<p>We are considering (at the advice of our college counselor) having our junior son take AP English Languag and Composition exam "cold, just in case he does well" this year. As my son has three other APs this year that involve pretty heavy duty studying and many heavy duty academic classes in addition, he refuses to prepare for this exam (I may be able to convince him to at least take a look at a sample test) but thinks he will do well because he is a very good reader/writer. And the college counselor points out that we don't have to send this particular AP score if we are not happy with it (my son will have six others in any case for sophomore and junior years). Any experience? Pros/cons? Is it possible/likely to do well without preparing, just on strength of general background (the way you can on the CR and Writing SAT)? Thanks for any advice.</p>
<p>It’s definitely possible - at my school, no AP English classes are offered, but between junior and senior year, I’d say approximately 40% (or so) of the class ends up taking it. Each year, there is a a good number of 4s and 5s and a few 3s, so it seems as though people do just fine, as long as they are strong in English in general. I would not worry about it. I myself am doing the same thing this year, and am not concerned. Maybe pick up a prep book and glance over it, just to feel more secure?</p>
<p>My son took the AP English Comp test without having taken the class. He did look over a practice book. He knew that all he needed was a 4 to get the college credit he wanted. </p>
<p>I would think between now and May, your son should be able to find <em>some</em> time to do some practice sections in a practice book. </p>
<p>For my other son, usually an offer of movie tickets for him and a friend was enough to get him to do some AP test practice. :)</p>
<p>DD also took it during the Junior year and scored 5. Even though school doesn’t have AP English language as a course during the Junior year but according to DD English III Hons. prepare well for the exam.</p>
<p>At my school all of the honors english students in grade 11 were required to take AP Comp, even though our English class was not technically “AP”. I took it mostly cold, I think they had us do a couple of example questions in class. But if you’re a pretty good honors English student and you can do timed essays you shouldn’t have any problem passing it with a 3-5 score.</p>
<p>I pretty much took it “cold” last year and got a 5. Comp is not hard at all. </p>
<p>All I did? There were about ten literary devices not typically covered in lower English classes that I familiarized myself with the day before the test.</p>
<p>But other than that, just familiarizing himself with the set up and time allocations will probably be sufficient if he’s already skilled at reading/writing.</p>
<p>I really didn’t find the test challenging.</p>
<p>D2 dropped out of AP Comp mid-semester (it was boring according to her and she said she wasn’t learning anything she really didn’t already know), then took the exam and got a 5. So I guess it can be done.</p>
<p>My d. also took the exam without the class – she scored 4. Like the others here, she did do minimal prep - she got an AP review book and basically prepped on vocabulary. She spent one hour on prep, sometimes in the week leading up to the exam. She felt better and more comfortable with the exam than students who had taken the course. My d. did not take AP English because she studied abroad fall semester of her junior year – she arranged for a year of independent study with the teacher who taught honors English for the full year. Basically she read assigned literature on her own and submitted assigned essays. </p>
<p>I’d note that other than the cost of the exam, there’s nothing to lose by taking it. The scores don’t have to be reported to colleges – but I think it would be hard for a kid who writes well to score less than a 3.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Very encouraging. We will go for it Mom2, I certainly agree he can/shd study more. But that doesn’t mean I can make him do it, but I will try some influence as you suggest. Prob is he also has Calc BC, chem and Euro history APs and three languages in addition, so he has to spread his focus… Also his jr year English class is a whole year reading Canterbury Tales in Middle English, so not that helpful for AP, although they do some essay writing. Thank you!</p>
<p>AP English was one of 2 hardest classes in my D’s HS senior year (another AP US History). She has used both for college credits. She has learned so much in AP English, improve her writing skills tremendously (she was very strong writer, has received Writing award (only on in her junior class). I strongly recommend taking AP English class if available at HS. D’s writing skills serve her extremely well in all her goals (applying for selective college programs, in all her college classes, applying for grants for her Medical Research project, writing essay for Medical School application). She was told numerous times that her writing made a difference, She is giving a lot of credits to her taking AP English and teacher who taught this class and all the torture that she endured in this class.</p>
<p>Why not take it? You don’t have to report it, and the absence of the score won’t look suspicious because the student doesn’t have AP English on his transcript.</p>
<p>But the student might want to consider waiting until senior year to take it, when he will be even better prepared. </p>
<p>My daughter took AP English Language sort of cold as a senior (she was in IB English) and got a 5, which enabled her to place out of one semester of a tedious and otherwise-required writing seminar at college.</p>
<p>Thanks Marian and Miami. Our school doesn’t offer AP English, and in all honesty the reason for taking in jr year is to show it on college apps (and count for various AP Scholar type programs)</p>
<p>Being able to get out of college Freshman Comp classes is a blessing!!! Freshmen year in college is stressful enough without having to write 2 semesters’ worth of essays!</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be particularly tough to do, though a little time spent reading through one of the prep books would probably be a good idea.</p>
<p>On the college comp front, D was surprised to find that her college took the AP Lit and Comp (only with a 4/5) as credit for one of the two comp courses, but did not credit AP Lang and Comp against any of the composition requirements.</p>
<p>D. still took one semester of Honors English in college after using AP English for credit. She had one of her easiest college “A”. It was somewhat time consuming because of amount of reading. However, it also has been beneficial, since it increased her Reading speed, she is not a big reader, she much rather write a paper even the very long one, than read a novel (not her favorite activity at all). Everybody is different, and if one does not have AP English in school, why not to take a test? However, I would advise to take some English at college then if you want to improve either reading or writing. College Honors English requirements were much easier than AP English requirements in D’s case, which was not true at all for other AP classes in comparison to college classes (science classes in college whole tons harder than AP science classes).</p>