College board offers high school students two advanced-level English courses: Language and Literature Composition. Success in these classes and a passing grade on their corresponding exams can potentially earn students college credit. I took AP Lang my junior year primarily because writing is one of my academic strengths that I actually don’t mind engaging in, and I heard through the grapevine that I would hardly have to read any books. Since this might seem ironic for an English class, I didn’t know what the classes’ content would consist of if not novels.
AP Lang breaks down into two main sections that encapsulate class time: analytic and argumentative writing and comprehension. In order to grasp this, while you aren’t assigned novels (at least at Abington), you do have to read lengthy articles, speeches and other works of rhetoric. You’ll have to break down their concepts and techniques in a myriad of ways. My class used SPACECAT graphs, which made students identify and explain components of rhetorical analysis. While tedious, this mnemonic was a useful tool for both multiple choice and essay writing. Over time I gained confidence in my ability to pick out the author’s intentional patterns and meaningful techniques in a passage. When annotating an excerpt for an essay, this developed skill gave me more options to write what I have the most to say about while making connections between ideas. We practiced and received constructed feedback on the three exam essays under a time constraint that mimicked what we expected on test day. This practice was highly accurate to what was in front of me on the exam. While the test varies every year, in my experience, the essay section felt like a bearable, dragged out version of class with just three times the hand cramps. I received a 4 on the AP Lang exam which is considered “well-qualified” and a score that most colleges accepted for credit.
I decided to take AP Lit my senior year. I figured I could use this class to make up for my prior year of barely reading any novels. If you do the Lang-Lit two-for-one combo, you’re bound to undergo a smooth transition into the class. While I knew how to write an AP English essay upon my arrival, an adjustment for me was restructuring my writing in a more abstract way. I had to think about arranging my theses with the intention of connecting ideas off the bat rather than plugging and chugging techniques together which got easier with practice. My Lit class covered multiple units ranging from short stories and poems to longer, diverse novels. Students are expected to complete reading assignments at home (about 20 pages a night) and discuss and/or test on it in class. The workload is manageable for students who like to read and are able to crank out a few paragraph essays every once in a while. While I was unsure if we would have lengthy vocab lists and quizzes, I was fortunate not to have to take those. Reading itself enforces vocabulary growth and permanence more so than vocab quizzes. Looking back, reviewing fancy words for different concepts would merely be a waste of class time. As long as you exhibit and analyze your ideas, you don’t need to pinpoint exact words on the exam (you rarely have to identify them either on an MC question; for words you might not know, context will likely be given.) If you wanted to write about juxtaposition in a prose essay but couldn’t remember the word, you could just say “contrast” or explain what you mean as long as it’s not completely nonsensical. This goes for other essay components as well. With exams coming up soon, my teacher reminded us that the AP graders know that our essays are drafts. You can chop it up, do a little (legible) rearranging with arrows and carets as long as your points are being rendered.
My English classes shaped my analysis skills and truly allowed me to grow as a writer. AP English has a unique focus on skill and application rather than content memorization which inherently interpolates creativity. I can attribute my proficiency in these classes and the writing skills I gained to my intelligent and thoughtful English teachers. Teachers play a crucial role in making the classes experience and environment. I was fortunate enough to have ones that enhanced my experience and exposure to college-level literary analysis. I recommend taking both these classes to any and all motivated students even if they do not intend to major in English. Succinct writing and reading skills are fundamental to all areas of study, making AP English classes worth taking.
