Answer the reading questions in Section 1 the way the exam is built. You will say what the question asks, prove an answer with words from the passage, and remove the choices that fail. You will learn the names of the seven ways wrong choices fool you, learn what each kind of question asks you to do, practice at exam speed, and keep a miss log.
Goal: answer the reading questions in Section 1 the way the exam is built. You will say what the question asks, prove an answer with words from the passage, and remove the choices that fail. You will learn the names of the seven ways wrong choices fool you, learn what each kind of question asks you to do, practice at exam speed, and keep a miss log.
Time: three sittings of about 35 minutes, one 15-minute return day, and one timed set of 10 questions when you have about 30 minutes.
Help: you can do this on your own or with family. You do not need a tutor. The Forms score your answers, and the answer key explains every choice, including the wrong ones.
How it works: start at the top and work down in order. When you reach a line that says Stop here, you are done for that day.
Get these ready:
Why it is built this way: a major review of study methods rated practice testing and spacing your study over time as the two most useful methods. So this module has you try first, come back later, and replay the games. Wrong answers on this exam are not random. Many are built in the same few ways. Giving each way a name helps you say why a choice fails, and your miss log shows which kind of wrong choice fools you most often. We do not claim a rule that works on every question. The names are a way to explain and remember.
Original practice only: every passage here is a public speech or essay from before 1929 or a U.S. government work. Every question was written for this kit. None of them is a College Board question. You will find a link to College Board's own sample questions in Part 6.
| When | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sitting 1 | Try First Check, then Part 1 and Part 2, then Game 1 | 35 minutes |
| Sitting 2, two or three days later | Replay Game 1, then Part 3, Part 4, and Game 2 | 35 minutes |
| Sitting 3, about a week after Sitting 1 | Replay Game 2, then Game 3, Part 5, and the Exit Check | 35 minutes |
| Return day, one to two weeks after Sitting 3 | Replay one game, then retake the Exit Check | 15 minutes |
| When you have about 30 minutes | Part 6: a timed set of 10 questions on two new passages, then score it and log every miss | 30 minutes |
Do these in order:
A family member does not need to know the answers. They can run the timer and read each question out loud. Then they can ask two questions: "What is the question asking you to do?" and "Which words in the passage prove that?" Games 2 and 3 work well with two players.
| Tool | What it is | Where you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Identify, Prove, Eliminate | Identify: what is this question asking me to do? Prove: what must be true for an answer to be correct, and where is the proof? Eliminate: which choices fail? If any part of a choice is wrong, the whole choice is wrong. | Every question |
| Question decoder | A table of ten kinds of questions. Each one has a task and one move. | Part 2 and Game 1 |
| Trap names | Seven names for the ways a wrong choice fails: Only retells, Off task, Not in the text, Too far, Contradicts the text, Wrong relationship, Sounds smart. | Part 4, Game 2, and Part 6 |
| Proof check | Point to the words in the passage that prove a choice. If you cannot, do not pick it. | Part 3 and Game 3 |
| Pace table | About 80 seconds per question. Mark the question and move on at about 2 minutes. | Part 5 and Part 6 |
| Miss log | A row on the My Mistakes tab for each miss, with the trap of the choice you picked. | Part 4 and Part 6 |
Open the Try First Check. Answer all 5 questions before you read anything below. Mark how sure you are on each one. It is fine to miss some, because trying first helps you remember the answers later.
Trouble with the box? Open it in its own tab.
When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker.
Got 5 out of 5? Skip Part 1 and go to Part 2.
| Feature | What to know |
|---|---|
| Questions | 45 in 1 hour. This is 45% of your score. |
| Sets | 5 sets. Each set has a passage and its questions. |
| Reading questions | 23 to 25 of the 45. They ask about the passage: what it says, how it works, and why. This module teaches these. |
| Writing questions | 20 to 22 of the 45. They ask you to improve a draft. Module 10 teaches these. |
| Choices | Each question has 4 answer choices. You earn a point for each right answer. A wrong answer does not lose points, so answer every question. |
| Time per question | About 80 seconds on average, and that includes reading the passages. |
Read the whole passage once at your normal speed. Then jot four things: who is speaking, to whom, what the writer wants, and how the writer feels. This is the same SOAPSTone note from Module 2, shortened. It takes about 30 seconds, and it helps with every question in the set.
Speaker: President Abraham Lincoln. Date and place: March 4, 1865, at the U.S. Capitol, at the start of his second term, near the end of the Civil War. Audience: the American people.
[1] One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
[2] Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged.
Source: Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 (U.S. government work, public domain). This excerpt is paragraphs 3 and 4 of the address and stops before the last sentence of paragraph 4. Paragraph numbers are for this excerpt only. The words are from 1865.
Question. Lincoln writes, "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other." This statement mainly serves to
A) show that both sides are equally right
B) point out that both sides ask the same God for help, though they want opposite results
C) list the religious practices of the Union
D) prove that the war was a religious conflict
| Plan step | What you think |
|---|---|
| Identify. | The question says "serves to," so it asks what the sentence does, not what it means. It is a purpose question about one sentence. |
| Prove. | A correct answer must say what the sentence does for Lincoln's point. The next sentence says it "may seem strange" to ask God's help in "wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces." So the sentence points out a problem with what both sides are doing. |
| Eliminate. | Your turn. |
Your turn: which choices fail, and why? Which choice is left? Write your answer and name the trap for each choice you removed. Use the trap names from Module 1, Game 3, or from the table in Part 4. Then check the Part 1 section of the answer key.
Every reading question asks you to do one kind of job. When you know the job, you know what to look for in the passage. This table lists ten kinds. Each has a code letter you will use in Game 1.
| Code | Kind of question | The stem sounds like | What it asks you to do | Your one move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Purpose of a part | "The second paragraph mainly serves to" or "The example of the farmer is used to" | Say what job a named sentence, example, or paragraph does. | Say the job in your own words: "This part is here to ___." Look at the parts before and after it. |
| M | Main point | "best states the main idea" or "central claim" | Say what the whole passage says. | Write the point in one sentence after reading the first and last paragraphs. Reject choices that cover only one part. |
| E | Evidence | "best supports the claim that" | Find the lines that prove a claim. | Restate the claim. Then ask: which lines would a doubtful reader accept as proof? |
| T | Tone or attitude | "the writer's attitude is" or "tone" | Name how the writer feels. | Find two words with feeling. Name the feeling in one or two words, then match. |
| W | Word in context | "As used in line 12, X most nearly means" | Say what a word means in this sentence. | Cover the word. Guess a word that fits. Test each choice in its place. |
| C | Choice and effect | "The use of repetition (or a metaphor, a question, a comparison) serves to" | Name a technique and say what it does for this audience. | Name the technique. Then ask: what does it do to this audience? |
| R | Relationship | "The relationship between ... is" or "the shift in paragraph 3" | Say how two ideas or parts connect. | Say the link with a small word: because, but, for example, so. |
| I | Inference | "suggests," "implies," or "can be inferred" | Find what the text points to without stating. | Ask: what must be true if the text is true? Point to the words. |
| S | Situation | "describes the audience" or "the speaker's purpose" | Say who speaks, to whom, and why. | Use your four-part note: speaker, audience, purpose, feeling. |
| X | NOT, EXCEPT, or LEAST | "each of the following EXCEPT" | Find the one false choice. | Mark the word. Test each choice as true or false. The answer is the false one. |
Part or technique? A P question names a part: a sentence, an example, a paragraph. A C question names a technique: repetition, a metaphor, a list of questions, a comparison. Both may say "serves to." Look at what the stem names.
A note on EXCEPT questions: the three wrong choices are true statements, so you cannot name a trap for them. The answer is the false choice. Ask which trap it would be in a regular question.
Goal: name the task before the clock runs out. Set a timer for 3 minutes. For each question stem below, write the code letter from the decoder in Part 2. A stem is shown without its passage, because the task is in the stem.
| Code | Task |
|---|---|
| P | Purpose of a part: a named sentence, example, or paragraph and what it does |
| M | Main point: what the whole passage says |
| E | Evidence: which lines prove a claim |
| T | Tone or attitude: how the writer feels |
| W | Word in context: what a word means here |
| C | Choice and effect: a named technique and what it does |
| R | Relationship: how two ideas or parts connect |
| I | Inference: what the text suggests or implies |
| S | Situation: who speaks, to whom, and why |
| X | NOT, EXCEPT, or LEAST: which choice is the false one |
Play with a family member or friend: one person reads a stem and the other names the task and says what to look for in the passage.
Replay Game 1 and try to beat your score.
These are original practice questions, not College Board questions. Open the Practice Set and answer them there. The Form shows the passage, asks how sure you are on each question, scores your answers, and explains every choice. The same passage and questions are printed below. If you prefer paper, answer them below, mark each one 1 (guess), 2 (maybe), or 3 (sure), and check them in the answer key.
Trouble with the box? Open it in its own tab.
For each question, use the three steps: Identify, Prove, Eliminate. Point to the words in the passage before you pick. Read the passage first and jot your four-part note.
Speaker: Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved man and a leading speaker against slavery. Date and place: July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, at a public meeting held for the Fourth of July. Audience: the people at the meeting.
[1] Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
[2] Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."
[3] But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.
Source: Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" July 5, 1852 (public domain). This excerpt is three paragraphs from near the start of the speech. One dash was changed to a period in paragraph 3. Paragraph numbers are for this excerpt only. The words are from 1852.
Question 1. Which choice best describes the speaker's situation?
A) He has been honored by the nation and speaks to thank it.
B) He has been invited to speak on the Fourth of July.
C) He has been asked to speak at a celebration of national independence, but he is shut out of the freedom it celebrates.
D) He is a historian who wants to explain how the nation won its independence.
Question 2. As used in paragraph 3, "pale" in "within the pale of this glorious anniversary" most nearly means
A) the limits of the group that is included
B) a faded color
C) a position of high rank
D) a feeling of sickness
Question 3. Paragraph 2 mainly serves to
A) show that Douglass is eager to celebrate the Fourth of July along with the audience
B) explain that his task is hard because the audience is cold and selfish
C) illustrate a paradoxical dialectic between national jubilation and individual obligation
D) describe how easy and joyful his task would be if the nation's freedom included him, which prepares for the turn in paragraph 3
Question 4. The sentence "The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me" mainly serves to
A) describe the weather on the day of the speech
B) show that the same national blessings that help his audience have harmed him
C) suggest that the audience wants to harm him
D) say that sunlight is healthy for everyone
Question 5. Which statement from the passage best supports the claim that Douglass feels the celebration does not include him?
A) "The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common."
B) "Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful."
C) "In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak."
D) "Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee?"
Question 6. Douglass's tone in paragraph 3 is best described as
A) cheerful and grateful
B) sorrowful and firm
C) furious and violent
D) detached and scholarly
Question 7. The passage most strongly suggests that Douglass's audience
A) wants to keep him from speaking at all
B) has already agreed that its freedom is not shared with him
C) expects him to join in celebrating independence
D) is celebrating independence because he has been denied it
Question 8. Each of the following is stated or clearly implied in the passage EXCEPT
A) Douglass was asked to speak at a celebration of independence.
B) Douglass believes justice and liberty belong to the audience but not to him.
C) Douglass says the blessings of independence are not shared equally.
D) Douglass is grateful for the blessings of national independence.
Read the explanation for every choice, including the questions you got right. You can find them in your Form results and in the answer key. Every wrong choice has a trap name. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker.
| Trap | What it means |
|---|---|
| Only retells | It repeats what the text says and does not explain how or why. |
| Off task | It may be true, but it does not do what the question asks. |
| Not in the text | The text never says this. |
| Too far | It goes beyond what the text supports. |
| Contradicts the text | It says the opposite of what the text says. |
| Wrong relationship | It connects the ideas in the wrong way. |
| Sounds smart | It uses impressive words, but the meaning does not fit. |
For each question you missed or rated 1 or 2, add a row on the My Mistakes tab of your tracker:
After a few questions, look at the Trap column. If one trap shows up again and again, that is the kind of wrong choice that fools you most. Watch for it first.
Goal: name how a wrong choice fails. Set a timer for 4 minutes. Each item gives a short quote, the question, and a wrong choice. Write the number of the trap. If you named a different trap, count it only if you can prove it with words from the quote. Play again at your next sitting.
| Number | Trap | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only retells | It repeats what the text says and does not explain how or why. |
| 2 | Off task | It may be true, but it does not do what the question asks. |
| 3 | Not in the text | The text never says this. |
| 4 | Too far | It goes beyond what the text supports. |
| 5 | Contradicts the text | It says the opposite of what the text says. |
| 6 | Wrong relationship | It connects the ideas in the wrong way. |
| 7 | Sounds smart | It uses impressive words, but the meaning does not fit. |
Play with a family member or friend: one person reads an item and the other names the trap. Then switch.
Replay Game 2 and try to beat your score.
Goal: check whether the words in the passage prove a statement. Set a timer for 4 minutes. Each item gives a line from a passage and a statement. Write P if the words in the line prove the statement as it is written. Write N if they do not. A statement is not proven if it adds a name, a reason, or a size that the line does not give.
Play with a family member or friend: one person reads the line and the statement. The other says P or N and points to the exact words.
The section gives you 1 hour for 45 questions. That is about 80 seconds for each question, and the time you spend reading each passage counts. Use this table as a guide.
| Step | About how long | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Read the passage and jot your four-part note | 2 minutes | Read once at your normal speed. Do not reread the whole passage. |
| Each question | About 1 minute | Identify, Prove, Eliminate. Point to the words before you pick. |
| A question that is not clear after 2 minutes | Stop | Pick your best choice, mark the question, and move on. Come back if time is left. |
| The last 3 minutes of the section | 3 minutes | Make sure every question has an answer. A blank earns nothing, and a wrong answer loses nothing. |
A set with a passage and 5 questions fits in about 7 minutes: 2 for the passage and 1 for each question. That is the pace you will use in Part 6.
Replay Game 3 with the timer set to 3 minutes and 30 seconds instead of 4. Then replay Game 1 with the timer set to 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Write both scores. The goal is to keep your score while you go faster.
Open the Exit Check. Answer all 5 questions without your notes. When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker. Add any question you missed to the My Mistakes tab, with the trap.
Trouble with the box? Open it in its own tab.
4 or 5 right: you are ready for your return day. 3 or fewer right: replay Game 2 and reread Part 2 before your return day.
Set your return date. Pick a date one to two weeks from today. Write it on the Next Step tab of your tracker and on your calendar.
4 or 5 right: go to Part 6. 3 or fewer right: open the help for the questions you missed, then retake the Exit Check in a few days.
Do this any time after Sitting 3, when you have about 30 minutes. You will answer 10 questions on two new passages in 14 minutes. That is 7 minutes for each passage with 5 questions. Then you will score your set and log every miss.
Speaker: Benjamin Franklin, looking back on his life. Text: his Autobiography, written in the 1780s. Audience: his son and later readers. The spelling is from the 1700s.
[1] My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word.
[2] I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right.
[3] And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my points.
Source: Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (public domain; text from Project Gutenberg). This excerpt is three paragraphs from the part about his list of virtues. The italics in the original are not shown. Paragraph numbers are for this excerpt only.
Question 1. In paragraph 1, the Quaker friend's list of faults mainly serves to
A) say that Franklin was thought proud
B) give the reason Franklin added humility to his list of virtues
C) prove that Franklin was the proudest man in Philadelphia
D) show that Franklin believed his first twelve virtues were complete
Question 2. Paragraph 2 suggests that Franklin's humility was mostly
A) a matter of how he spoke, not how he felt
B) a feeling he had fully mastered
C) the cause of his Quaker friend's complaint
D) something he learned from his friend's way of speaking
Question 3. Franklin lists words he forbade himself ("certainly, undoubtedly") and phrases he used instead ("I conceive, I apprehend"). This list mainly serves to
A) teach readers a list of formal words
B) prove that all firm speech is rude
C) show a specific way he made his opinions sound less forceful
D) demonstrate a rhetorical subversion of epistemic certainty
Question 4. The tone of Franklin's statement "I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue" is best described as
A) boastful and proud
B) angry and defensive
C) grim and hopeless
D) honest and a little self-mocking
Question 5. Which sentence from the passage best supports the claim that Franklin's way of speaking helped him win others over?
A) "The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction."
B) "I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue."
C) "I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others."
D) "I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly."
Speaker: Ralph Waldo Emerson, an essayist and lecturer. Text: the essay "Self-Reliance," published in 1841. Audience: general readers.
[1] Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.
[2] Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," Essays: First Series, 1841 (public domain; text from Project Gutenberg). This excerpt is two paragraphs from the middle of the essay. Paragraph numbers are for this excerpt only.
Question 6. Emerson calls society "a joint-stock company." This comparison mainly serves to
A) explain how businesses were organized in his time
B) claim that society wants every member to be poor
C) suggest that society trades away each member's freedom in return for security
D) suggest that society protects each member's liberty
Question 7. As used in paragraph 1, "conformity" most nearly means
A) standing out from the crowd
B) acting like everyone else
C) adherence to institutional normative frameworks
D) being polite to strangers
Question 8. The first sentence of paragraph 2 ("Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist") mainly serves to
A) give the answer to the problem described in paragraph 1
B) repeat that society values conformity
C) show that being a nonconformist causes the problems in paragraph 1
D) recommend a way to start a business
Question 9. Emerson most strongly implies that a person who wants to be good should
A) accept whatever society calls good
B) reject every rule of every society
C) ask a religious leader to decide
D) test whether an act is truly good instead of trusting its name
Question 10. Each of the following is stated or implied in the passage EXCEPT
A) Society values conformity.
B) Society rewards people who think for themselves.
C) Society dislikes self-reliance.
D) A person's own mind is the final authority on what is sacred.
| Question | My answer | Right? (Y or N) | How sure (1, 2, or 3) | Starred guess? | Trap of my choice | Step I skipped |
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My score: ____ / 10 Time used: ____ minutes My most common trap: ____________
This score is practice feedback on a few questions. It is not an official AP score, and it does not predict your exam score.
College Board publishes sample multiple-choice questions for this course. They are on College Board's site, and you should read them there only. Do not paste official questions or passages into AI tools, because College Board does not allow its content to be used with them.
If you want more official practice, College Board's past exam questions page may list more sample material.
Next step: open the Next Step tab of your tracker and look at your top sticking point. If it is What the question asks or Proving a choice in the text, replay Game 1 or Game 3. Then go to Module 10, which covers the writing questions in Section 1.
AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this product.