AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION EXAM REVIEW
AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION STUDENT
PREPARATION SESSION
IRVING, TEXAS
April 5, 2014
Why is this funny?
Dogs in middle-class America frequently live in
doghouses.
At middle-class parties, people stand around
holding drinks.
Bathrooms are sometimes difficult to locate in
middle-class homes; therefore, guests have to ask
the host discretely where the bathroom is
located.
Middle-class homes usually have backyards.
Dogs usually relieve themselves in the backyard.
Marking a text
What should you mark? Main ideas are a good place to start, and you should not only underline them,
but write them in your own words in the margins. You should also note moments you feel emotion as a
reader. Note surprises in the text. Note shifts in time, place or point of view. Note unusual diction or
words that you need to define (and define them in the margin).
Marginalia—marginal notes—can include check marks, question marks, stars, arrows, brackets, and
written words and phrases. Create your own system for marking what is important, interesting,
quotable, questionable, and so forth.
Mark any literary or rhetorical devices you know. They may or may not be important to the
development of the author’s message, but are useful to mark in the event that you need to note them
for other purposes later.
Use the space that often appears at the end of a chapter to note summaries of the chapter, main events
or ideas in the chapter, your reaction to the events/ideas, questions or predictions you have so far in
your reading.
Inside the front cover of your book, keep an orderly, legible list of "key information" with page
references. Key information in a novel might include themes; passages that relate to the book's title;
characters' names; salient quotes; important scenes, passages, and chapters; and maybe key definitions
or vocabulary. Remember that key information will vary according to genre and the reader's purpose, so
make your own good plan.
Look for major shifts…such as
in a poem:
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This is an illustration of a Victorian paragraph:
usually with a few REALLY long sentences… but don’t let
it intimidate you.
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Topic sentence 1
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Topic
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sentence 2
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Topic sentence 3
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Poetry Question AP Lit Exam 2010:
How to read an AP essay prompt
 Instructions: Read carefully the following poem by
Marilyn Nelson Waniek. Then write an essay analyzing
how Waniek employs literary techniques to develop the
complex meanings that the speaker attributes to “The
Century Quilt.” You may wish to consider such elements
as structure, imagery, and tone.
Introduction:
How do I arrive at my thesis?
Step 1: What is the prompt asking you to do?
e.g. Since prompt asks you to discuss the complex meanings of the
century-old quilt (Waniek poem), write the definition of
“complex meanings” for yourself.
Step 2: Mark the text every time the quilt is described in a complex
way: intense feeling, strangeness, contradiction, irony, hot-cold,
tension-release.
Step 3: Linger in the details about the many meanings of the quilt!
Texturize and layer that quilt. Approach the quilt from as many
angles as possible. Let the details about the poem pile up. Annotate,
annotate, annotate. Circle/ highlight any detail, word, or sentence
that stands out about the complexity of the quilt.
The Prompt and the Problem
The following prompt can be found on Question 1 of the
2010 AP English Lit/Comp Exam: Read carefully the
following poem by Marilyn Nelson Waniek. Then write an
essay analyzing how Waniek employs literary techniques to
develop the complex meanings that the speaker attributes
to The Century Quilt. You may wish to consider such
elements as structure, imagery, and tone.
2010 Q1 Sample B; score: 4
…and the Problem again…
2010 Sample A; score: 3
…and the Problem again
2010 Q1 Sample R – Score 4
What instructional questions do these
low-scoring essay-openings raise?
Should students be trained to repeat the prompt in
the first paragraph?
2. Should students be trained to organize essays around
a list of literary techniques/devices?
3. Should the first paragraph make specific claims
about the complex effect or meaning of the text? Or
should it remain vague?
1.
What important tasks are these
essay writers failing to take on?
 These writers don’t discuss specific “complex
meanings” that the speaker attributes to The Century
Quilt.
 They introduce specific literary techniques without
stating how these are used by the poet “to develop the
complex meanings that the speaker attributes to The
Century Quilt.”
What an adequate response might look like:
Sample YYY; score: 9
What strategies does this highly
successful student-writer use?
 The first paragraph has a thesis which defines the
complex meanings attributed to the quilt.
 The description of the quilt’s theme or meanings
respects that fact that the poem’s meaning is not static
but “develops” as we read and as we deepen our
understanding of the work.
What is this highly successful
student-writer NOT doing?
 The student does not repeat the prompt.
 There is no laundry list of technical terms for literary
techniques.
 There is not much of a distracting “grabber”-type
introduction. Nearly all of this first paragraph is about
the poem; there is a brief “grabber” sentence, but it is
seamlessly related to the statement of the poem’s
theme (i.e.“complex meanings”).
How does the successful writer introduce the
“literary techniques”?
The one “technique” mentioned in ¶ 1, “symbol”, is not from the
list of suggested techniques in the prompt; moreover, it is
embedded in a meaningful statement about a specific idea:
A different way to succeed:
2010 Q1 Sample VVV – Score 8
Prose Question AP Literature 2012:
How to read an AP essay prompt
Carefully read the following excerpt from the novel
Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes.
Then write a well-organized essay in which you
analyze the development of Estrella's character. In
your analysis, you may wish to consider such literary
elements as selection of detail, figurative language,
and tone.
Introduction:
How do I arrive at my thesis?
Step 1: What is the prompt asking you to do?
e.g. Since prompt asks you to discuss the character of Estrella
(Viramontes text), write the definition of “character” for yourself.
Step 2: Mark the text every time the character is described in the
passage: physical, attitude, appearance, dialogue, thoughts,
actions, reactions.
Step 3: Linger in the details about the many meanings of the
character! Layer the character. Approach the character from as
many angles as possible. Let the details about the character pile
up. Annotate, annotate, annotate. Circle/ highlight any detail,
word, or sentence that stands out about the complexity of the
character.
Raising the level of student work
 Essays scored 4 (out of 9) or lower most often result
from students “dumbing down” the task.
 Here is a series of lower-scoring sample essay opening
paragraphs. What instructions would you give these
students in order to get them to engage the task more
fully?
The Prompt and the Problem
The following prompt can be found on Question 2 of the 2013 AP
English Lit/Comp Exam: The following passage is from D. H.
Lawrence's 1915 novel, The Rainbow, which focuses on the lives
of the Brangwens, a farming family who lived in rural England
during the late nineteenth century. Read the passage carefully.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how Lawrence employs
literary devices to characterize the woman and capture her
situation.
2013 Q2 Sample A; score: 3
…and this one…
2013 Sample I; score: 4
…and this one…
2013 Q2 Sample H; score: 6
…and this one…
2013 Q2 Sample F; score: 8