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Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and Composition

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The exam has two parts and is scheduled to last. 3 hours. ... student's facility with reading, understanding, and analyzing challenging texts. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and Composition


1
Introduction to Advanced Placement Language and
Composition
  • High Point
  • Mary Hassenplug

2
What is the AP Program?
  • The Advanced Placement program was begun by the
    College Board in 1955 to construct standard
    achievement exams that would allow highly
    motivated students the opportunity to be awarded
    advanced placement as freshmen in colleges and
    universities in the United States.
  • The course allows students to write in a variety
    of forms and on a variety of subjects. Also when
    students read, they should become aware of how
    stylistic effects are achieved by writers
    linguistic choices.

3
What does the AP stand for?
  • AP stands for Advanced Placement, not Advanced
    Exemption.
  • This class is a preparation for college.

4
Why should a student take an AP course?
  • Currently college students have a 33 chance of
    graduating in America.
  • The AP program hired a researcher to track how AP
    students do in college. AP students, regardless
    of AP exam score (and after only taking 1 class),
    increase that chance to 85. There is a
    significant gain just from the experience of
    taking a rigorous class, regardless of
    performance on the exam.

5
How is the AP Language Exam Organized?
  • The exam has two parts and is scheduled to last
  • 3 ¼ hours.  The first section is a set of
    multiple-choice questions based on a series of
    prose passages (usually 4). A student will have 1
    hour to complete this part of the test. 
  • The second section of the exam is a 2-hour essay
    writing segment consisting of three different
    essays.  Students are given 15 minutes to read
    the essay materials prior to writing.

6
How is the exam scored?
  •     The multiple-choice section counts for 45
    of the total score, and the essay section counts
    for 55.
  • The raw score of the multiple-choice section and
    the raw scoring of the essay section are
    converted into the AP grade of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1.
    Check with individual colleges to see what
    scores, if any, are accepted.

7
What are the 3 essays?
  • One is a rhetorical analysis.
  • Generally, students are presented with a prose
    passage that can be drawn from various genres and
    time periods.  Although the specific tasks asked
    of the students vary from year to year, they
    almost always involve analysis of language,
    primarily rhetorical strategies and devices .
  • Rhetorical strategies are the strategies a writer
    uses to persuade his audience. Devices are the
    linguistic choices a writer makes for various
    specific effects. (Ask your child about WEAR A
    WORD WEEK!)

8
The rhetorical analysis essay
  • The College Board wants to determine a students
    facility with reading, understanding, and
    analyzing challenging texts.  They also want to
    assess how well s/he manipulates language to
    communicate the written analysis of a specific
    topic to a mature audience. 
  •     AP is looking for connections between
    analysis and the passage. How does an author use
    language and what is the effect?

9
Second essay Argument
  • While the first essay asks students to assess
    the argument of another, the second requires
    students to write their own. A student has to
    make a claim and then provide evidence to prove
    it. Also the student is required to address and
    counter the other side.

10
3 The synthesis essay
  • In a synthesis essay the student synthesizes at
    least four sources. Some come from magazines and
    others from newspapers. Some are cartoons or
    graphs or visuals.
  • A synthesis essay is really a miniature
    informational research paper. The student must
    take the different ideas from the sources and put
    the ideas together into a new, cohesive essay
    that informs the reader about a central subject.
  • This essay will test a students organizational
    skills, his/her understanding of other material,
    and ability to balance more than one source in an
    essay--all skills that are necessary to writing a
    successful research paper.

11
How are the essays scored?
  • The grading is done with a rubric, which is a
    scoring guide for the essay. 
  • Graders are trained to reward a student for
    things s/he does well.  They are aware of the
    time constraints of 40 minutes per essay.
  • The top score on the rubric is a 9. This is
    an impressive essay.  Next is an 8, 7, and 6. 
    These are top scores.  A 5 means that you
    understand the prompt but the essay is limited or
    uneven.  The scores of 4, 3, 2, and 1 are
    inadequate responses.  For a student to score
    well, he or she must analyze, interpret, argue
    cogently, and demonstrate stylistic maturity.

12
Our Class
  • Will prepare students for the exam,
  • Will not focus on the exam,
  • Will challenge students to look at writing in new
    ways,
  • Will challenge students to view images, ads,
    cartoons, speeches in new ways...

13
  • Will make them think, and
  • Will drive them crazy!
  • But well have fun getting there!

14
The BLOG
  • Please follow along with your son or daughter
    throughout the course.
  • www.aplanguage2008.blogspot.com
  • mhassenplug_at_hpregional.org
  • 973-875-3101 ext. 1249

15
Questions????
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