Reply to AP 3 in a sea of 4/5s

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. DD is a rising junior. She has accommodations for anxiety. She works hard and is an excellent student. Her AP Gov teacher told her an essay she wrote was the best he’d ever read. I’m sure the essay portion was fine, but multiple choice tests kill her. She doubts herself, panics, changes answers. When she bombed her PSAT, she skipped entire sections. She even failed her learners’ permit test. Twice. I don’t know how to help her with this skill.[/quote]

OP - AP teacher here.  If your DD is a good essay writer, there are a couple of possible reasons for her 3 (which is a fine average score).  The first is that she may not have the practice needed to write all of the required essays within the time allowed.  There is real time pressure and some kids are perfectionists and write one or two excellent essays, but don't finish the rest, etc.  (there are four on the U.S. GoPo exam).  The second is that she may not have stamina.  The exams are three hours long.  Due to the limitations on class periods during the year, most kids don't practice taking the exam in one long stretch (although some teachers offer this at night or on Saturday).

Re: multiple choice practice.  First make sure that she knows the material (most AP teachers provide study guides and vocabulary words).  Next year, if she wants to improve, have her practice using a study guide.  Give her a few sections of multiple choice questions (maybe 15 questions) and have her take the first couple of sections using her normal strategies.  Then make sure that she is marking up her questions (underlining critical words), eliminating answers, reading ALL of the choices, etc.  Then have her complete another couple of sections and tell her that she is not allowed to change any answers (you could have her use pen).  Compare these performances.  You should be able to tell whether it is anxiety (often these kids have a ton of eraser marks if using pencil, so it is easy for me to see.) But usually their first instinct is the correct choice.

A few things to know re: AP multiple choice.  
1) They are now lots of passages, so reading speed is important
2) Often there is more than one technically correct answer; the College Board is looking for someone who can go beyond factual recall and think about applying those facts to a new situation.  So I tell my kids to look for the MOST correct answer (don't just stop with one that sounds right)
3) Lots of kids get tripped up on EXCEPT questions (and there are usually quite a few of these) - teach your DD to reframe the question.  In an EXCEPT question, she needs to find the three answer choices that are true, so these will be eliminated.
4) There are also lots of questions on the GoPo (and other Social Sciences exams) that compare two things (like this)

2. Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the arguments made in The Federalist 10 and Brutus 1?
 [u]The Federalist 10 [/u]    ;                                                                             [u]Brutus 1[/u]
(A) Factions are inevitable with popular sovereignty.  ;                                         A strong national government is needed.
(B) Factions are most dangerous at the local level.   ;                                          Small republics are best for stable governments.
(C) Power should be concentrated in the executive branch to address factions.   ;  National government is too far from the people.
(D) The effects of factions cannot be controlled.     ;                                            Popular sovereignty leads to anarchy.

Kids will tie themselves in knots trying to read and think through choice A and then choice B, etc.  Instead, she should think about what she knows about Federalist #10 before reading the choices.  Then go down the first column and cross out anything that doesn't make sense for Federalist #10.  Then she should think about what she knows about Brutus 1 before reading any choices, and then go down the list crossing out choices that don't make sense.  She should be left with one row that has two answers that are not crossed out.  That is the correct choice.

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