<p>Now, I have been reading CLiffs for AP English Lang and I noticed that the essays you write are not really "essays". I noticed that some of them do not have the "5-sentence" per paragraph and some even missed the "5-paragraph" requirement. And they are 7-9 essays</p>
<p>What does this mean?</p>
<p>A paragraph is not 5 sentence. An essay is not 5 paragraph. This is the stupid requirement that American English classes have imposed upon their students. </p>
<p>In an AP English Language and Composition class, you are expected to write an essay with no restrictions but with careful deliberation using rhetorical strategies. </p>
<p>So, for a paragraph, as long as you can convey your topic clearly, that’s enough. You don’t need to write five sentences to complete a paragraph. And some AP English essays can achieve 8 or 9 in 4 paragraphs because the writers need that much to write their analysis or argument. </p>
<p>An AP English grader grades the essay based on two things: style and content. They don’t grade based on length. The length is decided by the writer.</p>
<p>Holy crap seriously? Because in all of my previous english classes, you get a lot of marks taken off if you do not have at least 5 sentences in one paragraph and you need a concluding sentence for every paragraph such as a summary and your intro and conclusion should always have 5 sentences minimum lol</p>
<p>Yeah, when I took Rhetoric/AP English Language or read essays written by professional writers, I questioned the ridiculous requirement.</p>
<p>haha, I’m such a slow writer that for my AP English language class I’ve never even gotten to a conclusion yet (meaning the most I’ve ever written is 4 paragraphs, but on average 3) so you’re fine w/out 5 body paragraphs…</p>
<p>and we’ve written 11 essays so far so one would think i’d have been able to speed it up a bit by now…on the exam i’m not even planning on having conclusions. Same for APUSH probably.</p>
<p>A 5-paragraph essay need not apply! (Hooray) wrote 4-paragraph essays (3 sentences in the beginning was intro, two supporting conclusion paragraphs…3-sentences at end was conclusion). I was awarded a 5. It’s not about a formulaic structure - it’s about what you have to say.</p>