Guys on my argument essay I used the Pullman strike as an example of disobedience but I accidentally put the wrong year … I put 1877 by confusing it with the great railroad strike ;( how many points will I get docked for this…can I still score in the 7-9 range if the rest of my essay was really good? I’m freaking out I don’t even know why I put the date
@wormholes you wont get any points off for that! 
the readers are told to take everything as fact and they dont have time to fact check it. apush is my favorite subject and i learned that just a few months ago – i still can’t tell you the year. many of the graders will be older composition/literature teachers who will not know or be able to fact check you.
That’s not what my teacher told us. I’m not certain if this is true, but my teacher told us that only SAT readers are told to take everything as fact and that they will have computers to fact check if they feel the need to. He was a CB grader for the AP test a while ago, so I don’t know if they’ve changed it since then.
@masquerade98 they have to grade each essay in around 2 minutes so they aren’t going to be checking every fact… a year is hardly cause for concern. its not like the writer deliberately lied to advance his point
@Dartmouth_21 thanks!
Guys, I think I screwed up. Please advise.
On the synthesis, I did not take a specific side. I said that both sides of the argument are true in different situations, but I wrote it well.
On argumentative essay, I had two mega paragraphs. One was on point with the prompt. The second one misinterpreted a little bit of the prompt. I put down an example of questioning the faulty statistics that my teacher told us as a case of disobedience… although I in retrospect hardly see that as disobedience. I did go on about the french revolution and how people not rising against the french revolution was an example of when people should have disobeyed.
On rhetorical, I did OK. Hoping for a 7 or 8.
Please advise if I can still get a 5. I am panicked here.
@Dartmouth_21 Your opinion?
@JoeyPapagobich I’ve seen many essays that supported both sides. That’s called qualifying. As long as it was developed well, you should be fine. If you got above an 8 on both rhetorical and synthesis, and you did decent on the MCQs, you can probably still get a 5 with a lower argument score
@JoeyPapagobich on synthesis, if you had an original thesis it should be ok… Maybe post it if you remember? for the argument, if you explained the reasoning behind the statistics being disobedience, you should be fine. They evaluate the essay holistically. If the rest of your essay was strong, that anecdote could only lower your score 1 point max.
@masquerade98 oftentimes qualifying is more along the lines of “when conducted civilly, disobedience is an effective tool in evoking change” the “conducted civilly” part is the qualifier, but you can tell that the thesis is pro-disobedience
I did not explain how my resisting the statistics was disobedience. So, going along what you told masquerade98, isn’t what I did legit.
For synthesis, I said that monolingual speakers are not at a disadvantage in english speaking countries and on the internet, but may be at a disadvantage while traveling abroad [some of these speakers may have experience in another language but are wrongly classified by census bureau… explained that]
@Dartmouth_21 I really need that five if I do not want to take AP Lit and self study E&M instead
And my anecdote is literally the second of my two body paragraphs!
I write really large paragraphs
That was surprising really easy. The MC passages were so much better than I thought they would be. I think they went in order from hardest to easiest. The last passage centered around what I want to major in, and the third passage was very similar to what I want to minor in, so I think I did really well on those two. The second passage was relatively easy to read and understand. I was lost the entire first passage lol. I liked the RA and argument but was not a fan of the synthesis (and it’s usually my best of the 3).
On the synthesis, I wanted to argue for the side with just “one,” but when scanning the sources, none of them really seemed easy to use for that so I had to argue for the multiple side. My argument kind of changed my mind on the issue, but I liked 2014 and 2015’s prompts my class drilled on much better.
That RA was without the doubt the easiest one to understand that I’ve practiced on. I do agree with what others have said though; there really wasn’t a whole lot to “analyze.” I used emotional appeals, parallel structure (though there really was not a lot), and imagery from the positive things the subject did. My teacher always tells us to connect the rhetorical strategy to an author’s purpose or a “hidden meaning” like some have mentioned. I said the purpose/hidden meaning was to be thankful for what was done for us and that all of the strategies used helped elaborate it. I kind of made it up on the top of my head as I was writing so I don’t know how accurate that really is but it sounded good lol.
I liked the argument, but I kind of got on a rant/didn’t stick to the prompt as much as I could have. I argued both sides had valid arguments and that I was neutral. I hope that’s okay lol. It was a lot more conversational than any other essay I’ve ever written, and I filled it with some satire and sarcasm; e.g., I ended the essay with “I’m going to rebellious and not properly wrap this argument up.” Is that okay?
I was talking about the synthesis essay when I mentioned qualification. As for the argument prompt, it’s going to depend on how the rest of your essay was written. If you developed your second body paragraph well, even if it’s a little ambiguous, you might get away with it.
On synthesis essay, it was iffy in terms of a definite side
@JoeyPapagobich as long as your example supported your thesis. And for synthesis, that thesis sounds good! you should be fine
@jwn9917 the thing is that for argument essays, following the rhetorical triangle, your audience is well-educated adults. So you’re supposed to sound rational and mature. But if the essay was written and supported well, the jokes and sarcasm shouldnt prevent you from getting a 6-8, but a 9 might be out of reach.
I mean… I added the last bit about the monolingual speakers being linguistically proficient at the last minute… and tried to jam pack some tiny writing… really tiny. I am worried graders will not see. I need that five and I am so stressed over it… maybe I need a beer as my neighbor tells me, lol