"wanting" -- that is, "desiring." Within the context of the passage, however, the less common definition -- (C), "lacking" -- is accurate. Exam-takers can quickly eliminate the other choices by putting them in the sentence and hearing the confusion of both meaning and syntax: for example, "Not 'hunting' in a certain . . . ." The sentence itself is complex (and the next item also focuses on it), so the students might select an inappropriate word because they do not grasp the meaning sufficiently to interpret the participial phrase. 9. Answer = (C) This is a straightforward, pronoun-reference item, but the complexity of the sentence increases the difficulty. Students must determine what it is that possesses "concentrativeness" and such -- it is (C), the speaker's "serious style." Exam-takers who understand the participial phrase in the previous item will be likely to identify the subject "it" as a reference to "my serious style." (It is worth noting that students with scores of 5 and 4 had an easy time with items 8 and 9, while those with lower scores, especially 2 and 1, had a great deal of difficulty.) 10. Answer = (B) This one somewhat resembles the analogy items on the old SAT®. The speaker writes, "It is not self-sacrifice, but that turns the dyspeptic alderman away from The logic must be as follows: the dyspeptic alderman chooses to avoid eating rich soup because he does not want to get indigestion (thus self-interest) rather than because he has a larger goal or purpose. The trouble might be vocabulary -- both dyspeptic and turtle soup, the latter hardly a modern-day staple. Choice (B) captures this logic. Option (A) is wrong because the
"wanting" -- that is, "desiring." Within the context of the passage, however, the less common definition -- (C), "lacking" -- is accurate. Exam-takers can quickly eliminate the other choices by putting them in the sentence and hearing the confusion of both meaning and syntax: for example, "Not 'hunting' in a certain . . . ." The sentence itself is complex (and the next item also focuses on it), so the students might select an inappropriate word because they do not grasp the meaning sufficiently to interpret the participial phrase. 9. Answer = (C) This is a straightforward, pronoun-reference item, but the complexity of the sentence increases the difficulty. Students must determine what it is that possesses "concentrativeness" and such -- it is (C), the speaker's "serious style." Exam-takers who understand the participial phrase in the previous item will be likely to identify the subject "it" as a reference to "my serious style." (It is worth noting that students with scores of 5 and 4 had an easy time with items 8 and 9, while those with lower scores, especially 2 and 1, had a great deal of difficulty.) 10. Answer = (B) This one somewhat resembles the analogy items on the old SAT®. The speaker writes, "It is not self-sacrifice, but that turns the dyspeptic alderman away from The logic must be as follows: the dyspeptic alderman chooses to avoid eating rich soup because he does not want to get indigestion (thus self-interest) rather than because he has a larger goal or purpose. The trouble might be vocabulary -- both dyspeptic and turtle soup, the latter hardly a modern-day staple. Choice (B) captures this logic. Option (A) is wrong because the
Commentary%20on%20AP%20MC%201-12.docx