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Strategies to Approach Multiple-Choice Questions in the Classroom and on the Exam
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by Shirley Counsil
Spanish River Community High School
Boca Raton, Florida
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| | Preparing for Multiple-Choice Questions: The Challenges
The multiple-choice sections of the AP English Language and AP English Literature Exams are often the most challenging for both teachers and students. The multiple-choice section constitutes 45 percent of the score for each exam, and, generally, the section focuses more on the process than the product. It is hard to provide measures that guarantee success, and students are often frustrated with their lack of improvement. I have tried a number of strategies to improve my students' scores, but unfortunately, there is no "magic bullet" for success. It really comes down to frequent practice and in-depth discussions about what works and what does not for students and teachers alike.
Classroom Strategy 1
Give the students frequent practice taking multiple-choice exams. Starting early in the year, practice about once every two weeks. Give one small passage at a time. This is an area where depth is more important than breadth. The first few months should be viewed as a learning phase. Later students can acquire more practice and then strive toward mastery. Occasionally, it helps to let students work in pairs. I usually give each student a Scantron® form or grid on which to record his or her answers. I also instruct them to write copiously on the passage and circle the correct answer. When the students have completed the questions, I collect the forms and then go over the answers. It is important to take time to go over why certain answers are wrong because students often learn most from their mistakes. If you have a difficult time explaining why a particular answer is right, ask students in the class why they chose the correct answer. Sometimes students who argue over why an answer is correct may accept an explanation from another student more readily than from you. However, sometimes students may simply be arguing to achieve a higher grade. I usually curve the grades since the AP multiple-choice questions are not like questions on a regular test. They are more difficult, and on the actual AP Exam students can get as few as half the multiple-choice questions correct. If they score at least an average of 5 on their free-response questions, they can receive a 3, a passing grade, on the exam. I usually do not make practice multiple-choice tests worth too many points, and I use the highest grade in the class as the curve. I have found that students may not try as hard if I do not give a grade. This is an area for individual judgment and compromise.
Classroom Strategy 2
After reading the passage, students should read each question and anticipate what the answer might be before looking at the answer. This forces the student to focus on the question, not the answer. Many students are nervous when taking the exam, and any strategies that help them focus and concentrate are good. When students get down to two answers, both of which seem correct, I advise them to choose the one that is most specific.
Classroom Strategy 3
I also instruct the students to read actively rather than passively. I encourage them to underline words, phrases, or sentences in the passage that they think might be important. I show them how to look for patterns, motifs, repetition, and/or contrasts. What they underline is probably not as important as the process. I emphasize that reading actively increases focus and improves comprehension. I ask them how many times they have read a passage then looked up and did not remember a thing they just read. Reading actively helps to curb that wandering mind! Students cannot afford to waste time on the multiple-choice section with several readings.
Classroom Strategy 4
I explain that the most difficult kinds of questions are the ones that ask students to find "all of the following except" or any questions that require students to reread a large portion of the text. They might want to omit these or leave them until later, as these questions consume an inordinate amount of time.
Classroom Strategy 5
It is important to give an entire practice exam, including the multiple-choice and the free-response sections, before the actual exam so that students get a sense of timing. Be sure to advise them to look at the multiple-choice section of the exam as soon as they receive it and decide how much time they can spend on each section or question. I tell students to bring a watch to keep in front of them so they can manage their time efficiently.
Classroom Strategy 6
Giving students a solid foundation in stylistic and rhetorical devices can be extremely helpful. Working with close reading and vocabulary in context might also benefit them. There is a close correlation between what students are asked to do on the free-response section and what they must know to be successful on the multiple-choice section.
Classroom Strategy 7
Let students chart their progress on a multiple-choice chart and encourage them to strive for small gains (for example, one more right). Remind them that their success rate will go up and down, but that over time they should experience some progress. I have included a sample chart below that I received from my colleague Margaret Rice at Wellington High School in Wellington, Florida.
Making the Most of Practice Exams
I give my students a chart that they must use to track their progress on the multiple-choice practice exams they take. It is a table with six columns and multiple blank rows; the top row reads:
| Date and Title |
Number Possible |
Number Correct |
Percent Correct |
Number Guessed |
Percent Guessed Correctly |
They record the date and title first. Then they enter not only the number of questions correctly answered but also the number they missed. Some multiple-choice passages have nine questions, some have 12, and others have 14. Converting the number correct to a percentage allows students to compare and chart their progress. The last category analyzes a student's ability to guess. Some students are good at guessing, and some are not. By the end of the year when they take the exam, students should know whether they are successful at guessing or not. Sometimes I have them keep another sheet on which they record the kind of questions they missed. Once students see a pattern to the kinds of questions they fail to answer correctly, they may focus their attention on and develop strategies for achieving a higher rate of success on the multiple-choice section of the AP English Language or Literature Exam.
There are many sources for multiple-choice practice exercises. The College Board has released a number of exams that have been given over the past few years. These can be purchased for a minimal fee. Some commercial AP manuals are useful. I find the CliffsNotes manual is helpful. Additionally, I often use the AP English practice book from D&S Marketing. Their material is a bit harder than the actual exam, and my students usually come out of the exam saying that the AP multiple-choice section was easier than most of the ones they took in class. This is what I want to hear.
What Is the Question Asking?
I often give my students a copy of the multiple-choice section from the Course Description published by the College Board, divide the students into groups, and have them do their own statistical analysis of the exam. I give them a little "cheat sheet" to get them started. My "cheat sheet" has the following items, with blanks underneath the list to be filled in with any additional categories:
- Main idea/meaning in context
- Refers to/functions
- Rhetorical strategies
- Speaker
Here is an example:
In analyzing any multiple-choice exam, students must look for key words in the prompt. For example, in the "Sample Multiple-Choice Questions" section of the AP English Language Exam part of the Course Description, question 2 begins, "It can be inferred that the phrase 'common hieroglyphics' (line 11) refers to . . . ." In this sentence the key word is "inferred," and the sentence can be placed in the category labeled "Inferences," but it also mentions "referred to" and so may be included in the category "Refers to/functions" as well. Question 4 begins, "In lines 32–38 ('And thus . . . honour of our writings'), the speaker employs which of the following rhetorical strategies?" This selection may be catalogued in both "Rhetorical strategies" and "Speaker." If you find questions for which there are no categories, you may create one, but avoid creating too many categories. It is not necessary to read the passages or the answer choices, just the question. Decide what the question asks the student to know. Create groups or categories of questions.
After the students analyze the questions on the passage and put them into categories, I have them write AP kinds of questions from at least four of the categories they have created. I usually do not let them use "meaning-in-context questions" because they are the easiest to write. This exercise lets students examine the multiple-choice exam from the creative side rather than the response side. The more the students know about and understand this section, the better they should perform on the actual exam. The following approaches can help them during the exam itself.
Exam Strategy 1
Remind students that the multiple-choice section always presents a combination of easy, medium, and hard questions for each passage. These questions generally follow the chronology of the passage rather than transition from easiest to hardest or vice versa. The most important factor, however, is that they all are worth the same points. Therefore, a sound strategy for students is to make sure they get credit for all the easy and medium answers first. That means choosing which questions to answer and which ones to skip and then returning to answer if time allows. A student who spends too much time on a single, hard question may not get to answer two or three easy questions in a later part of the exam. Additionally, I advise students to do a quick check of the number of the question and the number on the Scantron forms every time they see a zero (10, 20, 30, and so on). This double-check can keep them from getting off track, having to go back to find their error, and wasting valuable time.
Exam Strategy 2
When the question refers to a part of the sentence and asks for the meaning of a word or phrase in context, what a word refers to, or how a word functions, it is best to go back to the beginning of the sentence or even to the previous sentence and read completely to the end of the sentence to comprehend the meaning. I have seen questions that ask the student what the antecedent of "this" is, and the answer is found in the preceding sentence. Students may also want to read the sentence that follows because the answer could be there.
Exam Strategy 3
If students have no idea of what the correct answer might be, instruct them to leave it blank, as there is a quarter-point penalty for guessing. This is the same process used on the SAT exam. Students who guess incorrectly actually lose the point that they would have received for a correct answer and an additional quarter-point as a penalty. This means that for every incorrect answer, students lose 1.25 points. When the exam is scored, these points are totaled and deducted from the number of correct answers.
Exam Strategy 4
If students find themselves running out of time, they can take the following approaches:
A. Scan the remaining questions and look for either the shortest questions or the questions that direct them to a specific line or lines. These questions take less time to answer.
B. Look for questions that contain the answer without requiring the student to refer to the text. For example, "The sea slid silently from the shore" is an example of (B) alliteration. The student would not have to go back to the passage to find the answer.
Exam Strategy 5
I must preface this next strategy by saying that this works for some students and not for others. Tell students to scan the questions first but not the answers, since four out of five of them are wrong. I tell my students to skip any questions that direct them to a specific line number, and this eliminates the majority of questions. Therefore, this strategy takes only a few seconds. In the few that are left, many times hints and clues about the meaning of the passage will be revealed. Some students tell me they had no idea what the passage was saying until they read some of the questions. Other students tell me it is a waste of time to read the questions first. This strategy is really one of personal preference. I usually ask students to try the strategy a few times and then do what works best for them.
Exam Strategy 7
One way to ensure that students finish the entire multiple-choice section is to have them scan the number of questions and divide the number by two. For example, if there are 54 questions, and students have 60 minutes to complete the section, students should be around question 27 after 30 minutes. Another strategy is to divide the time by the number of passages. For example, if students have four passages to read and one hour to complete the exam, they should allot 15 minutes to each passage. The advantage of this method is that every passage has a number of easy and medium questions, and by moving steadily the students will receive the maximum number of points. Do not tell the students that there will be four passages; while four is often the number of sections in the multiple-choice section, I have seen as many as five. One year a student told me she did not even get to the last passage because she assumed there would be only four. Students must take responsibility for managing their time on the exam.
Practice, Practice, Practice
There is no secret formula for success on the multiple-choice section of the AP English Exams. Hard work, frequent practice, and practice using sound methods and strategies should demystify the multiple-choice section, giving students more confidence and, ideally, resulting in higher scores and better passing rates.
Shirley Counsil has been teaching AP English Literature and Composition at Spanish River Community High School since 1987. She became a Reader for the AP English Language and Composition Exam in 1992 and a Table Leader in 1999. In 1995, she began leading workshops for the Southern Regional Office and now presents several week-long AP Summer Institutes every year. Additionally, in 2005, Counsil served as a project manager for the College Board's New York office, developing two new Pre-AP workshops; she wrote the materials for a workshop entitled "Pre-AP Strategies in English: A Serious Approach to Comedy." Counsil is a College Board National Leader and also serves as a College Board mentor.
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