I, like most of my fellow students, am dreading the AP Lang Exam. Throughout the year we have taken practice tests for the big end of the year exam and the real test is coming up fast. I have failed all, if not most of, my practice tests so far, but I am aiming to pass this final test. So I have compiled a few good strategies for the test.

The Exam:

The exam itself is just an extremely long test. The whole thing runs for 3 hours and 15 minutes. An hour for multiple choice might seem like a long time to take your test, but that will fly faster than a falcon with a rocket strapped to its back. Once you get into the multiple choice you will be engrossed in 52-55 questions meant to test your knowledge of the English language. All of these questions will be paired with passages that you must read in order to understand the question better. That’s a tad over a minute per question. After that tiresome campaign, you have 2 hours and 15 minutes to finish your 3 essay questions. 15 of these minutes are dedicated to reading your prompts and then the last 2 hours is spent writing your 3 essays.

The Reading:

Personally, I believe that the reading portion of this test will be the hardest part. Throughout all of the multiple choice, and possibly the exams too, there are passages that will pose to be challenging obstacles to hurdle. These passages vary in length but all usually take up a full page. The best strategy I have for this–and have done myself– is learned how to read at a faster pace. This Huffington Post article will teach you a short tutorial that will assist you in reading each of your passages much faster.

The Answering:

For answering the exam, the best tip I can give is the question. Usually, the question will ask for the significance of a topic or point in a passage. Always think about what question you’re answering. When you’re about to write a sentence think about how that relates to the question. Sticking to answering this question can really help your essay score points. When scoring multiple choice points, the best tip I can give you is the process of elimination. Mark questions you know can’t be true in your reading booklet and focus on the ones you have not marked yet.

These are the best tips I can give. Work your hardest and try to focus and good luck!