ENGLISH II PRE-APJohnson

MONDAY10 minutes: Draft Memoir

Focus on incorporating setting! In groups, identify LIDDS in Cormac McCarthy excerpt.

Write analytical paragraph for HW [due Wednesday]

REMINDERSMemoir due 11:59 PM October 8

(Thursday!)Review the rubric Google ClassroomWe will be in the computer lab on the 7th to

type.

Outside Reading Blog Post #2 due October 12

TUESDAY, THURSDAY PSAT Review and Practice Sentences of the Week

Review of compound/complex stuff. Review purpose, tone [lidds]

PSAT BLITZReading and Writing Sections

Just Part of 2 hours and 45 minutes of fun!

SKILLS YOU NEED FOR PSAT SUCCESS

PSAT tests three main skills:ReadingWriting and Language Reasoning

READING / WRITING AND LANGUAGE SECTIONS

Both sections are entirely multiple choice

Each question has 4 possible answer choices

Learn to narrow your choices and make an educated guess

No penalty for guessing!

TIMING

You’re not as rushed on this test, so take the time to read all the passages

(So they claim- be mindful of time)

PSAT READING60 minutes total 47 total questions5 passages:

1 literature2 history/social science2 science

1-2 graphs accompany passages

Random order of difficulty

WRITING AND LANGUAGE35 minutes4 passages / 11 questions per passage

44 questions total Random order of difficulty

BE PREPARED!The best preparation for the PSAT (and SAT) is to READ coursework and on your own, especially texts that mimic the test:Newspapers, serious magazine articles, essays

Pre-20th/Historical documentsYour AP Course Work

SOME GOOD NEWS (I GUESS)The PSAT does not test the following things:PronunciationAntonymsSpelling Content about literatureVocabulary lists

HELPFUL HINTS: PACING Save the difficult questions for last! All questions are weighted the same

If you find a question is difficult or time consuming to answer, circle it and come back to it later. Don’t waste time struggling on a question when there could be other questions you can easily answer.

The Reading Section

THIS IS A WHOLE NEW TESTDO NOT look at the questions/ answer choices before reading the passage

Most questions ask about the overall meaning of the work- you’ll waste time if you look at questions/ answer choices first

OVERALL MEANING OF PASSAGES Underline and circle key words as you read! That’s right! Annotate!!!!! (I TOLD YOU SO)

Questions involve inference, function, suggestion, tone, and purpose- you have to discuss the text as a whole to answer the questions

LOOK FOR CONTEXT! There’s a brief summary that will give you information about what you’re about to read.

Look for it and read it (This is like AP exams)This will help you focus your reading

RECOGNIZING PASSAGE TYPE HELPS YOU FOCUS

Literature:Read the entire passageRead the first paragraph or two a

bit more carefully This helps you with characters

and setting before moving into the rest of the story

RECOGNIZING PASSAGE TYPE HELPS YOU FOCUSNonfiction

Read the entire passageRead the first paragraph, first sentences of each paragraph, and last paragraph a bit more carefully

This helps you with the thesis of the essay and general topics of each paragraph

RECOGNIZING PASSAGE TYPE HELPS YOU FOCUS

Paired PassagesRead these with a focus on overall meaning

Pay attention to the overall relationship between the two

You will be asked to compare/ contrast and you know this ahead of time

LOOKING AT QUESTIONSUnderline and circle key words in the question

Analyze and annotate the questions

This will ensure that you understand what you’re being asked to do

LOOKING AT QUESTIONSCover up the answer choices!

Once you’ve read the question, try to answer it in your own words before looking at answer choices

Compare your answer to answer choices

THE ANSWER IS RIGHT OR WRONGPSAT no longer says “best answer”

Look for a flawless answer

That means read the choices very carefully- 1 word will make all the difference

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXTLook for context clues with vocabulary

You don’t need to know an exact definition! Just look at the context of the sentence

Recall where and in what context you’ve heard that word before- it helps

LET’S PRACTICE, SHALL WE? Read summary firstDetermine genre and focus

accordinglyRead and annotate passage Read and annotate first question

(cover up answer choices)Answer in your own wordsCheck answer choices listedPick one!

The Writing and Language Section

NEW STUFF! NO SHORT STAND ALONE QUESTIONS You will be dealing with multiple

questions that deal with the same passage (that’s new)

Underline and circle key information as you read long questions

TRUST YOUR EAR (USE THE CREEPY WHISPER!Trust you “ear” to tell you what “sounds right.”

READ, READ, READ. The more you read, the more you will internalize what “sounds right.”

Try reading aloud. Sometimes this will “train your ear.”

This works because the test doesn’t require you to identify the error in technical terms

THINK ABOUT MEANINGSome questions will be about punctuation or subject- verb agreement

Others will be larger scale- like conforming to a given writing objective or making an appropriate transition

So as you read, make sure you’re thinking about making the writing as logical as possible

RELEVANT CONTEXTSmall- scale problems like punctuation are easy to look at on their own

But consider the surrounding sentences when looking at larger scale issues like logical transitions, tense agreement, and tone consistency

READ THE ENTIRE SELECTIONFor this section, you’re reading for overall flow and meaning.

Make sure that the passage makes sense

So that means don’t read for overall meaning here

PREDICT YOUR ANSWERS FIRST Cover up the answer choices when you read each question

Predict an answer first before looking at the choices (they can get confusing and repetitive)

NOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO…

GOOD LUCK!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5: ENGLISH II PSAT Study Guides Review: Diction, Imagery, Denotation vs.

Connotation Draft Memoir (Peer Editing)

3 positive comments (specific) 2 things you could improve upon 1 example of imagery, diction, or signposts.

Reminders: Memoir due October 8. I need to see a significant amount of memoir done by

today. You will be typing your memoirs in the computer lab

tomorrow & Wednesday. You will have 2 days to type and complete the analysis portion of your memoir.

TUES- WED: LAB Thursday: love w/journal entry Friday: love (1/2 day) Focus on setting change and RACE. Sign posts.

PEER EDITING 3 positive comments

I really liked how…

I can relate to your experience...

I enjoyed the part where…

2 Memoir ElementsExamples of Diction, Imagery, or Sign Posts:

1 Suggestion for Improvement