AP Essay Review
Poetry, Prose, and Open-Ended
Questions
I. AP Test General Overview
• Two parts:
• OBJECTIVE
– 55 minutes of 50-60 multiple-choice questions
– Usually 2 passages of poetry and 2 passages of
prose
• 3 ESSAYS
–
–
–
–
2 hours; about 40 minutes an essay
Poetry selection
Prose selection
Open-ended question
II. Essay Common Sense Pointers
A. Use what is on the page to help you
B. Read footnotes
C. Do not misspell authors’ names if they are
given to you
D. Do not misspell titles or words in the
passages when they are given to you
E. Sometimes, the prompt does not give you the
author’s name
1. You are not expected to know it.
2. If you do happen to know it, use it.
3. If you don’t know it, just refer to the author as
“the author” or “the writer,” or, in the case of
poetry, “the poet.”
4. The same may be true of the title of the work.
F. You are permitted abbreviations
1. For titles
2. For extremely long authors’ names
3. For long character names
G. You may do so right from the start of the
essay
• They know you are in a hurry, so they do not
mind abbreviations
H. Make them logical abbreviations
1. If you make it hard for them to decipher,
they have a harder time being generous
with your grade
I. Handwriting
1. Obviously, the neater the better
2. Readers, though, anticipate bad handwriting and
will pass it around the table until they find three
people who can puzzle through it
J. Scratch-outs
1. You will not have time for white-out,
2. AP readers do not mind scratch-outs
3. They do not mind sterisks to indicate sentences
you would like to add in
4. They do not mind arrows pointing to sentence
order
Good News!!
A. You may use five paragraphs
B. No citations are required on the AP test—in
fact, they prefer you skip them
C. Use of first-person formal is permitted: we, us,
our, ours.
D. Do NOT NOT NOT use I, me, my, mine
E. Do NOT NOT NOT use you, your, yours
III. Open-Ended
Prompts
A. General Information
1. Generally the question students do best
on
2. Generally the question students write the
most on
3. Your Legends, River, Hamlet, and Othello
essays were all open-ended questions from
AP tests.
4. The difference on the test is that you get
to pick the novel/play you will use to
answer the question.
B. Three Parts to the Prompt
1. The choice of novel or play
2. An aspect the prompt wishes you to
focus on
3. The “meaning of the work as a
whole”
• The three elements of the open-ended prompt
must all be addressed in the intro.
• They are also meant to be interwoven
throughout the essay
• Each paragraph focuses on the specific aspect
asked for in the prompt and then connects it
to the UT
1. The Choice of Novel/Play
a. You get to choose the novel/play you will
write about.
b. Do not write about poems or short stories or
movies.
c. Beneath the prompt will be a list of
novel/plays they have offered as suggestions.
d. These are meant only to give you ideas.
e. You DO NOT have to write about a
novel/play from that list.
In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as
times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works,
they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a
single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or
adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
You may select a work from the list below or choose another appropriate
novel or play of similar literary merit.
Avoid mere plot summary.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Black Boy
Bless Me, Ultima
The Bluest Eye
The Catcher in the Rye
Cat’s Eye
The Chosen
Great Expectations
A High Wind in Jamaica
The House on Mango Street
Jane Eyre
Kafka on the Shore
Little Women
Lord of the Flies
Master Harold and the Boys
To Kill a Mockingbird
f.
You may use any novel/play of “literary
merit.”
i.
All that we read in class and you read for MWDF are all
works of “literary merit.”
ii. You are not, however, limited to books you read
for this class
g. You may also choose books you read outside
of school, so long as they are works of
“literary merit.”
h. Be careful here, though: most popular fiction
is not considered “literary merit.”
Avoid the Twilight series, Harry Potter, Percy
Jackson, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, etc.
ii. I think AP readers are also on the fence about
The Lord of the Rings, particularly if you try to
write about the whole trilogy as opposed to just
one book.
i.
2. The Aspect the Prompt Focuses on
This element varies widely
Examples from past tests:
•
•
•
•
Extended references to myths
Childhood
Political statements
Characters alienated by
gender, race, class, or creed
• Scenes of violence
• Tragic heroes and the
impact of their fall
• Characters who appear to
be evil, but actually need
sympathy
• Parallel or recurring events
• Tension between a passion
and a responsibility
A. Your job is to make sure that whatever
novel/play you choose fits with the aspect
the prompt is focusing on.
B. Example:
• “Tragic heroes and the impact of their fall”
does NOT work for To Kill a Mockingbird, but
does work with Othello.
• Likewise, childhood does not work with
Othello, but does with TKM.
A. Prompts are designed in such a way that lots
of novels/plays may be applicable.
B. Upon reading the prompt, you will most
likely have a few jump into your mind.
C. Usually (but not always), the first book that
jumps into your brain is the best choice for
you.
D. Before you plunge into the writing, make
sure the book you have in mind actually
works.
3. Meaning of the Work as a Whole
A. A.k.a “Universal themes”
B. AP readers expect you to provide a universal
theme even if the question does not specifcally ask
for “the meaning of the work as a whole.”
C. Most open-ended questions these days use
that catch phrase.
i. We worked on these at the start of the year
ii. For review, please see the PowerPoints located
on the Class PowerPoints page
4. How Can I Prepare for the
Open-Ended Question?
A. Review 5-6 novels/plays in terms of plot,
character names, and literary features
• More than 5-6 starts to run together in your
mind
B. You have your literary review sheets for this
purpose
C. You can also use SparkNotes
D. You will have to use SparkNotes to prep for
novels/plays we did not cover
5. Pointers for the Open Essay Itself:
A. Ideally, you should remember the author’s
name, title, and major/minor character
names (+ their spelling)
B. However, if on the test, you blank, you may
substitute a letter for the name you’ve
forgotten
i. 1-2 forgotten names is not a problem
ii. Much more than that, and you probably don’t
know the book well enough to use it
IV. Poetry and
Prose Prompts
A. Selections for Poetry and Prose
1. Chosen for you
2. Poetry question—1 poem or a comparison
between 2 poems
3. Prose question—usually an excerpt from a
novel or short story
4. We’ve not practiced on prose selections, but
you use the same techniques as with poetry.
B. The Poetry/Prose Prompt
1. Sometimes asks you about the meaning of
the passage
• Example:
• Read the following poem carefully. Then
write a well-organized essay in which you
analyze how the poet uses language to
describe the scene and to convey mood
and meaning.
2. Sometimes does not ask about meaning, but
wants you to summarize some aspect of the
passage.
• Example:
• Read carefully the following passage from the
beginning of a contemporary novel. Note the
author’s use of elements such as diction,
syntax, imagery and figurative language. Then
write an essay in which you analyze how the
author’s use of language generates a vivid
impression of Quoyle as a character.
3. Sometimes the prompt offers a “laundry list”
of techniques/devices.
a. Those techniques will definitely be present
in the passage,
BUT
b. You are not required to write about only
those techniques.
c. You can pick others that you see that are not
listed.
d. You also will not have time to write about all
of the techniques the prompt offers.
• Example:
• Read carefully the following passage from the
beginning of a contemporary novel. Note the
author’s use of elements such as diction,
syntax, imagery and figurative language. Then
write an essay in which you analyze how the
author’s use of language generates a vivid
impression of Quoyle as a character.
4. In more recent years, however, the prompts do
not offer a “laundry list” of devices.
a. They usually mention “figurative language”
or “literary devices.”
b. Regardless, the readers expect you will talk
about poetic techniques that contribute to
the poem’s meaning/aspect you are focusing
on.
• Example:
• The following two poems present animal-eye
views of the world. Read each poem carefully.
Then write an essay in which you analyze the
techniques used in the poems to characterize
the speakers and convey differing views of the
world.
B. How do I Prepare for the
Poetry/Prose Essays?
1. Don’t just review your literary terms sheet—
memorize the definitions
2. Match terms to poems we used in class to
demonstrate them
3. Review your Poetry Writes for commentary
given to you there
V. Differences between Open-Ended
Prompts and Poetry/Prose Prompts
OPEN-ENDED
A. Universal theme
(“meaning of the work
as a whole”) always
REQUIRED
B. Cannot quote
specifically from the
novel/play, as you will
not have it available
(this is different than
on Mrs. B’s essays)
POETRY/PROSE
A. UT needed only if
asked for in prompt
B. Quotes required
VI. Strategies:
A. Timing
1. You are given 2 hours to write three essays
2. Equal division of time means you should
spend 40 minutes per essay
3. Reading the prompt and passages and
planning an essay should take no more than
5-10 minutes
4. That means the actual writing of each essay
should be 30-35 minutes.
5. No one will tell you when 35 minutes have
passed, so you have to time yourself
A. Strategies: Timing
6. It is better to write most of 3 essays rather
than to skip one all together
7. To this effect, conclusions are not hugely
important to AP readers
8. If you time yourself for 35 minutes and are
not finished, leave yourself space to come
back, but move on to the next essay
B. Strategies: Planning
1. Outlines are not required, but they are a
good idea
2. They should be brief—three to four points
max
3. You are not required to stick with the
outline if you change your mind as you write
4. AP readers do give some credit for outlines at
the end of unfinished essays
• As the 2-hour limit nears, if you cannot finish the
essay, write the outline for the rest of it
C: Strategies
Which Prompt to Start with?
1. Strategy #1: Hardest essay first
a. Read all the prompts and passages before
you start writing any of them
• Your subconscious will work on two of them
while you write the first
b. Write the hardest one first
i. You can write the essays in any order
ii. You might do best on the hardest one if you are
fresher
2. Strategy #2: Easiest Essay first
a. Read all the prompts and passages before
you start writing any of them
• Your subconscious will work on the other two
while you write the first
b. Start with the easiest one first
i.
You might feel it’s best to write on what you
know best while you are fresh
ii. Gives your subconscious time to think about the
other 2
Strategies
3. Strategy #3: Write in the order they are given
a. Read all the prompts and passages before
you start writing any of them
• Your subconscious will work on the other two
while you write the first
b. Read the prompts as you go along and write
in the order they are given
•
May not gunk up your mind/confuse prompts