This is an excellent site. Read through his list of suggestions for the writing questions.

 

 

http://education.fcps.org/uhs/node/1396

 

AP Test Writing Hints from an AP Scorer:

 

1. Fully develop your essays; try to write at least 2 pages. It’s a shame to read the first page of what promises to be an 8 or 9 essay and then have the writer not fully develop his ideas and quit after one page. However, a longer essay is not necessarily a better essay.

 

2.  Integrate your quotations gracefully (1) into your analysis of literary devices (2) with an interpretation of meaning (3). Thoroughly explain the relevance of the quote to the prompt and your analysis. Don’t assume that your understanding of a quote is the same as the readers’ understanding; you have to interpret its significance to the work, your thesis and the prompt. Show, don’t tell.

 

3. Make sure your essay has a clear ARGUABLE thesis statement which clearly reflects what you intend to discuss. Make sure your thesis is an EXACT reflection of what the prompt is asking WITHOUT simply restating the prompt. A good formula is “The text shows X in order to show/highlight/accomplish Y.” Connect the literary device back to the author’s point.

 

4.  Don’t use plot summary in your response. “Summary is death!”

 

5.  Don’t use line numbers, but briefly quote instead. Line numbers never substitute for the actual quote when supporting a point, AND most readers will not go back to the poem or text to see which lines you are referring to. Finally, when quoting, don’t simply give the first and last words with an ellipsis in between. Use the exact words that are most important in demonstrating your point. But you don’t need to have longwinded quotes. Be concise with the quotes you choose. The A.P. Reader is more concerned about your insight and analysis not what quotes you use.

 

6. Don’t simply restate the prompt in your introduction. Using language from the prompt is fine when and if it is combined with an interpretation which you plan on pursuing in the essay.

 

9. Don’t forget what are often the most important parts of a text, especially a poem: THE TITLE AND THE ENDING.

 

10. Do not misspell the names of poets, authors, poems, books, terms from the prompt, etc. It looks sloppy. Plus, poems are not plays or novels; plays are not poems or novels; and novels are not poems or plays.

 

11. Writers don’t “use” diction or tone, nor do they “use literary terms” in their writing. ALL sentences have diction and syntax. The questions is, therefore, what kind of diction and syntax is being used AND why. Don’t write that, “The author uses diction (or syntax or whatever) to show his or her meaning.”