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AP English Literature Notes

Dan Parker
4-8 October 2010

1 The AP Test
- the APE test consists of multiple choice and essays questions

1.1 Multiple Choice


- 60 minutes
- 55 questions with passages of reading
- 45% of the points
- very much like the SAT in format
- the passages are very complex, close reading will help immensely
- the questions also test vocabulary
- they make use of very high-level words and terms with great frequency
- the outside reading will help prepare us for this
- we will practice multiple choice in class from time to time
- after each test we will go over the MC questions
- both the ones we got and the ones we missed
- this is the best way to learn how to do them
- contrary to APUSH/WHAP, don’t necessarily go with your first instinct
- changing your answer often leads to more correct answers
- there are three levels to multiple choice
- Levels 1/2: mostly “is X mentioned in the passage”
- Levels 3/4: trickier, often testing comprehension and meaning of the passage
- Level 5: interpretation questions, often with no correct answer
- Level 3/4 questions are the most common
- we won’t take APE-style MC choice tests for grades until 2nd semester
- it’s normal to get fewer than 12 correct

1.2 The Essays


- 120 minutes
- three essays
- the first two are responses to questions about provided readings
- these are called the “closed reading” questions
- talk about how the author uses techniques to create effects and what does it mean?
- this is the “hidden question” — they always want you to say what the readings mean, even if
they don’t say so explicitly
- the other essay is called the “open prompt”
- this gives a theme or character type in literature and asks you to write about it from any book
you’re read
- this is easier than it sounds, and most students overprepare
- we’re read enough through our high school careers to be well prepared
- it is best to prepare a limited number of works extremely thoroughly
- by taking different genres and different time periods, you can maximize how many type of books
you’ve read and therefore be prepared for many types of questions
n.b. I missed the day of class that we went over an essay question and am still acquiring the notes

1
2 Allusions
allusion: a reference to something in history or previous literature
- allusions reinforce the idea or emotion of the text by creating a relation to other works the reader
may be familiar with
- sometimes the allusions make no sense if you are not familiar with the work
- authors usually choose well-known works, therefore, such as the King James Version of the bible, or
the works of Shakespeare

3 Meaning and Idea


prose meaning: what the words of the poem literally say, i.e. what would be understood of the poem
from a prose transliteration
total meaning: the entire experience the poem communicates
- be careful not to confuse the two types of meaning
- do not think less of poems because you do not agree with their point of view
- mature readers should appreciate poems for their art and not their views
- nevertheless, sometimes the views are so egregious that the art of the poetry cannot be appreciated

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