Tag: gamesmanship

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AP Exam: Section I — Workshop

  By AP English Language & Composition (2018-2019), Test Prep

Critical note on compliance: If you are one of the 13 students who have yet to submit your Section I scores, do that immediately after reading this sentence.

Toward the End, “The Long Walk”

The AP exam, which packs three essays and 55 multiple-choice questions into about 200 minutes, is closer to a sprint than a marathon; the exam prep, however, is all long-distance running. You can’t cram for this AP. We go slowly and steadily.

Which brings us to the two Section I workshop day scheduled on our calendar. You should use the first one to generate questions and try to solve problems yourselves. Then you can use the time between the first and second workshop to seek my help here, interstitially, through the comment section of this post.

You will have individual needs, and we’ll address those through individual feedback and some test-specific triage. Most concerns, however, are going to overlap with the needs of the group. You’ll see below that particular questions and passages pose more problems. You’ll either be able to offer the explanations we need, be able to prompt the explanations we need, or be able to help by transcribing and posting questions here, on this post.

Note that it will matter down the road which of you got most of the answers correct on this practice test. Down this particular road, you’ll be asked to provide general advice and strategies to your peers. Right now, it’s about each passage and, more specifically, each question. We need to solidify your understanding of what each passage says, how each question works, how each set of answers can be filtered, and ultimately how to arrive at the correct answer.

Let’s start with what you can with the following data, too. You have the right answers, and you’ve had time to sit with the test; now you’ll see a spreadsheet of student performances. The order is randomized.

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F03%2FSR-MC-Responses-Copy-of-AP-Exam_-2012.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

Further Forms Data

That spreadsheet will take focus to unpack. That job may be helped by the data created by Google Forms — data you can access simply by clicking on the right link after submitting your own performance. I prefer the Forms data, so I’ve copied and pasted the statistics for each passage below.

Use this and the spreadsheet PDF to help you determine what to do next. Start with each other, and then send folks to ask specific questions in the comment section below.

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F03%2F2012-AP-Exam_-32-Students-Reporting.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

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Gamesmanship: AP English Lang. & Comp. Exam

  By AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018)

Gaming the AP Exam, Part ∞

We’ve talked a lot this year about how to approach your AP exam — the first full post on the matter was five months ago — and you’ve now had an extra week to prep. You should be generating plenty of evidence of your preparations. The last thing to add might be this: a bit of number-crunching à la today’s post on the Regents Exam.

You have copies of the scoring rubrics, worksheets, etc., from the work that started on April 29. You also have had access to this site:

http://appass.com/calculators/englishlanguage

That site runs the numbers for you. It makes gamesmanship far easier. What I’d like to do is give you advice about how to massage your confidence and troubleshoot your last-minute preparations through that site and the other scoring materials you have.

By the Numbers

This the benchmark I’d use:

Why use a 5? Because it’s actually not that far off from the middle of the bell curve:

Any student with a bit of natural ability who works hard all year in our course is capable of this. It’s at the high end of that middle part of the curve, but you have to think of it in qualitative terms: You’re getting about three-fourths of the multiple-choice correct, and you’re writing three adequate essays. That’s what the rubric tells you: 6 means an adequate response.

What we’ll look at here is how the scoring composite shifts if you average other scores across your three essays, and how many multiple-choice answers you’d need correct to cross the threshold for a 3, 4, or 5.

All 6s

Set the number of correct answers on Section I as the first variable, X, and the final AP exam score as the second variable, Y. If you average a 6 across all three essays, Section I breaks down like this:

  • When X ≥ 16, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 42, Y = 5

What’s remarkable, then, about pulling together three adequate responses is that you will pass with just 30% correct on Section I. If you write two adequate responses, but the third is a 7, then the thresholds drop by two points each:

  • When X ≥ 14, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 29, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 40, Y = 5
All 5s

It’s more likely that you’ll write at least one uneven response — one that has flaws, but manages to answer the prompt to some extent. You are capable of more, but time and the vagaries of the testing environment might conspire against you. (You might not have prepared as much as you could have this year, too, but that’s a self-imposed handicap.) If you average a 5 across all three essays, Section I breaks down like this:

  • When X ≥ 24, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 39, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 50, Y = 5

50+ on Section I is hard to predict, even for the strongest among you. What’s more helpful is that 75% of you were scoring at or above 39 as we practiced Section I, so 75% of you could set your goal at a 4 overall. And what might be most helpful is that you can miss half of the multiple-choice and still look to pass, if your essays are at the level of a 5 or higher.

if you manage one adequate response with two 5s, the thresholds drop by three points:

  • When X ≥ 21, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 36, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 47, Y = 5
All 4s

Essays at this level, as you know, fail to answer the prompt adequately. Each and every student reading this right now is capable of a timed essay better than a 4, but it’s also likely and fine that some of you will write a response at this level on the actual exam. Time, pressure, anxiety, etc., all warp the performance. Even if you averaged a 4 on all three essays, however, you’d have a good chance to pass. Section I would break down like this:

  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 46, Y = 4

You can’t earn a 5 if your essays are all 4s, but getting 56% of the multiple-choice correct would be enough for you to pass. That’s reassuring, or at least should be, because every single one of you who recorded your practice Section I data were at 32 or higher.

All 3s

You know that essays at this tier are highly flawed. If you’ve done your work this year, you’re unlikely to write a 3, even under time constraints; even if you’ve neglected a lot of the prep, you’d need to make a series of mistakes and miscalculations to end up here.

With all 3s, it’s still possible to pass. You’d need 40+ correct on Section I. You could get a 4, if you were perfect or nearly perfect (53+), but it matters most that you know a 3 is possible.

As you settle in on the day of the exam to work your way through Section I and Section II, keep all this in mind. You have the scoring guidelines for the 2017 exam (and might be able to access a copy of them through this link at the College Board’s website), so you should already have studied what constitutes the different levels of each essay’s rubric.

More importantly, you’ve been using our course’s scoring mechanisms all year. You know that a 6 is adequate, but not at all flawless; you know that 5s are limited, but have some strengths; you know that 4s fail to meet some basic requirements of the task. There’s a logic to this kind of scale. You can predict, therefore, what your score on Section I needs to be for you to hit your target goals, based on what you are likely to do Section II.

Ask any questions below. We’ll workshop the released free-response questions from last week’s exam tomorrow in class.

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Gamesmanship: Regents Exam (CC ELA)

  By All Junior Classes (2017-2018), AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018), English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

TL;DR

The rest of this post delves into the scoring mechanics of the Regents Exam, but I want to try something else:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2Fela-exam-matrix-01.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

I put together a scoring matrix that lines up total points for Parts 2-3 and total points for Part 1 and indicates the final exam score. No weighted raw scores here, and no breakdown of the math — just a look at how many multiple-choice answers need to be correct for a combined writing score to get you over a particular threshold.

The green section indicates distinction, or 85+; the yellow is for passing scores below 85; and the red covers a group of scores that are within striking range of 65.

For reference, here is a similar matrix for the writing sections:

This shows the weighted raw scores for the writing portions of the test. The numbers in the matrix form the left column of the final exam score PDF.

Gaming the Regents Exam

As we enter the last three weeks of the year, our test prep shifts into a kind of endgame. Here, that means crunching the numbers to see what points you can afford to lose on each part of the Regents Exam. You each have a target goal. Whatever that goal is, the multiple-choice section — the three reading passages and 24 questions on Part 1 — will most directly determine whether you succeed or not.

First, though: It takes close reading, critical thinking, and effective writing to do well on any high-stakes English exam. It is rarely, if ever, a test of content. The preparation for these tests starts, therefore, years before you sit to take them. Every essay, text, and discussion contributes to your prep. Skills are built over time, and a comprehensive test of those skills requires that time to tell us anything meaningful. There’s a reason this is the only Regents Exam that is not technically attached to a course (i.e., it has been taken in the past by sophomores, is sometimes taken by seniors, and could theoretically be taken by very advanced freshmen).

What we’re doing here is separating the gamesmanship of all high-stakes tests from the skill-building required. Like all tests, the Regents Exam is about gaining as many points as possible. You’ve prepped for the skills part of the test since you were in middle school. It helps now to consider the numbers game.

Click for an essay on high-stakes test and grade-abated gamesmanship.

Case Study: January 2018

Almost all of this is available online:

What we need from that site is the equation for generating what is called a weighted raw score, which will then be converted by the state into a score out of 100 points. Let’s call the weighted raw score X.

There are three parts to the Regents Exam. Each one generates a raw score, based either on the number of questions answered correctly (Part 1) or the scores given according to a rubric (Part 2 and Part 3). We can give each of those scores a variable, too:

  • Part 1: Total MC Score = A
  • Part 2: Essay Score = B
  • Part 3: Short Response Score = C

The formula for determining a student’s weighted raw score: A + 4B + 2C = X. Here is the chart for converting that weighted raw score to a scale score out of 100 points:

We can call the 100-point score Y. What we can do now is determine what you’d need, given a particular score on Part 1, to hit the more meaningful thresholds:

  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 65
  • When X ≥ 38, Y ≥ 80
  • When X ≥ 45, Y ≥ 90

This lets us run some interesting scenarios. Perfect scores on the writing would yield a score of 66 without Part 1, for instance, which means a student could get zero points there and still pass. That speaks to the importance of the writing sections. It’s the multiple-choice, however, that allows the most gamesmanship. Consider:

  • You can practice the multiple-choice on your own, because the answers are available online; no one needs to score your work for you.
  • When multiple-choice is assigned through Castle Learning, you get explanations automatically, which means you can focus on metacognition and repetition.
  • It is often difficult to improve an essay from a 4 to a 5; the bell curve puts most responses in the 3-4 range.
  • It is similarly difficult to improve the Part 3 response from a 3 to a 4; the bell curve puts most responses in the 2-3 range.

It is much easier to practice more multiple-choice, work metacognitively through that practice, and pick up a few more points on Part 1. And with that in mind, we can work off of middle scores on the writing section to determine what you’d need on Part 1 to earn a target score.

By the Numbers

Part 2: 3 | Part 3: 2

Together, those writing responses would earn the student 16 points. We need another 15 points to pass, which means the student could miss nine (9) multiple-choice questions and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is still the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 15, Y ≥ 65
  • When A ≥ 22, Y ≥ 80

The student would need to miss only two questions on Part 1 to eke out an 80, but 15+ correct is more than possible. The questions are unevenly distributed, so that only four or five will ever be attached to the poem, whereas most exams have ten each per longer prose passage.

More importantly, writing responses that earn a 3 and 2, respectively, would be considered failing. See the rubrics here and here. This is, for most students, the starting point for writing, and many students can expect to do slightly better. For proof, consider the sample essay from Part 2 embedded below. According to the state’s scoring guides, this essay “us[es] some language that is inappropriate or imprecise,” “exhibit[s] frequent errors” that “make comprehension difficult.”

In other words, this sample essay is riddled with errors, and it still gives the student a chance to pass with only 15+ correct responses on Part 1.

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2FELA-Part-2-Level-3C.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

Part 2: 3.5 | Part 3: 2.5

What happens if the student’s two writing responses go up by just 0.5 points each? That barely brings the writing halfway up the rubric, but it earns the student 19 points for Part 1. Now we need only 12 more points to pass, which means the student could get 50% of the multiple-choice section incorrect and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is again the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 65
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 22, Y ≥ 85

Again, this is with much weaker responses for Part 2 and Part 3. Getting 15 right on Part 1 would now yield a 72, well above passing. 19 correct is a relatively high bar, but it’s more than possible, and it starts yielding overall scores in the 80s.

Part 2: 4 | Part 3: 3

These writing scores are in the upper-half of the rubrics. They reflect adequate work — nothing stylish or particularly well developed, just adequate. Now, the student earns 22 points for Part 1, which means we need only nine more points to pass. The student could miss 15 multiple-choice questions and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is still the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 70
  • When A ≥ 16, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 85
  • When A ≥ 23, Y ≥ 90

Yes, it would take a nearly perfect score to inch above a 90 overall, but a 90 is not everyone’s goal. An 80 requires this student to get only half of the questions right on Part 1. That’s well within reach. And more effective writing boosts the overall score quickly, as you’d expect.

Part 2: 5 | Part 3: 3

For instance, one more point on Part 2 earns the student 26 points for both writing sections. It takes only five more points to pass, with the following numbers now possible:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 90
  • When A ≥ 23, Y ≥ 95

It takes skill and focus to earn a high score, which is only natural. The encouraging thing ought to be that there are many paths to success, and each of you can use these last few weeks to practice until you are confident of your path.

Ask questions in the comment section.

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Test Prep: Endgame

  By All Junior Classes (2017-2018), AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018), English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

This post covers our final preparations for two high-stakes tests: the Regents Examination in English Language Arts, given by New York State in June, and the AP® English Language and Composition Exam, given by the College Board in May. If you’re reading this, you’re probably taking one or both.

Read on for instructions. Skip what doesn’t apply to you specifically.

Regents Examination in English Language Arts

This is a straightforward test of skills. We’ve practiced each part of it in isolation already, and we’ve been working on the skills themselves all year. Search the site for references to exam prep; you’ll find a few dozen lessons and posts.

Refer to our end-of-year calendars for when you’ll take the June exam. The practice exam we’ll be using was given on January 22, 2018, which is the most recent test available to us.

These cover sheets delineate the three parts and the resources you’ve been given:

The test itself is in the classroom. You’ll be taking it, sans cell phone and Chromebook, until you’ve finished it, at which point you’ll be asked to complete the following Google Forms.

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 1

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 1 | https://goo.gl/forms/lgTs1G1dX0GADfW02

This covers three reading passages and 24 multiple-choice questions. You’ll need to enter your original answers all at once. We’ll track patterns and provide support based on your in-class work and these data.

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 2

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 2 | https://goo.gl/forms/Qd96mHQacYBieUy73

This is the source-based argument. You’ll need to type your handwritten response, and then you have some metacognitive analysis to complete.

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 3

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 3 | https://goo.gl/forms/V61DNFuFN4wdQdei2

This is the text-based analysis. You’ll need to type your handwritten response — remember, it’s not a full essay — and then complete a bit of metacognition.

AP® English Language and Composition Exam

Do you notice the ® by “AP” in this post? That refers to the registered trademark of the College Board. I don’t take the time to add it, usually, but I probably should. The folks at the College Board take their intellectual property rights seriously:

That’s why the 2016 exam, which we practiced intermittently throughout Q3, was never posted to the interstitial classroom. The same goes for the 2017 exam, which you’ll be taking this week and next. It’s a purely offline bit of practice.

Google Classroom blurs the line a little bit — it’s pedagogically the same thing as distributing work in class — but it’s part of the testing frenzy of this part of the year to stare at printed pages and bubble in small circles and write until your hands cramp.

Everything you need is in the classroom. We’ll discuss the possibilities outlined in the end-of-year calendar as May gets going, because we’ll want to balance rigorous test prep with your own units of study.

2017 AP Exam: Section I

You probably want to take 60 uninterrupted minutes to do this. When you’re ready, enter your answers here:

2017 AP Exam: Section I https://goo.gl/forms/yylJ8XjCuzvXGzit2

2017 AP Exam: Section II

You probably want to take the suggested time here, too — two hours and fifteen minutes, all at once. When you’re ready, type up your responses:

2017 AP Exam: Section II | https://goo.gl/forms/EyDZ3W0Y2xQQNnp83

The form for Section II asks you to identify and analyze several writing choices you made in one or more of these essays. We’ll focus our metacognitive work for Section I through face-to-face conferences.

I’ll monitor your work online and offer help as necessary and on request. Use all of your resources. Most of them are in the photocopied packets lining our bookshelves. It might be useful to see that the cover sheets for those packets delineate their contents:

Above All

Above all, remember that these AP and Regents tests are important, because they do reveal something about your skill and potential. They are tests of skills and traits that matter, for the most part. But they are ultimately emphasized so much only because of the failure of the system to design anything better.

In other words, no one believes these tests get at the inimitable, wonderful parts of you that truly matter. They don’t. You must take the tests seriously because of what high scores do for you — and because it is good to beat the system at its own game:

Know Your Enemy: High-Stakes Tests

That’s from January. Your confidence should be high, if you’ve done your work; this is about confirming the things that the last eight months have taught us about you. That, and playing the game.

Ask questions below.