Have you been misled about the AP English exams?
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What books are on the AP English exams?
Should our children be required to study profane, sexually graphic adult themes by authors such as Morrison (Song of Solomon and Beloved), Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest), Wright (Black Boy) and others to score well on the AP (Advanced Placement) English exam? Should a school district that passed the largest bond issue in state history ($280 million in February of 2005) listen to the taxpayers and patrons, many of whom have asked the Board of Education to replace the profane and sexually-explicit books with higher-quality literature? Or should the Board of Education continue to refuse to explain how sex-laden books such as Song of Solomon are age-appropriate textbooks for 16 and 17-year olds? Should the district's administrators continue to refuse to "tackle this 10,000-pound gorilla" of decency standards as directed by the Board President in February 2004?
Unfortunately, misconceptions about what is required on AP (Advanced Placement) exams have been promoted by the Blue Valley School District to support the current selection of profane and sexually-explicit books...books that would otherwise never be deemed age-appropriate required reading for minor children. This is our unfortunate conclusion after researching what is actually tested in AP English exams, and then comparing what we've learned to the rationales written by Blue Valley to support vulgar books such as Song of Solomon, Black Boy, All the Pretty Horses, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, all used as textbooks in Blue Valley's AP Communication Arts III classes.
According to the AP English Composition exam's official documentation (www.apcentral.collegeboard.com, go to Course Descriptions), as well as according to test prep books on the subject, there are NO required OR suggested novels, poems, biographies, memoirs or nonfiction books in order to score well on the exam.
Despite the clarity of this statement, the Blue Valley rationale to support the selection of Song of Solomon states: "This novel commonly appears on the Advanced Placement exam. Critical analysis and examination of the text is necessary for success on this test." |
This statement is not only not true, it bullies minor children into reading vulgar literature that teaches them about deviant sex using the threat of poor AP English exam scores if the child or parent asks for an alternative. |
Read on to learn the truth about the AP English Language and Composition Exam, and how highly vulgar books do NOT help kids prepare for the AP English test. Everyone agrees that MANY books could be used to prepare for the AP English exams. So WHY does Blue Valley continue to use vulgar books with so much deviant sex and disgusting profanity such as Song of Solomon??
Purpose of the AP English Language and Composition Exam
The purpose of the AP English Language and Composition exam is to assess a student’s ability to perform college-level work in reading and writing. Blue Valley students may prepare for this optional, nationwide exam by taking AP Communication Arts III, typically in their junior year, as 16- and 17-year-olds. Depending on how the student scores on the final exam, college credit is offered by some colleges and universities. In order to be successful on the exam, the student should prepare by reading high-quality, well-written literature, studying the mechanics of the English language, and taking timed practice tests.
What is actually on the exam?
Test Questions
The test is broken into two sections:
Section 1: Multiple-choice questions (approx. 55) (to assess READING ability)
Section 2: Free-response sections (3 essays) (to assess WRITING ability)
The multiple-choice questions test the student’s ability to analyze prose passages. Four to five reading passages (300-800 words each) with 10-15 questions per passage are given. Questions address the style, content and rhetoric of the passages.
The essay section tests the student’s expository and analytical writing abilities, i.e., demonstrating an understanding of how language works (tone, attitude, persuasion) as well as the ability to communicate ideas intelligently in written form. Again, reading passages are included for the student’s analysis and discussion. If it is a free-response question (with no reading passage given), it is a general question, such as “Describe a place that might be of interest or significance to others. Include descriptive detail and your attitude regarding this location.”
Multiple-Choice Questions
“Remember that you’re not expected to be familiar with the passage or its specific content. Consider this section to be akin to a scavenger hunt; the passage will give you everything you need, it’s just up to you to find it and think about it accurately. Any technical information crucial to comprehending the passage, as well as unusual or foreign phrases, will be defined for you.” – Cliffs AP English handbook
Categories covered in the Multiple-Choice Questions
- Questions on rhetoric (how language works in the passage, i.e., word choice, point of view)
- Questions about the author’s meaning and purpose
- Questions regarding the main idea
- Questions about organization and structure
- Questions on rhetorical mode (differences between narration, description, argumentation and exposition)
Sample Passage and Sample Question
(from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave)
“Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A,B,Cs. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point in my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read...”
“From its content, we can infer that the passage was written by
A. a 19th-century white narrator hostile to slavery
B. a modern historian
C. an ex-slave looking back on his past
D. a modern autobiographer
E. a white narrator sympathetic to slavery”
Essay (Free Response) Questions
There are three essays on different topics. One topic is generally based on a provided fiction or nonfiction passage and requires an analysis of style. A second topic is also usually based on a provided reading passage and asks for an argumentative essay. The third topic can be a general question related to language, or it may ask a different question about the same passage used for the first topic (for example, instead of analyzing style, it might ask for a discussion of the author’s meaning).
Sample Passage and Sample Question
(from The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson)
“The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him – life; it went out from him – truth. It came to him – short-lived actions; it went from him – poetry...”
“Read (this excerpt from Emerson’s speech delivered at Cambridge in 1837). Then write a well-reasoned essay that defends, challenges or qualifies Emerson’s ideas about books and their usefulness. Use evidence from your own experience, reading, or observations to develop your essay.”
Essay Topics From the Last 20 Years of AP English Exams
Representative topics have included:
- “Two eyewitness accounts of two different funerals are given, one from Henry James, the other from Ralph Ellison. Analyze the differences in their perspectives as seen in their rhetoric.”
- “Querencia” is defined as a ‘feeling for one’s own place’; identify your ‘own place’ and explain its meaning.”
- “A passage from ‘The Rattler’ by Donald Peattie is given in which he describes coming upon a rattlesnake in the desert. Discuss the passage’s effect and how it is created by the author’s techniques.”
- “A portion of the letter written by George Bernard Shaw after the death of his mother is presented. Describe the author’s attitude toward his mother and her cremation; analyze how his language conveys his attitude.
- “Describe how one person can be perceived differently at different times or in different situations.”
- Representative authors/works cited over the past 20 years: Adlai Stevenson, Thomas Carlyle, Percy B. Shelley, John Milton, Norman Mailer, De Tocqueville, Martin Luther King, H.L. Mencken, Barbara Tuchman, George Orwell, Shakespeare, and the Bible.
Whenever a specific work is part of the exam question, a passage from that work is given to the student. At no time is the student expected to have read A SPECIFIC WORK. At least one Blue Valley teacher has publicly defended her teaching of controversial materials because of AP guidelines/requirements. Multiple Blue Valley book rationales state that a particular book is either "necessary for success" or "essential" for the AP test. As can be seen, this is not true! Click here to read a prior article on AP English exams.
Sources: Cliffs AP English & Composition, 2nd Ed., Barbara V. Swovelin; www.apcentral.collegeboard.com.