5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations: English Language [Paperback]

Barbara Murphy (Author), Grace Freedson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0071377204 | ISBN-13: 978-0071377201 | Edition: 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ENGLISH LITERATURE

Grace Freedson, Series Editor

An exciting new series of study guides that lets each student design a course of study pitched to his or her individual needs and learning style

Each year, more than one million U.S. high school students take one or more advanced placement (AP) exams, and, according to official projections, that number will continue to rise in the years ahead. That is because AP exams confer important benefits on those who do well on them. High AP scores are indispensable to gaining admission to most elite colleges. They provide students with a competitive edge when competing for grants and scholarships. And they allow students to bypass required university survey courses, saving on skyrocketing tuition fees.

Designed to coincide perfectly with the most current
AP exams, Five Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations guides contain several advanced features that set them above all competitors. Each guide is structured around an ingenious Five-Step Plan. The first step is to develop a study plan, the second builds knowledge, the third and fourth hone test-taking skills and strategies, and the fifth fosters the confidence students need to ace the tests. This flexible study tool is also tailored to three types of students. For the more structured student there is a "Month-by-Month" approach that follows the school year and a "Calendar Countdown" approach that begins with the new year. For students who leave studying to the last minute "Basic Training" covers the basics in just four weeks.

Other outstanding features include:

• Sample tests that closely simulate real exams
• Review material based on the contents of the most recent tests
• Icons highlighting important facts, vocabulary, and frequently-asked questions
• Boxed quotes offering advice from students who have aced the exams and from AP teachers and college professors
• Websites and links to valuable online test resources, along with author e-mail addresses for students with follow-up questions
• Authors who are either AP course instructors or exam developers

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A Perfect Plan for the Perfect Score!

5 reasons to make this your guide to acing the AP Language and Composition exam:

1. Only the McGraw-Hill 5 Steps to a 5 examination series helps you to design a course of study tailored to your unique needs and learning style.
2. Each innovative guide is structured around a helpful, easy-to-follow Five-Step Plan:
   Step 1: Develop the Study Plan
   Step 2: Develop the Knowledge
3. Step 3: Develop the Skills
   Step 4: Develop the Strategies
   Step 5: Develop the Confidence
4. This flexible study tool is also tailored to three types of students. For students who work well on a timeline, there is a "Month-by-Month" approach that follows the school year and a "Calendar Countdown" approach that begins with the New Year. For students who do their best under the gun, the "Basic Training" option covers the AP basics in just four weeks.
5. A Diagnostic / Master Exam will help you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses while providing you with powerful insights into the structure of the test itself.
6. Finally, a Comprehensive Review will acquaint you with essential terms and concepts while providing practices to sharpen you're your analytical, interpretive, and writing skills.

And if that's not enough, here are 5 more great reasons to choose this guide over all the other AP English Language and Composition test prep books:

• Award-winning authors with decades of experience as AP educators and AP exam developers
• Sample tests that closely simulate real exams
• Icons highlighting important facts, vocabulary, and frequently asked questions
• Boxed quotes offering advice from AP teachers, college professors, and students who have aced the exams
• Links to valuable online test resources, Web sites, and author email addresses for students with follow-up questions

About the Author

Grace Freedson is president of Grace Freedson Publishing Network and a former editor in chief of Barron's Educational Series.

Barbara Murphy is on the faculty of Syracuse University's Project Advance in English. She taught AP Language and other college-level courses for over 20 years. She has been a reader of the AP Language and Composition Exam and is a consultant for the College Board's AP Language and Composition division.

Estelle Rankin taught AP Literature for over 25 years. She was honored with the AP Literature Teacher of the Year Award in 1996 and received the Long Island Teacher of the Year Award in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071377204
• ISBN-13: 978-0071377201
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Umm....Not really...., June 6, 2005

By 

D. Rush - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations: English Language (Paperback)

I bought this after experiencing McGraw-Hill's SAT I book. It was comprehensive and effective, yet not boring. However, this guide is not only brief and anemic in actual content, I found myself asleep several times while reading it. The websites at the back of the book are not only inaccurate, but may actually be fake. Being a computer nerd, I found no indication that any of the websites HAD ever existed (with the exception of the College Board site); this book was published in 2002, why is there no indication of some of these sites in a search engine cache, links off some other site, etc? There isn't even any indication that any of these sites are planned for the future: absolutely none are registered web domains. Furthermore, the strategies for the multiple choice are VERY basic common sense. A whole page is spent on the concept of elimination of answers that aren't correct. The ONLY redeeming factor is a slight review on rhetorical strategies that actually aided me in the DBQ.

Do yourself a favor: save your money and find some other review for the English Language test. Ironically, the McGraw-Hill guide to the AP English Essay is an excellent guide to writing in general and even includes a section on writing a college admissions essay.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Time and Money, August 4, 2006

By 

J. Barnette - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations: English Language (Paperback)

Reading this book is a waste of time; a review book cannot teach you how to answer multiple choice or essay questions as well as a teacher. I found the multiple choice questions on the exam to be much more difficult than the practice questions in the book. And by the way, on the back of the book it says thay it's a guide for the AP Lit exam instead of the AP Language exam.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Steps to a 5 on the A P Examinations: English Language, August 21, 2004

By 

Jim Track (Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations: English Language (Paperback)

Both AP English Language students and instructors need to have this text on their book shelves. Terrific review activities are useful throughout the year, as are the unbeatable introductions to rhetorical strategies, etc. The workbook sections are very accessible. Sample tests and the explanations of answers and essay ratings are clear and really prepare AP students for the exam. This book is a MUST HAVE.