Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and literature Composition

Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and literature Composition Mrs. Roland Ponte Vedra High School

What is the AP Program? The Advanced Placement program was begun by the College Board in 1955 to construct standard achievement exams that would allow highly motivated students the opportunity to be awarded advanced placement as freshmen in colleges and universities in the United States. The course allows students to write in a variety of forms and on a variety of subjects. Also when students read, they should become aware of how stylistic effects are achieved by writers’ linguistic choices.

What does the AP stand for? • AP stands for Advanced Placement, not Advanced Exemption. • This class is a preparation for college.

Why should a student take an AP course? • Currently college students have a 33% chance of graduating in America. • The AP program hired a researcher to track how AP students do in college. AP students, regardless of AP exam score (and after only taking 1 class), increase that chance to 85%. There is a significant gain just from the experience of taking a rigorous class, regardless of performance on the exam.

Differences: AP Lang and AP Lit • The principal academic activity in the AP English Language and Composition course is rhetorical analysis. In the AP English Literature and Composition course, the focus is on literary analysis. The primary texts for AP English Language and Composition are nonfiction writings and graphic texts often found in real-world communications, and the primary texts for AP English Literature and Composition are imaginative. Of course, these categories can overlap. Literary works often contain functional aspects, and functional discourse often makes use of imaginative and artistic language. But in general, the works studied in an AP English Language and Composition course are nonfiction.

How are the exams organized? • AP Lang: 2 sections; 3 essays; 3 hours and 15 minutes • AP Lit: 2 sections; 3 essays; 3 hours (approx. 40 min each) • 1st Section: Multiple-Choice 60 minutes • AP Lang: Based on a series of prose passages (usually 4-7) with 5-12 questions per passage • There will be at least one passage written before 1800, and can be up to 400 years old • There is little or no context or introduction given with the passages • AP Lit: In addition to prose, AP Lit also has poems and occasionally drama. Expect at least 2 poems, two prose, perhaps drama. Out of the four passages, 2 are British and 2 American. Literature will be from 1575-present (no ME or OE and no translated works). One passage will be a minority writer. • Both: Approximately 50-55 questions at 8-12 minutes PER passage (this includes reading and answering)

Multiple Choice Tips: Focus on the Big Picture • Do NOT skip around from passage to passage. Answer all the questions for a passage before continuing. • Skim the question stems before reading the passage, but DO NOT read the answer choices before reading the passage. Search for 3-4 specific ideas. • Read the passage quickly for the “big picture”; paraphrase each paragraph as you read. Write on the test! Underline key words! • AP Lit: Analyze for theme, style, speaker, structure, tone, fig language • AP Lang: Read to determine the author’s goal, tone, and point of view – USE: subject, audience, and purpose to help you find the goal, tone, and POV

Multiple-Choice Tips • 5 possible answers given • 1 correct, 1 distracter, 3 wrong • CHANGE! No longer a ¼ point off for a wrong answer! • No longer are you penalized for wrong answers and you can’t get credit for what you don’t do! Always answer the question!

Multiple Choice: The Two-Pass System After reading the passage for the big picture: 1. Answer all of the easy questions first The “Big picture” questions are usually at the beginning and (or) end of question set 2. Circle the “hard” questions in your test booklet (when you can’t use POE) 3. ALWAYS Check your watch before going back to answer the hard questions 4. Make sure that you answer the questions that you are able to eliminate 2+ answers on FIRST 5. Then circle any questions that you are unsure about 6. Return to the circled questions AFTER you have completed every passage in the Multiple Choice Section

Multiple Choice: To Sum Up • Do not read stubbornly; you do not need to understand or follow everything; some (even many) details can escape you — focus on the big picture of the passage. • Always return to the passage when multiple-choice questions refer to specific lines!!! (Do not try to answer by memory) • Always read around the lines; the context of the lines is almost always very critical in determining the correct answer. • Pace yourself – but keep your eye on the time!!! • Remember the two-pass system.

Multiple Choice Suggested Testing Strategy: • 1st – Skim the question stems BEFORE you read the passage • 2nd – Read the passage ACTIVELY • 3rd - Underline &/or paraphrase the passage as you go • 4th – Read each question completely & carefully AFTER you’ve read the passage • 5th – Read every answer choice completely & carefully to determine the best answer! • Any questions you cannot use POE to answer quickly – circle them & return to those questions if you have time!

AP Lang: Types of Multiple Choice Questions 1)Literal Questions – Rhetorical “In line 42 what literary device is being used?” (words/phrases) 2)Inferential/Contextual Questions-Author’s Meaning or Purpose “In line 42 the term ‘democratic’ most clearly means…?” (whole passage) 3)Purpose Question (global) “Intent, goal, purpose, reason for using repetition in 2nd paragraph?” (whole passage)

Multiple Choice - NEW to the AP Lang Test: • Beginning in 2007 – you can expect at least a couple of questions about footnotes • BE FAMILIAR WITH MLA CITATIONS!!! (Be able to decipher the type of source & the purpose of footnotes used by the author)

AP Lang Question Categories to Expect: • Questions about Rhetoric (syntax, diction, P.O.V., figurative language & its effect!) • Questions about the Author’s Meaning & Purpose (get inside the author’s head) • Questions about the Main Idea (The Big Picture, tone, theme, etc.) • Questions about Organization & Structure • Questions about Rhetorical Modes (know the difference between: Narration, Description, Argumentation, & Exposition)

AP Lang: Reasons Answers Could Be Wrong • Contradictory to the passage (can be ruled out if you’ve read the entire passage) • Irrelevant or Not Addressed in Passage (can be ruled out if you’ve read the entire passage) • Unreasonable (can usually be spotted quickly) • Too Vague/General or Too Specific (compare them to the question stem to see which answer they are asking for!)

AP Lit: Types of Multiple Choice Questions 1. Situation who? to whom? (poetry) subject of 3rd Paragraph (prose) 2. Structure poetry: how stanzas relate what word in ______ relates back to ______ what divisions represent its structure prose: how one paragraph relates to another progression of thought and overall structure 3. Theme whole and parts

AP Lit: Types of Multiple Choice Questions 4. Grammar and Word Meaning poetry: specific word choice definitions within context pronoun references/antecedents paraphrase word choice prose: subject of long sentence is… 5. Diction poetry: Use of _______ indicates poet’s idea of _________ is suggested by _______ prose: choice of verbs in paragraph 4 suggests _______ speaker’s anger is implied by ________

AP Lit: Types of Multiple Choice Questions 6. Images/ Figurative language/ Literary Technique which one? Where else in work? Purpose of a metaphor analogy in 2nd paragraph 7. Tone (perhaps metrics in poetry) 8. Rhetoric (mostly in prose) function of last sentence effect of shift in point of view

AP Lit: Accessibility Level of Questions 1. FACTUAL phrase presents example of… all are Figurative language except Man in line ___ is pictured mainly in his role as ___ in line ___ the ___ is seen chiefly as … in line ___ the speaker regards himself as … beginning in ___ speaker does which … excerpt is written in … according to the speaker, … “they” in line ___ refers to … the object of “to” in line ___ is …

AP Lit: Accessibility Level of Questions 2. MAIN IDEA (Did you get it? What’s the message? What is the purpose of the passage?) ______ hated ______ because _____ parable of _______ serves to _______ _______ believed human nature is ________ which best describes ______ at the end tone which describes how ____ felt about … passage is concerned with … relation between line ____ and line ___ is best described as … main point about ___ is … line ___ speaker attempts to … style is characterized by … irony rests chiefly on ______

AP Lit: Accessibility Level of Questions 3. HIDDEN IDEA (go deeper) ____ interpreted to mean phrase evokes ______ image of _______ refers to … ________ most likely represents ______ can be inferred in line ___ the phrase “ ____” means _____ line ___ suggests that … can be inferred speaker would agree with …

AP Lit: Accessibility Level of Questions • Irrelevant to the question • Contradictory to the passage • Unreasonable (the “Huh?” choice) • Too general or too specific • Never addressed in the passage • Absolutes and/or qualifiers • Look for the SPECIFIC WORDS that make the answer wrong

How are the AP Lang and AP Lit exams scored? The multiple-choice section counts for 45% of the total score, and the essay section counts for 55%. Students receive one point for each correct answer. Each essay is read by a different AP Reader, who has attended a week-long session to learn how to evaluate student essays. The Readers, who are college English professors and secondary school AP English Language and Composition teachers, score the essays using a 0- to—9—point scale. The scores for the multiple-choice section (45 percent of the total grade) are then combined with the three essay scores. A final grade of 1 to 5 is then derived from this composite score. The raw score of the multiple-choice section and the raw scoring of the essay section are converted into the AP grade of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1. Check with individual colleges to see what scores, if any, are accepted. A 3 is passing. Your essays are separated and read by different people so they cannot see that you did well or poorly on one and not the others.

AP Language: Written Portion • 2nd Section: Written Portion • 2-hour essay writing segment consisting of three different essays. Students are given 15 minutes to read the essay materials prior to writing. • 2 free response essays • 1 synthesis essay

What are the 3 essays? • One is RHETORICAL ANALYSIS. • Generally, students are presented with a prose passage that can be drawn from various genres and time periods. Although the specific tasks asked of the students vary from year to year, they almost always involve analysis of language, primarily rhetorical strategies and devices. • Rhetoric • Content—message/what? • writing • Form—way it is communicated/how? • Rhetorical Devices • How form relates to content • Analysis!!!! • How it is seen by the audience • Appeals

First: The Rhetorical Analysis Essay • The College Board wants to determine a student’s facility with reading, understanding, and analyzing challenging texts. They also want to assess how well s/he manipulates language to communicate the written analysis of a specific topic to a mature audience. • AP is looking for connections between analysis and the passage. How does an author use language and what is the effect?

Second: The Argument Essay While the first essay asks students to assess the argument of another, the second requires students to write their own. A student has to make a claim and then provide evidence to prove it. Also the student is required to address and counter the other side.

Third: The Synthesis Essay • In a synthesis essay the student synthesizes at least four sources. Some come from magazines and others from newspapers. Some are cartoons or graphs or visuals. • A synthesis essay is really a miniature informational research paper. The student must take the different ideas from the sources and put the ideas together into a new, cohesive essay that informs the reader about a central subject. • This essay will test a student’s organizational skills, his/her understanding of other material, and ability to balance more than one source in an essay--all skills that are necessary to writing a successful research paper.

AP Lit Written: What is a good score? The grading is done with a rubric, which is a scoring guide for the essay. Graders are trained to reward a student for things s/he does well. They are aware of the time constraints of 40 minutes per essay. The top score on the rubric is a 9. This is an impressive essay. Next is an 8, 7, and 6. These are top scores. A 5 means that you understand the prompt but the essay is limited or uneven. The scores of 4, 3, 2, and 1 are inadequate responses. For a student to score well, he or she must analyze, interpret, argue cogently, and demonstrate stylistic maturity.

AP Lit Essay Section • Address ALL PARTS of the prompt in every paragraph! AP = Address Prompt or All Parts • Do NOT wait until the last paragraph(s) to bring up your deep “universal truth” (handout on tips for timed essays) ideas. Remember, if you only write an essay on the “obvious” idea (e.g. what the speaker’s attitude or reaction is, which character has an inner conflict, etc.), you will only score a 5 at best. • Use a blue or black pen…no pencil or other colors.

AP Lit Essay Section • Spend 1-2 minutes to read the topic carefully • Spend 5-6 minutes to organize the essay • know what your thesis is (and that it answers the entire prompt), • Organize your body paragraph divisions, topic sentence concepts • Plan what examples you will use • Spend 30 minutes to write! • Save about 2-3 minutes to proofread. Do not make major editing changes. Remember it’s just a draft.

AP Lit Essay Section • The second section of the exam is a 2-hours essay writing segment consisting of three different essays: • one on prose, • one on poetry, and • one free-response. • Always try to write at least 2-4 pages per essay. Those that are only 1 page virtually never get a high score because, according to the phrasing on the scoring guide, they are “unacceptably brief.” 1 page essays run the risk of getting nothing higher than a 3. • Remember that all scoring guides essentially address the following four points: • Write on the topic • Use clear, logical organization • Develop all ideas thoroughly; address all parts of the prompt • Use sophisticated diction and syntax

Opening paragraph • Don’t ask questions • Don’t define the words • Avoid a 3-part thesis statement • Avoid rephrasing the prompt • Put thesis statement at the end of the introduction paragraph

Concluding paragraph • Try to give enough time to write a concluding paragraph: conclusion is always good. • BUT, if you do run out of time and can not write a concluding paragraph, make sure to write one or even two wonderful body paragraphs which will still be enough for the essay readers to grade your essay.

Body paragraphs • Do not force a 3-body paragraph essay • Two fat and good body paragraphs can get you a good score • Four body paragraphs, if time allows, are very good. • Style alone can raise your score • For the open topic, review the plot, characters, themes, etc. of 3-5 novels (and one play, perhaps) so that you can write on one of your chosen works. • Do NOT misread: author’s name, character’s name, or anything.

These tips should help with your writing. • This list was compiled during the 1994 AP English reading at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Although its participants read essays that answered only one prompt, their suggestions apply to other parts of the exam as well. • The prompt, which generated the essays being scored, was from a language exam. The one used for our purpose stated, “The passage below is a series of excerpts from an essay about England’s King Charles II(1639-1685) by Sir George Savile, a member of Charles Privy Council. Many in Savile’s audience thought of Charles mainly as a lover of pleasure. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you decide the attitude toward Charles II that Savile would like his readers to adopt and analyze the rhetorical strategies Savile employs to promote that attitude.”

Tips that help with your writing • I. Read the prompt: It hurts to give a low score to someone who misread the prompt but wrote a good essay. While readers do try to reward students for what they do well, the student must address the prompt. • 2. Do everything that the prompt suggests: This one suggested that the student “define the attitude toward Charles II and analyze the rhetorical strategies Savile employs to promote that attitude.” Most writers focused on discussing strategies and never truly discussed aspects of attitude. • 3. Think before you write: Which strategies are employed by the author, and how do they evoke the attitude Savile wishes the reader to adopt.

Tips that help with your writing • 4. Plan your response: You needn’t have a formal outline, but a little organization will help you avoid extensive editing, such as crossing out lines or, in some cases, whole paragraphs. It is not sin for the reader to pick over the remains and attempt to decipher sentences crammed into margins. • 5. Make a strong first impression: Build your opening response artistically. Don’t parrot the prompt word for word. The reader knows it from memory. • 6. Begin your response immediately: Do not take the circuitous route with generalizations such as, “The passage discusses Charles II and his habits during his lifetime and tries to convince those congregated at his funeral that he was a good man.”

Tips that help with your writing • 7. Be thorough and specific: Do not simply “point out” strategies. Explain how they are used, give examples, and show how they establish attitude. ANALYZE! • 8. Use clear transitions that help the reader to follow the flow of your essay: Keep your paragraphs organized; do not digress. • 9. Resist putting in “canned” quotations or critics’ comments that may not fit: You will get a response from your reader, but it may not be the one you want. • 10. Write to express, not to impress: Keep vocabulary and syntax within your zone of competence. Students who inflate their writing often inadvertently entertain but seldom explain.

Tips that help with your writing • 11. Demonstrate that you understand style: Show the reader how the author has developed the selection to create the desired effect. This indicates that you understand the intricacies of the creative process. • 12. Maintain the economy of language, saying much with few words: The best student writers say much but say it in the fewest possible words. • 13. Let your writing shine with idea and insights: You can receive a 6 or 7 with a lockstep approach, but the essays that earn 8’s or 9’s expand to a wider perspective. • 14. Write legibly: If a reader cannot read half the words (especially at 5:30 PM. on the sixth day of reading) you will not get a fair reading—even if your essay is passed on to a reader with keener eyesight. Patience decreases as the reading progresses. • 15. Let your work stand on its own merit: Avoid penning “pity me” notes (”I was up all night.” “I have a cold,” etc.) to the reader.

Make a plan. • Students should not begin writing until they fully comprehend the prompt and/or the passage. Mere parroting of the prompt often leads to floundering around instead of developing a clear direction. Write directly on the passage and make quick notes and outlines in the margins. This planning step enables most writers to organize their ideas more efficiently. • Mark up the passage and use the margins to fill in some of the acronym steps. Although this active planning takes an extra five minutes or so, it is well worth the time. Students who fail to read closely frequently wind up paraphrasing rather than analyzing the passages. Planning helps them to stay focused.

Begin quickly and directly. • Although AP readers are instructed to read the entire essay and not to be prejudiced by a weak introduction, a strong opening paragraph can be a real asset to a student’s paper. When answering the free-response part of the AP English Exams, writers should answer the question quickly and avoid beginning with ideas that do not relate directly to the prompt. • Create an introduction strong enough to earn a grade of 3 all by itself. That means that students should learn ways to answer the entire prompt—answer the prompt, not simply repeat it--in the introduction. This indicates to the reader that the paper could be heading into the upper-half zone. One way to help students improve their beginning is by providing them with several introductory paragraphs from papers that have earned a wide range of scores and asking them to identify stronger and weaker openings.

Use paragraphs and topic sentences. • Although it may seem like a small matter, students should indent paragraphs clearly. A paper without indentation or with unclear indentation often confuses a reader. Paragraphs create the fundamental structure of the essay, and without them good ideas can get muddled. Most essays that do not use paragraphs tend to be full of confused and rambling thoughts. • Many writers find topic sentences a useful tool both for organizing paragraphs and also for helping readers navigate through the essay.

Use quotations and explain them • To score at least a 3, students would be wise to make use of pertinent references from the text. • Encourage them to use specific quotations to back up their assertions. However, remind them that they must explain their quotes clearly and demonstrate how they are relevant to the question. It is important for young writers to realize that offering long quotes without explanation bogs down the essay and can give the undesirable impression that the student is trying to fill up space rather than answer the prompt!

Create variety • Short, choppy sentences without variety indicate a student who has little background in grammar and style, perhaps someone who has read and written minimally. Connect ideas with transitional wording, participial phrases, appositives, subordinate clauses, etc. • Both writers and readers get bored when everything is formulaic, lacking some individual pizzazz! Experiment with different sorts of syntactical devices to develop a sense of style.

Find the right word • An arsenal of appropriate vocabulary and analytical wording reveals a brilliant mind at work, but writers should make certain that the words fit. Some students stick in big words just to sound scholarly. Ironically, some of their papers score only a 2 because they lack clarity and sometimes say nothing of relevance to the prompt. • Use the active voice as much as possible as one remedy for repetition and other superfluous wording. Develop a mental thesaurus, so you will have a large variety of words available as you compose.

How to Prepare for the Open Topic • Make a list of the major works you studied in grades 9—12 (i.e. Great Expectations, Oedipus the King, The Grapes of Wrath, Heart of Darkness) • Narrow the list to three titles that worked for you…novels (or full-length plays) that really meant a lot to you, “spoke” to you loudly…titles that you’ve got a lot to say about, namely good, deep universal truths. In general, avoid titles that you read in early years, especially middle school. You want your title to be one of “suitable literary merit” and a college-level text. Also, in general, review books you’ve analyzed, not just read for pleasure and enjoyed.

Novel Explication Review Sheets • Then, review your three titles. Go to a reputable online or research source to refresh your memory. You need to know the basics: • Title and author (correct on both, please!) • Main characters and their dominant traits (again, correctness is in order! It looks bad when students get the names wrong or write “I don’t remember, so I’ll call him Joe.”) • Major plot events (to use as your examples; remember, be concrete, specific, and use actions) • Setting (both time and place and their appropriateness) • Point-of-view (perhaps might be valuable, perhaps not) • Important symbols • Important quotations (only about 3 really key ones, and remember to blend them into your own sentences) • Anything else helpful…maybe a great motif, dominant style element, etc.

Novel Explication Review Sheets • Make a study sheet of the above elements, but don’t go on and on…. One page per novel is plenty. • Remember that articulating more than one universal truth (theme) per title is important. Great literature has many great ideas to share. Mulling over more than one idea will give you the flexibility to write on any topic they give you. • Look over the list of twenty past topics I’ll give you and think about how your three novel choices could be used.

How to Prepare for the Open Topic • Finally, read broadly. • Please refer to the handout with a list of books that have been mentioned in Question 3.

Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and literature Composition