Wiley AP English Literature and Composition

410 Pages·2013·36.68 MB·English

by  Geraldine Woods

Wiley AP*
English Literature
& Composition
by Geraldine Woods
Wiley AP* English Literature & Composition
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ISBN 978-1-118-49019-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-49022-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-49023-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-49024-2 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Publisher’s Acknowledgments About the Author
Project Editor: Tracy L. Barr Geraldine Woods has taught and tutored every level
of English from 5th grade through AP for the past three
Executive Editor: Lindsay Sandman Lefevere
decades. She’s the author of more than 50 books, many
Copy Editor: Jessica Smith published by Wiley: English Grammar For Dummies, English
Technical Reviewer: Elizabeth Brown Grammar Workbook For Dummies, Research Papers For
Dummies, College Admissions Essays For Dummies, SAT For
Project Coordinator: Katie Crocker Dummies, and Punctuation: Simplified and Applied.
Cover Photo: © aleksandar velasevic / iStockphoto.com
Author’s Acknowledgments
I offer sincere thanks to these poets, playwrights, and
novelists, who spin words into beauty: John Allman,
Dana Crum, Dave Johnson, Hettie Jones, and Abigail
Wender. I also acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the
wonderful students who graciously allowed me to
print their essays in this book: Emily Gerard, Jessica A.
Moldovan, Sophia Shapiro, and Peter Weinberg. I appre-
ciate the unfailing help and good humor of Tracy Barr
and Lindsay Lefevere of Wiley Publishing, as well as my
technical reviewer, Elizabeth Brown of William Henry
Harrison High School in West Lafayette, IN.
Contents
Part I: Exam Overview and English Fundamentals ............... 1
Chapter 1: An Overview of the AP Literature
and Composition Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Exam Content and Structure ..........................................................................................4
Typical AP Exam Questions ............................................................................................5
How the Exam Is Scored .................................................................................................9
Practical Matters ............................................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Exam Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
One Year Prior to the Exam ..........................................................................................18
September Preceding the Exam ...................................................................................19
January Preceding the Exam .........................................................................................20
March Preceding the Exam ...........................................................................................20
Two Weeks before the Exam ........................................................................................21
The Night before the Exam ...........................................................................................21
The Morning of the Test ................................................................................................22
Time-Saving Test-Taking Strategies ............................................................................23
Chapter 3: English Literature and Composition Fundamentals . . . . . . . . 29
Reading Comprehension ...............................................................................................30
Note-Taking ....................................................................................................................35
Beyond the Assigned Reading.......................................................................................36
Literary Essays: Reading Literary Criticism ................................................................37
Vocabulary Building ......................................................................................................39
Essay-Writing Skills .......................................................................................................41
How to Write with Style ................................................................................................48
Part II: Poetry .................................................................... 53
Chapter 4: Poetic Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Imagery ...........................................................................................................................55
Figurative Language ......................................................................................................56
Symbolism, Irony, And Allusion ..................................................................................58
Diction And Tone ...........................................................................................................60
Sound: Rhyme And Rhythm .........................................................................................61
Line Breaks, Stanzas, And Enjambment .....................................................................64
Chapter 5: Poetry Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Literal Meaning ..............................................................................................................69
Deeper Poetic Meanings ................................................................................................73
Context and Point of View ............................................................................................76
Your Own Experience ....................................................................................................77
Chapter 6: Answering Multiple-Choice Poetry Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Factual Questions ..........................................................................................................80
Interpretation Questions ...............................................................................................85
iv Wiley AP English Literature & Composition
Chapter 7: Writing Essays on Poetic Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
What to Expect from Poetry Prompts ..........................................................................94
Pre-Writing: Note-Taking and Preparation .................................................................95
Quotations and Citations: Proving Your Case ............................................................97
Poetry Analysis: Adding Your Commentary .............................................................101
The End: Wrapping Up with a Quick Conclusion .....................................................102
A Sample Poetry Essay ................................................................................................103
Chapter 8: Practice Poetry Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Multiple-Choice Questions .........................................................................................107
Sample Poetry Essay Prompts ....................................................................................120
Answer Guide for Poetry Essays .................................................................................122
Part III: Prose and Drama ................................................. 131
Chapter 9: Reading Fiction and Drama Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Fiction and Drama on the AP Exam ...........................................................................134
Plot and Conflict ...........................................................................................................134
Setting: Time and Place ...............................................................................................138
Characterization ..........................................................................................................139
Tone, Diction, and Point of View ................................................................................144
Themes .........................................................................................................................148
Drama Essentials .........................................................................................................149
Chapter 10: Reading Nonfiction Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
A Preview of Nonfiction on the Exam ........................................................................154
Essays ............................................................................................................................154
Memoir and Biography ................................................................................................158
Chapter 11: Answering Multiple-Choice Prose and Drama Questions . . . 163
How to Approach Prose or Drama Passages and Questions ...................................164
Basic Reading Comprehension Questions .................................................................164
The Role of Style and Technique ...............................................................................174
Chapter 12: Writing Essays on Prose and Drama Passages . . . . . . . . . . 181
The Essay Prompt ........................................................................................................182
Passage Interpretation and Topic Choice..................................................................183
Evidence Gathering ......................................................................................................186
Beyond the Intro: Body and Conclusion ....................................................................190
A Sample Prose Essay ..................................................................................................192
Chapter 13: Practice Prose and Drama Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Multiple-Choice Questions .........................................................................................198
Practice Prose And Drama Essays ..............................................................................212
Answer Guide for Prose and Drama Essays ..............................................................216
Part IV: Open-Ended and Paired-Passage Essays ............ 225
Chapter 14: The Open-Ended Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Preparation of Literary Works for AP Use .................................................................228
Open-Ended Essay Prompts ........................................................................................235
Support: Detecting and Selecting Evidence ..............................................................236
Context: Relating the Part to the Whole ...................................................................238
Sample Essay and Evaluation .....................................................................................239
Table of Contents v
Chapter 15: Paired-Passage Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Paired-Passage Prompts ..............................................................................................241
Annotating and Gathering Ideas from Pairs .............................................................243
Structuring Paired-Passage Essays.............................................................................243
Compare/Contrast Essay Practice ..............................................................................246
Answer Guide for Compare/Contrast Essays ............................................................250
Part V: Practice Exams and Scoring ................................. 257
Chapter 16: Practice Exam 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Section 1: Multiple Choice ..........................................................................................260
Section 2: Essays ..........................................................................................................275
Chapter 17: Scoring Practice Exam 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Section 1: Multiple Choice ..........................................................................................279
Section 2: Essays ..........................................................................................................287
Essay 1: Family Relationships and Conflicts in Shaw’s Major Barbara..................287
Essay 2: Dickinson’s and Dunbar’s Attitudes Toward Success ..............................293
Essay 3: The Open-Ended Essay .................................................................................298
Calculating Your Composite Score ............................................................................304
Chapter 18: Practice Exam 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Section 1: Multiple Choice ..........................................................................................305
Section 2: Essays ..........................................................................................................320
Chapter 19: Scoring Practice Exam 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Section 1: Multiple Choice ..........................................................................................325
Essay Evaluation ..........................................................................................................332
Essay 1: Harriet Jacobs and the Abolition of Slavery ...............................................333
Essay 2: John Allman on Ways of Life .......................................................................338
Essay 3: The Open-Ended Essay .................................................................................342
Calculating Your Overall AP Exam Score ..................................................................347
Part VI: Appendixes and Answer Sheets ......................... 349
Appendix A: Literary Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Poetry ............................................................................................................................351
Novels ............................................................................................................................352
Plays ..............................................................................................................................354
Appendix B: Quick Grammar Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Complete Sentences Versus Fragments and Run-Ons ............................................357
Noun-Verb and Noun-Pronoun Agreement ..............................................................358
Pronoun Case ...............................................................................................................360
Pronoun Clarity ............................................................................................................360
Verb Tense ....................................................................................................................361
Adjective and Adverb Placement ...............................................................................362
Parallelism ....................................................................................................................363
Differentiating Between Confusing Words ...............................................................364
Answer Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
vi Wiley AP English Literature & Composition
I
Exam
Overview
and English
Fundamentals