AP English Class - What to Expect?

[jai6638]

Hey... my teacher has recommended me for AP English next year and was wondering if i am upto it... i wanted to know if Ap english requires you to have excellant writing skills ( which i don't possess...im an average writer.).. What are the topics covered in an AP english class? do they focus a lot on essays rather than literature or is it vice versa?


thanks much

 

[mattmns]

iirc, there are two ap english tests that you can take. One is english writing, the other is english lit. I would contact the teacher/s that teach ap english and ask them what they cover.

 

[dec1ble]

Isnt this a physics forum?

ban english! ^-^

 

[Knavish]

No, no, mattmns has a few things wrong..

There are indeed two ap english tests: lit. and comp; language and comp. As you can see, both of them have "composition" in them. Over half of each of the tests requires writing. But don't back away.. take the class. It's not so bad, and if you have a good teacher, you'll learn a lot (ya read a bunch of books, and your writing skills will develop).

 

[Andromeda321]

English is awesome! How are you going to get your grant money if you can't use it?
Back to the OT, there are two AP tests you can take as someone mentioned: English Langauge and English Literature. For English language it's a much more general "write an essay" type test where one essay could be straight out of an SAT Writing test. Literature is much more formulaic and involves sitting down and analyzing a poem and all the various types of metaphors etc.
If you're not sure of your writing skills I'd recommend taking the language one: the idea behind it is to prepare you for the test in May so it's ok if your skills going in are average provided you're willing to work hard!
Oh and a word to the wise about the AP English tests should you want it to actually count in college: some colleges only count one for their general education requirement but not the other and vice versa. So if you've got your heart set on a college already that has a required English course it might be worth your while to think ahead as to which test you want to prepare for.

 

[jai6638]

well i checked and turns out that i will be doing the Ap English Langauge and Composition course... so i guess that involves quite a lot of writing... hmmmm! i really don't like writing essays and i can't imagine how i could write an exam which mostly consists of essays :( :( !

On a separate note, are good writing skills essential for a mechanical/aeronautic engineer?

Thanks much for ur replies.. :)

 

[Justin Lazear]

AP writing is a lot different than normal writing. You write very quickly, so nobody expects it to be that good. Or even good at all. You can even have bad writing, and you'll be fine as long as you get your point across.

I took the test, and I must say that I wrote the dullest, blandest, least interesting essays I've ever written. Each paragraph started in exactly the same way, proceeded in exactly the same way, and ended in exacly the same way. I wouldn't want to read them. But they got their point across well, and I got a 5.

But then, that's why I think AP writing classes are pretty useless. Nobody in their right mind would write like that except on a test.

--J

 

[jai6638]

lol i see.. so let me get this straight... Ap language and composition, all they stress on is writing skills while in Ap lit and composition they stress on literature ( including poems,etc ) and writing skills..is this correct?

 

[Andromeda321]

Lit focuses a lot on the analysis of a work, as in you'd get a sonnet and they ask what the author is saying. You say it's showing blah blah blah due to the metaphor in line three and the fact that this word is placed before that one in line seven... repeat ad nauseum. Very formulaic but teaches you to be analytical. It's also a good idea for the lit one to read a bunch of "classic" good novels because there's always a question on it relating to a general theme and asking you to pick books from a given list for your examples. So if you don't have a good resume in that department it will backfire on you!

 

[franznietzsche]

lol i see.. so let me get this straight... Ap language and composition, all they stress on is writing skills while in Ap lit and composition they stress on literature ( including poems,etc ) and writing skills..is this correct?

Take both tests.

My school offered language and comp as AP english 11, and then lit and comp as AP english 12 (junior and senior year respectively).

 

[jai6638]

Hmmmm a AP class everyday on improving writing skills... damn :(! Good in the long term but boring in the short term! oh well, i guess I am going to take the course anyways since it'll probably help improve my writing skills.! Although, i do know who my teacher is going to be... Shall ask around and see if he's good at what he does..

Shall probably take AP LIt in the 12th grade if my 11th grade Ap language and Comp teacher recommends me...

 

[jtbell]

On a separate note, are good writing skills essential for a mechanical/aeronautic engineer?

You have to write project proposals, and reports on what you've done. If you're involved in developing a product for sale, you may be involved in writing the manual or documentation for it. Also, in many companies, much of the daily communication that used to be handled face to face or in meetings is now handled via e-mail. If you can write well, people will notice it. People such as bosses.

I've read two or three newspaper or magazine articles in the past few months about companies sending their employees to writing courses because nobody can understand their e-mail!

 

[Justin Lazear]

Maybe it's different for other schools, but when I took the class, it didn't help any aspect of my writing except for the write-an-essay-real-quick-for-a-test aspect. The class was taught to the test. I don't think the class would help technical writing or persuasive writing.

Then again, maybe your class will focus on actual writing and just have the test as a side show. Who knows. I think I'm pretty safe in saying not to expect too much, though.

--J