1. Commandments for the AP English Exam

2. Multiple Choice Section Commandments
Thou Shalt:
Pace yourself (You will have one hour for 4-5 selections, at least 2 of which will be poetry; that means 12 minutes per selection.)
Read the entire selection before beginning the questions. (You should mark up the text as you read, indicating important shifts, diction, etc.)
Reread the lines mentioned specifically in a question, backing up to earlier lines if necessary.
Guess if you can narrow the choices to 2.
Double check to make sure you are recording your answers in the right place.
Remember that the “tweedy” (i.e/ overly academic, adult sounding) choices are almost always wrong.

3. Multiple Choice Section Commandments
Thou Shalt not:
Be discouraged (Remember that 50% is very good.)
Quit before the end (Easy items are often mixed with the diabolically difficult ones.)
Randomly mark.

4. Essay Sections Commandments
Thou Shalt not:
Title the essay
Write notes to the grader
Draw pictures, charts, and graphs
Use suggestive words
Use profanity
Use rhetorical questions
Use clichés
B.S. (remember how well the reader knows the passage)
Use quotations without analysis
Give line numbers rather than writing out the quotation
Refer to the time period or in any other way wander from the specific work/topic
Use up all your energy on the first essay

5. Essay Sections Commandments
Thou Shalt:
Use dark blue of black ink
Answer the question, i.e. attend to the wording of the prompt
Divide each essay into at least 3 paragraphs
“Blend” or “embed” all quotations
Quote liberally from the passage given
Address what IS rather that WHAT IS NOT
Skip what you don’t know
Underline key words and lines in the passage before beginning to write
Organize according to the logical divisions in the passage, treating only the aspects of the questions which apply to each part (if organizing chronologically)
Organize a brief topic outline before you begin to help you focus
Leave time to proofread, but change MECHANICS ONLY

6. Essay Sections Commandments
Thou Shalt not (in essay #3---open response):
Choose a work unless you know it well
Write about a work just because you like it (remember: “significant literary merit”)
Use quotations unless you are 100% sure
Decide which work you will write about before seeing the topic