AP Lit Essay Portion of the
Exam
 Part I: Multiple Choice:1 hour for 55 questions  45% of
the composite score
 Part II: 3 Essay questions: 2 hours  55% of the
composite score:
1. Poetry Question
2. Prose Question
3. Novel/Play Question
AP Lit Essay Breakdown
 Intro: thesis  answers the question WHAT?
-What is the complex/dramatic situation here?
- What did the author do to create the drama?
________________________________________________
 The body of the essay answers the question HOW?
- How did the author accomplish the complexity in
each the given passage or poem?
- Discuss and analyze (don’t simply identify) the
effect of the devices used: structure, imagery, tone,
diction, syntax.
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.
Read the poem twice to yourself.
Example 1: Introduction: How do I
arrive at my thesis?
Step 1: What is the prompt asking you to do?
e.g. If the 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 prompt every time the blanket 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 blanket!
Texturize and layer that blanket. Approach the blanket from as
many angles as possible. Let the details about poem pile up.
Annotate, annotate, annotate. Circle/ highlight any detail, word, or
sentence that stands out about the complexity of the blanket.
Example 2: Introduction: How do I
arrive at my thesis?
Step 1: What is the prompt asking you to do?
e.g. If the prompt asks you to discuss the attitude of the speaker,
write the definition of “attitude” at the top of your paper.
Step 2: Mark the prompt every time the attitude changes or is
described.
Step 3: Linger in the details about the attitude! Let the details
about the passage or poem pile up. Annotate, annotate,
annotate. Circle/ highlight any detail, word, or sentence that
stands out about the speaker’s attitude.
Now you’re ready to have a position and write your thesis.
Now that you’ve annotated your
prompt (no more than 7-8 minutes),
 decide where the major shifts are (shift=change,
contradiction, irony)
 and put a slash at the beginning of every MAJOR shift
(remember, you’re trying to break the prompt down into
manageable chunks)
 What are some clues for finding shifts?
- Conjunctions: although, but, yet, however, nevertheless
- Punctuation marks: dashes
- Time breaks/ passage of time breaks (additional space
between paragraphs)
Let’s re-cap: In the intro, we need
 The title of the literary work (what do we underline? when do we
use quotations?)
 Full name of the author at first; after that, only the last name
 Thesis – CFC (complexity or shift, function, conjunctions)
1. An argument, position - NOT A FACT
2. C: States the main “complexity” (contradiction: hot & cold,
tension/release, irony, juxtaposition, change, shift) OF THE
ENTIRE PROMPT
3. F: Explains the “function” of the complexity/shift (What is the
purpose or role of that complexity?)
4. C: Conjunctions or key words to help you construct the thesis:
not only … but, however, yet, despite, but
Raising the level of
student work
 Essays scored 4 (out of 9) or lower most often result
from students “dumbing down” the task.
 A series of lower-scoring sample essay opening
paragraphs will be projected in the next few slides.
What instructions would you give these students in
order to get them to engage the task more fully?
The Prompt and the Problem
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?
1.
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?
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 excellent 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.
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