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:
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.