1. REMINDERS FOR THE AP TEST

2. Multiple Choice Go through and do the sections that are most accessible to you first! Read carefully, interacting with the text while you read! Read all the questions. Eliminate what you can. If you have to guess between two or three you couldn’t eliminate, trust your gut. Don’t overthink or second guess. If you have to WAG, then WAG and move on.

3. The Poetry and Prose Questions (FRQ #’s 1 and 2) Annotate the prompt! Read the piece carefully, interacting with the text as you read. Note where you draw conclusions. Allow the piece to evolve! Be ready for shifts, change, and development! Write your killer introduction, and remember to Bounce!!!!! Organize your essay chronologically: analyze the beginning thoroughly, then analyze the middle (again, accounting for shifts and development), then analyze the end and what it all means. Spend time on your explanations of your claims and evidence. This is the part where people fail to fully develop their essay, and the part where the rubber hits the road.

4. Bounce to Start off Strong Li Young Lee, in her poignant poem “A Story,” demonstrates a very complex relationship between the father and the son through structure, point of view, and flashforward techniques. To bounce, answer the question: Li Young Lee, in her poignant poem “A Story,” demonstrates the power of unconditional love between a father and son through structure, point of view, and flashforward techniques. But then, to make this really strong, don’t bury your lead: Li Young Lee, in her poignant poem “A Story,” uses poetic structure, point of view, and flashforward techniques to demonstrate the power of unconditional love between a father and a son.

5. What “Explain” Means Instead of, “After the shift the author uses longer sentences, which helps the reader to really picture what’s going on. This illustrates how passive humans can be.” An explanation should be, “After the shift the author uses longer sentences, with extended details and vivid imagery. Including such similar, listed details as, ‘summer days, hot days, lazy days,’ the author creates a vivid scene that readers can picture, pulling them in as if they are participants in the day; this in turn emphasizes the overall theme of human passivity.” This is a writing test and your challenge to is balance a discussion of theme and meaning with a discussion of author’s style. The most straightforward approach is to make strong claims about what the whole piece means, and prove that by showing how the author accomplished this.

6. The Open Question (FRQ #3) Annotate the prompt! Make a list of books you know well enough to write about that could match with the prompt. From your list, pick the one with the most literary merit. Outline your essay!!!!!!!!! Start with your thematic statement. Decide on three specific things in the novel that prove your claim from your thematic statement. Outline how you will explain those parts of the novel. As you write your essay, structure paragraphs by making your claim, providing your examples, and then explaining how those examples prove your claim. The explaining and tying back to your thematic statement are the heart of this essay!

7. The Killer Introduction In Ian MacEwan’s haunting novel Atonement, the reader shares in the devastating power of one single moment of dishonesty, ironically examining the danger in the lies we tell others and, more importantly, ourselves. To Kill a Mockingbird, the tender and searing novel by Harper Lee, teaches us all about the need for, and importance of, basic human dignity.

8. For All the Essays This is not PARCC: this is a college final exam! Proofread! Your handwriting does matter in as much as you want your brilliant ideas to flow. According to Lisa Spears at UCD, freshmen in Core Composition 1020 write 15 full essays in one semester. By taking the time and effort to write three really good essays now, you could save yourself this work as a college freshman.