The Ten Commandments

1. The Ten Commandments 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 nor substitute thine own ideas for the Prompt.

2. Thou shalt not postpone, omit nor bury thy Thesis Statement Thou shalt not commit plot-summary, nor shalt thou cohabit with Padding of Writing, for it is an abomination in my sight. Thou shalt not commit free-floating generalization, but shall support and develop thy every assertion

3. Thou shalt not confuse complexity with confusion, or subtlety with indecisiveness; thou shalt not attribute thine own insensitivity or ignorance to authorial ineptitude. The fact that thou gettest not the point means not that the passage hath no point but that thou hast missed the point. Deal with it.

4. Thou shalt not finish early. Thou shalt spend plenty of thy time planning thine essay responses and reading them over. Thou shalt not merely identify rhetorical, stylistic, or literary devices, but shalt show how they function.

5. Thou shalt read every multiple-choice question with the same exquisite care that thou devotest to the Essay Prompt: thou shalt not be satisfied to 'get the drift.' Even shalt thou strive to read what the writer actually wrote, not what thou expectest him or her to have written. Thou shalt guess when thou knowest not the answers.

6. 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. As I'm sure Moses must have said to God when he first received the original, "It needs work." But it's a start

7. Cracking The AP Literature Exam

8. Multiple Choice Have A Plan 1. Note The Time 2. Pick A Passage To Do Last 3. Pick A Passage To Do First 4. Read The Passage 5. Answer All The Questions a. Guess Aggressively b. Use POE

9. What is POE? Process of Elimination 1. Look for the Wrong answer 2. Half Bad = All Bad 3. Don’t Leave An Answer You’ve Worked On Blank BE BRAVE

10. Learn The Art Of the Seven Minute Passage Don’t Read The Passage 1. Answer any literary term or grammar question 2. Answer questions that ask for the meaning of a single word or phrase 3. Answer line reference questions 4. Answer questions on attitude or tone 5. Answer questions that have line references in the answer choices

11. Essays PANIC + No Idea of What ETS Wants = 5 Restate the question as a statement Support with three examples from the passage Summarize it for a conclusion Sounds good, but does not have one interesting thing to say

12. Say Something Have An Idea Use The Idea Machine

13. The Idea Machine What is the meaning of the work? Meaning = literal + the emotions the work evokes How does the author get the meaning across? Important images Specific words or short phrases Opposition

14. Any student that can write a five-scoring essay can write a seven-scoring essay or better.

15. Breathe. Eat chocolate. Pee before the exam starts Don't walk in there hungry--eat well that morning. Bring several pens of different widths so your hands get a break. Stretch Don't let the MC scare you; it's the kick in the guts before you get to shine on your essays. Breathe Don't cram--if you don't know it by now, you don't know it. Don't sit next to a pen clicker Don't be a pen clicker. Breathe and realize it's a test, only a test. Eat more chocolate.