My teacher's experience at the AP eng lang grading. a must read!

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>"Whew – this year I read 2121 essays. don’t know how to plan that, but it just happened.</p>

<p>They also had us reading 45 minutes extra per day this year, that was a little taxing.</p>

<p>This year’s argument prompt was how does adversity develop ones character?</p>

<p>I am done hearing about</p>

<p>Lance Armstrong
Helen Keller
Oprah
Michael Jordan</p>

<p>I am amazed that
so many people know someone who died from cancer (many many mothers)
so many people have no home
there are so many people who have lost limbs
students thought that because Gatsby got murdered, he did not know how to overcome adversity</p>

<p>I am shocked that
there are people with six fingers
25% of the essays I read dealt with the student being a parent or being raped or abused</p>

<p>I guess truly this is an essay in which students could pour their hearts out to strangers, but it was definitely an adverse experience to read such heartache.</p>

<p>I actually started crying (surprising no one I am sure) after reading this story about this girl whose friend at 15 became a parent. When her friends’ daughter died at 4 months old she said she saw the true character of her friend as she placed the rose on her daughter’s coffin.</p>

<p>I recently told a student that the character of a person is affected by the people who enter, sustain, and/or leave our lives. It is clear that adversity (and as many argued any situation) is a clear builder of character.</p>

<p>It was a good experience once again.</p>

<p>Now off to work in San Diego. </p>

<p>Hope all are having a blessed summer.</p>

<p>Love
(i decided to protect my teacher’s name)"</p>

<p>Very touching.</p>

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<p>Chances are that a decent-sized chunk of the students were lying about having lost limbs and being homelss, but the fact that they were able to draw such a heavy emotional response from your teacher indicates that they are likely to be good writers. I neither condemn nor condone fudging anecdotes on those essays.</p>

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<p>Most people in my school that I’ve talked to in my school that take the AP Lang/Lit test, often make up stuff for their essays.</p>

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<p>I think it’s sad that some people would have to make up anecdotes for this kind of prompt. I mean come on, was your life so perfect and dandy that NOTHING adverse ever happened to you? There’s gotta be something, and it doesn’t have to be as dramatic as cancer/losing a limb etc.</p>

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<p>I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but “heartwarming” does not always necessarily mean “well-written.” Just sayin’…</p>

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<p>Having great pathos can qualify as being well-written.</p>

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<p>Huh? I don’t remember this prompt for the AP English Language.</p>

<p>Sounds like an SAT prompt, though.</p>

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<p>No actual grader can be this naive. </p>

<p>Pretty much everybody made their essay up for this prompt, including me.</p>

<p>My friend talked about how he survived a genocide in Uganda even though he is white and upper class.</p>

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<p>^ Lol, chuckled heartily at that.</p>

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<p>^^ That’s a real knee slapper.</p>

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<p>i wrote about gatsby but not about his murder…well, sort of. i said that adversity didn’t develop his character because he constantly sought after unrealistic ideals and his riches were rooted in crime, etc. put more eloquently and well developed of course. hopefully that sounds okay? damn, he probably read mine.</p>

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<p>Wow, I thought this thread was going to be about how AP readers get to spend exactly 90 seconds per essay. It doesn’t quite sound like your teacher followed that rule…</p>

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<p>I remember this prompt… I put several literary examples (of which I don’t remember). Later on, I was running out of motivation, so I mentioned Luke Skywalker and how he overcame the adversity of the Galactic Empire in order to rebuild the Jedi race and help the Rebels achieve victory.
Strangely enough, I felt it was appropriate towards the prompt. I had never thought about lying and saying I had broken out of a gulag in Siberia or something.</p>

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<p>“Having great pathos can qualify as being well-written.”</p>

<p>Not if it’s done an unsophisticated manner, i.e. you rant for a page or two about how crappy your life is using over-the-top and revealing anecdote :S</p>

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<p>Yes, but that might not be considered good pathos if it is done in that sort of manner. I mean, listening to whiny emo kids doesn’t compel me to empathize with them.</p>

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<p>There definitely are people with 6 fingers. I knew one in kindergarten and I kind of freaked out.</p>

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<p>^ Sooo had a Princess Bride moment there.</p>

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<p>^^ it’s caused by a dominant gene btw</p>

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<p>hahaha i dont think i used any literary examples for this one. i did use the movies “21” and “300” however…</p>

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<p>hmm, i seem to recall using The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible on mine… Thank god for required reading…</p>