Last Minute Notes Before the Exam

1
Last Minute Notes Before the Exam

• AP English Language and Composition
• Conn

2
Things to Review

• Some of your Rhetorical Devices
• Sample Essays (Upper-half scores ONLY) from
  throughout the year
• Your own past essays
• The books, documentaries, articles, etc. that we
  have encountered in class- they are perfect to
  use on the argument essay and they are a clear
  demonstration that you know stuff

3
First Step

• Relax
• Get enough sleep
• Rise earlier than you normally would
• Eat a healthy breakfast and pack a healthy snack
  (this is not the morning to have your first cup
  of coffee)
• Make sure that you bring a couple of pencils and
  pens (black or blue ink)
• Arrive at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with time to
  spare

4
In the Testing Room

• Know where the clocks are
• Make sure your pencils are sharp and that your
  pens actually write
• Sit down a couple of minutes before the test
  begins
• Relax
• Relax

5
During the Multiple Choice

• Bracket
• Star
• Circle the EXCEPTs
• Circle transition words within the pieces
• If you can eliminate at least two then go ahead
  and guess
• Read closely, accurately, and quickly
• Relax

6
Between the Multiple Choice and the Essay Section

• Stretch
• Have a healthy snack that will sustain you for
  the essay section
• Try not to talk too much about the multiple
  choice section
• Know that you have done well and develop
  confidence about the essay section

7
During the 15 Minutes Before You Write

• REMBER WHAT AP STANDS FOR
• Develop your own position on the synthesis
  question and then outline
• Read all the documents carefully and thoroughly
• Summarize the documents
• If time, read the other questions and begin
  brainstorming for them as well
• Relax

8
During the Essay Section

• REMBER WHAT AP STANDS FOR!!!
• Relax
• REMEMBER You can write the essays in any order
  you so desire
• For Synthesis, remember to incorporate AT LEAST 3
  SOURCES!!!
• For a possible defend/challenge/qualify question,
  think MATURE ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE!!!
• For a possible rhetorical strategy question,
  remember to talk about how the strategies ADD TO
  THE AUTHORS PURPOSE OR ADD TO THE TEXT AS A
  WHOLE!!!
• AUDIENCE. AUDIENCE. AUDIENCE.
• Remember the rhetorical triangle

9
During the Essay Section

• REMBER WHAT AP STANDS FOR
• Pace yourself
• Dont give them any time back
• Go back over your essay
• Correct your errors and fix your mistakes
• Finish knowing that you have done the best you can

10
Remember the Ten Commandments of Advanced
Placement English Literature and Composition

• 1. I am the Prompt, thy Prompt thou shalt have
  no other Prompt before me. Thou shalt read the
  Prompt with rapt attention the Prompt is thy
  friend. Thou shalt address the Prompt. Thou shalt
  not just get the general idea of the Prompt, nor
  shalt thou fight the Prompt or substitute your
  own ideas for the Prompt.
• 2. Thou shalt not postpone, omit or bury thy
  Thesis Statement.

11
Remember the Ten Commandments of Advanced
Placement English Literature and Composition

• 3. Thou shalt not dwell with Summary, for it is
  an abomination in my sight. Neither shalt thou be
  satisfied with mere Reading Comprehension for thy
  Prompt is an analytic and interpretive Prompt.
• 4. Thou shalt not commit free-floating
  generalization, but shall support and develop
  thine every assertion with Concrete Details.

12
Remember the Ten Commandments of Advanced
Placement English Literature and Composition

• 5. Thou shalt not mistake complexity for
  confusion, or subtlety for indecisiveness thou
  shalt not attribute thine own insensitivity or
  ignorance to authorial ineptitude. The fact that
  thou gettest not the point doesn't mean that the
  passage hath no point thou hast missed the
  point. Deal with it.
• 6. Thou shalt read every MC question with the
  same exquisite care that thou devotest to the
  Essay Prompt thou shalt not "get the drift." By
  the same token, shalt thou strive to read what
  the writer actually wrote, not what thou
  expectest him or her to have written.

13
Remember the Ten Commandments of Advanced
Placement English Literature and Composition

• 7. Thou shalt not finish early. Thou shalt spend
  plenty of thy time planning thine essay responses
  and any time left over editing them.
• 8. Honor thy percentages by guessing thoughtfully
  when thou art not sure of the answers.
• 9. Thou shalt not merely identify rhetorical,
  stylistic, and literary devices, but shalt show
  how they function.

14
Remember the Ten Commandments of Advanced
Placement English Literature and Composition

• 10. Thou shalt never permit thyself to become
  discouraged I am the prompt, thy Prompt. Thou
  shalt maintain thy focus, attention and
  confidence. Yea, though thou hast totally screwed
  up thy last essay, this next essay maketh a fresh
  start.