A couple things you can do that might bump you up to a level 4 or 5.

You can’t really cram for the AP English Language exam. Despite all the fancy terminology and resources The College Board might have in their database (such as videos like this), it’s a skill-based exam at the end of the day. The way it works is you go in on exam day and get your exam package and that’s it – those are your “study” materials, so to speak, right there in the package. You study them on the spot and apply your skills. So there’s no point in memorizing all the readings you may (or may not) have done in your AP course throughout the year, because you’ll be applying your skills to the writing samples you end up with on the exam.  And I’m not gonna lie to you – if you don’t have the skills by now, you’re kind of screwed.

I’m talking about your reading comprehension ability, your ability to synthesize other writers’ arguments, to write good sentences under pressure – these, among others, are the skills that have to be mastered before exam day. And it takes months if not years of training to build these skills.

So, assuming you’ve at least built these skills up to a borderline level 3 level, what else can you do to prepare for the exam, and possibly bump yourself up to a 4, or even 5?

Get out from under your rock and read the news

In his treatise on rhetoric, Aristotle told his students to “see the available means of persuasion in each case.” What does this mean? Basically Aristotle wanted his students to get good at recognizing debate situations and topics. He wanted them to recognize the arguments of all sides in a debate, to the point that they (his students) knew all the weaknesses and strengths that come with those sides. The goal was not to become invested in an issue; it was to recognize all available persuasive opportunities within it.

Aristotle’s advice to his students still applies to the AP Language exam today. It’s particularly useful for the “argument essay” you’ll have to write – this is the one where you get a broad prompt and no accompanying text. You’ll have to rely on your own life experience and awareness of different debate topics to answer it.

So read the news. What are the debate topics and issues of the day, and what are people saying about them? You can even check in on those political panels that happen on the major news networks, where these big shot official-looking people show up to offer insightful comments on issues at hand. Maybe it’s how to respond to climate change. Maybe it’s about international trade deals affecting local workers. Whatever it is, listen to what they’re saying and see the different points and counter-points they make against one another. Soak it all in with a sense of neutrality – remember, your goal is to be good at rhetoric aka persuasion, not to be an advocate for any of these issues. Of course you can personally take a side on a debate topic if you want – just don’t let it get in the way of “seeing the available means of persuasion.”

Once you know a situation, you can take a stance on it. And your stance will be all the stronger because you know what all the sides are saying, so you can respond with counterpoints accordingly.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m gonna say, and this is an unofficial, unscientific statistic, that 95% of the time it’s a bad idea to go looking for quality arguments in YouTube comments (and comments sections in general). So maybe don’t bother with that.

Do a mock exam (if you haven’t already) and readjust your time gauge

Hopefully by now you’ve done a mock exam to prepare for the real exam. What was the section on the exam that took you the longest? The suggested time allotments are outlined on the College Board’s website. As of the time of this posting, it should take you 40 minutes for the rhetorical analysis essay, 40 minutes for the open response essay (or “argument” essay, as the College Board calls it), 55 minutes for the synthesis essay (this includes a 15 min reading time), and 60 minutes to complete the 45 questions in the multiple choice section. Focus on the section you struggled with most – maybe you didn’t complete it or maybe it became a big time sink. Reflect on what happened – where in your question-answering process did you get blocked up?

This might come across as very obvious advice, but I’ve known many students that didn’t bother going back to the drawing board after they struggled with a section, even though they knew they had struggles! So try it again, maybe with a different approach. And maybe also communicate your struggles to your teacher, and see what they have to say.

Get serious about rhetorical devices

It’s not enough to merely identify a rhetorical device. Nor is it enough to identify it and say that the device “emphasizes” a writer’s point. This is obvious, and will make your exam grader sad, mad, or sad and mad combined. What your grader (and also just people in general) care about is the actual tangible experience that takes place when this emphasis happens. How the heck is the emphasis working??? Your grader wants to know.

For example, let’s say you’re talking about Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and you want to talk about the line where he says, “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” Do not say Martin Luther King’s mining imagery emphasizes his point. Instead, talk about how his mining imagery conveys a tedious, workman-like approach to rebuilding race relations in America.

Revisit a text you’ve already read

Hopefully you’ve taken an AP course, or maybe self-studied for one, or maybe you think you’re a scholastic baller who’s got the skills already, so why not go for the exam? Whichever of these categories you fall in, revisit a text you’ve read before, preferably something non-fiction, or just something where you know (through your prior work with the text) what the author’s argument is. Revisit it and check out the rhetorical strategies the author uses (whether it is a specific moment of logic, or a specific moment in his language, like a rhetorical device). Check out what the author did in that moment (pick just one moment! And make sure it’s specific! This is my teacher voice talking!), and practice describing the specific technique you see on the page, how the author uses it in the moment, and also how it ties to the author’s overall argument. In other words, get comfortable with shifting your scale from micro to macro – this is a skill you’ll need on the exam because it demonstrates your ability to work with a specific rhetorical strategy, as well as your ability to apply that strategy to a broader point, where the stakes of the argument matter.

It might be nice if you understand the way an ironic comment is working – but your understanding won’t carry much weight if you can’t tie that moment of irony to a larger point the author is making.

There’s gotta be more tips out there, but these are my four go-to strategies – I tell them to my students when our course ends. I now must include an obligatory line saying, “what last minute strategies do you have? Are they different from the ones above? Post them in the comments below!” so there you have it, go ahead and post them.

The post Last Minute Study Tips for the AP English Language and Composition Exam appeared first on O.B. Chip's Writing Tips.

It’s pretty hard. You will have to write 3 essays and answer 45 multiple choice questions in one sitting. One essay alone is enough to tire a writer out so yeah, it’s hard.

Obviously it’s not impossible though, and people do score level 3 and above every year (290, 071 students did in 2022). So how about I, an AP Language teacher, explain to you what exactly makes it a tough exam.

Pushes your writing stamina to the limit

Back in my undergrad days, I’d have to write these end-of-term in-class exams, which were always hectic. They would involve short answer questions, long answer questions, and usually one essay question at the end. I remember saving my thinking strength for that final essay question because I knew it would take the most brainpower, the most amount of critical thinking and connection-making between concepts. I hated in-class exams and I always felt dead after them. I also always had to use the bathroom very badly afterwards.

When I learned that the AP Language exam had not one, not two, but three essay questions, I immediately felt bad for my students and wondered how The College Board could be so sadistic.

But we don’t have time to lament the sadistic world we live in so why don’t I tell you about the three essays you’ll have to write.

You’ll have to:

1.  write a synthesis essay that incorporates other writers’ ideas into your own unique idea (this essay includes a collection of readings you’ll have to research and consider),
2. write a rhetorical analysis essay that makes an argument about the language choices in a given passage,
3.  and write an open-response essay that answers a broad prompt (with examples).

All three essays will need to have intros, conclusions, body paragraphs, theses, etc. etc. That’s a lot of brainpower.

So if you’re like me and you’re one of those kids who never manages to finish an in-class essay early, who always milks every second they can to do the best job they can, and who always has to use the bathroom very badly afterwards because the test is so dang long and maybe you drank too much water to keep yourself hydrated, then you’re in for a tough time.

But it’s doable as long as you pace yourself and keep your cool – as long as you practice writing and arguing until it feels innate. If you feel yourself struggling to write every time you’re tasked with writing an essay (especially in-class, under time pressure), then it means you’re not ready. You need more practice before you take on the exam.

Multiple choice section will try to trick you

Many of the multiple choice questions will offer multiple true answers. So if, in a given question, all possible answer options are truthful, how do you know which one to pick? This dilemma is what makes the multiple choice section so hard.

The key is in finding the most correct answer. And to find the most correct answer, you need to be aware of the overall tone or vibe or argument of the reading passage. Let that tone or vibe or argument inform your choice of answer.

You may encounter some multiple choice questions where only one answer is true, but the other selections are so broad, vague, and confusing that it leaves your brain in a bored jumble. You may zone out and think about inappropriate hormonal things, or even faraway memories like the time your friend roofed a soccer ball.

In either scenario (whether it’s multiple true answers or the zone out), the multiple choice section is trying to trick you. And if you let it trick you, it will drain out your time and your brainpower, which you’ll need for the essay-writing section. So obviously drained out brainpower = bad score.

Graders won’t tolerate your BS

This is going to make me sound like an egomaniac, but AP Language teachers and graders really are cut from a different cloth. They are writing and prose fanatics, so you won’t have any luck BSing your way through the essays. I’m not sure if you have an English teacher who might give you a B even though you BS in your essays – but if you do this on the exam, you’ll fail.

What is BSing (bullshitting) exactly? It comes in many forms. One of the most common examples is using jargony, multi-syllabic language, like “render inoperative” rather than something more real and in-your-face, like “kill.”

Other times it may take the form of using broad, vague phrases that show a reluctance, on the writer’s part, to engage with the subject. Like let’s say you’re subject is supposed to be about the impact that a tough-on-crime policy might have on poorer neighborhoods. If the student is BSing, they might say something like “aspects of government policy can have impacts on certain neighborhoods.”

What aspects??? What policy??? What impacts???? Which neighborhoods???

If you write like this, your grader will actually get visibly upset and might even question their role in the universe itself, like what poor life choices did they make to end up with such bogus writing in front of them?

If you are a chronic BSer in your English classes, don’t even think about taking the exam until you kick the habit (or at least take an oath to kick the habit – this is commendable too).

No time to write good copies

Last of all, you can say goodbye to the luxury of the rough copy-good copy process that students often get in their English classes. This is where basically you get some time to write a rough copy of an essay, you give it to your teacher or a fellow student for an edit, you get the edited essay back and make some corrections and voila, you’ve got your good copy. The AP English Language and Composition exam is rough draft only! So you’ll have to write a good rough draft. It will need to be composed, well-written, fully argumentative, and brimming with potential.

So yes, on the one hand, this is tough to do. On the other, it does give you some allowance – the graders know you are writing a rough draft and will grade your essay according. A couple grammar or spelling mistakes or a one-off awkward sentence won’t really bring your score down. A big flaw in logic or a lack of argumentativeness, however, could be your downfall. So this goes back to the writing stamina issue – get a lot of writing practice in and get good at writing. Keep practicing until your rough drafts are good enough to stand on their own. Do not write sketchy rough drafts any more!

From what I’ve seen as an AP English Language and Composition teacher, these four reasons are what make the exam so difficult. Many students get this misconception that English is easy (due to lower standards in their regular English class), or that essays can be BSed, and these misconceptions often lead to their downfall. Get your practice in and increase both the amount you read and the difficulty level of your readings (and also, get a good AP Language teacher), and you may have a shot at a level four or five.

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