Week 35: Week 35 — AP Exam Readiness II: Multiple-Choice Section
Week of Mon, May 24 · week closes Sun, May 30
This week's items
Exact due times are in Canvas. Late work accepted at 10% per day; assessed work not accepted late. Vocabulary quizzes are unannounced and cannot be made up.
Know these cold
- The AP Language multiple-choice section presents five to seven nonfiction passages with approximately 45 questions in approximately 60 minutes. Passages span historical periods and registers — formal speeches, literary essays, journalism, scientific prose.
- All correct answers in AP Language multiple-choice are found in or directly supported by the passage. Using outside knowledge not present in the passage — or substituting your own opinion — is the most common path to a wrong answer.
- Rhetorical purpose questions ask why the writer made a specific choice: why this word, this structure, this example at this position. The answer is always in service of the passage's larger argument or effect — find the answer in the text, not in general rhetorical principle.
- An inference is a conclusion the reader must draw from what the passage states or implies — not a fact directly stated, but a logical conclusion the passage's evidence supports. Inferences must be grounded in the text, not in assumption.
- A distractor is a wrong answer choice designed to appeal to a reader who has misread, overgeneralized, or relied on prior knowledge rather than the passage. Identifying the distractor's design helps you rule it out.
- Four common distractor types: (a) true in general but not supported by this passage; (b) extreme or absolute language when the passage uses qualified language; (c) partially correct but containing one element not supported by the text; (d) reverses the passage's actual meaning or relationship.
- Line-reference questions direct you to a specific sentence or phrase. Always read at least two sentences before and two after the reference — meaning depends on context, not on the isolated line.
- Process of elimination: remove choices that include absolute language when the passage uses qualification; remove choices that describe the wrong logical relationship; remove choices that contradict information in the passage. What remains is almost always correct.
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 35 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: What is the difference between knowing the answer and knowing why the other choices are wrong?
En español: ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre saber la respuesta y saber por qué las otras opciones son incorrectas?