April 28 – AP Lit – The Exam Agenda: The Exam Practice: Take out: Structure Scoring What it really is Practice: Essay prep Take out: Pen/Pencil Notebook Highlighter Homework: Choose ONE of the essay prompts, and complete the essay for class tomorrow

The AP English Literature Exam Thursday, May 8 at 7:30 am 3 hours of testing time 1 hour = 55(ish) MC Questions 2 hours = 3 Essays

The Structure Multiple Choice: 55 test questions (give or take one or two) 4 or 5 passages of prose and poetry (usually two of each) = 45% of total score 60 minutes Essays: 3 Questions, 120 minutes Question 1: Prose Analysis of a 1-page piece of a short story, play or novel Question 2: Poetry An analysis of one or a comparative analysis of two poems Question 3: Free Response Free response about a novel of “literary merit”

So what is the test really? A giant, demanding, reading comprehension test An attempt to determine and evaluate your ability to insightfully read and interpret difficult texts NOT a test of specific content An exercise in time management – especially on the essay portion The evil offspring of the College Board and the Educational Testing Service

Scoring MC Scoring Change – WRONG ANSWERS ARE NOT NEGATIVE POINTS Essays are scored by readers in the early weeks of June Readers are 55% College Professors and 45% HS AP (content area) Teachers Readers are assigned to only one type of essay (at least three people will – likely – read your work) Scores are based on a composite score formula

Scoring Formula Multiple choice = 45% of grade Essays = 55% of grade (Essay 1 + Essay 2 + Essay 3) x 3.0556 = Essay Composite (MC Score x 1.3) + Essay Composite = Composite Score on a scale of 150 But that’s not an AP score…

Equating, composite scores and cutpoints… oh my Scores are then EQUATED based on a similar set of MC questions common to exams from multiple years Common MC questions cover a wide range of content and difficulty levels Used to compare students from year to year The C.B. conducts college score comparability studies with college students in comparable courses Composite score “cutpoints” and therefore AP scores are set to equate an AP 5 to a comparable college A, a 4 to a B, and a 3 to a C, etc.

For Example… Notice: There is NOT a fixed composite score You can get just over 2/3 of the possible total, and still get a 5 Score setting is not common b/t subjects

Approximate Grading Scale: Essay Points 15 18 21 24 27 MC Points 20 2 3 4 5 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

But what does that mean? Meaning Approximate % of (participating) college students receiving that score Equivalent 1st year college course grade Will a student receive credit for this score? 5 – Extremely well qualified 6.5% A Usually 4 – Well qualified 19.9% A-/B+ 3 – Qualified 33.9% B-/C Maybe 2 – Possibly qualified 30.6% C/D Rarely 1 – No recommendation 9.1% D NOPE

Essay Prep - Practice Complete the following before the end of the class period: Review all three essay prompts Decide in which order you would answer them Write a comprehensive working thesis for each prompt Choose one of the prompts to complete as a practice-write for homework this evening