AP Literature and Composition

1. Final Review We Will Survive 2014 AP Literature and Composition

2. You Are Cordially Invited Event: AP Literature and Composition Exam Date: Thursday, May 8, 2014 Time: 7:30 am SHARP 7:00 am if you are eating tacos with us Place: Large Gym

3. What to Bring • Plenty of sharpened #2 pencils. • Dark blue and/or black pens. • A watch to keep time. • A bottle of water if you wish. • A sealed snack for break time if you wish. (Food cannot be at your seat). • A sweater or jacket in case the room is cold.

4. What NOT to bring… • Backpacks • Purses • Cell phones • Highlighters (not allowed) • Any electronic device

5. General Testing Reminders • Get good rest the night before the exam. • Eat a healthy breakfast, but don’t overdo. • Make sure you know where to go for testing. • Leave your house earlier than you think you should. • Have your materials ready, gas in your car, etc. to avoid undue stress in the morning.

6. Multiple Choice – One Hour • Test begins with the APMC – one hour. • Budget your time between passages. (There will likely be FIVE passages on your test). • Remember to move on from difficult questions, but leave nothing blank. • Keep engaged by marking the passages and the questions. • Pay attention to time warnings. • You will NOT have time to bubble when time is called.

7. Question Types • Purpose/theme • Tone/attitude • Organization/Form • Strategies/Literary Devices • Grammar • Vocabulary in Context • Inference • Characterization • Miscellaneous content • Double Answer

8. Strategies for Multiple Choice • Identify the purpose of the entire passage. • Identify the purpose of each paragraph (or stanza) in a passage or poem • Note any devices as you see them. • Read before and after a line reference before answering a question. • For double answers, concentrate on one word at a time. • Do not “camp out” on any one question. • Watch your time and get to all passages.

9. Open-Ended Responses • After the APMC, you will have a short break to stretch your legs, grab a snack (if you brought one) and use the restroom. • Next, you will have 2 hours to complete the essay portion of the exam. • 2 hours to write three essays; • 40 minutes each • Three essays will likely be: • Poetry Analysis • Prose Analysis • “Question Three” (choose a novel or play)

10. Reminders for All Analysis Prompts • Carefully read and mark the prompt. • Pay attention to every word and any important background information. • Carefully read and mark the passage. • Identify the purpose of the passage and keep your focus primarily on the BIG question. • Include context and a clear thesis in your introduction. • Identify the BEGINNING, MIDDLE, and END of the passage • Remember all the strategies you have in your “pocket.” Let’s review some!!!

11. Strategies in your pocket • For analyzing poetry: structure/form, sound devices, figurative language, organizational divisions (stanza, quatrain, etc.), imagery, persona, theme, shift… • For analyzing prose: characterization, arrangement, point of view, syntax, details… • For humor or satire: irony, hyperbole, understatement, wit, litotes… (See handout for extended list)

12. Poetry Analysis • Look at the publication information and author to see if you have previous experience you can draw from. • Note the form and look for 2 to 3 divisions. • Read the passage sentence to sentence rather than line to line. • Read the beginning and the end several times. Meaning is usually in the final lines of a poem. • Look for complexity and rhetorical shifts. • Don’t forget the “BIG BUTS”

13. Sample Poetry Analysis Prompt Single Poem: “If I Could Tell You” (W. H. Auden) Prompt: The following poem is a villanelle, a form having strict rules of rhyme, meter, andrepetition. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the formal elements of the poem contribute to its meaning.

14. Sample Poetry Analysis Prompt Paired Poems: “To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age” (Samuel Johnson) “When I Was One-and-Twenty” (A. E. Housman) Prompt: Each of the two poems below is concerned with a young man at the age of twenty-one, traditionally the age of adulthood. Read the two poems carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you compare and contrast the poems, analyzing the poetic techniques, such as point of view and tone, that each writer uses to make his point about coming of age.

15. Take some time with your essay • Review your poetry analysis essay from the final four and the comments on the essay and/or rubric. • Underline your thesis statement and all claims in pink. • Underline your quotations from the poem in green. • Underline references to technique or craft in blue. • Underline your discussion and commentary in yellow. • Underline transition words in orange. • Write observations and notes for improvement.

16. Prose Analysis Essay • Read the passage carefully marking the BEGINNING, MIDDLE, and END. • Read with the BIG question in mind. • Look for complexity. The answer to the BIG question is likely _____, but also _____. • Read the beginning and the end at least twice. • Focus on higher level devices beyond “diction” and “syntax.” • Develop meaningful observations and avoid paraphrase [words like “suggests” “because” and “conveys” can help you.] • Avoid the verbs “uses” “writes” “talks about”… • Replace “how” and “what” with “that”

17. Sample Prose Analysis Prompt Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda (1801): The narrator provides a description of Clarence Harvey, one of the suitors of the novel’s protagonist, Belinda Portman. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze Clarence Hervey’s complex character as Edgeworth develops it through such literary techniques as tone, point of view, and language.

18. Sample Prose Analysis Prompt Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848): This is from a novel about mill workers living inManchester, England, in the 1840’s. Analyze how Gaskell uses elements such as point ofview, selection of detail, dialogue, and characterization to make a social commentary.

19. Take some time with your essay • Review your prose analysis essays from The Final Four… • Underline your answer to the BIG question in pink. • Underline references to strategies in blue. • Underline quotations from the passage in green. • Underline explanations and connections in yellow. • Underline transition words in orange. • Write observations and notes for improvement.

20. Question Three Essay • The final type of essay you will likely write is an analysis of an entire novel or play. • Quickly assess the question to make sure you understand your task. • Choose your work. • Choose your moment, character, etc. BE SPECIFIC. • Generate relevant, specific, and accurate details to support your thesis. • Focus on the meaning of the work even if this task is only implied in the prompt.

21. Sample Question Three Prompt A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

22. Sample Question Three Prompt “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny or any supernatural agency.” Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces. Choose a novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.

23. Take some time with your essay • Review your Question Three essay • Underline your thesis and topic sentences in pink. • Underline any references or key words from the prompt in blue. • Underline your specific evidence and examples from the novel or play in green. • Underline your discussion and elaboration in yellow. • Underline your transition words in orange. • Write observations and notes for improvement.

24. Good Luck You’ve worked very hard & You’re ready!!!