Hey I don’t know if this should go in the College Admissions Area, and it is a pretty stupid question, but I wanted to know how College English/ Writing classes are? I am in AP English Literature at my school and it is a joke. My teacher is horrible and I want to know if I should take the AP test for that class. Idon’t enjoy english particularly, probably because of this teacher, but I have an A in the class, but not so much because I am a good writer it is just that he thinks we are good writers because he is always stuck with the crappy students. I probably won’t get a score to receive credit from a college but I am afraid of college english classes because I think that they want for the students to be good writers when they enter. Is that true? I have this idea that I am supposed to be good at writing and the point of the English class is just to fill a requirement. Do college english classes teach you how to write? Is this too obvious of a question. Is there a chance to get a good grade in a writing class my freshman year if I am not that great of a writer already?
<p>Just about every college in the nation has basic freshmen writing courses because SO MANY freshmen - even from good schoolls, with good grades - STILL can't write. And even top schools have "writing labs" (may have different names) where you can go for help. The lack of good writing in this country is scandalous (in the eyes of college professors) and so colleges are used to kids arriving unprepared. Check out the college catalogues on the school you want to go to (usually available online) and you will see that there is just about always some basic Freshman course that is called "Composition" or something like that to teach writing.</p>
<p>Also, part of college English teaching even in non-Composition classes is to TEACH you to write, so yes, it is possible to get a good grade. What my son did in one class was go to the teacher ahead of time (before a paper was due) with his thesis and an intro paragraph, to see if he was on the right track. The teacher often would offer to look at the draft, too (this is in non-English classes. In English classes, at least at the freshmen level, it was part of the assignment to turn in the draft). </p>
<p>Don't panic. Again, check the college catalogue. Bet you'll see a writing lab sometimes staffed by grad students or other students, like seniors who are excellent writers. You can bring papers there before they are due for extra help and ideas. My kids both went to top ten schools, and even those schools had writing labs.</p>