AP English Lit Thoughts

<p>LOL I remember the flamingo passage from last year! that was actually my best essay...</p>

<p>haha i doubt anyone can forget the flamingos of last year...but i liked it =)</p>

<p>did anyone find symbolism in that the rod possibly also represented the son to the father?</p>

<p>"his most trasured possesion"</p>

<p>I'm trying to forget the flamingos. </p>

<p>I really like the second essay, and the first wasn't too bad. My biggest issue with the free response is that I had a number of books I could have written about, and I couldn't decide which one I had the best information for. I ended up using Streetcar Named Desire.</p>

<p>That was definitely part of the focus of my essay #2, bannana_girl.</p>

<p>Did no one else use Ethan Frome for the 3rd FRQ? :|</p>

<p>First essay was okay, third was frickin' awesome (and I had read this research paper I did last year on my book just the night before, so I had tons of specifics...) but second: uh?</p>

<p>What were they thinking? I just can't understand why collegeboard would DO something like that to its poor graders! They are in for one hell of a boring read when they grade those things. Plus, that story was so easy and cliche, the low curve is going to kill people that didn't do such a hot job.</p>

<p>I only wrote two pages; (my average hovers around 3.5...) the essay was fine and I'm confident it adequately analysed the passage, but holy heck, it's one of the most BORING things I've ever written. I've always counted on AP to at least come up with interesting material; (I LOVED the flamingo essay last year, you crazies! :D ) this felt like effing TAKS or something.</p>

<p>I'm relieved that they didn't throw any curveballs like the Lang last year. (I confused the style and argumentative analyses and worried about it for weeks afterwards. Luckily I wrote both in such a way that they could count for either, and I miraculously ended up with a 5-- which I attribute to that frickin' sweet flamingo essay!)</p>

<p>At the same time, I'm pretty dissapointed that it was so bleah and I'd even say, simplistic at times. I hope the curve doesn't screw us all.</p>

<p>The MC was easier than I expected, 1st FRQ was okay, but I think I messed up on FRQ #2 and 3. I used Heart of Darkness for FRQ#3, and I realized it's a novella after I took the test. Do they punish you for mistaking a novella for a novel?</p>

<p>Yeah, I used "Death", even though I read it last year... I really wanted to do "all my sons" but couldn't remember the main character's name. We read one of the free response prompts in class.</p>

<p>Heart of Darkness has been on lots of the lists before, and it's not that short.</p>

<p>My second essay was interesting! Rod=rite of passage. Totally.</p>

<p>I used The Great Gatsby. I was relieved after reading the prompt, since it could apply to so many works.</p>

<p>I am nervous, though, because I didn't have time to do one whole passage on the MC. Apparently I am pretty slow. In total, I must have skipped at least 13 or 14 questions. :/</p>

<p>Multiple choice was pretty straightforward.</p>

<p>FRQ's 1 and 2 were easy. Number two was really simple. I was surprsied. For number 3, I used the Scarlet Letter. It fit perfectly with the question.</p>

<p>I think I did pretty well on all of my essays (I used Wuthering Heights for #3), except on the second one I mixed up syntax and diction and started talking about word choices. Will that be a problem? Also, how specific do the essays need to be? I mentioned at least two or three literary elements from the passages and pulled a lot of quotes. </p>

<p>Also on the MC, I didn't get to the entire last passage which was #47-55, I believe. Other than than, I omitted 2 or 3 and did pretty well on the rest. Good for a 5?</p>

<p>... My hand was dead by the end of the essays: I wrote 2.75 pages, 2.75 pages, 1.75 pages for each essay - about 7.5 pages total (That's A LOT for me).</p>

<p>umm........
I used Ceremony for the third essay but I don't see anyone who used it..</p>

<p>I just wrote like 2.5 pages per essay. How much did you guys write?</p>

<p>The MC seemed surprisingly easy. I hated the FRQs.. I just wasn't feeling it. Even the last FRQ, though I probably did the best on that one. I feel like I bombed FRQ #1 and #2. I wish that my class had practiced doing essays like #1 and #2. We would just do thesis statements for examples. It semed easier at the time, but I would have benefitted from more practice.</p>

<p>2.5 pages front and back? I only did 2.5 SIDES</p>

<p>Should have used Death of a Salesman for #3, but I was running out of time and I felt more comfortable with Their Eyes Were Watching God. I didn't have time left to do any brainstorming. I finished my second to last sentence the exact second they called time. I think I spent too much time on the the first MC poem and the first FRQ. That screwed me over. </p>

<p>As a whole, the test was alright. Hand was cramping big time. I always bomb the MC so I'm hoping that my essays will make up for it (ha!).</p>

<p>I used Of Mice and Men for the third one because it was the only book I prepared. :-(</p>

<p>For the 3rd FRQ, I used Edward Albee's play THREE TALL WOMEN, which I had read only last week, so it was fresh on my mind.</p>

<p>It's definitely a work of literary merit (it won a Pulitzer after all) and it fits the prompt perfectly. Plus, I'll probably be one of the only people in the nation to use that play, sine it is not very widely read. And my essay was killer.</p>

<p>I actually really, really enjoyed writing it.</p>

<p>i loved the flamingos last year! it was better than this year</p>

<p>haha,,
yeah,, monkey joint
I was trying to say 2.5sides..</p>