"Yeah - today in our AP English class we took a passage section, and this time I chunked, and improved my score by a lot. Still not as well as I'd hoped, but I'm pleased with the progress.  Chunking with passages is a method where you read the questions first (before even looking at the passage), and identifying where that question's answer would reside in the passage. I usually mark up my passage - boxing the relevent lines that certain questions ask for, circling words questions ask us to define, etc. After reading all the questions, and getting a gauge for what the questions ask, I start reading the passage. When I stumble upon a boxed passage, or a circled word or phrase, I immediately know that there's a question on that, so I can stop and answer that question. This method helps because you're not thrown off by things said later in the passage that are not relevent; if a question asks for the author's purpose in line 4, you shouldn't let his counterargument in line 60 change your answer, although CB would definately put this in their distractors.  Chunking most noticibly helps with the "boredom" aspect. Without chunking, it seems like you're reading simply for the sake of reading, but that's not the purpose of taking a test. The purpose of the test is to answer questions [correctly], and by chunking, you can even eliminate areas of passage where you won't have to read." --Unknown    "All I do is look at the first question, or second question, and try and scope out where it is in the passage... then read ONLY to that section. it'll make sure you don't take in any other information that might trick you. then just keep doing this for every question; you should actually finish reading the passage after the last few questions. then i would recommend checking over all of your answers, now that you know what the passage is all about, and also consider the questions and what they are asking you to focus on; that'll help you with the theme, tone, blah blah english words. Just think that the questions are there to GUIDE you into understanding the passage. So most likely the questions will be related somehow" --Scott

For each passage and its set of questions:

1. Answer easy questions immediately.

2. On more difficult questions, take advantage of being able to mark in your test booklet. As you eliminate an incorrect answer choice from consideration, mark it out in your question booklet.

   You could even mark some choices with question marks, signifying that they may be possible answers. This technique will help you avoid reconsidering those choices you've already eliminated and will help you narrow the possible answers. If you've managed to eliminate two or more answers from consideration but still are not sure of the answer, mark a guess answer at this point. If you wish to reconsider these guess answers before you go on to the next set, you'll be able to identify them from the marks you've made eliminating wrong answers.

3. On questions you find very difficult — those on which you cannot eliminate wrong answers, leave the answer blank (but be careful to mark your next answer in the right place on the answer sheet), put a checkmark in the margin next to the question, and go on. Sometimes, consideration of other questions in the set suddenly sheds light on the questions you left blank, and you can then quickly return to it and choose an answer.

Note: You don't have to erase the marks you make in your test booklet. However, don't make extraneous marks on your answer sheet because in machine scoring, such marks can be counted as wrong answers.

Here are some more suggestions for forming a plan of attack on each passage and set of questions:

• First, skim the questions which follow the passage (do not read the choices at this time).

• Begin reading the passage as quickly as possible without losing comprehension. Read quickly but actively, marking the few important key points in each paragraph (don't overmark).

• Answer the questions which follow the passage without spending too much time on any difficult questions. Take guesses when you can eliminate two or more wrong answers.

• Mark extremely difficult, "no-guess" questions with a check so that you can quickly return to them.

• Repeat this process with each passage.

Read more: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/AP-English-Language-and-Composition-Multiple-Choice-Section.id-305363,articleId-31663.html#ixzz1FM33OMII