Chapter 1 How to Approach Multiple-Choice Questions

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE MULTIPLE-CHOICE SECTION

The multiple-choice section counts for 45 percent of your total score, but you’re given only 31 percent (1 hour) of the total exam time to earn that large chunk of points. So how you spend that hour is extremely important.

The exam presents you with five passages, all nonfiction. Some are from the 20th and 21st centuries, and some are pre-20th century. Our practice tests include passages from earlier works just like the real exam does, so that type will be familiar by the time you get to the test.

“Nonfiction” is a very broad term, so you could find passages taken from all sorts of works— essays, biographies, diary entries, speeches, letters, literary criticism, science and nature writing, and writings about politics or history. The passages will also run the gamut as far as types of diction (word choice), syntax (how words are combined into phrases and sentences), imagery, tone, style, point of view, and purpose. You have an hour to read them and answer 55 questions, divided roughly equally among the five passages. Your responses are then scored by computer.

The questions emphasize not just what the author is saying, but especially how the author says it. The idea is to get you to focus on rhetorical devices, figures of speech and intended purposes, under rigid time constraints and with material you haven’t seen before. You’ll need to identify rhetorical devices and structures in a passage, and understand why and how the author used them. (Review Chapters 8–11 to learn more about rhetorical strategies. You’ll find this helpful for the rhetorical analysis essay, too.) The multiple-choice section is a challenging opportunity to demonstrate your ability to analyze how writers use language to achieve their purposes.

In at least one of the passages in the multiple-choice section, you’ll also find several questions about citations, which are usually presented as footnotes to the passage. Citations often give credit to sources from which the passage author drew ideas or information. The citation could state a source’s date and place of publication, which might be important in evaluating that source. (For example, a very old source might be questionable if there have been more recent discoveries about a topic.) Citations can also supplement information in the passage without cluttering up the main text with details that might distract readers.

So where do you start preparing to get that much done in such a short time? In this chapter you’ll find techniques for reading the passages and answering multiple-choice questions under the conditions that will confront you in the exam.

Active Reading

The passages on the exam are often heavy reading, particularly the older nonfiction, with the long sentences and sometimes obscure words that were common at the time. You need to read quickly but with understanding. If you just skim through the passage, you will have wasted much of your precious two or three minutes of reading time and will likely have to keep rereading parts just to gain a sense of what the author is talking about.

The solution? Active reading. That means you take control of the passage instead of simply letting it pour sentences and paragraphs into your head. Engage with it.

As you read each paragraph, ask yourself these questions:

What is the author’s main point in this paragraph?
How does it connect to the paragraph that came before it?
Where is it likely to lead in the next paragraph?

At the end of the passage, ask yourself the following questions:

What is the author’s “big picture” purpose and main point in this passage as a whole?
Did the author convince me? Interest me? Lead me to disagree strongly? How did the author achieve that effect on me as a reader?
What impact would this passage likely have had on readers who lived when it was written? What techniques did the author use to achieve that effect?

You can practice this type of active reading with any written material—textbooks, printed ads, or product descriptions, for example. Once you get into the habit, you’ll find that your reading comprehension increases considerably, along with your critical thinking skills. With enough practice, active reading will be second nature to you by the time you encounter the AP English Language and Composition Exam passages, where it’s a necessity if you’re to wade through most, if not all, of the questions and answer them successfully.

Active Reading

Look for the main point of the passage, the author’s purpose, and the rhetorical strategies used to achieve that purpose.

Words in Context

Chances are you’ll encounter some unfamiliar words on the exam, particularly in the nonfiction passages. Another active reading technique can take you over that hurdle, too: guessing the meaning of a word from its context. For example, let’s say the passage is describing a politician who is trying to sell an unpopular new law to the voters in his constituency.

The speaker’s passion and ebullience began to cut through the dour mood of the audience that confronted him.

Words in Context

Guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word from its context.

If you have no idea what “ebullience” and “dour” mean, you can still figure them out from the context. The speaker is passionate about this law he’s trying to promote, so—paired with “passion”—“ebullience” must have something to do with enthusiasm and excitement. The voters, on the other hand, don’t like it at all, so “dour” must signify something opposite—gloomy, unreceptive. The word even sounds dark and unfriendly.

Guessing a word’s meaning from its context is something you can practice on material you encounter in your daily life. Then you can check a dictionary or thesaurus to see how your skill is improving.

Attack the Questions and Go Back to the Passage

Each question is setting a specific task for you. Make sure you understand exactly what it’s telling you to do. Read the question stem carefully, word for word.

When a question refers to specific lines in the passage, always go back to the passage and reread them. You should also read a few lines before and after the specified lines; context is often critical in determining the correct answer.

Relying on your memory—particularly in the dense, nonfiction works you’ll encounter on the exam—can easily lead you astray. Sometimes a sneaky answer choice will start out partly correct, but then make a U-turn into something that is not supported by the passage. But if you’re relying on your memory and get a glimmer of recognition from the first part, you might pick the wrong answer and miss out on scoring a point. Remember, half wrong is all wrong.

Don’t Play Mind Games

Your memory will fool you. Always go back to the passage.

POE—Process of Elimination

After you understand the question task and have gone back to the passage to review the lines it specifies, look at the answer choices. Your active reading, careful analysis of the question task, and rereading of specific lines will most likely show you at least a couple of answer choices that are clearly wrong. Now instead of five possible answers, you have only three or perhaps two, and your chances of choosing—or even guessing at—the correct answer just went up substantially.

So start there—by quickly getting rid of choices that are obviously wrong—instead of starting by puzzling through five possible answers looking for the one right choice. That’s the Process of Elimination approach, and it will increase your success rate on multiple-choice questions significantly.

Main Steps of POE

First, eliminate the answers you know are wrong.

Then look for the right answer within the remaining choices.

Guessing and the Letter of the Day

So you’ve tossed out two clearly wrong answers using POE, and narrowed five possible choices down to three. Suppose you still can’t tell which of those three is the correct answer, though.

What do you do? Two things: guess and use the Letter of the Day.

Guessing

You get no points for a question that isn’t answered at all. The good news with this exam, though, is that you don’t lose any points for incorrect answers. So answer every single question, even if your answer is a guess. By using POE, you’ve raised your chances of guessing correctly within a smaller number of possible answers. There’s another technique you can add that will increase your guessing success rate even more.

Letter of the Day

If you make a random guess for each question you can’t answer—(A) for one and (D) for another and maybe (E) for this one—you’ve just made an excellent start at getting every one wrong. The solution? Pick one letter—any letter—and use it for every single guess. That’s the Letter of the Day approach.

Let’s say there are 10 questions you can’t answer. If you pick, for example, (B) as your Letter of the Day and answer (B) on every one of those 10 questions, what are the chances that (B) really is the correct answer to at least one of them, possibly more? Pretty good. On the other hand, if you jump around with a different random letter for each guess, you stand a good chance of missing the correct answer on every one.

Proven Techniques

Use POE, Letter of the Day, and the Two-Pass System to help boost your score.

The Two-Pass System

With around 55 questions and 5 passages, you have roughly 1 minute to answer each question, about 12 minutes for each passage and accompanying set of questions. The Two-Pass System will help you use that time most efficiently. Here are the steps to take:

On your first pass through the questions,

Answer all the easy questions first. If you can answer a question as you come to it, do so.
Each time you come to a hard question that you can’t answer, fill in a “guess” answer using your Letter of the Day and circle the question.

The Two-Pass System

Pass 1: Answer the easy questions and guess at the hard ones, using the Letter of the Day.

Pass 2: Tackle as many of the hard ones as you can during the time left for that passage.

On your second pass through,

Look at your watch to see how much time you have left for this passage. Go back to the hard questions you circled and tackle as many as you can before the chunk of time available for that passage runs out.

This system works well since all the questions are worth the same number of points, regardless of whether you think they’re easy or hard, and since the order in which you answer the questions doesn’t matter.

Now let’s examine a sample passage.

SAMPLE PASSAGE—HERE’S HOW IT’S DONE

The following passage is excerpted from A Technical Guide for Monitoring Wildlife Habitat by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

The publication that includes this excerpt is intended as a guide for professionals involved in forest planning and wildlife habitat monitoring. It was published in 2013 by the USDA Forest Service, which aims to balance the use of public resources with the protection of those resources. The authors are professionals in such fields as ecology, biology, and forestry.

Management Considerations, Management objectives will differ substantially among species and, thus, influence habitat monitoring objectives. Emphasis species for which habitat may be monitored may come from a wide spectrum of conservation categories from taxa listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act to ubiquitous species that may be hunted or trapped. The process of identifying monitoring priorities begins with a review of pertinent laws, regulations, policies, regional and forest management objectives, and priorities set through partnerships and agreements to determine those emphasis species for which monitoring of populations is required. Recovery plans for threatened or endangered species often require that cooperating agencies monitor population parameters for the species.1 Others commit the Forest Service to monitor habitat.2 Memoranda of understanding with State wildlife agencies obligate the Forest Service to assist with monitoring populations of important game species.3 Regional and forest management objectives also influence whether habitat is monitored for an emphasis species. If a land and resource management plan specifies

management activities in ecological systems that also provide habitat for an emphasis species, it may be advisable to monitor habitat for that species.4 Conversely, an emphasis species associated with habitat that is not likely to be influenced by planned management actions may be a poor candidate for habitat monitoring.5 Biological Considerations, Habitat monitoring should focus primarily on species that are most likely to respond to changes in habitat condition because of management actions, disturbances, or climate change. In particular, management actions may impact systems in ways that are detrimental or positive but remain uncertain and require monitoring. Thus, selecting emphasis species should include not only those that are associated with forest plan objectives or desired conditions, but also those that have the potential to be affected by management actions that modify habitat. In addition, developing a successful habitat monitoring program requires making a clear distinction between habitat and population monitoring.6 In some cases, the monitoring objective for a species at risk will specify the detection of relatively small changes in population size (especially decreases) or occupancy. Depending on the

management concern, monitoring objective, detectability, demography, and ecological relationships of a species, it may be prudent to monitor only populations, rather than to also track habitat. Under some limited circumstances, behavioral and spatial relationships may exist that allow populations to be closely linked to specific habitat attributes.7 If strong evidence indicates that habitat features are directly associated with population size of an emphasis species, then habitat monitoring, with the objective of indirectly monitoring populations may be an acceptable approach under a limited range of management circumstances.8 Species that are difficult to detect and, therefore, difficult to monitor for population abundance are good candidates for habitat monitoring if strong habitat relationships have been documented and if information on annual population fluctuations are not needed. Under these circumstances, compare habitat monitoring results periodically with population data to ensure that the assumed relationship between habitat and population remains.9 The indirect nature of the monitoring program relative to the link between habitat and populations must always be considered when the resulting monitoring data are used. — 1 e.g., red-cockaded woodpecker [Picoides borealis] USDI USFWS. 2003. Recovery plan for the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis). 2nd rev. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region. 296 p.

2 e.g., Mexican spotted owl [Strix occidentalis lucida] USDI U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1995. Recovery plan for the Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida). Albuquerque, NM: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwest Region. 172 p.

3 e.g., Sitka black-tailed deer [Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis] in the Alaska Region

4 e.g., woodland caribou. [Rangifer tarandus caribou]. USDA Forest Service. 1987. Forest plan Idaho Panhandle National Forests. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Region. Irregular pagination.

5 e.g., gray-crowned rosy finch [Leucosticte tephrocotis] in alpine habitats relative to timber management activities

6 i.e., habitat monitoring should not be confused with population monitoring (See chapter 1).

7 e.g., amount of recently burned conifer forest is directly related to populations of black-backed woodpeckers [Picoides arcticus]. Hutto, R.L. 1995. Composition of bird communities following stand-replacement fires in northern Rocky Mountain (U.S.A.) conifer forests. Conservation Biology. 9: 1041–1058.

8 Haufler, J.B.; Mehl, C.A.; Roloff, G.J. 1999. Conserving biological diversity using a coarse-filter approach with a species assessment. In: Baydack, R.K.; Campa, H., III; Haufler, J.B., eds. Practical approaches to the conservation of biological diversity. Washington DC: Island Press: 107–125. Molina, R.; Marcot, B.G.; Lesher, R. 2006. Protecting rare, old-growth, forest-associated species under the survey and manage program guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan. Conservation Biology. 20: 306–318.

9 See chapter 1.

Analyzing the Passage

In active reading mode, you should be looking for and writing down the main point of each paragraph in the margins before you move on to the next. From those building blocks, you can identify the main point of the excerpt and the author’s purpose.

The first section focuses on forest or other environment management programs. The first paragraph stresses flexibility: objectives and species can encompass a broad range. The authors are providing guidance that can be applied to just about any situation readers face. The second paragraph outlines a framework of requirements and partnerships for undertaking monitoring programs—again, within a broad range of situations. The third paragraph positions habitat monitoring within larger management programs, and gives examples of when it may or may not be appropriate to monitor habitats.

The excerpt then looks at selecting species for habitat monitoring. The fourth paragraph specifies that species likely to be affected by a change in habitat should be selected. The long fifth paragraph then makes a point the authors want to emphasize: habitat monitoring should be distinguished from population monitoring. The paragraph gives examples of when both types of information could be considered, or even when population monitoring could be carried out on its own. However, the two types of monitoring are always considered as distinct activities.

The introductory comments provide context that helps identify the authors’ purpose and the rhetorical strategies they use. The excerpt is part of a guide written by nature management professionals for professionals. In order to influence readers to follow their recommendations and practices, the authors need to gain trust and build credibility. Rhetorical techniques they use include formal language, drawing on authorities, and providing examples. The authors do have a clear bias for distinguishing habitat monitoring from population monitoring; however, their tone is neutral and unemotional. They allow for exceptions, and they use qualified language such as “may be prudent” and “may be an acceptable approach.” They avoid complex industry jargon, making their information accessible to readers from a broad spectrum of disciplines and with varying degrees of expertise. As a result of these techniques, the authors sound like trustworthy, experienced scientists who are making sound recommendations but not alienating readers by being authoritarian.

Let’s look at a typical “big-picture” question.

1. The authors’ main purpose in this excerpt is to

(A) encourage professionals to adopt a monitoring approach that is similar to the Forestry Service’s approach

(B) influence habitat monitoring professionals to monitor populations, too

(C) concentrate wildlife monitoring efforts on bird populations

(D) educate readers about how to monitor wildlife habitats

(E) direct resources toward protecting endangered species

Through active reading, you should have identified not only the main point of each paragraph, but also the authors’ overall purpose. The correct answer is (A). The excerpt outlines the Forestry Service’s approach and, through the frequent use of “should,” encourages readers to follow a similar approach. The guide specifies that habitat and population monitoring should be distinct activities, and that they should be combined in only limited circumstances, so (B) is clearly wrong and could have been eliminated right away using POE. Although the footnote comments give several examples of birds, they also mention deer and caribou, (C). The intended audience is made up of professionals in the field, so they would not need to be educated about how to monitor wildlife habitats, (D). The authors specify that habitat can be monitored for any species, from the endangered and at risk to the thriving, so they intend to cover a broad spectrum of situations, making (E) incorrect.

Here’s another “big picture” question, focused on only one paragraph this time.

2. Paragraph 4 implies that

(A) resources available for habitat monitoring are limited

(B) forest management programs focus only on the physical environment

(C) the impact of forest management programs cannot be predicted

(D) forest management programs include climate change

(E) habitat monitoring should not be confined to species that are part of forest management programs

The answer is (E). The authors recommend also monitoring species that aren’t part of the forest plan but which could be affected by any resulting changes to their habitat. This recommendation makes (A) incorrect; resources do not appear to be limited when the scope of the monitoring could be expanded beyond the original plan. The paragraph discusses both the physical environment and the species that inhabit it, so (B) is incorrect. In addition to being wrong, though, (B) is also too extreme (“focus only on”). On the AP exam, it’s unusual for an “all or nothing” response such as this to be correct. Extreme choices can usually be eliminated right away using POE. While the authors acknowledge that the impact of forest management actions may be uncertain, they don’t claim that it’s not possible to predict the impact in every case, so eliminate (C). Forest management programs are planned and run by humans; climate change is not, so (D) is incorrect.

Here’s another question in which you’re asked to make an inference from something stated in the passage.

3. The last sentence of paragraph 2 suggests that

(A) readers must consult the Forest Service if they want to monitor habitats for endangered species

(B) the Forest Service requires State wildlife agencies to include it in monitoring game species populations

(C) the Forest Service must be involved in population monitoring programs for certain game species

(D) permission must be obtained from the Forest Service before game populations are monitored

(E) the Forest Service demands control of game species population monitoring programs

A set of relatively close answers such as this one demonstrates the importance of going back to the passage instead of relying on your memory. You need to review exactly what the sentence says to avoid being tripped up by a choice that sounds close but has something wrong with it. Reread only as much as you need to, though. If you can’t answer a question without spending too much time rereading, then guess at the answer (using your Letter of the Day) and, if you have time, return to it on your second pass through the questions for that passage.

The correct answer is (C). As you found when you identified the main point of paragraph 2, the authors are cautioning that a framework of requirements governs monitoring programs. Readers can’t necessarily just set off on their own. In the last sentence of paragraph 2, the authors state—in a gentle, non-threatening way —that the Forest Service is “obligated” to “assist” with population monitoring programs for important game species. Choice (A) can be eliminated immediately because the sentence mentions game species, not endangered species. The authors don’t specify which organization initiated the agreements with State wildlife agencies, so we can’t say for sure whether (B) is true. Choice (D) would suggest getting permission and then going off and conducting the monitoring program without any further involvement by the Forest Services, which is incorrect. Choice (E) is too extreme (“demands control”) and can be eliminated on that basis.

Here are a couple of questions dealing with rhetorical strategies—how the authors say what they say in order to achieve their purpose with a specific audience in a particular context.

4. In the rhetorical strategies they use, the authors are trying to convince readers that they are

(A) expert authorities in the field

(B) a trustworthy source

(C) a benign enforcement mechanism

(D) independent thinkers

(E) set in their ways as a result of extensive experience

The correct answer is (B). Through their formal language, objective tone, supporting citations, and flexibility in acknowledging exceptions, the authors position themselves as a source whose recommendations can be trusted by professionals in the field. While the authors do cite some other U.S. environmental agencies in the footnotes, they also give references to nongovernment research results. They position themselves as experienced guides, not as expert authorities, (A). The authors do not suggest that they can or will enforce compliance with the monitoring practices they describe, so (C) is incorrect. Even when they outline “laws, regulations, policies,” they don’t specify penalties for noncompliance. There is no suggestion that the authors are advocating an approach that differs markedly from established monitoring practices, (D). At several points, the authors demonstrate flexibility by acknowledging that there may be exceptions to their recommendations, demonstrating an openness that makes (E) wrong.

5. One rhetorical strategy the authors use in order to achieve their purpose with their professional audience is

(A) examples of the negative results of combining population and habitat monitoring

(B) appeals to authority

(C) specialized technical language

(D) understatement

(E) appeals to logical reasoning

Choice (B) is the correct answer. In several of the footnotes, the authors draw on published works and authorities in the field to support their points. The citations in the footnotes become part of the authors’ rhetorical strategy. The authors actually acknowledge that the two types of monitoring can be combined in certain circumstances. They do not give any examples of negative results from combining them in the wrong circumstances, (A). The authors do give the correct scientific classification for certain species, and they use the term “emphasis species” to signify a monitoring target. However, their use of technical language is not extensive. The authors are aiming at a diverse range of industry participants, so in general they use formal language to signify their professionalism while not excluding readers by using highly technical language from one specific field, so (C) is incorrect. The authors’ tone is objective and neutral. They do not understate, (D), or overstate the impact of not following their general practice of distinguishing habitat monitoring from population monitoring. The authors don’t rely on logical arguments, (E), such as “X and Y are the case; therefore, you should do Z or else this will happen because of this.”

This next question shows the type of detail some questions can cover.

6. The term “taxa” in paragraph 1 refers to

(A) characteristics of a group of organisms that distinguish them from other groups

(B) criteria used to determine whether a species is endangered

(C) a grouping of certain species of organism

(D) the unusually frail members of a larger group of animals who likely would not survive without habitat support

(E) any group of widespread and thriving organisms

This question demonstrates the importance of context in guessing the meaning of an unfamiliar word, and the need to go back to the passage to find the answer. Remember to read a line or two above and below the word specified, too, so you won’t miss any important information from the context.

Here, the correct answer is (C). The paragraph states that habitat monitoring is appropriate for a full range of organisms, from those on the endangered species list to those that are so numerous and widespread (“ubiquitous”) that they can be hunted. It sets up a contrast between species on both extreme ends of the range. Using the technical term “taxa” allows the authors to avoid repeating the word “species” three times in the same sentence. However, “taxa” could accurately be replaced by “species” in this sentence. Choice (A) is incorrect because “taxa” (the plural of “taxon,” which would indicate a single species) refers to the groups themselves, not to the characteristics of those groups. Both (B) and (E) are incorrect as meanings for “taxa” because species could be either endangered or thriving. Choice (D) is incorrect because “taxa” refers to entire groups, not to individual members of those groups.

Here are some typical questions about citations, which are shown as footnotes. That means you’ll need to read the footnote as well as go back to the corresponding place in the passage (indicated by the superscript number of the footnote). Read a couple of lines above and below the footnote number so you understand the context in which the authors cite a particular source or make a supplementary comment.

7. The primary function of footnote 9 is most likely to

(A) give readers a method for carrying out a procedure

(B) explain the reason for the authors’ recommendation

(C) provide an additional source for readers who are interested in more information

(D) convince readers that they need more information before they can follow the authors’ recommendations successfully

(E) provide an authority to support the authors’ point

Choice (A) is correct. The excerpt doesn’t say what is in Chapter 1, so you’ll need to guess at the most likely primary reason for referring readers to it. Since the footnote occurs at the end of a sentence that describes a procedure (comparing habitat monitoring results with population data to confirm an assumed relationship between the two), (A) is the best choice. The footnote is simply a side comment, not an integral part of the text, where the authors would likely have explained their reasoning, (B), or made a convincing case, (D), if they felt the need to do so. Choice (C) is too vague when the footnote follows the description of a specific procedure. Since the footnote sends readers to another spot in the same publication, it is not providing a supporting authority, (E).

8. The most unique aspect of footnote 8 in paragraph 5 is its

(A) support for the separation of habitat and population monitoring

(B) seven-year time span of support for the program objective of monitoring populations

(C) geographical diversity of the resources cited

(D) additional support for the authors’ acknowledgement of a situation that would favor incorporating some population monitoring into a habitat monitoring program

(E) acknowledgement of an opposing position

The answer is (D). Footnote 8 is the only one that cites two sources of support for the same point (indirect population monitoring as an objective of habitat monitoring). The sources are cited as support for a condition in which habitat and population monitoring could be combined, not separated. Going back to the passage should have allowed you to eliminate (A) immediately using POE. While there is a seven-year time span between the two references, the two sources are not cited as support for only monitoring populations. Choice (B) is half wrong; therefore, it’s all wrong. Although the second study in the footnote specifies the northwest, the first study doesn’t indicate which geographical area it covers; eliminate (C). The sources are cited in support of, not in opposition to, the authors’ position; eliminate (E). Again, going back to the passage should have eliminated this choice right away.

9. The main effect of footnote 7 is to

(A) support the authors’ point

(B) convince readers who might be skeptical about the authors’ point

(C) illustrate and support the authors’ point

(D) explain the authors’ point

(E) support and qualify the authors’ point

Choice (C) is correct. The example of the impact of forest fires on woodpecker populations illustrates the authors’ point, and the citation from published research supports it. While this footnote supports the authors’ point with a reference to published research, that’s not the only thing it does, eliminating (A). It’s possible that an example and citation might convince skeptical readers, but the question asks for the main effect. The footnote is not worded as if its main objective were to convince skeptical readers, so you can get rid of (B). The footnote gives an example; it doesn’t explain what the authors mean, so (D) can be eliminated. This footnote does support the authors’ point. However, they already qualified their point in the main text (“Under some limited circumstances…”), not in the footnote. Remember, half wrong is all wrong. Eliminate (E).

Incidentally, if you had guessed at every one of these answers and had chosen (C) as your Letter of the Day, you would have gotten three correct answers on this passage. No, of course you can’t know in advance which letter is best, but this example shows the results that are possible with the Letter of the Day technique.

You’ll have the opportunity to practice what you’ve learned in the drills in Chapter 3. First, let’s look a bit more closely at some approaches to two essential aspects of doing well on the multiple-choice questions: timing and pacing.

Summary

Use active reading to identify the main point of each paragraph (or chunk) of the passage; then see how they connect to form the main point of the passage as a whole.
Concentrate on the author’s purpose, tone, and point of view.
Look for the rhetorical strategies the author uses to achieve that purpose.
Always go back to the passage when multiple-choice questions refer you to specific lines. Relying on your memory can easily lead you to select a close—but incorrect—answer.
Read a couple of lines above and below the lines specified in the question. The context of the lines is almost always critical in determining the correct answer.
Pace yourself. Divide the multiple-choice section into 12-minute chunks for each passage.
Use the Two-Pass System. On your first pass, answer the questions you can and guess at the rest, using your Letter of the Day. Circle the questions you guessed at, and go back to them later if time remains in your 12-minute chunk.
Use POE to eliminate wrong answers instead of looking for the right answer among five alternatives.