What Does the AP Exam Look Like?
All students enrolled in this course are expected to take the AP English Language and Composition Exam offered in May 2015. We will be preparing all year for the following challenge:
Part One of Exam:
Multiple Choice: 1 Hour
One hour multiple choice section has about 55 questions based on close reading of four or five short selections.
Passages will be from nonfiction such as essays, speeches, memoirs, letters, diaries, etc.
Questions fall roughly into three types:
Level 1: understanding content
Level 2: understanding style
Level 3: identifying theme, tone, meaning as a whole
MC section is worth 45% of the total score.
The technical vocabulary needed to do well is more often associated with the terminology of argument and rhetoric than strictly literary analysis, but knowing literary terminology is helpful as well.
Part Two of Exam:
Essays: 2 Hours and 15 Minutes
Students write three essays in 2 hours and 15 minutes, about 40 minutes for two essays and about 55 minutes for the third essay.
Essay section is worth 55% of the total score.
As with multiple choice, the selections students respond to are nonfiction: essays, speeches, memoirs, letters, diaries, etc. A major point for some students is that there is no poetry on the language exam.
One essay is likely to ask students to deconstruct a passage for style (also referred to as “rhetorical strategies,” “methods,” or “use of language”).
Another essay generally requires students to analyze or evaluate or respond to the effectiveness of an argument.
A third essay will require that students develop or respond to an argument and to take a position that is supported by mustering evidence from the synthesis and citing of three or more sources (including visual or graphic) provided as the reading portion of the prompt.
Aside from taking this English 3 AP Language and Composition course, the most effective ways to prepare for this very challenging exam include the following strategies:
Develop your vocabulary, improve your critical reading skill, and improve your writing skill by READING as much as possible from a variety of sources. Start broadening your reading beyond fiction literature to include nonfiction. Include in your reading, texts that were written prior to the 20th century. The importance of READING can NOT be overemphasized. I will prepare you for the exam and there will be no surprises, but doing well in the multiple choice section of this exam, especially, will hinge on your ability to read critically sophisticated text. This does not happen by accident or wishing it to be so. This takes work – this takes READING. Research also tells us that students who READ, are naturally better, more fluent writers.
Broaden your knowledge and understanding on a variety of controversial topics from history, politics, economics, sociology, science, technology, art. The ability to explain more than one side of an issue will prove to be an asset on the essay portion of the exam. How should you prepare for this in the most expedient way possible? PAY ATTENTION IN ALL OF YOUR CLASSES. READ ALL OF YOUR TEXTS AND RESOURCES CLOSELY. READ A VARIETY OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND ONLINE SOURCES THAT REPRESENT A DIVERSITY OF VIEWPOINTS. KEEP AN OPEN MIND AND THINK CRITICALLY.
Composite Scores:
Students receive an AP grade on the exam of 1 to 5.
Part One of Exam:
Multiple Choice: 1 Hour
One hour multiple choice section has about 55 questions based on close reading of four or five short selections.
Passages will be from nonfiction such as essays, speeches, memoirs, letters, diaries, etc.
Questions fall roughly into three types:
Level 1: understanding content
Level 2: understanding style
Level 3: identifying theme, tone, meaning as a whole
MC section is worth 45% of the total score.
The technical vocabulary needed to do well is more often associated with the terminology of argument and rhetoric than strictly literary analysis, but knowing literary terminology is helpful as well.
Part Two of Exam:
Essays: 2 Hours and 15 Minutes
Students write three essays in 2 hours and 15 minutes, about 40 minutes for two essays and about 55 minutes for the third essay.
Essay section is worth 55% of the total score.
As with multiple choice, the selections students respond to are nonfiction: essays, speeches, memoirs, letters, diaries, etc. A major point for some students is that there is no poetry on the language exam.
One essay is likely to ask students to deconstruct a passage for style (also referred to as “rhetorical strategies,” “methods,” or “use of language”).
Another essay generally requires students to analyze or evaluate or respond to the effectiveness of an argument.
A third essay will require that students develop or respond to an argument and to take a position that is supported by mustering evidence from the synthesis and citing of three or more sources (including visual or graphic) provided as the reading portion of the prompt.
Aside from taking this English 3 AP Language and Composition course, the most effective ways to prepare for this very challenging exam include the following strategies:
Develop your vocabulary, improve your critical reading skill, and improve your writing skill by READING as much as possible from a variety of sources. Start broadening your reading beyond fiction literature to include nonfiction. Include in your reading, texts that were written prior to the 20th century. The importance of READING can NOT be overemphasized. I will prepare you for the exam and there will be no surprises, but doing well in the multiple choice section of this exam, especially, will hinge on your ability to read critically sophisticated text. This does not happen by accident or wishing it to be so. This takes work – this takes READING. Research also tells us that students who READ, are naturally better, more fluent writers.
Broaden your knowledge and understanding on a variety of controversial topics from history, politics, economics, sociology, science, technology, art. The ability to explain more than one side of an issue will prove to be an asset on the essay portion of the exam. How should you prepare for this in the most expedient way possible? PAY ATTENTION IN ALL OF YOUR CLASSES. READ ALL OF YOUR TEXTS AND RESOURCES CLOSELY. READ A VARIETY OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND ONLINE SOURCES THAT REPRESENT A DIVERSITY OF VIEWPOINTS. KEEP AN OPEN MIND AND THINK CRITICALLY.
Composite Scores:
Students receive an AP grade on the exam of 1 to 5.
- 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s are considered passing scores and generally earn students various credits and/or increased choices at college. What colleges grant for AP credit is entirely up to the individual school and practices vary widely.
- Students who get about half the multiple choice right and score an average of 6 (out of 9) on the essays can earn a grade of 3.
The level of difficulty is designed to test skills of first-year college English.