Hey, I’m currently in AP English Language. At the beginning of the year, my teacher stated that the class would not be used as an AP Prep Course, but rather as an English class. This worries me, because I plan on taking the exam in May.
I currently have an 100% in the class(hard earned), but I’m not sure as to how ready I’ll actually be for the AP Exam. Obviously, I’m not asking anyone to speak for my class, but I’d really like to know what is necessary to be ready for the exam.
Our class has focused strongly on rhetorical analysis.
A few questions:
Is this test more similar to an SAT, where there isn’t anything to directly study or know, but rather just to have writing ability and skills in reading comprehension? If someone had very good skills with English in general, would they be able to score a 5 without any prior preparation for the Exam? How helpful would a study book be?
I took both the class and the test last year, so I know a little about this.
In the past, the test has focused on learning certain terms for rhetorical strategies (anaphora, anadiplosis, etc.) and being able to pick them, as well as a few other things like author’s purpose, out in a passage. Last year, however, the test seemed extremely similar to an SAT reading test, and only required a decent knowledge of English to do well on it. In my opinion, if you can do well on the Reading section of the SAT/PSAT, you will be fine on the new AP English questions.
If you are naturally a good reader/writer, you will probably have a bit of an advantage over others, but you still need to know the requirements for the essays.
A study book could probably help you practice the multiple choice, but I personally found it much more helpful to practice the essays with a teacher.
I think you should be fine as long as your teacher transitions from rhetorical analysis to argument by yhe end of the semester. Good reading skills is all you really needed on the last test’s MC, and being a good essay writer is very important. Good luck!
I took this class last year, and scored a 5, with no studying, and a final grade of 97%. My class, however, was pretty rigorous, and my teacher pushed us hard. I have strong reading comprehension and good writing skills, so this class didn’t require much AP prep for me. My teacher also vowed he wouldn’t teach to the exam, and did one day of prep two days before the exam, and we all did fine. I never used a study book like Princeton or Barrons, and glanced at sample tests and sample essays the week of the exams.
Our class focused more on American Lit, and our teacher was a hard grader when it came to writing papers and in-class essays. Also, I took Honors Rhetoric at the same time, so that helped a lot with the topics the test was looking at. As said above, the test does analyze your abilities to find the argument, write about the meaning and rhetorical strategies used to convey the author’s argument. If you are good at reading comprehension and your writing skills are good, then you should be in a good place. Good luck!!