Here is a blank copy of the calendar for Q4, which is already in progress:
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The end of the year starts on April 19, when we return from spring break. We won’t see another day off until the end of May, and you’ll have final exams a week later.
This calendar is meant to be printed and filled in according to your needs. Note the dates of each panel of your Q4 GAP triptych, as well as the Fridays you’ll be in the iLC. All other assignments, instructions, and feedback will be posted here and on Google Classroom, as always, and we will spend April 19-20 setting things up1. I’ll share a copy of the calendar through Google Classroom, too.
The Non-Denominational Evil Spirit in the Details
We’ll start with the multiple-choice section of the AP Exam. You have until Monday morning to finish Section I of the 2016 exam, which has been photocopied for use in the classroom. I’ll prepare a Google Form that will require you to record how you answered each question. You’ll have the correct answers provided in class, of course, in order to start hacking and reverse-engineering the logic of the test; the Google Form assignment will be given so I can plan out group work and individual feedback going into the week of April 24.
You will be given 60 minutes for this part of the exam when the real thing tentacles its way into our lives on May 10. You can break those 60 minutes into 15-minute chunks, one per passage, or attempt the entire hour in one go. If you need more than 60 minutes to finish, take it, and then mark down how long you needed past the allotted time. We’ll work on speed as necessary.
Next week, you’ll write Section I metacognition and process analysis. I’ll work with you on breaking down the logic of each passage, question, and answer choice. Meanwhile, you’ll answer the rest of the free-response questions from Section II, and I’ll give you more tools for deconstructing and analyzing the kind of thinking, reading, and writing the exam demands of you.
Remember that you’ve already read a guide from me pointing out the overlap between these test skills and our universal skills. It was part of a post you were required to read way back on January 312:
I’ll post an update to the free-response guides and this essay on high-stakes gamesmanship before April 24, too. There’s no need to overwhelm you this week; as the footnote earlier says, we all need a few days to get back into fighting shape. Use Wednesday to reorganize and refocus, Thursday to do what you do best in the classroom, and Friday to figure out how you’re going to schedule in your Pareto Projects over the next three weeks.
Oh Yeah, Those Pareto Projects
Scroll through the instructional posts from before break, and remind yourself that we’ve already revisited/rebooted/retooled/etc these projects. Your job now is to figure out what 20% of your time looks like before AP exams. I’m going to suggest that you skim the writing you did back on March 2, after you’d read this post:
How does the project look now, nearly two months later? More importantly, how can I help you on Friday to position yourself so that you can best continue the project over the next two months?
This includes finalizing Q3 GAP scores, revisiting the BHS/China makerspace exchange, and reorganizing our physical space. We’ve had almost two weeks to atrophy, so we’re going to need two days to start moving again. ↩
This is a not-so-subtle reminder that (1) you have been preparing for the exam since September, and (2) your comfort at this moment depends in large part on how much of this reading you did back at the start of Q3. There are no surprises in here, except for the surprise that I am going to spend three weeks doing more or less nothing but test prep, with Pareto Projects folded in to keep me from getting lost in gamesmanship. ↩