First off, let me just say that I appreciate you teaching to the test. After all, the goal of the class is to do well on the AP test. While it may bother some person, I personally believe it's appropriate for the setting of this class. With that being said, I strongly encourage you to cut out as much busy work as possible. By busy work, I mean things that do not directly pertain to the test. Although I can only recall a few times this year where we were given work that wasn't exactly associated with the test (again, it's much appreciated), it needs to be eliminated all together. As you said, the skills we learn for the test are ultimately very valuable skills. So extra stuff is not necessary.
As far as our preparation for the AP test goes, I have a few things to consider. First, I believe spending a little bit more time on reviewing the multiple choice would be beneficial. The amount of practice tests we did was perfect, but the time we spent on going over them afterwards was almost nonexistent. I couldn't really learn from my mistakes when we didn't go over it. Now I'm not saying you have to spend a whole class period going over these tests. I think the best option is to review the most missed questions (and questions similar to those questions, if you catch my drift). And if anyone wants to go over additional questions, they can ask you individually. Besides that, maybe you could give them tips on how to time themselves for the multiple choice. I know a lot of people struggled with answering all the questions in the given time.
For the essays, let me start off with the effective things. Reading the Writing with Style book at the beginning of the year in class was effective. It's very easy to comprehend, and some of those tips really stick with you. I know it's different for everyone, but I remind myself of some of those good tips when I write. So please, continue to do that. Also, the group discussions of everyone's essays was also good. Nerve wracking, but good. Hearing unbiased (usually) opinions about your writing can really change your perspective on how good or bad you're doing. And it also gets you really comfortable with the essay grading scale. So again, continue doing that. However, there are a couple things you should probably change. I think you should be a little bit stricter about the 40 minute time limit on the essays. The most stressful part about taking the AP test was making sure we had enough time to finish all the essays. Out of all the essays we wrote in class, I didn't write a single one of them in 40 minutes. So when I got to the test, I was shocked I was able to finish all the essays before time was called. But I think if you can get them comfortable with that time limit in the classroom, it will save them a lot of extra stress. And as their writing improves, they'll be more confident in their ability to write a really good essay in only 40 minutes. Going along with the time limit, I think you should stop allowing for so much revision on the essays. While it may seem helpful in the beginning, it's something I came to rely on when writing these essays. And let's face it, complete revision of an essay just isn't possible during the actual AP test. So you need to wean your students off of that early on in the year. Eventually, they should learn to just write the best version of their essay right there in the given 40 minutes.
I'm sure there are plenty more things I could talk about here, but these are the basic things I felt you needed to know. These activities are what consumed most of our year, so they deserve the most planning on your end.
P.S. Even if you don't take any of my wishy-washy advice, I'm sure your class will be just as amazing next year!
good stuff - thank you
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