Overall, we had many A grades on the final, and those earning such marks had a solid grasp on identifying upper-level rhetorical strategies and writing about their purpose for a given prompt, which included many eights and even one nine.
We shall spend our first outing looking over the final, reiterating the rhetorical analysis portion, and then moving into other parts of the exam. With the toolbox portion, many of you did well with identifying strategies and naming them as such. However, there were some of you that struggled with the terms and will probably need further review for ultimate attainment. With the prompt, the results centered around your understanding of the milieu, the indirect means that the author promulgated his thoughts on the subject, and that specific audience that had to be part of your analysis (I have to be vague for a few more days on the exact topic). While there were many who took up the author's text and found the big-ticket item haunting its paragraphs, clarified tone with specific, mature terminology, and mixed and matched strategies to add to your own ethos, there were several who misread the passage and, alas, did not meet the prompt's hints for purpose and clarification. We will go over the prompt in class (as we always do), so that those of you who did a fast close read and missed the main features can have a second look - with the reminder to slow down and understand the passage before diving its into written component.
And lastly regarding this final and rhetorical analysis overall, remember that this is one portion of the AP Lang exam with the other three portions added together for the overall score. If rhetorical analysis is not your passion, you have MC, argument, and synthesis there to balance out this section. (And, sometimes, it takes right up to the test for rhetorical analysis to become your buddy - don't give up! Two years ago, I had a young lady, bright, engaged, full of effort, who struggled with the writing prompts throughout the school year. On her last practice test with me, she scored mostly 8/9 on all of her essays and ended with a 5. Fast-forward to her actual AP Lang exam, and she did the exact same thing!)
Additionally, for some of you, that means constant work and effort on improving your overall writing and comprehension. That means taking every assignment seriously, bringing in maximum effort, and challenging yourself to college-level analysis, writing, and communication. You have so many opportunities in this course to prep you for the exam. If you neglect the work during the course, you won't have the confidence on the actual testing day.
Lastly (I hope I remember to tell all of this to you in person next week, but at least I have it written down), I wrote on the AP Lit blog that "timid" is so 2018. Yes, taking a test, writing a prompt, looking at the thousandth multiple choice can cause stress and cause doubts to arise - but only if you let that inanimate object do that to you. The night before the AP Lit MC final (yes, I take all the MC tests and passages with you - for better or worse), I was a bundle of nerves, doubting if I had the focus to read those passages and score well enough to keep up my AP Lit group's respect. Even driving to school that morning, I was antsy and feeling that I could not do well on this exam. When I sat down to take the MC, which the students had already started since I have to start the timer, I snapped out of my timidity - I reached for my lucky pencil and just went for it, whether I ended up with the best score in the class or the worst one of all. For that hour, it was just me, four passages, and 51 MC questions. And, not to brag, I ended up with the highest score amongst all the AP Lit students. So, a New Year's Resolution for you - attack, attack, attack your work. Just go for it every time. If you have a perfect MC or a 9, use it to build your confidence. If you have a 1, use it as inspiration to do better next time.
With rhetorical analysis in the backseat (but still in the car for the long trip), we will focus on a hodgepodge of MC, modes of discourse, tone work, vocabulary, and allusions. Ideally, our more creative second semester will allow you to practice your writing skills, improve your comprehension, and add to your already high levels of ethos in a plethora of subjects. Third quarter will offer so many opportunities to attack - so take each one, bring in all the effort you can muster, and prep for that test!
I'm off to bond with Lucy for the last time - hopefully your argument essays will be fascinating!
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