<p>Now that it's 48 hours later . . . let's talk.</p>
<p>Almost all of the 40-some people taking AP Lit at my school, including myself, perceived "country" as a nation, not as the placid "countryside." Even the "English goddess" of our school wrote about a nation. Personally, I think the CB used an unnecessarily vague and ambiguous term on an otherwise simple prompt. Why not just say a "rural setting?"</p>
<p>I wrote about THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and the significance of the the snobbish Victorian England backdrop. I developed my RURAL ENGLAND paragraphs quite well, but connected everything to England - both city and rural as a whole - as I thought the prompt meant "nation."</p>
<p>Did anyone else go with "nation?" Do you guys think we'll be given a much, much lower score because of this misinterpretation?</p>
<p>i dont know anybody who perceived "country" as a nation. what are you talking about? how would that make any sense with the ignorance/peace contrast?</p>
<p>A good number of people at my school did the same thing, but I'm sorry, I don't really feel any sympathy for them. If they had read the question carefully, they would've seen that a nation didn't really fit the prompt. I mean, I can understand why, if they were pressed for time, they could've made the misconception, but if so, that's their fault for not learning to thoroughly read a prompt before jumping right into a question. </p>
<p>and if anyone cares, I used The Sound and the Fury. It fit the prompt PERFECTLY!</p>
<p>I agree that it was countryside, it is obvious, in fact. But this has been, and still is being, rehashed over and over and over in the giant AP English Lit thread, so this thread is entirely pointless.</p>
<p>I agree that the prompt was somewhat ambiguous, and that one would expect it to be a little more clear. I also know that a lot of people did confuse nation to be country/nation-state type of deal, so it did happen.</p>
<p>However, I honestly don't know how an AP Lit student would make that type of mistake. As a trained close-reader, and one who is supposed to take words and meanings from context, it was clear they weren't referring to a country like England, France, Nigeria, etc. Otherwise, their examples of themes and such would have been quite different. As given, the themes of primitiveness or ignorance clearly indicate they were referring to a rural setting. Otherwise, the prompt would have been open to just about ANY text involving some nation where references are made to said nation. Since the ideals vary from country to country, their examples of themes were not applicable.</p>
<p>"primitive" was the key word in the prompt..it HAD to mean countryside</p>
<p>although I do understand that some people who were rushed on time and stressed out after 2 and a half hours of testing might have skimmed the prompt and therefore misinterpretted it.</p>
<p>i highly, highly doubt they will give you a 1 or 2 on the essay for writing about a "nation." And i'm sure this one essay will not affect you guys as much as you think</p>
<p>"primitiveness or ignorance clearly indicate they were referring to a rural setting"</p>
<p>REALLY? As an AP Lit student you would not use the worst ignorance or primitive to describe a nation? REALLY? So, all countries have intelligent and advanced people? REALLY?</p>
<p>I debated over the country/country for about 5 minutes before I realized that I could write a pretty damn awesome essay where the actual geographical-political country was vital because it was set in Vietnam. Luckily my story took place in a non-urban location in Vietnam which I also addressed, fulfilling both perceptions of the question, but the fact that all of you who saw only one side ("rural") think that everyone else should receive a 3 for not answering the question is just as ignorant. An AP Lit student pays attention to words, and the question was ambiguous, period. I don't even think that it's up for debate. Clearly enough people used 'nation' to make it so that College Board will accept both to make up for their error. They have provided quotes and more concrete examples in the past to make a prompt clear; they didn't this time. The misunderstanding was not the students' misreading. Perhaps they read too much into the question and realized the double meaning of the word, unlike others; perhaps they were rushed and they made an assumption; perhaps the books they prepared fit better with nation-country and therefore they didn't even question it meaning anything else. Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter, and people who "got it right" should really stop sounding so damn elitist.</p>
<p>The AP used country as in country-side. The prompt said something like it represented primitivity, peace, ignorance, and something else....which leads us to believe that they're talking about the country-side. When we asked our AP teacher about this he confirmed that it WAS the country-side.</p>
<p>I couldn't agree more, CBA. Every practice test that I have taken has given an EXPLICIT quote and/or a thought in order to lead on the students. This test said "how does the setting function in a work of literature?" Setting paired with a "primative society" ... blah blah blah. Any society, no matter how ritzy or superficial, can be primative at the same time. The term WAS ambiguous, and I feel like calling CB about the whole matter. I don't know about you guys, but after 80 minutes of essaying, the last thing I need is a vague open-ended question.</p>
<p>I'm so angry. Seriously, have some sympathy guys. We're not morons, and just because you read the prompt correctly doesn't mean that you wrote the perfect 9 essay. I didn't come here to argue and I didn't come here to get b<em>tched out. Instead, I came to discuss something. Isn't that what these boards are for? I'm glad that my school could help *your</em> curve. It's good to know how competitive this world is. Geeez...</p>
<p>I plan to email CollegeBoard about this (in a calm, collected, rational manner, of course, though I am tempted to whine about them screwing us over) and I encourage everyone else affected by this to do the same. I would've already sent an email but the proctors keep taking my Student Pack with the email address in it since I have more AP exams and they don't trust me with it? Maybe they're supposed to take it, I dunno.</p>
<p>The question was only very minorly ambiguous, and only an excess of analyzation or a lack of it could lead to an incorrect interpretation. Both of those are mistakes, however. It just comes down to the fact that part of scoring high includes effective writing, while part comes from a correct interpretation. Nailing only one of those means a lowered score.</p>
<p>i doubt it...reading this board, i think that enough people wrote about a nation for them to accept both...i honestly don't see them giving someone who wrote the most compelling essay on a nation a 3, while giving a shallow piece of crap ****e on the countryside a 5</p>
<p>Agreed, hellokitty11. And aren't CC kids even above average for AP students? So even if only 30% of CC AP students misinterpreted, that has to result in a lot of people misinterpreting the question. </p>
<p>I think at this point arguing with each other (though all of you who say that a nation can't be described as ignorant, peaceful, or primitive are just wrong, period) is useless and it'll be more effective if we argue with CB.</p>
<p>And I hate using the word 'nation' wrong. That's the other thing. Those with any geographical knowledge whatsoever know that a nation is not the same as a country ... but yet a country is a country. Country does not usually mean rural. I took AP Human Geography last year - we spent enough time discussing word choices for locations and I would really expect that CollegeBoard of all people would know this.They should've said 'rural' or 'countryside' or even 'non urban place.'</p>