AP Practice Exams

Hamlet Applied Practice Passage One and Two

Reminders…

50% is a good score Most folks hovered between a 5 or 7

out of 15 Highest = 9/15 Desirably = 8/15 This is hard!

Questions

Did you read the questions first? Did it help? Did you hate it?

Did you use process of elimination? Did you skip difficult questions? Did you get to all the questions?

Question One Correct Answer

C. Paradox Personally, I had a hard time deciding

between Irony and Paradox Seeming contradictions:

“sometime sister, now our queen” “defeated joy” “mirth in funeral”; “dirge in marriage”

Question One Wrong Answers

A. Irony – difference between Irony and Paradox Irony is the exact opposite in what is said

and what is meant. It does not say dramatic irony, so we shouldn’t go there

Paradox, on the other hand, is a statement that seems to be contradictory, but when you think about it, it is true and insightful. The intended message is the same as the stated message

Question One: Wrong Answers

B. Alliteration – “sometime sister” and “delight and dole” are in the passage, BUT, it can not be said that it is a “primary” part of the passage

D. Euphemism – What is understated? E. Hyperbole – What is exaggerated?

Question Two: Correct Answer D. concerning

“He hath not fail’d to pester us with message/Importing the surrender of those lands/Lost by his father”

Remember: Read the whole sentence and the sentence before and after before deciding

It is a message he is pestering them with, and the message is about the surrender of the lands his father lost

Question Two: Wrong Answers A. asking for – he is not asking for the

surrender of the land – he is building an army to get the land back

B. bringing in – he is not bringing the land back into his property at the time

C. demanding – He is not demanding them – there’s no indication he is saying you must give me the lands or else. He is simply preparing an army to go and take the land

E. suggesting – refer to asking for

Question Three: Correct Answer

C. belief that “old Norway” will not serve as king much longer Nothing shows that they think the King of

Norway will die soon; yes, he is old and sickly, but the very fact that they are writing him to fix the problem indicates their belief that he will live long enough to calm Fortinbras

Question Three: Wrong Answers

A. owe allegiance – “commend your duty” (43)

B. desire for swifty action – “let your haste commend your duty” (42)

D. concern for limits – “Giving to you no further personal power” (39)

E. confidence in the two – “We doubt it nothing; heartily” (45)

Question Four: Correct Answer

B. metonymy Is when a closely related object is used

to represent an object or concept or person

The throne is closely related to King Claudius, so when he says that that Laertes’ father is instrumental to the throne, he is saying Polonius is helpful to Claudius

Question Four: Correct Answer

Other Examples The red pen could be used to refer to a

teacher who likes to correct in red pen The teacher could be used to refer to a

red pen Activity: Please write your own

metonymy about the person next to you.

Question Four: Wrong Answers

A. litotes Understatement – but it is a specific kind

of understatement – when the affirmative statement is understated by saying a negative statement

Example: Say, you get a free ride to Harvard, and your parents say, “Not bad”.

Activity: Write your own litotes to congratulate someone on winning the lottery

Question Four: Wrong Answers

C. syllepsis Use of a word to perform two syntactic

functions when the numbers don’t agree Huh???? Example: Neither he nor we are willing to

go to the grocery story. He is singular; we is plural, so we use a

syllepsis – a rule to follow or a compromise to make to allow one word to follow two rules: ARE is allowed to function as singular and plural

Question Four: Wrong Answers

D. chiasmus Reversal of a parallel phrase Example: I go not to the store; the store

comes not to me. Activity: Please write the chiasmus for

this phrase: I love peanut butter ice cream.

Question Four: Wrong Answers E. synecdoche

Use the part in place of the whole or vice versa

Example: Nice threads! The part = threads The whole it represents = clothes

Example: Texas promotes the death penalty. The whole = the state of Texas The part it represents = Texas legislature

WAIT! Synecdoche vs. Metonymy???????????????

These two are easily confused – certain “experts” even say they are the same thing, but that is not going to fly.

Metonymy – is a RELATED object Synecdoche is a PART of the SAME

object

Synecdoche vs. Metonymy

Ways to remember these silly words: My mommy is related to me

(metonymy), but my sin is a part of me (synecdoche).

My neck is a part of me, but Tony and I are only related.

Activity – Write down your own way to remember the difference

Question Five: Correct Answer C. I and II only

Less than a son, but he does not look favorably on the King

Hamlet agrees that he is related – and more than just a nephew (cousin means kin), BUT he is less than made from the same kind of stuff that Claudius is – he is less than a son.

The fact that he doesn’t want to be considered his son = unfavorable tone

Question Five: Wrong Answers

We will look just at III – he does NOT reject the king’s notion that he is related – he says, “more than kin”.

Question Six: Correct Answer A. pun

A pun is a play on words – where a word is meaning two things at once

Hamlet says he is “too much in the sun”; son = sun is the pun

Claudius asks him why he is still gloomy, and he says that he is in the sun too much – this only really makes sense if he is saying that he dislikes being considered Claudius’ son.

Question Six: Wrong Answers B. allusion

He is not alluding to anything C. metaphor

The sun is not representing anything else D. symbol

There is no symbol with the sun E. oxymoron

There is no phrase with opposing words side by side

Questions Seven: Correct Answer

E. 1st = external; 2nd = internal