multiple choice you'll also take care of increasing your reading output so you'll essentially take care of tip number five and number four at the same time if you're looking for multiple choice practice you can start by checking out the garden of english's ultimate review packet for ap lang you can find it linked right down below in the description it includes
• 02:00 - 02:30 over 23 readings over 130 multiple choice questions and a bunch more to help you review everything you need to know to get a five on your ap lang exam and for you lit folks i'd recommend checking out my friends at marco learning the garden of english doesn't have a review packet for lit yeah if you're in an ap class looking for more multiple choice and you don't have access to it you can also ask your teacher to open up more multiple choice practice in ap classroom that's something that i do for my students when they ask me for more practice just practicing multiple choice is good but there's something else you can do to really help build your skills when practicing multiple choice once you find
• 02:30 - 03:00 out the correct answers especially if you got it wrong instead of always reading the rationales that are written for you you should reason out why the correct answer is correct for yourself and then find the textual evidence to prove it because when you do this you're thinking about your thinking it helps your thinking grow your thinking so you can think better and thinking better helps you perform better especially on the multiple choice task of your exam okay shifting to tip number three this is going to help you create an overall great reading skill if you're reading and don't know a word keep reading kind of like what they say in funny nemo just
• 03:00 - 03:30 keep swimming but in our case just keep reading too many students just stop and get frustrated when they don't know a word don't do that you can pull meaning from language even if you don't know what every word means think about this title of one of my favorite short stories the triune tale of diminutive swine i may not know what triune means but i know what tri means three i may not know what diminutive means but i know that swine means pig so that means that i can guess that diminutive probably means little and you know how i
• 03:30 - 04:00 figured that out by using what i did know instead of thinking about what i didn't that's called using context clues one way to practice this is if you see a word that you don't know just circle it and then draw arrows to the words in the sentence around it that may help you understand the meaning or look at the word itself and see if you can know any part of it take the word laborious for example totally a word that you might see show up on your ap exam you may not know what it means and there's no context but if you look at the word notice the word labor that's in it well
• 04:00 - 04:30 what do you think it means i bet you can guess that's right it means to work really hard to labor that's how you do it all right the second best advice i can give you is to develop a multiple choice game plan before you go into test day now this will look different for different types of people so let me go over some scenarios for those of you who struggle with answering all of the questions in the time that's allotted know that you're not alone and if i were a student i'd probably be with you but here is what you need to do for the first 50 to 55 minutes while you're taking your exam work your heart out at
• 04:30 - 05:00 your pace where you perform the most efficiently then with five minutes left if you notice you have questions that are unanswered bubble in an answer to each question some say to just pick one letter and bubble in only that letter to finish up the job but i don't know about how that helps you statistically i tell my students they can randomly bubble but what i do know is that bubbled answers have a higher probability of being correct than unbubbled answers so no matter what you choose to do one letter or varying letters as you go all the way down get this done and if you have a
• 05:00 - 05:30 little time left over after your frantic bubbling just go back and pick up where you left off and try to get the right answers for those that you kind of frantically bubbled at least you know you're not leaving any potential points on the table by not bubbling anything in now some of you have a different issue that needs to be game planned you do better with different types of readings so for you lane folks you may struggle with archaic readings so make a plan about how to handle that do you want to save those for the end do you want to do the hard stuff first there's no right way to do it but you need to make sure that you have a plan on how to handle it and what about you lip folks struggle
• 05:30 - 06:00 with poetry that makes sense most do so figure out if you want to do the poetry questions first or last your personality dictates this you just have to as polonius would say know thyself if you put on doing your exam a little out of order though make sure that you don't mess up your bubble sheet you have been warm just having a plan going into the test can help you with your multiple choice anxiety especially on test day so don't map this out the morning of test day make sure that you think about your
• 06:00 - 06:30 multiple choice plan well before you go in oh and for you lane folks please know that you can do the same thing with this planning you can choose to do your writing multiple choice questions first or you're reading multiple choice questions first just make sure you don't mess up your bubble sheet play to your strengths and to your character for me i know i'd mess up my bubble sheet so i kind of have to go in order but that's my plan and i would stick to it but for some of my students they like the writing questions better so they'll want to start there and then go back to the reading questions that's okay some of my late kids like doing the challenging parts first so they're going to start
• 06:30 - 07:00 with the poetry questions and then move to the pros passages it doesn't matter there's no wrong way to do this just like there's no wrong way to eat a reese's but don't go in without a plan all right here's the big reveal here's my number one tip for you as you work to get better at your multiple choice know what the common types of wrong answers are so that you can be more informed as you engage in the process of elimination over the past 13 to 14 years i've noticed that most students can narrow down most questions to a correct answer
• 07:00 - 07:30 and what's called a lead distractor and if you know what the common characteristics of lead distractors are you can better weed them out so now i'm gonna reveal some common lead distractor traits on your exam you need to choose the best answers when you do your multiple choice so that means that some answers may be right but they're not the best i need you to keep that in mind as we consider this so here's the first thing you'll want to think about when you're trying to figure out if an answer is wrong you'll see an answer that is half true but has something false in it
• 07:30 - 08:00 this is a really tricky answer because most of the time students can notice the truth but when they see the part that's wrong they think they misread the piece and then they question their own reading comprehension as opposed to the answer don't fall for this [Music] [Applause] if you know that one answer is entirely correct and you don't know about part of another answer you're probably looking at an answer that is meant to distract you stick with the one that you know is entirely right have some confidence another popular distracting feature is having an answer that's entirely true
• 08:00 - 08:30 but not for the question that you're answering at that moment oh what a pain so when you can't figure out which answer is wrong because both are true and provable with textual evidence go look at the question itself that you're being asked one correct answer won't work with the question itself so you can cross that out as a wrong answer and the final quality of a distractor is sometimes this answer is just an incredibly vague version of the correct answer precision is always best so if you notice two answers look like they say the same thing figure out which one
• 08:30 - 09:00 is more specific that one will be the right answer and there you have it all you need to know to improve your multiple choice skills before test day don't forget for you lang folks check out the ultimate review packet linked below in order to study and practice everything you need to know to own your exam and if you're watching make sure that you like this video subscribe to the garden of english and continue your studies by checking out what i've provided for you in these videos right here