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Preparing for the AP Examination
Students and teachers often ask how best to prepare for the AP English Literature exam and for pointers or hints that might improve students' grades. The answer is simple: learn to read with sensitivity and understanding and to write cogently and persuasively. There are no quick fixes, no tricks to learn that will substitute for the mastery of the English language and a deep understanding of how literature conveys its meanings.
Students need to develop a mastery steadily, by reading, discussing, and writing about fine literature. They need to be able to explain the connections between stylistic elements and the ideas and attitudes the work conveys; they need to develop a vocabulary that will allow them to describe themes and techniques with accuracy and precision. They need to practice timed writing, analyzing passages of prose, poetry, novels, and plays, anticipating what questions could be asked about these works. They need to develop habits of attention, a critical awareness of the nuances of meaning. They need to develop a curiosity about -- and respect for -- how the language works; to recognize key words, words that reveal the crux of the matter, a shift of tone, a central idea or meaning.
When Philip of Macedonia lay siege to Sparts, he demanded that Spartans surrender and sent a message to the city leaders with the threat, "If I enter Sparta, I will not leave one stone of your city unturned." The Spartans sent back a one-word reply: "If." Students need to be conscious of such potent language. On the other hand, students cannot rely on being so terse themselves. When Calvin Coolidge was asked by his wife what the minister had talked about that morning in church, he replied, "Sin." When asked what the minister had said about sin, he replied, "He was against it." Brief, yes, but hardly a satisfying answer. Students need to learn how to use appropriate, specific details from the text to support and illustrate general assertions and to develop a full and persuasive response.
In his acceptance speech for the German Booksellers Peace Prize, awarded a few weeks before he was elected President of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel talked about the power of language, warning that "the power of words is neither unambiguous nor clearcut.... Words that electrify society with their freedom and truthfulness are matched by words that mesmerize, deceive, inflame, madden, beguile...." He asked, "What is the true vocation of the intellectual?...to listen carefully to words--to the words of the powerful--to be watchful of them...to proclaim their implications." Although primarily addressing the need to be alert to the rhetoric of those in positions of power, Havel's words also point to the task before teachers and students of literature.
What the AP English Lit exam asks is for students to evaluate words--words they are to read carefully, interpret, and then "proclaim their implications." Preparing for theis examination is preparing to be continually attuned to what and how words say and to be able to respond to them with an informed, critical intelligence.
Students need to develop a mastery steadily, by reading, discussing, and writing about fine literature. They need to be able to explain the connections between stylistic elements and the ideas and attitudes the work conveys; they need to develop a vocabulary that will allow them to describe themes and techniques with accuracy and precision. They need to practice timed writing, analyzing passages of prose, poetry, novels, and plays, anticipating what questions could be asked about these works. They need to develop habits of attention, a critical awareness of the nuances of meaning. They need to develop a curiosity about -- and respect for -- how the language works; to recognize key words, words that reveal the crux of the matter, a shift of tone, a central idea or meaning.
When Philip of Macedonia lay siege to Sparts, he demanded that Spartans surrender and sent a message to the city leaders with the threat, "If I enter Sparta, I will not leave one stone of your city unturned." The Spartans sent back a one-word reply: "If." Students need to be conscious of such potent language. On the other hand, students cannot rely on being so terse themselves. When Calvin Coolidge was asked by his wife what the minister had talked about that morning in church, he replied, "Sin." When asked what the minister had said about sin, he replied, "He was against it." Brief, yes, but hardly a satisfying answer. Students need to learn how to use appropriate, specific details from the text to support and illustrate general assertions and to develop a full and persuasive response.
In his acceptance speech for the German Booksellers Peace Prize, awarded a few weeks before he was elected President of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel talked about the power of language, warning that "the power of words is neither unambiguous nor clearcut.... Words that electrify society with their freedom and truthfulness are matched by words that mesmerize, deceive, inflame, madden, beguile...." He asked, "What is the true vocation of the intellectual?...to listen carefully to words--to the words of the powerful--to be watchful of them...to proclaim their implications." Although primarily addressing the need to be alert to the rhetoric of those in positions of power, Havel's words also point to the task before teachers and students of literature.
What the AP English Lit exam asks is for students to evaluate words--words they are to read carefully, interpret, and then "proclaim their implications." Preparing for theis examination is preparing to be continually attuned to what and how words say and to be able to respond to them with an informed, critical intelligence.
