Is AP Literature as terrifying as it seems?

<p>I'm scrolling through my school's AP Literature blog, just to get a feel for the course, considering that I'm taking it next year (senior year) - and it seems terrifying. Annotating 200 year old novels, reading an endless amount of books, 15-20 page essays. Makes me feel unsafe, lol. </p>

<p>Kidding about the unsafe part, lol, but in all honesty, I'm in AP Lang right now, and by the end of the year, I'll have about a 95 for the course. It wasn't overwhelming at all. However, I only read articles for that class, and one small novel. Most of our essays were under five pages and I have a pretty solid command of the English language so there weren't any problems in that department...</p>

<p>...however, Literature seems like a whole different ball game. </p>

<p>For those of you who have taken it, what are your thoughts on the class? Do you have any tips on succeeding? Tips on merely surviving?</p>

<p>I go to an average high school. Other people on here typically go to better schools so it was probably more difficult for them.
We didn’t annotate 200-year-old novels (though we read a few) and we only wrote one 20-page essay. The other ones were 3-5 pages. I think the point was to teach us how to write well rather than get us to write a lot.</p>

<p>I hated lit, but it wasn’t too hard.</p>

<p>were the 20 pages double spaced and 20- font? Or were they legit single spaced, 12 tnr?</p>

<p>My class wasn’t very hard and I think I got a 4 or 5 on the test. Longest essay was only 5 pages, and it was due after the test…</p>

<p>It was an ok class for me. I believe the fact that it was during my senior year made it so harsh. If it was Junior year maybe I wouldn’t have found it as annoying</p>

<p>Yes, (cackles maniacally) yes, it is. Your AP Lit teacher is like the devil, forcing you to annotate archaic poetry and write volumes which he or she will then tear to shreds without any concern for your emotional well-being.</p>

<p>Real answer - it’s easy (or at least reasonable) if you keep up with the reading,</p>

<p>–(probably not your) AP Lit teacher</p>

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<p>Everything we wrote was double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font.
(Why would you write anything in 20-point font?)</p>

<p>My first 2 A’s in block English!</p>

<p>The first semester was okay with poetry, plays, and interesting books, but the second was gross as heck with rated R, illogical, overly coincidental, and boring books that I could care less about! I’d throw all of the good out of the window with it when I’m done. Research projects, abnormal amounts of artwork book projects (in excess of 3 for each book), timed writes didn’t turn out so badly.</p>

<p>But AP Language, more of the type of English I’ll be using in college, but it was extremely ridiculously hard compared to AP Lit. It’s basically old, hard to understand passages and analyzing prose–with more limitations such as not being able to talk about symbolism, figurative language, or theme (even though I won’t be needing these later)…</p>

<p>I know every school is different, but I’ve just completed AP Lang and can’t wait to go into AP Lit.</p>

<p>I had no trouble in AP Lang (98%) and a crazy-hard (but still wonderful) teacher.</p>

<p>I’m really excited for AP Lit. At my school its supposed to be slightly easier. We read a lot of “stuff” (I love saying that word when talking about English) over 200+ years old. </p>

<p>If you have a CC account, don’t worry. You’ll do fine.</p>

<p>My sister got an A in it, and she’s usually not the brightest when it comes to English. Even my brother did, I believe.</p>

<p>No one can really answer this question besides people from your school.</p>

<p>^ I agree with Kongo. I got unlucky: I had a crazy hard teacher this past school year and we took practice exams and essays almost every week yet the other Lit. teacher from my school just talked about his personal life the whole time and he taught an incredibly easy class I hear. It totally depends on your teacher and school.</p>