Today I got a pretty clear picture of my abilities in reading and understanding literature. I found that some types of passages I excelled in reading and analyzing while others I struggled to even comprehend what the passages were about. I correctly answered 28 out of the 47 questions correctly which, considering I've never studied literature in depth before, is not too awful. Of course, I want to drastically improve this score throughout this course, but I think that this practice test was a good starting point for me to realize what my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to the study of literature.
One of my biggest weaknesses lies in my inability to focus on a piece that I find boring/uninteresting/confusing. I tend to read a couple of lines then, completely lost in what information I am supposed to retrieve from the text, end up rereading the same lines, often to no avail. I am especially bad at questions that ask the reader to infer something about the text. For example, question 7 states "The reader can infer from the play on words in the last stanza that the speaker is...". First off, I didn't even notice the play on words in the last stanza because I was still struggling to comprehend the point of the poem (which was apparently an example of a lyric, much to my dismay considering I incorrectly guessed what type of poem it was in the very first question). I am not good at analyzing poems in general. Poetry is something I like to read slowly and think through deliberately, and is definitely not something I want to be tested and timed on. I think once I learn how to really break down a piece of poetry this sluggishness will go away.
Luckily, the test wasn't all bad! I definitely spotted some rays of sunshine through my tears near the end of the assessment. I did very well on the last section, answering 11/12 questions correctly. I am very good at understanding essays. I think it's because they are logical and straightforward; there is almost no room for false interpretation. Ironically, this passage was about poetry, yet I excelled with it nonetheless. I also think that I am decently well versed in literary devices because of AP Language and Composition. I did very well on multiple choice tests in that class and hopefully I will be able to take some measures to do the same in this one.
The most major topic I need to improve on is comprehension of poetry, especially poetry from older time periods. I plan on reading and analyzing a few poems a week from the textbook for practice. I want to practice this until every time I read a poem I can completely analyze it in just a few minutes. This way, when test time rolls around again, I'll be better prepared for all of the pieces. Also, I think I need to take more multiple choice tests. I'm not sure how much practice we'll be doing in class, but I want to take the two practice exams at the end of the book and improve drastically each time I take it. I'll take one of the tests near the end of first trimester (aiming for a score of at least 70%) and then again before the AP test during the third trimester (aiming for a score of at least 85%). Lastly, I want to be able to accurately describe what type of literature I am reading. This will not only make it easier for me to answer questions directly relating to this topic, but will also add to my understanding of each text I read. By the end of the second trimester I want to be able to accurately classify every piece of literature that I read, whether it be a sonnet, elegy, or essay. I can achieve this by including the specific type of literature in my annotations of different pieces.
Overall, I think that it is my lack of background in literature that led me astray on this exam. Hopefully, through practice in the above topics, I will learn to grasp the various concepts I am struggling with.
I find your reflection very interesting in that it is very similar to mine. It appears that you and I both struggle with the same types of questions as well as share the same strengths. For example, I noticed that you tend to run into problems when you are tasked with analyzing pieces that are "boring/uninteresting/confusing". I, too, struggle with this especially when it comes to poetry that is written in older english. My goal in order to fix this problem is to read at least one piece of writing that challenges me per week such as: Shakespeare, Old English, or metaphorical pieces. My hope is that in doing this I will become more comfortable with challenging pieces of literature. I do like, however, that you plan on analyzing the pieces after reading them. I did not write that in my goal but I think that analyzing the texts would help me further my comfort levels even more, leading to a better understanding of the piece overall.
ReplyDeleteWe share a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses when it came to this practice test. When it comes down to it, essays don’t really leave a lot to be desired. They are straightforward and to the point, unlike poetry. This is why I think more left brained people like us have an easy time analyzing an essay but struggle mightily when it comes to analyzing poetry. Poetry for me is a very difficult genre to familiarize myself with and effectively understand what the author is trying to get across. As you say, the only way to really get better at analyzing poetry is to practice and analyzing different poems from the textbook is a great way to do that. That goal is not only realistic, but will also make you better come test time, and I am going to have add that to my list of goals. One thing for your goals I think you should keep in mind is the amount of practice tests you do. I think more practice may be required in order to attain the score you wish. It is my advice that you should take a few more practice tests to effectively increase your score from 70% to 85%. This is no small jump in score, and more practice than what is offered in the book is needed, but I have no doubt you can do it. I hope you continue to work at your multiple choice skills and hopefully you meet and achieve all your goals that you have set for yourself.
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