AP Language Free Response

Tips for Success

Make it easy for your reader…

• Write neatly– Think before you write!– Don’t use cursive unless you regularly do.– Don’t scratch out too much.– Avoid contractions and shorthand.

• Indent your paragraphs– Clarity– Balance

• Put care into your opening– Give the reader a good first impression

…to give you a high score!• Take risks

– Don’t be boring– Vary your diction and sentence structure

• Answer the question– Know what the question is asking

• Especially the synthesis prompt!

• Budget your time– Aim for about 40 minutes per essay– Don’t waste time with a formal outline

• If possible, work in order– OR try your most challenging one FIRST

Rhetorical Analysis

Everyone’s favorite essay!

(Mrs. Bannecker is using verbal irony here to convey the message that this is likely everyone’s LEAST favorite essay.)

Barry’s The Great Influenza

The first paragraph includes which of the following?I. AnaphoraII. AntithesisIII. Allegory

A. I onlyB. II onlyC. III onlyD. I and II onlyE. I, II, and II

Barry’s The Great Influenza

Paragraph I suggests that “Uncertainty” creates in a person all of the following EXCEPTA. FeeblenessB. HesitancyC. Loss of willD. Reliance on othersE. Trepidation

In the context of lines 3-4, “tentative” most nearly meansA. AfraidB. HesitantC. ImmobileD. TemporaryE. weak

Barry’s The Great Influenza

Barry suggests that a scientist must “embrace—uncertainty” (line 10) while at the same time striving for truth. Herein, he employs which literary device?A. AntithesisB. OxymoronC. ParadoxD. PersonificationE. Pun

The passage as a whole suggests that a scientist must be all of the following EXCEPTA. DaringB. IndependentC. InquisitiveD. StubbornE. Intrepid

Barry’s The Great Influenza

In paragraph 2 the repetition of “courage” (lines 8-9) serves toA. Clarify a conceptB. Continue a processC. Digress to a related

issueD. Introduce a new topicE. Provide an analogy

The literary device in lines 15-16 (“break apart…laboratory finding”) is A. AntithesisB. ApostropheC. MetaphorD. PersonificationE. Symbol

Barry’s The Great Influenza

Lines 30-32 (“There…different”) contain which literary device?A. AllusionB. HyperboleC. LitotesD. MetonymyE. synecdoche

In the expression “[i]t is grunt work” (line 37), Barry suggests that scientific inquiry is oftenA. BoringB. DangerousC. DirtyD. LaboriousE. Repetitive

Barry’s The Great Influenza

Since the controlling metaphor of Barry’s passage compares the scientist to the frontiersman, the overall tone of this passage is best described asA. ElegiacB. IndifferentC. SentimentalD. NostalgicE. Optimistic

The intended audience for this essay is most probablyA. College science

studentsB. General readersC. Professional historiansD. Research scientistsE. Science teachers

Start strong

• Remember your complete intro– Engaging hook– Introduce topic and work

• Thesis– Needs to include BOTH purpose and rhetorical

strategies– Narrow your focus!• You don’t need to discuss ALL of the rhetorical

strategies

Development

• Strategies– How do the strategies that the author uses work together?

• Ex: If there are two rhetorical strategies that complement each other, such as the use of both hyperbole and grand metaphors to emphasize the importance of an experience, then you can bring them together with a generalizing label such as "language of emphasis" and then write a body paragraph or two about each.

– Which strategies seem to work independently? – Choose at least two strategies, but try not to do more

than four

Diction

• DON’T– Just identify “diction” as a rhetorical technique• See your help sheet!

• Diction– Look for specific words or short phrases that seem

powerful– Look for patterns • Do all words create a similar feeling?

Syntax• DON’T

– Say the author uses syntax• Consider

– Sentence Length• Short• Long

– Sentence Type• Simple, Compound, Complex, Compound-Complex• Declarative, Exclamatory, Interrogative, Imperative

– Punctuation• Remember when we talked about the stylistic uses of punctuation? This could help

here!

• Don’t forget your schemes or syntactical patterns to add specificity!

Tone

• Created by use of ALL OTHER RHETORICAL STRATEGIES– Diction and Tropes– Syntax and Schemes– Details and Lack of Details– Patterns of Development and Arrangement of

Ideas• Address TONE in your intro, but use other

strategies to talk about how it is created.

Argument

Where you should shine on the free response!

Consider your position

• Write down your position– Defend? Challenge? Qualify? – Avoid arguing absolutes

• Consider argumentation styles– Classical Model

• Provides very logical organization– Rogerian Model

• Good for qualified arguments—seeking compromise– Toulmin Model

• More qualification—challenges the readers to test the arguments

Organize logically

• Hook your reader• Clearly state claim• Use specific topic sentences– States reason or counterargument

• Incorporate evidence– Use variety

• Observation, experience, reading, history, current events, etc.

• Consider the opposition– Concede points when necessary– Refute when appropriate

Conclude effectively

• Don’t simply repeat opening• Use call to action if appropriate• Show the significance of the topic– Pathos

Synthesis

Putting it all together

What synthesis IS NOT

• Summary– If your paragraphs begin with “In source A…,” you’re

doing it wrong.• Taking material out of context– Consider the claims the sources make

• Mere juxtaposition of sources– Putting two or more sources together in a paragraph does

not make a relationship• Letting the sources dominate the discussion– Find your voice

What synthesis IS

• Argument or Evaluation– Analyze prompt to determine your task

• Conversation – How would the sources respond to your claim? How would

the sources respond to each other? • Use key words –agrees, disagrees, refutes, acknowledges, qualifies

—to show relationships– Don’t be afraid to disagree!

• Refute claims when appropriate

• Organized and balanced essay– Know what is too much support vs. too little

Reminders• Write a nuanced, argumentative thesis

– Consider the opposition• Address all portions of the claim• CITE sources

– (Source A)• Unpack sources

– Don’t let the material speak for you. SHOW how it develops your argument. RESPOND to it!

• Organize your essay– Clear, argumentative topic sentences!

• Conclude