1987 AP Exam

Question #1

George Eliot’s piece on leisure shows the contrast between old and new lifestyles that we live in. she characterizes old leisure as laid back, relaxed, and a slow paced life. While on the reversal, new leisure is much the opposite being a hard working and fast paced life style. New leisure is drawn to be much more in depth thinking and involving intellectual activities stimulating the minds of people who wish to learn and grow. Old leisure is simple minded and relates to just going through the motions of every day routine. Eliot uses a man going through his daily routine to show the contrast between the two. Her diction, tone, personifying, and use of flashbacks show the shift from old to new leisure as well as the gap of contrast between the two. She depicts two people of opposite life styles, that symbolically represent the old and new lifestyles society has evolved into. 

Question #2

History itself deserves as the best proof of society’s progress on a global scale. For example, the great depression of the 1950’s brought about one of the biggest and most dramatic chapters of history known today. It left society with an escalation of problems, including  the stock market crash, dust bowl, and the rise in moving west. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck captures our nations great struggle through the devastating great depression. Steinbeck’s book explored the doubt people had in the government as well as our nations financial systems exemplified through the stock market crash. Also, the dust bowls destroying crops affected countless lives and inflicted damage into all areas of agriculture. Steinbeck uses a variety of literary devices. Figurative language, personification, hyperbole, metonymy, and vivid characterization are all mixed into the book, Steinbeck’s novel almost flawlessly ties connections from historical events to a story on paper about “living the american dream” and the struggles it takes in achieving it. 

Weaknesses: I feel my biggest weaknesses in test taking is my constant self-guessing (and it mostly aimed towards the multiple choice). I read the question, then once at the answers i start to think that all letters work, but have trouble in selecting which one is the most correct. Another big flaw would definitely be vocabulary. I would like to at least know tips on narrowing down wrong answers even when i don't fully understand/know the word being asked. For me personally, I feel a also struggle with speed reading. I have trouble reading the passages fast enough to get to the questions. This is a very important detail i hope to improve. Also, with this particular text, i realized just how little i know about poet devices. All these are aspects of my test taking i wish ti improve by the end of the year when I take the AP Exam.

Strengths: I think my biggest strength for the AP Exam would be the essays. I think it much easier for me to write about things i am able to draw connections and relate to then to simply bubble in answers about pieces i barely even had time to read. With the essays i think I'm very good with finding/applying rhetorical and literary devices. I think in general i do a good job of comparing books to one another which applies quite nicely for the test. I also think i do a good job of detecting the authors themes, mood, tones, etc when reading passages for both the multiple choice sections and writing. But there is always room for improvement!