LACEY VAN REETH: Hello, I'm Lacey Van Reeth,
and I'm a teacher at the A.W. Dreyfoos School
of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In this video, I'm going to show you
how to approach answering multiple choice questions
on your AP Art History exam.
So let's get going.
If you would like to work through these questions
with me, click on the link over the video now
and you'll be able to download the PDF of the questions that
are featured in this video.
A few reminders about the AP Art History exam multiple choice
section, this is section 1, part 1 of your exam.
It's the first thing you're going to tackle on exam day.
You're going to have 60 minutes to answer 80 questions.
And if you break down that math, that gives you 45 seconds per
question if you treat every question equally,
and you probably won't.
You'll probably spend more time on some questions and a little
less time on others.
But that's what it breaks down to.
Each question will have four options, A, B, C, and D.
Some questions will be in sets, two or more questions per image
or set of images, while some questions will be
single questions on their own.
And another good bit of news, all the
pictures that they give you are going
to be full-color, high-quality pictures.
That's a nice little thing to have.
And some questions will not have an image at all,
and sometimes those tend to be a little bit tougher.
So important thing to know.
We will be practicing one of those, too.
So let's get started.
Question number 1.
The image in the plan show the same structure.
That is the Temple of Karnak.
I'm recognizing it.
The form of the columns in the hypostyle hall
was intended to recall the what?
Dense cluster of papyrus reeds on the Nile,
statuesque figures of the pharaoh and his family,
palm trees that grow near the desert oases,
or celestial rays that emanate from the crown of Amun-Re.
So right away in option A, I'm looking at papyrus reeds,
and I'm associating that with the history of Egypt.
That's a big symbolic plant in Egypt.
They use it to make papyrus paper,
and they make scrolls out of it.
It's a symbolic part of one of the parts
of Egypt upper and lower Egypt, is what
Egypt was broken down into.
This seems like the likely answer
but I'm going to continue reading just to make sure.
Do they represent statuesque figures
of the pharaoh and his family?
Those columns don't take the form of figures
so that I can eliminate right now, bye-bye.
Are they palm trees that grow near the desert oases?
Well, maybe.
I guess a column could kind of look like a palm tree,
but palm trees really aren't associated symbolically
with Egypt.
And I know Egypt used a lot of symbolism in the temple
designs that they created.
So I don't think so.
I'm still thinking A is the likely answer.
Celestial rays that emanate from the crown of Amun-Re.
No, this temple was dedicated to Amun-Re
but I don't think they're celestial rays that
emanate from a crown.
So I think I can eliminate that one.
Papyrus reed seems like the most likely option.
It's associated with the history of Egypt,
a symbolic part of Egypt, so we're
going to go with option A, a dense cluster of papyrus reeds
on the Nile.
Moving on to question number 2.
This work has been interpreted as a visual document
of all of the following except.
So we're looking for the outlier here.
This is a very famous artwork from the Northern Renaissance.
It's got a lot of different interpretations and symbolism
and a lot of discussion has gone into this.
But there are some pretty heavy and common interpretations
of the work.
So we're looking for the outlier here.
Our options are marriage, betrothal, coronation,
or legal contracts.
If we look at these three options--
marriage, betrothal, and legal contract-- those
are all connected at least loosely.
When you enter into a marriage, you're
entering into a legal contract when
you are betrothed to someone, you
are engaged to someone to be married and enter
into a legal contract.
So those three are very heavily connected
and that makes coronation our outlier.
So I think that that is going to be our answer, C, coronation.
Moving on to number 3.
In the work shown, The Valley of Mexico
from the Hillside of Santa Isabel, Jose Maria Velasco
uses landscape painting to do what?
He's using it for something deeper.
Is he celebrating the modernization
of a newly independent Mexico with his audience?
Is he reflecting on themes of Mexican patriotism
and national identity important to his audience?
Is he helping his audience to imagine
what Mexico looked like before the arrival of the Spanish?
Or is he representing Mexico to his audience
as a place ripe for foreign industrial investment?
Well, first of all, we're not seeing a whole lot
of modernization in this work.
We're seeing an emphasis on landscape and clouds and nature
and weather patterns and I see volcanic peaks
in the background.
There's really not an emphasis on modernization.
So I don't think that's it.
Reflecting on themes of Mexican patriotism
and national identity.
This seems probable.
There's a pride in the landscape and the history
of this site, which is where Tenochtitlan was,
and that's the city that Mexico City was built on top of.
And I know Velasco painted this shortly
after Mexico had gained its independence from Spain
and become its own nation.
So this seems probable.
He's using landscape to inspire pride and a sense
of national identity.
Was he using it to help his audience
imagine what Mexico looked like before the arrival
of the Spanish?
No, in the background, in the city and the buildings,
there's buildings that were totally constructed
by the Spanish so that's not correct.
And again, is he trying to make it
look like a place that's ripe for foreign industrial
investment?
They're not really emphasizing industry here at all.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
So I think we can get rid of the modernization option that's
A. I'm still thinking it's reflecting
on themes of patriotism and national identity.
That seems the most likely.
There's buildings in the painting that
were built after the Spanish arrived
so we can eliminate that one.
And again, no emphasis on industry.
So our option we're going with is
B, reflecting on themes of Mexican patriotism
and national identity, which would
have been important for people in Mexico at this time
because they were brand new.
Number 4, the work shown demonstrates the influence
of Japanese ukiyo-e prints through its depiction of what?
An allegory of vanity heightened by strident colors?
Daily life using flattened shapes and patterns?
A satire of aristocratic life presented with minute detail?
Or genre seen using objects with symbolic meaning?
Mary Cassatt did scenes from everyday life, snapshots,
moments in time, like impressionists,
all impressionists did for the most part.
So an allegory means an image that represents something
with a deeper meaning.
That's probably not correct and she does not
use strident colors.
We can see that those colors are not very bold and bright.
So I think we can eliminate that option.
This is an image of daily life just like ukiyo-e prints were
and it does use flattened shapes and patterns
just like ukiyo-e prints did.
So I think that's probably the correct answer.
It's not a satire, it's not poking fun of
or making fun of anything or ridiculing something.
And it is a genre scene but it doesn't have
objects with symbolic meaning.
So we can eliminate that one, too.
The correct option is B, daily life using a flattened shapes
and patterns.
Number 5.
On the basis of subject matter, expressionistic style,
and composition, the self-portrait shown
can be attributed to who?
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Jan van Eyck, Willem de Kooning,
or Frida Kahlo?
So some keywords that we have to pull out
of the question to help us out are expressionistic style.
Which one of these artists were associated with some sort
of expressionism?
And I know I can already eliminate van Eyck and Frida
Kahlo because they weren't part of any kind
of expressionist movement.
And is there an artist who maybe was also
known for self-portraiture?
So Kirchner seems like the likely option
because, first of all, that kind of looks like him.
We have a self portrait of him as a soldier on our curriculum.
He is an expressionist from Germany.
He's part of The Bridge or Die Brucke movement.
That seems probable and he painted with brushstrokes
and expressionistically.
Van Eyck was a Northern Renaissance painter.
That's a no, no, no.
He was a highly realistic painter.
De Kooning was also an expressionist
but he was an abstract expressionist
and he didn't do a whole lot of self-portraits
and we don't have one on our curriculum.
And Frida Kahlo was known for her self-portraits
but they weren't expressionistic.
She was often associated with surrealism
even though she didn't like that title.
They were more about her health and her relationships
and her life story.
So I think our option is going to be Kirchner.
We're going to go option A, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Number 6, most scholars theorize that the Moaian platform called
ahu of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island,
were traditionally oriented to face inland away
from the ocean for which of the following reasons?
A, to underscore the Moai's purpose as votive offerings
to the gods associated with the island.
B, to emphasize the Moai's role as
guardians over the community living on the island.
C, to facilitate the transportation
of the Moai and their positioning
on the raised platforms called ahu.
Or D, to preserve the faces of the Moai
from damage by the wind and saltwater spray.
This question is a reminder that some of your multiple choice
questions on your AP Art History exam will not have images.
This has no image.
Does make it a little bit tougher,
but it's a good example to practice with.
So what were the Moai facing inward for?
Let's look at this.
Were they votive offerings to gods?
No, I'm pretty sure they represented
actual ancestors of the people living on the island
so that's probably not.
Were they guardians over the community living on the island?
This seems like a likely answer, placed
around the perimeter looking inward,
looking over the people that live there.
This option is confusing, to facilitate
the transportation of the Moai.
Them facing inward doesn't really
have anything to do with their transportation to their ahu,
so no, that doesn't make sense and I
don't think that's the answer.
To preserve the faces of the Moai from
damaged by the wind and saltwater spray.
Rapa Nui is a pretty small island.
They're going to get damage from saltwater spray
no matter which direction they're facing.
That doesn't seem too likely.
So I think we can eliminate C, we
can eliminate votive offerings, we
can eliminate the preserving the faces,
we're going to go with option B, to emphasize
their role as guardians over the community living on the island.
They wanted to face them.
Number 7, the work shown functioned as what?
A memory aid to help prepare sailors for ocean voyages.
I know that they did not actually use them on voyages.
I know they had to be memorized so this seems likely
but let's keep reading.
B, a symbolic map representing the unity
of a maritime kingdom.
C, the representation of the ancestral connections
between different maritime clans.
Or D, scientifically accurate map
to be carried on voyages into foreign territories.
So I know they are maps but they're not actual maps.
They're personal maps.
They do represent actual things, actual experiences
for the people they were made for,
and they were used to prepare for ocean voyages.
So this seems very likely.
It wasn't a symbolic map.
It was practical.
It represented the wave patterns and I
don't think that's the option.
Ancestral connections, these don't have anything
to do with the ancestors.
These have to do about navigating
the ocean, which there's a ton of in the Marshall Islands.
And it's definitely not a scientifically accurate map
to be carried on voyages.
So I think we can eliminate all of the options except for A.
And our final question, the work shown, number 8, the work shown
can be attributed to Faith Ringgold for which
of the following reasons?
What was Faith Ringgold known for?
Because of its constructivist imagery and narrative?
Because of the reference to medieval manuscripts?
Because of its incorporation of found objects?
Or because of the combination of painting and quilting?
This looks like a painted quilt, guys,
so I think it's going to be D. She was not a constructivist.
That's a movement associated with the formation
of the USSR, the Soviet Union, constructing a new identity.
Doesn't look like constructivism.
Doesn't look super Soviet.
Because of the references to medieval manuscripts?
No, it doesn't look like a medieval manuscript at all.
It doesn't use a whole bunch of found objects
but it does totally look like a painted quilt.
So the option is D, the correct option
is D, paint and Quilting.
Her story quilts.
So a few reminders for your AP Art History exam
multiple choice section, when you
are struggling with a question, try to eliminate two options
and then give yourself a 50/50 chance.
It breaks it down.
It increases your probability of getting something correct.
And read the questions and possible answers
for important keywords as I demonstrated
during this practice session.
So I hope you learned a little bit more
today about how to approach your multiple choice
questions on your exam.
Thank you for watching.