(Brian) I spent way too many summers the wrong way. My foolishness would start before it ever began. During the last weeks of school I would craft a master list of hopeful summer ambitions: What I was really doing was setting myself up to play the martyr, sacrificing my summer for the betterment of my … Continue Reading
Written by Valerie Person After completing year 30th year of teaching but my 15th year of teaching AP Literature andComposition, the 2025 Lit reading is notable for multiple reasons for me. It was a return toreading for AP Literature and Composition as I stepped away in 2024 to read for AP Languageand Composition. After the … Continue Reading
Written by Brian Hannon Hello! I had the great pleasure of reading student essays from this one of the operational prompts this year, the one revolving around the concept of “secrets.” The prompt is as follows: “Many works of literature feature a character who holds a secret that can have broader implications for that character or … Continue Reading
Written by Jill Massey and Cindy Dixon (Jill) The prose FRQ of the AP Literature Exam can be quite intimidating for students, so upon familiarizing myself with this prompt (which my own students did not respond to). Grading Q2 for this year’s “Set 2” was a real joy. (Cindy) After a week of reading, scoring, … Continue Reading
Written by Julie Adams What students did well: Students immediately felt a kinship to the topic of music discussed from the perspective of the two guitars and their contrasting experiences in Victor Hernandez Cruz’s poem titled “Two Guitars.” This was my second year as a Table Leader for Q1 and I absolutely loved this poem, … Continue Reading
Written by Adrian Nester and Margaret Porter Once the prompts were released, Thomas and Olga were the main topic of discussion for students who got this version of the exam. The immediate observations were that students 1) didn’t use the footnotes 2) just did not know what to say about the passage. It seemed that … Continue Reading
This year’s poetry response, “Monologue for Saint Louis” by Colleen McElroy, was a highly accessible poem for students. I was excited to score this response since I am from St. Louis and am familiar with the area that her poem mentions. This poem reminded me of the poem “Black Walnut Tree” that appeared on the … Continue Reading
A recent survey, conducted by the EdWeek Research Center between December 2022 and February 2023, found that 87% of teachers saw lower motivation in students and 82% recognized lower student morale after the pandemic, but no one needed to tell us that. Brian and I had already noticed this in our classrooms. Assignments felt more … Continue Reading
THE BASICS CHALLENGES I have been on the AP Literature and Composition Test Development Committee for five years working on the exam and Q1 is always my favorite question to write, teach, and score. Students, however, do not share my sentiments and often find Q1 to be the most challenging. Here are its particular difficulties:
I only teach seniors (a blessing then a curse after spring break), and by the time they get to senior English, most roll their eyes and sigh heavily when I tell them we’re starting poetry. Some of this is just normal senior attitude, but some is a classroom experience that has left students uninspired and … Continue Reading
