AP English Language Exam Thread

<p>How bad of a score would the last essay get if it only really had a personal example? Like I developed a thesis and stuff, but the bulk of my argument was based on a personal example. Is that really bad?</p>

<p>Topoftheworld:</p>

<p>I’ve seen a prompt where the person started with a personal anecdote and concluded with one too. In the middle, they had a literary example and a historical example. He got an 8. If that’s what you did, it’s definitely fine. If your examples are all stories, then it probably won’t be great.</p>

<p>@wheatbread: Yeah, but the analysis essay is the rhetorical analysis essay. The prompt may have omitted the words “rhetorical devices” but the phrase “analyze how the author does…” means “analyze the author’s use of rhetorical devices to…”</p>

<p>You have to analyze the piece of writing and the (rhetorical) techniques used to get the author’s point across. </p>

<p>I mean, I suppose you could have indeed not listed any devices and still explained the ludicrousness of the two opposing passages, but I prefer to stick to the AP Eng Lang Exam basics, which defines the 2nd essay as being an analysis of rhetorical devices.</p>

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<p>The passages had a distinct lack of major devices though, which annoyed me. I used diction (numerous times), exemplification, analogy, litotes, and irony.</p>

<p>Forgot to mention tone though…that was so obvious too >> </p>

<p>I think I mentioned antithesis though.</p>

<p>Serafina: thanks for clarifying, i just thought it was a bit strange that everyone was solely using rhetorical devices (because i was thinking i maybe misread the prompt for a little bit there)</p>

<p>can someone explain how we were supposed to present the synthesis essay? i think i got a little confused there too.</p>

<p>"cld_1992:</p>

<p>The only time a qualifying essay wouldn’t be successful is if you didn’t take a definitive position at the end…you did eventually choose pro or con, right? "</p>

<p>I don’t want to get into too much detail since I’ve already gotten some posts deleted because of discussing AP Psych, but I said at the end that while there are issues to deal with, we should continue doing it, but we should also take certain measures to deal with said issues.</p>

<p>I thought the MC was pretty straightforward. I think my essay #2 was pretty well written, and I had some solid examples (plus a fabricated anecdote) for the the third essay. I thought the subject of the first essay was pretty fun (yay for space exploration), but am not too sure about the strength of my essay.</p>

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<p>I don’t think it would detract from your essay if you devoted a small portion to a qualifying paragraph.</p>

<p>“Should continue doing it”</p>

<p>That’s enough for taking a position, and stating a claim, so I think you’re safe.</p>

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<p>For all of you saying that you must state x and y rhetorical term to earn points for analysis - it’s not that rigid. The rhetorical analysis essay is just that; an analysis of the rhetoric in the essay, not the names of the rhetoric.</p>

<p>An0maly:</p>

<p>I don’t really think anybody say that, but I do remember reading in a prep book once that the AP graders find it easiest to give points to those that point out good examples of rhetorical analysis. The really, really easy way is to use key terms and devices. However, that’s not the end all to be all. Analysis is much more than the terminology it uses, so I agree with what you say overall.</p>

<p>My essays were good, but short. Would I get scored down for only writing about 2 pages per essay?</p>

<p>Am I the only one who thought the synthesis was pretty difficult? I left it for last because I had to plan it out too much. If I had another hour, I could have written a great essay, I know it, but I was getting so nervous and crunched on time.
The open topic I loved, because it was SO EASY to BS the whole thing.</p>

<p>Hey guys, would I be penalized for saying that “340,000 foreclosed homes this past WEEK” when it really was this past MONTH??</p>

<p>Also, I have a question about the synthesis one. It said to basically discuss prevalent issues with [topic] right? I just talked about key issues and in my conclusion pretty much said various factors affect [topic]. I didn’t explicitly write that I was for greater [topic] or for less of [topic]. Will that hurt my score significantly?</p>

<p>Ugh crap, on the 1st one I took a side, and on the 3rd one, I used two personal examples/experiences/observations, not literary because I thought you could pick…</p>

<p>;_; I think I got a 1 :(</p>

<p>^ I didn’t also explicitly say that I was pro or against it, but with the way I chose my sources, I think they can tell that I was against it. As for the penalty, idk. I would also like to know.</p>

<p>The essay 3 was using experiences, observations, or readings. So, it did not explicitly state using one over the others</p>

<p>mann
i wrote 6 pages for the dbq
3 for the other two
hopefully a 6,4,4</p>

<p>Six pages is kind of ridiculous for one DBQ.</p>

<p>Can’t anybody answer my question about the penalty of putting down “340,000 foreclosed homes this past WEEK” when it really was this past MONTH? I’m really worried since I’m pretty sure I did poorly on the second one.</p>

<p>six pages in 40min? even 1 hour? handwriting on crack?</p>