Transcription
Welcome to AP Daily practice sessions. My name is John Zanan. I'm an AP Language teacher at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Michigan. Today we're going to be discussing the writing multiple-choice questions. And if you want to work through the passage and questions we're using today, feel free to click on the link provided, and you can download a PDF of the passage and questions that you'll see featured in our video.
As we prepare to start our review and practice today, let's first remember that there are two different sections of the multiple-choice test: the reading section and the writing section. Um, as we know, those are very different sections that require different skills and approaches. So today we're going to focus just on the writing section. The writing section contains three passages, the first two of which have seven to nine accompanying questions, and the third passage will be a little bit shorter, with four to six questions. And while we don't know what those passages will look like exactly, we do know there are some general approaches and tips and skills we can use to try to work through them successfully. So let's review a few of those tips.
For starters, as you approach the writing section, make sure you read the passages to identify the main topic, claim, thesis, tone, and method of development of the passage. Even if you're just getting a general overview of the piece, it helps us understand how best to revise it or make changes. We want to anticipate potential spots for revision. If you see something that seems a little off or unpolished, there's a good chance we're going to see a question on that later on down the road. We want to parse the questions carefully to find out what they're really asking. These questions tend to be loaded or multi-layered, so we want to take time to really dig into them and make sure we know what we're answering. And lastly, like our last video, we want to narrow our options by trying to validate or disqualify certain key words or phrases in the answer because if any part of the answer is wrong, the whole answer is wrong.
So with that as our front-loading, let's practice. Uh, I have a passage up on screen for you here from the AP Language course and exam description. Why don't you pause the video now for a few moments so that you can read the passage? And again, I want to encourage you to practice those tips we just reviewed. Look for a big-picture topic, claim, method of development, um, also any trouble spots that you notice. Try to just get a feel for the substance and style of our passage, and then we'll be able to answer the questions. Why don't you pause the video to read? When you're ready to hear my notes and comments, you can press play to resume.
All right, so as we start here, I always like to think just big picture: what topic are we working with in our passage? And I think the topic here was converting to the metric system. That started early on when we were talking about Imperial versus metric units, and then throughout the passage we are reminded that most of the world uses the metric system; the United States is an outlier with the imperial system. We are reminded over and over that it would be good to adopt the metric system, that a switch would be beneficial. So the authors seem really intent on, um, calling for us to convert to the metric system. I also like to think about a thesis: is there a place where an author gives us that overarching claim? And I think we get that thesis in our last sentence: "It's time for the United States to make the leap to metric in everything else it measures." Um, to me, that was a little unusual placement of the thesis; usually the thesis comes earlier in the passage, and I actually saw something around sentence three that sounded close to a thesis, but it threw me off because that line told us that we need to abandon future Mars survey missions. As we look at the highlighting on screen, we know that was not the main claim of this passage. So that thesis, if it is a thesis, is likely going to be need to be revised so that it more closely matches something like what we see at the end.
Beyond that, um, I like to think about a tone. I thought that this passage had a somewhat academic, pretty typical persuasive essay kind of tone, where it's offering an argument, giving us some reasoning and some evidence to back it up. So we want to make sure we maintain that in any revisions. And then lastly, a method of development. Again, this is fairly typical persuasive essay writing. We started with a little bit of an attention-getter or a hook to bring the audience in; we transitioned into what was looks like supposed to be a claim, um, and some context on converting to the metric system and what it is; we got some reasons for converting or reasons why not converting would be dangerous; and then we closed that out with some concessions to why it might be harm—uh, not harmful, but hard or difficult to make that, um, transition, while ultimately still pulling the audience back to that main claim that we should convert. So a pretty typical persuasive essay type of method of development.
With that as our overview, let's take then a look at a few of the multiple-choice questions to see how we can apply that knowledge to our questions. Number one: Which of the following sentences, if placed before sentence one, would both capture the audience's interest and provide the most effective introduction to the topic of the paragraph? Again, we have to parse this question carefully and acknowledge that we are looking for something that checks two boxes: captures our interest and introduces the topic of the paragraph. Let's see if any of our options do that. Well, option A: "NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on December 11, 1998, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida." Option B: "On September 23, 1999, NASA officials were aghast when the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter vanished as it prepared to enter the red planet's orbit." Option C: "As part of the new set of missions intended to survey the planet Mars, the Mars Climate Orbiter was launched by NASA scientists to study climate and weather." Option D: "When NASA officials lost contact with their Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, they immediately investigated, a search for the spacecraft using NASA's deep space network of radio antennas." Or E: "The Mars Climate Orbiter carried two instruments when it attempted and failed to enter Mars's orbit in September 1999: the Mars Climate Orbiter color imager and the pressure modulated infrared radiometer."
Again, a reminder: we're looking for an option that captures our interest and introduces the topic of the paragraph. And in addition to that, it's going before sentence one. Sentence one made an explicit mention after an unsuccessful search, so whatever we're choosing needs to mention that something was lost or that something was gone. We can eliminate option A for that reason; though it talks about somewhat the topic of the paragraph, the Orbiter, it doesn't tell us that it was lost, and there's nothing there that really captures our interest. By contrast, option B works really nicely. We are aghast at the disappearance of this very expensive item that vanished seemingly without explanation. We are focused on the vanishing of that climate Orbiter. This checks a lot of our boxes and would really set up sentence one as well because it makes a reference to what had vanished or was lost. Option C, I'm going to eliminate here; again, I don't know that we get any reference of something being lost, and I'm not sure that there was anything that specifically really hooked us or grabbed our attention in the writing. Option D, I like for a few reasons: we have that reference to something being lost, which might grab our attention; we also have a discussion of the topic of the passage, and we know there was a search for that Orbiter. So a lot of good check marks there for that one; let's leave it on the table. And option E, I'm going to eliminate again; it does mention that something failed to enter the atmosphere. We might want a more explicit mention that it was lost or that it vanished, and beyond that, even if we do think of that being a reference or a setup to sentence one, I'm just not sure there's enough here that really grips our attention. This is very informational, but it's not really going to do the work of hooking us and drawing us in, making us want to read more about what happened or why it was gone.
So we're down to options B and D, and what I noticed when reviewing these two options, even though they both have a lot to offer, is that the diction in passage or option B was much stronger. We are aghast when something was lost; um, we have a detail that's more gripping, the number of dollars spent on this Orbiter; the word "vanished" to me sounds much more gripping than "it was lost" or "we lost contact with it." So for those reasons, I'm going to choose option B, even though option D checks a lot of our boxes. B is more of an authentic attention-getter; it's going out of its way to grab our interest and introduce that topic and set up what follows in the sentence to come. So we will go with option B.
Let's take a look at a second question. In sentence three, reproduced below, which of the following versions of the underlined text best establishes the writer's thesis in the passage? "The Orbiter mission failure is just one reason, albeit an extremely expensive one, that the United States needs to abandon future Mars survey missions." Fortunately, when we read, we identified this as a trouble spot; we knew this thesis didn't really work, and that the writing was really calling on the United States to do something different. So let's see if we can find a phrase here that better addresses that. Option A: as it is now. B: should consider privatizing space exploration. C: needs to adopt the metric system. D: should partner with other countries on future missions to outer space. Or E: must stress STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—education starting at an early age. We know right away it's not going to be option A; the Mars mission was not the focus of the passage, so that can't work as a thesis. Option C looks really nice; that was our metric system, most direct, most specific reference to what we saw previewed in all the other paragraphs. Option B, we can eliminate; this wasn't a space exploration passage; maybe if we only read the first paragraph we thought that was the case, but not if we read everything, not if we saw the big-picture overview. Similarly, option D: not about future missions to space; or option E: it's not really stressing STEM studies. Option C is our best choice; this captures what we saw come up over and over again in the passage.
Let's take a look at one last question before we go. Number three: The writer wants to add more information to the third paragraph, sentences 6 to 9, to support the main argument of the paragraph. All the following pieces of evidence help achieve this purpose except which one? This is one of those tricky "except" questions where if an answer does help the paragraph achieve its purpose, we actually eliminate that as an option. We are looking for the option that doesn't help the paragraph achieve its purpose. Let's see if we can find one that does that. Option A: "An airplane that ran out of fuel mid-flight because of a conversion error by the pilots when they calculated how much fuel they needed." Option B: "A mechanical failure on an amusement park ride that occurred because the Imperial size of a particular part was ordered instead of the metric size." Option C: "A quote from Thomas Jefferson's 18th-century proposal for a new Decimal System to standardize weights and measures." Option D: "Data from a United States company demonstrating an increase in profits because of its conversion to the metric system." Or option E: "A map showing the countries that use the metric system shaded in one color and those that use the imperial system shaded in another color." We are essentially looking for the option that doesn't fit with the rest of that paragraph's main argument; which information would seem out of place? So for option A, an airplane that runs out of fuel mid-flight because of a conversion error, to me that fits with what sentences 6 to 9 were discussing; that was a paragraph really focused either on the benefits of switching to the metric system or the potential hazards or drawbacks of not switching. Option A fits with that, so that will not be our answer for this question. For option B, a mechanical failure that occurred because of a mix-up in the metric units versus imperial units, that to me also fits with the paragraph. This is a potential hazard that comes from not using the right system or units, so we're going to leave that one out because that does support the main argument. Option C is an interesting one: Jefferson's proposal for a new Decimal System. To me, this turns a little bit away from focus on converting to the metric system and talks about an entirely new system altogether. I'm not sure that that's really going to work with what we saw in the rest of the paragraph there. Option D: data from a United States company demonstrating an increase in profits. To me, this is now flipping to the benefits that would come from converting to the metric system, so this does match the argument of the paragraph, which means it's not going to be our answer. And lastly, for option E, we see a map showing countries that use the metric system; that might initially seem like, uh, an outlier here, but when we think about it, realizing that the United States is just one of three countries that hasn't made the switch, that might give us a little bit of a nudge to say this is a worthwhile shift; it will help us sort of blend in or connect better with other countries. I think that that does add information that supports that main argument of the paragraph. So for those reasons, we're going to go with option C: Jefferson's quote on a proposal for a new Decimal System just doesn't really match that idea of the benefits or the hazards that come from switching or not switching to the metric system.
So as a quick refresher here today, we worked on reading a passage to identify a topic, claim, tone, and method of development. We looked at anticipating spots for revision, which helped us with at least one of our questions. We parsed those questions carefully to figure out what they were really asking, especially when they were loaded questions, and we narrowed our options by eliminating words that don't work, validating phrases that do; we're trying to make sure we have the best option possible. Thanks for watching the video. I hope this has helped. In our next round of videos, we're going to take a look at synthesis essay writing, and I know it's a grind to get ready for these tests, but you guys are almost there. Thanks for putting in this extra time; you guys are going to do great.