I feel like I want to challenge that. I want to write about a video game–The Last of Us, for those that have played it. I know it’ll likely be unscored because it failed to follow the prompts, but I feel as if I can write a masterpiece on that game. Or at least on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Watership Down.
I guess I’m asking: Is an essay completely disregarded if it’s not written about:
a) a book college board approves of
or
b) a book college board approves of
Has anyone ever heard of someone getting a good score while writing about something totally eccentric? I know it’s a suicidal move, and sure I can write on the ol’ bread and butter of our literary world, but I feel as if it’s closing a lot of doors to limit the source material to what collegeboard likes. So is something written on anything they don’t approve of scored as a 0, end of story?
Question’ll probably irritate some people, sorry if it does, and thanks for your patience!
Zuh? (a) and (b) are, um, identical…
(I had a former student get a 5 with an essay about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but she was a pretty spectacular writer. Do NOT write about a video game or anything else that is not a novel or a play, though. That’s a recipe for a terrible score, no matter how well you write it–it breaks the guidelines!)
Yeah, A and B were intended to be identical. Don’t take most of what I say seriously.
Thanks for the response, though! I think I can settle for Fear and Loathing.
Yeah, F&L is probably okay, but I’d prepare 4-6 books because there’s no guarantee the theme they’re asking about will be a significant part of F&L.
Apparently one year a kid completely fabricated a book that made the AP graders go crazy trying to figure out where it came from. I actually wrote a book that’s in the process of getting published (hooray), that I swore to my teacher if I did not have a book to answer the prompt that I would use that. Basically, it’s a bunch of English teachers and professors that want literary classics. The idea is to be able to analyze it amazingly, but I think it’s more along the lines of how they want to see a younger generation take in wisdom from books written decades ago. She also specifically told me to NOT write about The Fault in Our Stars or any young adult novel because it automatically gets a lower score. Kind of makes me mad that a “popular book” can’t be used.
@pathospablo So I take it that The Hunger Games can’t be used? lol I bet they’re tired of that one already.
@stvincent Lol, no. I can see why The Hunger Games can’t be used. I mean, physically you can do it; nobody will stop you—but you would get a low score.
Ewwww TFIOS. 
Just follow the directions. It’s one exam. It tests your knowledge on one specific thing: how to analyze that type of book. Disregarding the directions is a pretty pointless kind of disobedience. What does it get you? A low score and a chip on your shoulder about the unfairness of it all?
“I know the SAT says to fill in the circles, but I don’t think that fully tests my ability to underline things, so I’m going to do that instead.”
If you want to analyze video games, write a blog! There’s a place for everything. A formal test that is very clear about its material isn’t the time to willfully assert your independence from “the system.”
I’m guessing that Fifty Shades of Grey and any of the Harry Potter books are out as well. 
@skieurope Fifty Shades is perfectly acceptable as long as your conclusion leads way into your own personal experiences in that field…
Prepare a set of your favs for the essay! Mine include Les Miz, The Joy Luck Club, A Raisin in the Sun, and Of ice and Men. Collegeboard provides a 100-book list for college-bound students so I think you’ve a lot of choices. Also, dead white men usually deserve the “merit”. Unfortunately, literature is still to some degree patriarchy.
A former student of mine wrote about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which isn’t exactly literary canon, but she was a superb writer and ended up getting a 5. Her experience leads me to believe that the “literary merit” requirement has some flexibility but that it may well require extraordinary writing skill to get away with writing about a book that far away from the “safe zone.”
What about A Song of Fire and Ice? Is that acceptable? I’m getting the vibe Harry Potter probably isn’t acceptable.
I wouldn’t use it, personally.
I would argue that a lot of the books on the exams every year are ones that are “historically acclaimed” more so than ones of “literary merit.” What has “literary merit” is entirely subjective… I think you could make the case that Harry Potter has more literary merit than some of the works I’ve seen listed.