Notes Oct 4-7

The AP Exam

• not penalized for wrong guesses- so always make a guess!
• 55 mulitiple choice questions: you should get all 1&2 questions correct, most of the 3&4 questions correct, and some of the 5 level questions correct (more opinionated kind of questions)
• flash cards of some literary terms to know for exam: http://quizlet.com/731802/ap-english-exam-glossary-flash-cards/
• essay section 120 min- 3 essays, 2 closed, one open prompt
• 2 different exams to take: AP Lit Exam and AP Language and Composition Exam (non fiction): check if you can get credit for both
• http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_englit.html
• more on how to prepare for exam: http://www.ehow.com/how_6029866_prepare-ap-english-literature-exam.html
• cross word puzzle to practice some literary terms: http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/best/vocabulary/ap.english.01.html

Closed Readings

• Read (the promt)
• Analyze (your essay)
• Plan (a response)
• Write (your essay)
• Analyze (its effectiveness)
• Revise (content, structure, and usage)

Given a passage to read and then write about.

How does author use technique, and what does it mean?

• meaning= context+significance 
• Don't forget the hidden "So what?" question

The Open Prompt

2 main categories of questions:

• critical theory questions- make a statement about the function of a literary element and show how this is true of some pieces you've already read.
• content questions- theme focused, have to show how this theme is developed in a piece you've already read.

Have to recall previously read literature to support responses.

• may ask for only pieces in a certain time period, or a certain type of literature (poems, novels, etc.)
• So be efficient: have a poem from one time period, and a novel from another to cover both possibilities.

A video I found with a song about AP English with allusions to the bible and novels and other things about the class. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_58HDK2meZg

Connections: There was a complete connection with this class and my psychology class when we learned about the psychoanalytical criticism. We just finished learning about Jung and Freud in that class.