ap lit octopus essay

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Question 2 reflections: people of the whale.

Reflection 1 by Melissa Tucker

What did you notice in upper-half essays?

The “upper-half” were those student writers who were able to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the passage. Those writers easily earned the thesis point and began at a 3 in row B (evidence and commentary). Often, those essays also earned the sophistication point. These writers unpacked their thinking about what community means and how the author developed that idea. For example, there were a few writers who explained how the differing opinions were necessary for the community. Others recognized how and why opinions shifted and, in some cases, conformed. One unique writer even explained how the octopus’s behavior was not natural but rather a projection of the community itself. 

What did you notice in lower-half essays?

The “lower-half” essays often focused on concrete and/or disparate details within the passage. They relied too heavily on repeating the prompt and adding devices to create a thesis, rather than developing their argument. Although some were able to demonstrate enough analysis to earn a 3 in row B, more often they focused on summarizing the passage. In addition, many of the lower half of the essays seemed to create literary elements or device names. It was difficult to understand what they were analyzing because they focused more on the label and less on the impact that it had on the writing. Essays that focused on identification also relied on paraphrasing details. The connection and analysis was lost. 

What makes for a strong line of reasoning? 

The more effective writers had a clear understanding that this free response essay is a literary argument. Because of this, there was cohesion among their ideas (e.g. overarching thesis plus subordinate claims that expanded and developed that thesis). Rather than stack evidence and name-drop devices, students should be able to connect and build their thinking. When the evidence is the predominant part of the body paragraph, AP readers can no longer find the student’s thinking and argument. 

Let’s talk sophistication . . .

This point still seems elusive for many. There were several students who could demonstrate control over grammar and mechanics, but “employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive” was harder to find. The essays that earned sophistication stood apart from the others because they focused on the implication of the author’s choices in order to develop the characterization of the community. Their line of reasoning consistently walked through THEIR argument about the writer’s choices rather than summarizing the writer’s choices. There also were a few who had very unique interpretations that situated “within a broader context.” In other words, the stronger essays that easily earned sophistication connected to historical or cultural concepts that the writer could have used as inspiration; a few essays successfully argued how the excerpt might situate within the longer text. 

Any teaching points connected to what you learned at the reading?

One topic I want to discuss with my students is simplicity. Essays frequently used complicated thesis statements or a great deal of context. It’s as if the students may feel that concise wording or straightforward, simple claims were less effective. I hope to better understand why. Another impact on my instruction will be a return to explicit instruction literary element and technique terms. Too often essays claimed a device without proof, or they created a term that didn’t connect to literary elements or style. I feel that building their confidence with identification can lead to more effective explanations and connections. Finally, I’m going to create a matrix for the analytic rubric. As we often say, there are many rooms in the house of X. I plan to talk with my students about what qualities each row contains to develop clear and effective benchmarks for their writing. Creating a matrix that outlines the range of the characteristics that the 2-3-4 have in row B, as well as breaking down rows A and C, could help me provide feedback. More importantly, I hope that it provides a way for students to better articulate and evaluate their needs and wants in their writing conferences.  

Melissa Tucker is a Secondary English teacher & coffee lover currently juggling mom life, grading, learning, reading, sewing, and life! She lives and teaches in Rock Hill, SC.

Reflection 2 by Matt Brisbin

Another year at the AP Lit reading has finally come to a close. I spent the past week scoring over 1,200 Q2 essays and while it was in many ways a very long week, I was so happy to see that this year’s students wrote some really fantastic essays and was pleasantly surprised to find how accessible the prose prompt was. I have to admit, after reading the prompt, I wasn’t sure how students would respond. My own students told me that after reading the excerpt, a passage from Linda Hogan’s 2008 novel People of the Whale, that they weren’t sure what direction to take their analysis and after comparing notes with their fellow test takers, many didn’t think they’d written about the right thing. However, what I found as I read through all these essays is that it was this flexibility that made the prompt so accessible to students. They didn’t have to write about the same thing in order to score well, but there were some commonalities in many of the upper-half essays that I’d like to share with you in hopes that it will help you and your students to feel more confident on next year’s exam.

The Thesis is the Key

This year, a vast majority of essays earned the thesis point. Granted, it doesn’t take much to qualify as a thesis on the rubric, but I do think this specific prompt opened the doorway to a wide variety of responses, and the key to unlocking the door to an upper-half essay was to earn that thesis point. The prompt asks students to analyze how the author develops a complex community, and based on our calibration and sample sets, all students needed to do to earn the point was to write any kind of insight about this community. This was often as simple as, “the people in this community had a difference of opinions.” Granted, this kind of response didn’t lead to the best essays, but it was enough to earn the point. This is important because although the thesis is only worth 1 point, the line of reasoning gives the essay a chance to earn a 3 or a 4 in row B. Without a thesis, it is very difficult to have a coherent line of reasoning. In the week that I scored essays, I never found an essay that earned better than a 2 on row B (or the sophistication point for that matter) that didn’t earn the thesis point. In the past, I’ve often taken for granted that my students know how to write good thesis statements. Since it seems so easy to earn the point, I’ve made the mistake of pointing it out, but then moving on. After this experience, I think that there are probably many students who don’t earn this easy to get point because they haven’t been taught what they need to do in order to check that box. Many students would attempt a thesis and just rephrase the prompt and others attempted a thesis that didn’t actually address the prompt at all. I still think it’s probably a simple enough lesson, but it is worth taking the extra time early in the year so that all students have a chance at scoring that upper-half essay.

Claims Give the Essay a Focus

This year on Q2 there were two organizational patterns that made up 95% of the essays that I read. Both organizational patterns could earn an upper-half score, but the commonality between these two types of essays is that the best ones began each paragraph with some sort of claim that had to be defended. The most common form of organization was by device. Students would often start a paragraph by writing something along the lines of, “the author uses imagery in order to show the complexity of this community.” Although this isn’t great analysis, it is a claim that must be supported with evidence, and it does give students the opportunity to write themselves into a stronger analysis. If a paragraph starts with a summary, there is simply nothing to support, and therefore it is much more difficult to stumble into deeper insight about the text.

The second most common type of organization was when students would work their way chronologically through the text from beginning to end. Between the two styles, these tended to score better. It allowed students to write with a builtin continuity that was often missing in the essays organized by literary device. As long as an essay had more than one claim and at least one of those claims was well supported with evidence and commentary, most students were able to score a 3 in row B of the rubric. If all the claims were supported, and there was a feeling of continuity that led to a better understanding of the thesis (i.e. a line of reasoning) most essays would score a 4 in row B. Most essays that only had one claim just didn’t have quite enough to earn an upper-half score. It felt like these essays were cut short (maybe because of time?) and were left a bit underdeveloped. 

The biggest pitfall that I saw with a chronological organization is that students tended to fall into a summary rather than an analysis around a specific claim. It’s too easy to just fall back on giving an overview of the story, especially if students don’t take enough time to adequately plan what they want to say and just dive in because they feel like the clock is ticking. The more an essay summarized the excerpt, the less likely each body paragraph started with a claim. Essays that only summarized the passage without any sort of claim or thesis typically scored a 0-1-0. 

Thinking About Comparisons

Like I said earlier, there were many different entry points into this text but in terms of the Big Ideas in the AP Literature Course and Exam Description (CED), the students who analyzed character, setting, and figurative language were the most successful on this prompt. I also noticed that the best thinking in each of these areas showed up when students were utilizing comparisons. This year, the prompt set students up to compare the various reactions that each of the community members had to the octopus walking out of the water. It was very clear that many teachers across the country had spent lots of time on stories and poems that utilized contrasting characters (CED skill 1.C). 

Similarly, students were able to find many entry points in comparing how the setting of this ocean community revealed new insights about the characters and even the octopus itself (CED skill 2.C). Many students picked up on how practical the fishermen were because of their need to live off of what they catch and therefore it is understandable that they would want to use the octopus as bait. Others pointed out that because of the remote nature of the community the people had a tendency to fall into a group-think mentality when it came to what they should do about the octopus. Again, all great entry points into an analysis of the people in this story, but none of them were required in order to score an upper half essay. This flexibility resulted in the essays that I read scoring much higher as a whole than what I’ve seen in previous years scoring Q2. 

Some of the more insightful essays picked up on the color symbolism and the biblical allusions in the text (CED skills 5.C and 6.D). By comparing the characters to these symbols or bible characters, students were able to discover many insights that very much helped in their analysis. Many essays picked up on the fact that the octopus turns a bright shade of red as it reaches the cave and that as it walks out of the water it pales as it notices all the people who were watching it. Some essays claimed that the octopus turning red was a sign of aggression and one of the biggest reasons the people in the community either wanted to kill it, or worship it out of fear. Other essays picked up on the white dress that Thomas’s mother was wearing and how it represented her pure intentions in sacrificing her father’s pearl (a treasure which came from the sea) and how this characterizes her as someone willing to put her faith in something bigger than herself.

The biblical allusions were varied and ranged from the octopus representing a christ figure who came from the ocean (like a baptism) and found its way into Seal Cave where the community started worshiping it (drawing a comparison to the resurrection of Jesus who was buried in a cave) to the four fishermen representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse which clearly explained their reasoning for wanting to kill the octopus and us it as bait. The best part, though, is that one interpretation didn’t necessarily lend itself to a better score than another. All of these symbols and allusions can work to reveal the complexity of the community. It was all a matter of where each particular student was able to find an entry point into their analysis. 

I think one of my biggest takeaways from the reading this year is that students really have so much flexibility with the direction they’d like to take their analysis. What is most important is that students are able to notice and dig into the things they feel they can write about. 

With this in mind, I plan to start next year with lots of short stories and poems. I want to teach my students that there are as many different interpretations of a text as there are people in the classroom and what matters most are the details they notice and the inferences they start making about them. Each time we read a new story or a new poem, I’m going to have them write down and then talk about all the inferences they have; inferences about the characters and the setting, the narrator and the structure, and of course the figurative language they’re picking up on. I think a focus on this specific skill will lend itself nicely to creating solid claims that show their insights into the text. This will then lend itself to the conversations about organizing their essays and coming up with claims to support their thesis statements. I also like the idea of using lots of short texts to give them lots of practice at reading, noticing, and drawing conclusions about their inferences.  

Something that I didn’t mention earlier is that the best essays (roughly 5% of all that I read) weren’t organized by device or chronologically. They were actually organized by each of the many insights that students had about the complex ocean community in the text. These were the essays that most often earned the sophistication point (for complex analysis). So, if I can start the year teaching students how to notice and draw conclusions about the little details, it will get easier as we do it more and more. This skill will lend itself to being able to write a much more in depth analysis of a text because it will have all the underlying insights that aren’t so obvious on an initial reading. Being intentional about teaching students how to have an insight into the text at the beginning of the year, will help them to start writing essays organized around these insights. 

I know this will be much harder than it sounds once we put it into practice, but it is the hard work on the reading and thinking involved with reading and understanding a complex text that I’m hoping will be foundational to everything else that we do next year. I’m confident that if we can work through the struggles early on, the better readers and writers my students will become. And although this class isn’t all about the test, it will help them on next year’s exam too.

Matt Brisbin has taught English at McMinnville High School, in McMinnville, Oregon, for the last sixteen years and has taught AP Literature and Composition for the last ten years. He also works for the College Board as a consultant and reader for the AP Literature and Composition Exam. He is a co-author of the Instructor’s Guide to the high school edition of the 2019 Norton Literature Anthology. In his spare time, Matt enjoys reading, playing pickleball, and spending time with his kids, Hadley and Axel, and his wife, Erin.

Feature Image Photo by Kaya Patel on Unsplash

Q1 Reader Reflections – “Shaving”

Q3 Reflections: Hierarchical Structure

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The 2022 AP® Lit FRQ Questions Were Just Released: Now what?

Part 1 of 4

Written by Heather Garcia

In this four-part article, Michelle Lindsey and I will walk you through why the released FRQ questions for AP Lit are so valuable for classroom instruction, and we will explore each of the three released essays in a separate article. Our hope is that you will be able to use this four-part series as you begin thinking about planning for your AP Lit course for next year.

Looking for helpful AP English Literature resources? Check out our Summer Writing Workshops and our AP Teacher Courses .

_______________

Why are we excited? AP Lit teachers impatiently wait for the release of the essay questions that our students were asked to respond to on the AP Lit exam, and thankfully College Board doesn’t make us wait but a few days. This is good news because as soon as those prompts are released, we can discuss them with our students, and our students can discuss them with us. It creates a celebratory atmosphere in the room as the year quickly spirals to an end once the exam is over. If you haven’t seen the prompts yet, you can find them here .

Why are these past Free Response Questions valuable?

• They provide us a glimpse into the mind of College Board so we can prepare appropriately for the exam each year.
• When we use these past questions in our lesson plans, they help students familiarize themselves with College Board’s style of questioning, which creates comfort heading into the test in May.
• They expose students to a broad spectrum of literary excerpts and poems that they may not have read otherwise.
• It gives classes a common reading experience and reference points throughout the year so students can say “Hey, this poem is like the one about the Juggler from College Board”, and then a conversation can ensue.
• College Board will eventually release a sample high, mid, and low scoring essay for us to use in our classrooms with our students, which allows students to apply the rubric and determine what College Board is looking for from students.

How can I incorporate them into my course next year?

• Use the released prompts as weekly practice: You can rotate prompts out week by week or coordinate them to the units you are teaching according to the Course Exam Description provided by College Board.
• Model your own prompts after College Board’s: If you want to use the content you were planning to teach anyway, say a particular poem that you love or an excerpt from a novel or play you are already reading, you can use the 2022 prompts as models as you create your own College Board-like prompts.
• Incorporate them after each novel or play you read: The released Literary Argument prompts (question 3) can be used as discussion prompts, journal prompts, or timed essay prompts for novels or plays that you are already reading in class.
• Encourage students to analyze the released student samples: Since College Board releases a high, mid, and low scoring essay for each essay prompt, those are great examples to offer students. Students can “peer score” them on the rubric or they can analyze them with partners to determine what works and what might need improvement to raise the score.

While this is not an exhaustive list of the ways you can use College Board’s released prompts, it is a place to get started, especially if you haven’t been using these released prompts in the past.

Keep reading for more on each released question!

2022 AP Lit FRQ 1: “Shaving” by Richard Blanco

Part 2 of 4

Written by Michelle Lindsey

Here is the order of confidence my student feel about their essays: Question 3 takes the lead, Question 1 is a close second, and then Question 2 might be miles and miles and miles away from both of them. To ease some of my anxiety, my students convinced me they did a solid job on this Question 1 prompt. They said they went through our writing process, annotated the poem, planned their essay, and dazzled the College Board.

I always tell my kids to read the poem first to gain some context about what it’s about. This poem, luckily, was pretty transparent. It’s about a guy thinking about the act of shaving, then thinking about when he’s actually shaving, and linking it all to his late father. It was accessible, which we all appreciate. What my students struggled to find was the complexity , which is unfortunate considering it’s worded right there in the prompt- therefore, it has to be there somewhere.

Here is the prompt for Question 1:

The Prompt : In Richard Blanco’s poem “Shaving”, published in 1998, the speaker writes about the act of shaving. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Blanco uses literary elements and techniques to develop the speaker’s complex associations with the ritual of shaving.

I asked my students if they broke down the prompt into questions, and they promised they did. If they actually did the work, their questions may have looked like this:

• What are the associations with the ritual of shaving?
• What is complex about those associations?
• How do we know? (can be answered in their body paragraphs)
• Why do we care? (something I make them add to encourage them to talk about the theme as a common reading)

Once they have the questions isolated, they can begin to hunt down the information they need within the poem.

In stanza 1, our author compares the growth of his beard to silent, misty, blurry things . He uses a simile to compare the growth of his beard to the ocean steam and spiderwebs in the mornings. We can see this. We can visualize the foggy clouds lifting off water or the puffy, yet obscure spiderwebs that cling to wet grass in the mornings. We don’t see these things forming, the formation is silent much like the rose replenishing itself with water from the vase. These are soft similes comparing the mystery of stubble growth to the passing of his father, which ironically came up quite suddenly within the poem and apparently it crept up on the author in real life too.

Looking at the two ideas paired together, the mysterious growth of beard hair, which is symbolic of manhood, and his father’s life passing them by, readers can begin to see the association between the act of shaving and something our narrator missed out on with his father.

Stanza 2 shifts to when he is actually shaving. So, now we have manhood and our narrator navigating something he was never shown how to do. He catches glimpses of his father literally and figuratively with the memory of the father shaving and his “legacy of black whispers” on his own face. This stanza doesn’t have the soft imagery as the first one. The diction is harsher with words like “masquerade”, “blade”, “dead pieces”, and “black seeds”. Readers gain a little more insight into the emotion behind the poem in stanza 2 and the idea that the association between shaving and his father might not be a pleasant one as we learn the father “never taught me how to shave.”

Stanza 3 has a bit of an epiphany but not an entirely happy one as he talks about how quickly everything can vanish. One morning he wakes up with a beard that, however long it took to form, can be easily erased with the swipe of his blade. Obviously, this connects with the unpredicted passing of his father.

Once my students navigate their way through the poem, they’re supposed to go back and answer those questions they formed from the prompt:

• What are the associations with the ritual of shaving? A: Our narrator associates the ritual of shaving with the passing of time and life (and his father).
• What is complex about those associations? A: Although he begins the poem in a calm manner, it is evident that our narrator (or author) still has unresolved grief he is still managing.
• How do we know? A: Stanza one has the calm similes and imagery- yet slight undertones of the unknown and stanzas 2 and 3 have the tone shift (but I would save these ideas for my body paragraphs).
• Why do we care? A: We care because life is a cycle, like shaving, life grows and is then cut off and more life grows after that.

Here is what my thesis might look like:

Blanco associates the ritual of shaving with the passing of time and life. He recognizes there is a beauty in the growing of life, symbolized by the beard, but also grief towards that life-ending in order to remind readers that life itself is cyclic.

I would follow up my introduction with a paragraph about stanza 1 and the calm atmosphere and then my next body paragraph would be about the grief evidenced in stanzas 2 and 3. I would probably only have two body paragraphs because I let the answers to the questions from the prompt drive my essays.

This isn’t perfect. After these questions were released, I also heard about ten different interpretations from my kiddos. I embrace their diverse thinking and as long as they can write their ideas with conviction and solid evidence, they’ll be ok.

The 2022 AP Lit FRQ 2: Examining Linda Hogan’s People of the Whale

Part 3 of 4

Those few days between students testing and when the AP Literature FRQ questions are released seem infinite. I can’t be the only one checking the website obsessively just hoping they will drop those little gems a bit early – right? (Right?)

Now that they are public, they are open to scrutiny, and for question two, there was a lot to analyze.

For context, or for those of you who haven’t read the prompt yet, here is what College Board was asking the students for question two, the Prose Analysis Essay in 2022.  

The following excerpt is from Linda Hogan’s novel People of the Whale, published in 2008. In this passage, the narrator described two events that occur in a community: an infant’s birth shortly followed by an octopus’s walking out of the sea. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the author uses literary elements and techniques to develop a complex characterization of the community. In your response you should do the following: ● Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation. ● Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning. ● Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning. ● Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

After looking at this prompt, there is a lot to unpack before moving into analyzing the passage.

Here are the questions I know I need to answer as I read the passage, based on the above prompt:

• How would I define this community and how it is characterized?
• Why or how is it complex?
• What literary elements or techniques are being employed to create this characterization?

These questions can lead to a rough outline of the essay to write, but first, we need to really examine the excerpt provided from People of the Whale . Students may choose to do this in chunks, taking one paragraph at a time and really examining it through the lens of the questions above. Or, they may read the passage as a whole first to get an overall gist of what the excerpt is about and then go back and look deeper at each of the paragraphs.

Regardless of the approach they take, this excerpt is one of the longer ones that College Board has put out in recent years, and there is a lot of depth within the excerpt to pull from as students write.

After reading through the Prose Analysis Essay Excerpt , we can answer the questions above. This is how I would respond to them, but keep in mind, that students may respond differently, as might you. That is okay. That, in fact, is to be celebrated because the readers from College Board do not expect (or desire) to read essays that are carbon copies of one another.

Here is how I would approach these questions:

• This community is closely connected and ruled by a combination of fear, superstition, and religion that clouds their perceptions of reality as they treat the octopus as a deity that consumed and enriches their lives despite their poverty.
• The complexity arises because the people of the town do not all respond the same way to the octopus residing in the cave- causing tension and unrest amongst the community and many ultimately ended up worshiping the octopus out of fear or devotion. 
• Characterization of the community occurs through the use of mounting tension within the narrative, through the use of personification of the octopus, and through the various reactions of the townsfolk (selection of detail).

My thesis statement for this prompt might look like this:

This community is characterized primarily by its reaction to the octopus, which they treat as a deity to both pray to and fear, emphasizing their desperation and also their faith in forces beyond themselves.

In the chart below you will see the lines that I would pull for evidence if I were writing this essay and how I would connect them to my thesis.

There are SO many ways to approach this excerpt, and hopefully, students were able to take the time to explore them as they were writing their essays, but even if time didn’t permit them to explore the passage as thoroughly as they might have hoped, there is no doubt that this Prose Analysis Essay question is rich in detail and provided many opportunities for interpretation and analysis.

2022 AP Lit FRQ 3: Accepting or Rejecting Hierarchical Structure

Part 4 of 4

With AP Literature testing finally over and the College Board finally releasing the Free Response Questions, it’s time to talk about Question 3.

Fortunately for my kids, we had a class discussion recapping the novels we read throughout the year. We read Homegoing , The Nightingale , Clap When You Land, Twelfth Night, and then the kids had group novels they read. Some groups chose Fahrenheit 451, A Thousand White Women, and The Great Alone. Throughout the discussion, we recapped themes, major characters and their complexities, and powerful quotes. We ended by talking about common themes all the novels shared and we just so happen to talk about how all our novels challenge societal norms, political power, etc. So, it was perfect. But I know we got lucky with that prompt and not everyone was in our boat.

Of course, once the test was released, upon student request, I dissected the Question 3 prompt, and how I would have tackled this prompt.

The Prompt: Many works of literature feature characters who accept or reject a hierarchical structure. This hierarchy may be social, economic, political, or familial, or it may apply to some other kind of structure. Either from your own reading or from the list below, choose a work of fiction in which a character responds to a hierarchy in some significant way. Then, in a well written essay, analyze how that character’s response to the hierarchy contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole period do not merely summarize the plot.

Let’s start by breaking down this prompt into the sub-questions nested within:

• What is the hierarchy within the novel?
• Which character has a response to it?
• How does that character respond?
• What is the interpretation of the work as a whole?
• What makes that response significant regarding that interpretation?

There are various ways this prompt can be broken down, but these seem like the main gist of the prompt.  I love this prompt, by the way.

Before students can begin answering these questions, they may have needed to look at the context the College Board gave them about the types of hierarchies in order to decide which novel to choose.

I provided some examples of the different hierarchies in the chart below. This is not an exhaustive list, but it certainly can be a good starting point if you plan on using this prompt next year as practice. I also explored these ideas with my favorite novel from this year.

After determining how these hierarchies exist within some of our novels, we could use these ideas to answer the questions nested within the prompt. Again, The Nightingale was my favorite novel of the year so I will use that one.

• What is the hierarchy within the novel? A: Familial hierarchy and political hierarchy play the largest roles. I would mention both hierarchies to bring in some complexity
• Which character has a response to it? A: Although both sisters respond to both hierarchies, Isabelle would be my focus because she feels she is at the very bottom of both hierarchies and has the largest character arch.
• How does that character respond? A: She responds with rebellion, anger, and recklessness
• What is the interpretation of the work as a whole? A: The entire novel focuses on fighting against injustice- in all different forms.
• What makes that response significant regarding that interpretation? A: Isabelle is sick of feeling inferior to her sister and feeling disposable by the Nazis, so she decides to do something about it. She shows readers that a single person can truly make a big difference.

My thesis would look something like this: Isabelle fights desperately to get out of the bottom of the familial hierarchy with her sister and the political one with the Nazi regime. Her rebellion against the injustice she faces and sees others facing is lifesaving, and life-changing, despite both hierarchies telling her she is invaluable and could never make a difference.

I would then spend a body paragraph defending how Vianne made her feel like a burden and an outcast within her own family. I would include all sorts of specific examples of moments when Vianne causes Isabelle to feel invaluable. I would then argue how her rebellion saved her own life, not in a literal way, but in an emotional sense as she gained self-worth. That drive to prove her worth and ability to make a difference would lead me to the next paragraph.

My next body paragraph would focus on the political hierarchy and how the Nazis constantly made her, and the people in her community, feel disposable and worthless. There are numerous examples of this as well that I would include. I would then link that disposable feeling to her rebellion and all the airmen she saved as she took on the persona of “The Nightingale”, truly making a massive difference in the lives of not only the airmen and their families, but causing some serious turmoil within the Nazi regime.

Is this essay perfect? Probably not. But this essay is accessible and when I showed this essay structure to my students after their exam (and after it was legal), they weren’t afraid that their essays were too far from the mark. They felt confident they were on the right track. And, when I show this essay idea to my class next year, they won’t be intimidated by the tasks within the prompt.

And there you have it. The breakdown of every free-response question on the 2022 AP English Literature Exam. We hope this was helpful.

Heather Garcia is an English teacher at Charlotte High School, Florida, where she teaches AP ® English Literature and AP ® English Language. She is a professional development leader in her district, running annual new-teacher trainings and is now the Curriculum and Instructional Specialist for her district for grades 6-12. After 16 years of hands-on experience, Heather has developed a series of strategies to help her students navigate challenging texts. Her favorite book is the Steinbeck classic, East of Eden .

Michelle Lindsey has been a high school teacher in Florida for nine years, and currently teaches AP® Capstone as well as literature and writing courses.

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Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Website thereafter.

These Terms of Use are an integral part of the Website Terms of Use that apply generally to the use of our Website. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page each time you access this Website so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.

Accessing the Website and Account Security

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend this Website, and any service or material we provide on the Website, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Website, or the entire Website, to users, including registered users.

You are responsible for (i) making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website, and (ii) ensuring that all persons who access the Website through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.

To access the Website or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Website that all the information you provide on the Website is correct, current, and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with this Website or otherwise, including but not limited to through the use of any interactive features on the Website, is governed by our Marco Learning Privacy Policy , and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.

If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to this Website or portions of it using your user name, password, or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.

We have the right to disable any user name, password, or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Website and its entire contents, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, graphics, video, other visuals, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof) are owned by the Company, its licensors, or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws. Your use of the Website does not grant to you ownership of any content, software, code, date or materials you may access on the Website.

These Terms of Use permit you to use the Website for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store, or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:

• Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
• You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.
• You may print or download one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Website for your own personal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication, or distribution.
• If we provide desktop, mobile, or other applications for download, you may download a single copy to your computer or mobile device solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you agree to be bound by our end user license agreement for such applications.
• If we provide social media features with certain content, you may take such actions as are enabled by such features.

You must not:

• Modify copies of any materials from this site.
• Use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences, or any graphics separately from the accompanying text.
• Delete or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.

You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Website or any services or materials available through the Website.

If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than that set out in this section, please contact us

If you print, copy, modify, download, or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will stop immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title, or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Company. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws.

Trademarks, logos, service marks, trade names, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors (collectively, the “ Trademarks ”). You must not use such Trademarks without the prior written permission of the Company. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Prohibited Uses

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Website:

• In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries).
• For the purpose of exploiting, harming, or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information, or otherwise.
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material that does not comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail”, “chain letter”, “spam”, or any other similar solicitation.
• To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the Company, a Company employee, another user, or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using email addresses or screen names associated with any of the foregoing).
• To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined by us, may harm the Company or users of the Website or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

• Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website.
• Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.
• Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent.
• Use any device, software, or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website.
• Introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to the Website.
• Attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
• Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

If you use, or assist another person in using the Website in any unauthorized way, you agree that you will pay us an additional $50 per hour for any time we spend to investigate and correct such use, plus any third party costs of investigation we incur (with a minimum $300 charge). You agree that we may charge any credit card number provided for your account for such amounts. You further agree that you will not dispute such a charge and that we retain the right to collect any additional actual costs.

User Contributions

The Website may contain message boards, chat rooms, personal web pages or profiles, forums, bulletin boards, and other interactive features (collectively, “ Interactive Services “) that allow users to post, submit, publish, display, or transmit to other users or other persons (hereinafter, “ post “) content or materials (collectively, “ User Contributions “) on or through the Website.

All User Contributions must comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.

Any User Contribution you post to the site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing any User Contribution on the Website, you grant us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors, and assigns the right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute, and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.

You represent and warrant that:

• You own or control all rights in and to the User Contributions and have the right to grant the license granted above to us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors, and assigns.
• All of your User Contributions do and will comply with these Terms of Use.

You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Contributions you submit or contribute, and you, not the Company, have full responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy, and appropriateness.

For any academic source materials such as textbooks and workbooks which you submit to us in connection with our online tutoring services, you represent and warrant that you are entitled to upload such materials under the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law. In addition, if you request that our system display a representation of a page or problem from a textbook or workbook, you represent and warrant that you are in proper legal possession of such textbook or workbook and that your instruction to our system to display a page or problem from your textbook or workbook is made for the sole purpose of facilitating your tutoring session, as “fair use” under copyright law.

You agree that we may record all or any part of any live online classes and tutoring sessions (including voice chat communications) for quality control and other purposes. You agree that we own all transcripts and recordings of such sessions and that these Terms of Use will be deemed an irrevocable assignment of rights in all such transcripts and recordings to us.

We are not responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any User Contributions posted by you or any other user of the Website.

Monitoring and Enforcement: Termination

We have the right to:

• Remove or refuse to post any User Contributions for any or no reason in our sole discretion.
• Take any action with respect to any User Contribution that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Contribution violates the Terms of Use, including the Content Standards, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Website or the public, or could create liability for the Company.
• Disclose your identity or other information about you to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.
• Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Website.
• Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Use.

Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to cooperate fully with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Website. YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSEES, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY ANY OF THE FOREGOING PARTIES DURING, OR TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF, INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER SUCH PARTIES OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.

However, we do not undertake to review material before it is posted on the Website, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications, or content provided by any user or third party. We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section.

Content Standards

These content standards apply to any and all User Contributions and use of Interactive Services. User Contributions must in their entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, User Contributions must not:

• Contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable.
• Promote sexually explicit or pornographic material, violence, or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
• Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person.
• Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy .
• Be likely to deceive any person.
• Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote, or assist any unlawful act.
• Cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm, or annoy any other person.
• Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.
• Involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes, and other sales promotions, barter, or advertising.
• Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.

(collectively, the “ Content Standards ”)

Copyright Infringement

If you believe that any User Contributions violate your copyright, please contact us  and provide the following information:

• An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
• A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
• A description of where the material you claim is infringing is located on the website (and such description must reasonably sufficient to enable us to find the alleged infringing material);
• Your address, telephone number and email address;
• A written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
• A statement by you, made under the penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

We may terminate the accounts of any infringers.

Reliance on Information Posted

From time to time, we may make third party opinions, advice, statements, offers, or other third party information or content available on the Website or from tutors under tutoring services (collectively, “Third Party Content”). All Third Party Content is the responsibility of the respective authors thereof and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such third party authors are solely responsible for such content. WE DO NOT (I) GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT ON THE SITE OR ANY VERIFICATION SERVICES DONE ON OUR TUTORS OR INSTRUCTORS, OR (II) ADOPT, ENDORSE OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT MADE BY ANY TUTOR OR INSTRUCTOR OR ANY PARTY THAT APPEARS ON THE WEBSITE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE BE RESPONSBILE OR LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM YOUR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OR OTHER CONENT POSTED ON OR AVAILBLE FROM THE WEBSITE.

Changes to the Website

We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Information About You and Your Visits to the Website

All information we collect on this Website is subject to our Privacy Policy . By using the Website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

Online Purchases and Other Terms and Conditions

All purchases through our site or other transactions for the sale of services and information formed through the Website or resulting from visits made by you are governed by our Terms of Sale, which are hereby incorporated into these Terms of Use.

Additional terms and conditions may also apply to specific portions, services, or features of the Website. All such additional terms and conditions are hereby incorporated by this reference into these Terms of Use.

Linking to the Website and Social Media Features

You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part without our express written consent.

This Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

• Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this Website.
• Send emails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this Website.
• Cause limited portions of content on this Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us, and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with and otherwise in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features. Subject to the foregoing, you must not:

• Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
• Cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed on, or appear to be displayed by, any other site, for example, framing, deep linking, or in-line linking.
• Link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.
• Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on this Website that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.

The website from which you are linking, or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.

You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to stop. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Links from the Website

If the Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties (“ Linked Sites ”), these links are provided for your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. You acknowledge and agree that we have no control over the contents, products, services, advertising or other materials which may be provided by or through those Linked sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to this Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

You agree that if you include a link from any other website to the Website, such link will open in a new browser window and will link to the full version of an HTML formatted page of this Website. You are not permitted to link directly to any image hosted on the Website or our products or services, such as using an “in-line” linking method to cause the image hosted by us to be displayed on another website. You agree not to download or use images hosted on this Website or another website, for any purpose, including, without limitation, posting such images on another website. You agree not to link from any other website to this Website in any manner such that the Website, or any page of the Website, is “framed,” surrounded or obfuscated by any third party content, materials or branding. We reserve all of our rights under the law to insist that any link to the Website be discontinued, and to revoke your right to link to the Website from any other website at any time upon written notice to you.

Geographic Restrictions

The owner of the Website is based in the state of New Jersey in the United States. We provide this Website for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES, OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR AVAILABILITY OF THE WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation on Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE WEBSITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, licensors, and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Website, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the Website’s content, services, and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from the Website.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New Jersey without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of New Jersey or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of the State of New Jersey in each case located in the County of Monmouth although we retain the right to bring any suit, action, or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use in your country of residence or any other relevant country. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts. You may not under any circumstances commence or maintain against us any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding.

Arbitration

By using this Website, you agree, at Company’s sole discretion, that it may require you to submit any disputes arising from the use of these Terms of Use or the Website, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying New Jersey law. In doing so, YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend any claims between you and us. YOU ALSO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR OTHER CLASS PROCEEDING. Your rights may be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, NOT A JUDGE OR JURY. You are entitled to a fair hearing before the arbitrator. The arbitrator can grant any relief that a court can, but you should note that arbitration proceedings are usually simpler and more streamlined than trials and other judicial proceedings. Decisions by the arbitrator are enforceable in court and may be overturned by a court only for very limited reasons.

Any proceeding to enforce this arbitration provision, including any proceeding to confirm, modify, or vacate an arbitration award, may be commenced in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the event that this arbitration provision is for any reason held to be unenforceable, any litigation against Company must be commenced only in the federal or state courts located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the Company of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Company to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and Terms of Sale constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and Marco Learning LLC regarding the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding the Website.

Communications and Miscellaneous

If you provide us your email address, you agree and consent to receive email messages from us. These emails may be transaction or relationship communications relating to the products or services we offer, such as administrative notices and service announcements or changes, or emails containing commercial offers, promotions or special offers from us.

Your Comments and Concerns

This website is operated by Marco Learning LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company with an address of 113 Monmouth Road, Suite 1, Wrightstown, New Jersey 08562.

Please contact us   for all other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to the Website.

English - AP Lang - EQs from "Octopus" (Long): English

Tips on how to write your essay .

How to Write an Opinion Essay

What Makes A Literary Essay?

wikiHow to Write a Scholarly Essay

Steps to Write an Analytical Essay

Characteristics of a Strong Research Question

Print books & ebooks to use.

"The Soul of an Octopus" & Sy Montgomery

Destiny Catalog

Databases to Use !

Use MSJ username (  mtstjoseph  ) and password (  gaels  ) to login remotely.

• article on "Monsters" / Predators
• article on "Behavioral Research on Captive Animals: Scientific and Ethical Concerns"
• article: "The Duality of the Human Soul"

• article on "Predator or Prey?"

• study unit / articles on "Animal Rights"
• article:"Do We Have Free Will?"
• article on "Nature Preservation" - Hunting & Wildlife Conservation

• article on "Human-Animal Relationships"

Search Britannica below for general info on octopuses / animals, etc.

News Articles on S. Montgomery / "The Soul of an Octopus"

Director of Library Services

Websites to Use for additional info

• "Free Will"
• "Care of the Soul"

Database - FREE Trial !

Citation Help !

• Last Updated: Dec 7, 2023 7:05 AM
• URL: https://msjnet.libguides.com/octopus

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Expert's Guide to the AP Literature Exam

Advanced Placement (AP)

If you're planning to take the AP English Literature and Composition exam, you'll need to get familiar with what to expect on the test. Whether the 2023 test date of Wednesday, May 3, is near or far, I'm here to help you get serious about preparing for the exam.

In this guide, I'll go over the test's format and question types, how it's graded, best practices for preparation, and test-day tips. You'll be on your way to AP English Lit success in no time!

AP English Literature: Exam Format and Question Types

The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections in this order:

• An hour-long, 55-question multiple-choice section
• A two-hour, three-question free-response section

The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and cogently communicate that analysis in essay form.

Read on for a breakdown of the two different sections and their question types.

Section I: Multiple Choice

The multiple-choice section, or Section I of the AP Literature exam, is 60 minutes long and has 55 questions. It counts for 45% of your overall exam grade .

You can expect to see five excerpts of prose and poetry. You will always get at least two prose passages (fiction or drama) and two poetry passages. In general, you will not be given the author, date, or title for these works, though occasionally the title of a poem will be given. Unusual words are also sometimes defined for you.

The date ranges of these works could fall from the 16th to the 21st century. Most works will be originally written in English, but you might occasionally see a passage in translation.

There are, generally speaking, eight kinds of questions you can expect to see on the AP English Literature and Composition exam. I'll break each of them down here and give you tips on how to identify and approach them.

"Pretty flowers carried by ladies" is not one of the question types.

The 8 Multiple-Choice Question Types on the AP Literature Exam

Without further delay, here are the eight question types you can expect to see on the AP Lit exam. All questions are taken from the sample questions on the AP Course and Exam Description .

#1: Reading Comprehension

These questions test your ability to understand what the passage is saying on a pretty basic level . They don't require you to do a lot of interpretation—you just need to know what's going on.

You can identify this question type from words and phrases such as "according to," "mentioned," "asserting," and so on. You'll succeed on these questions as long as you carefully read the text . Note that you might have to go back and reread parts to make sure you understand what the passage is saying.

#2: Inference

These questions ask you to infer something—a character or narrator's opinion, an author's intention, etc.—based on what is said in the passage . It will be something that isn't stated directly or concretely but that you can assume based on what's clearly written in the passage. You can identify these questions from words such as "infer" and "imply."

The key to these questions is to not get tripped up by the fact that you are making an inference—there will be a best answer, and it will be the choice that is best supported by what is actually found in the passage .

In many ways, inference questions are like second-level reading comprehension questions: you need to know not just what a passage says, but also what it means.

#3: Identifying and Interpreting Figurative Language

These are questions for which you have to either identify what word or phrase is figurative language or provide the meaning of a figurative phrase . You can identify these as they will either explicitly mention figurative language (or a figurative device, such as a simile or metaphor ) or include a figurative phrase in the question itself.

The meaning of figurative phrases can normally be determined by that phrase's context in the passage—what is said around it? What is the phrase referring to?

Example 1: Identifying

Example 2: Interpreting

#4: Literary Technique

These questions involve identifying why an author does what they do , from using a particular phrase to repeating certain words. Basically, what techniques is the author using to construct the passage/poem, and to what effect?

You can identify these questions by words/phrases such as "serves chiefly to," "effect," "evoke," and "in order to." A good way to approach these questions is to ask yourself: so what? Why did the author use these particular words or this particular structure?

#5: Character Analysis

These questions ask you to describe something about a character . You can spot them because they will refer directly to characters' attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or relationships with other characters .

This is, in many ways, a special kind of inference question , since you are inferring the broader personality of the character based on the evidence in a passage. Also, these crop up much more commonly for prose passages than they do for poetry ones.

#6: Overall Passage Questions

Some questions ask you to identify or describe something about the passage or poem as a whole : its purpose, tone, genre, etc. You can identify these by phrases such as "in the passage" and "as a whole."

To answer these questions, you need to think about the excerpt with a bird's-eye view . What is the overall picture created by all the tiny details?

#7: Structure

Some AP Lit questions will ask you about specific structural elements of the passage: a shift in tone, a digression, the specific form of a poem, etc . Often these questions will specify a part of the passage/poem and ask you to identify what that part is accomplishing.

Being able to identify and understand the significance of any shifts —structural, tonal, in genre, and so on—will be of key importance for these questions.

#8: Grammar/Nuts & Bolts

Very occasionally you will be asked a specific grammar question , such as what word an adjective is modifying. I'd also include in this category super-specific questions such as those that ask about the meter of a poem (e.g., iambic pentameter).

These questions are less about literary artistry and more about the fairly dry technique involved in having a fluent command of the English language .

That covers the eight question types on the multiple-choice section. Now, let's take a look at the free-response section of the AP Literature exam.

Keep track of the nuts and bolts of grammar.

Section II: Free Response

The AP Literature Free Response section is two hours long and involves three free-response essay questions , so you'll have about 40 minutes per essay. That's not a lot of time considering this section of the test counts for 55% of your overall exam grade !

Note, though, that no one will prompt you to move from essay to essay, so you can theoretically divide up the time however you want. Just be sure to leave enough time for each essay! Skipping an essay, or running out of time so you have to rush through one, can really impact your final test score.

The first two essays are literary analysis essays of specific passages, with one poem and one prose excerpt. The final essay is an analysis of a given theme in a work selected by you , the student.

Essays 1 & 2: Literary Passage Analysis

For the first two essays, you'll be presented with an excerpt and directed to analyze the excerpt for a given theme, device, or development . One of the passages will be poetry, and one will be prose. You will be provided with the author of the work, the approximate date, and some orienting information (i.e., the plot context of an excerpt from a novel).

Below are some sample questions from the 2022 Free Response Questions .

Essay 3: Thematic Analysis

For the third and final essay, you'll be asked to discuss a particular theme in a work that you select . You will be provided with a list of notable works that address the given theme below the prompt, but you can also choose to discuss any "work of literary merit."

So while you do have the power to choose which work you wish to write an essay about , the key words here are "literary merit." That means no genre fiction! Stick to safe bets like authors in the list on pages 10-11 of the old 2014 AP Lit Course Description .

(I know, I know—lots of genre fiction works do have literary merit and Shakespeare actually began as low culture, and so on and so forth. Indeed, you might find academic designations of "literary merit" elitist and problematic, but the time to rage against the literary establishment is not your AP Lit test! Save it for a really, really good college admissions essay instead .)

Here's a sample question from 2022:

As you can see, the list of works provided spans many time periods and countries : there are ancient Greek plays ( Antigone ), modern literary works (such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale ), Shakespeare plays ( The Tempest ), 19th-century English plays ( The Importance of Being Earnest ), etc. So you have a lot to work with!

Also note that you can choose a work of "comparable literary merit." That means you can select a work not on this list as long as it's as difficult and meaningful as the example titles you've been given. So for example, Jane Eyre or East of Eden would be great choices, but Twilight or The Hunger Games would not.

Our advice? If you're not sure what a work of "comparable literary merit" is, stick to the titles on the provided list .

You might even see something by this guy.

How Is the AP Literature Test Graded?

The multiple-choice section of the exam comprises 45% of your total exam score; the three essays, or free-response section, comprise the other 55%. Each essay, then, is worth about 18% of your grade.

As on other AP exams, your raw score will be converted to a score from 1-5 . You don't have to get every point possible to get a 5 by any means. In 2022, 16.9% of students received 5s on the AP English Literature test, the 14th highest 5 score out of the 38 different AP exams.

So, how do you calculate your raw scores?

Multiple-Choice Scoring

For the multiple-choice section, you receive 1 point for each question you answer correctly . There's no guessing penalty, so you should answer every question—but guess only after you're able to eliminate any answer you know is wrong to up your chances of choosing the right one.

Free-Response Scoring

Scoring for multiple choice is pretty straightforward; however, essay scoring is a little more complicated.

Each of your essays will receive a score from 0 to 6 based on the College Board rubric , which also includes question-specific rubrics. All the rubrics are very similar, with only minor differences between them.

Each essay rubric has three elements you'll be graded on:

• Thesis (0-1 points)
• Evidence and Commentary (0-4 points)
• Sophistication (0-1 points)

We'll be looking at the current rubric for the AP Lit exam , which was released in September 2019, and what every score means for each of the three elements above:

To get a high-scoring essay in the 5-6 point range, you'll need to not only come up with an original and intriguing argument that you thoroughly support with textual evidence, but you’ll also need to stay focused, organized, and clear. And all in just 40 minutes per essay!

If getting a high score on this section sounds like a tall order, that's because it is.

Practice makes perfect!

Skill-Building for Success on the AP Literature Exam

There are several things you can do to hone your skills and best prepare for the AP Lit exam.

Read Some Books, Maybe More Than Once

One of the most important steps you can take to prepare for the AP Literature and Composition exam is to read a lot and read well . You'll be reading a wide variety of notable literary works in your AP English Literature course, but additional reading will help you further develop your analytical reading skills .

I suggest checking out this list of notable authors in the 2014 AP Lit Course Description (pages 10-11).

In addition to reading broadly, you'll want to become especially familiar with the details of four to five books with different themes so you'll be prepared to write a strong student-choice essay. You should know the plot, themes, characters, and structural details of these books inside and out.

See my AP English Literature Reading List for more guidance.

Read (and Interpret) Poetry

One thing students might not do very much on their own time but that will help a lot with AP Lit exam prep is to read poetry. Try to read poems from a lot of eras and authors to get familiar with the language.

We know that poetry can be intimidating. That's why we've put together a bunch of guides to help you crack the poetry code (so to speak). You can learn more about poetic devices —like imagery and i ambic pentameter —in our comprehensive guide. Then you can see those analytical skills in action in our expert analysis of " Do not go gentle into that good night " by Dylan Thomas.

When you think you have a grip on basic comprehension, you can then move on to close reading (see below).

Hone Your Close Reading and Analysis Skills

Your AP class will likely focus heavily on close reading and analysis of prose and poetry, but extra practice won't hurt you. Close reading is the ability to identify which techniques the author is using and why. You'll need to be able to do this both to gather evidence for original arguments on the free-response questions and to answer analytical multiple-choice questions.

Here are some helpful close reading resources for prose :

• University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center's guide to close reading
• Harvard College Writing Center's close reading guide
• Purdue OWL's article on steering clear of close reading "pitfalls"

And here are some for poetry :

• University of Wisconsin-Madison's poetry-reading guide
• This guide to reading poetry at Poets.org (complete with two poetry close readings)
• Our own expert analyses of famous poems, such as " Ozymandias ", and the 10 famous sonnets you should know

Learn Literary and Poetic Devices

You'll want to be familiar with literary terms so that any test questions that ask about them will make sense to you. Again, you'll probably learn most of these in class, but it doesn't hurt to brush up on them.

Here are some comprehensive lists of literary terms with definitions :

• The 31 Literary Devices You Must Know
• The 20 Poetic Devices You Must Know
• The 9 Literary Elements You'll Find In Every Story
• What Is Imagery?
• Understanding Assonance
• What Is Iambic Pentameter in Poetry?
• Simile vs Metaphor: The 1 Big Difference
• 10 Personification Examples in Poetry, Literature, and More

Practice Writing Essays

The majority of your grade on the AP English Lit exam comes from essays, so it's critical that you practice your timed essay-writing skills . You of course should use the College Board's released free-response questions to practice writing complete timed essays of each type, but you can also practice quickly outlining thorough essays that are well supported with textual evidence.

Take Practice Tests

Taking practice tests is a great way to prepare for the exam. It will help you get familiar with the exam format and overall experience . You can get sample questions from the Course and Exam Description , the College Board website , and our guide to AP English Lit practice test resources .

Be aware that the released exams don't have complete slates of free-response questions, so you might need to supplement these with released free-response questions .

Since there are three complete released exams, you can take one toward the beginning of your prep time to get familiar with the exam and set a benchmark, and one toward the end to make sure the experience is fresh in your mind and to check your progress.

Don't wander like a lonely cloud through your AP Lit prep.

AP Literature: 6 Critical Test-Day Tips

Before we wrap up, here are my six top tips for AP Lit test day:

• #1: On the multiple-choice section, it's to your advantage to answer every question. If you eliminate all the answers you know are wrong before guessing, you'll raise your chances of guessing the correct one.
• #2: Don't rely on your memory of the passage when answering multiple-choice questions (or when writing essays, for that matter). Look back at the passage!
• #3: Interact with the text : circle, mark, underline, make notes—whatever floats your boat. This will help you retain information and actively engage with the passage.
• #4: This was mentioned above, but it's critical that you know four to five books well for the student-choice essay . You'll want to know all the characters, the plot, the themes, and any major devices or motifs the author uses throughout.
• #5: Be sure to plan out your essays! Organization and focus are critical for high-scoring AP Literature essays. An outline will take you a few minutes, but it will help your writing process go much faster.
• #6: Manage your time on essays closely. One strategy is to start with the essay you think will be the easiest to write. This way you'll be able to get through it while thinking about the other two essays.

And don't forget to eat breakfast! Apron optional.

AP Literature Exam: Key Takeaways

The AP Literature exam is a three-hour test that includes an hour-long multiple-choice section based on five prose and poetry passages and with 55 questions, and a two-hour free-response section with three essays : one analyzing a poetry passage, one analyzing a prose passage, and one analyzing a work chosen by you, the student.

The multiple-choice section is worth 45% of your total score , and the free-response section is worth 55% . The three essays are each scored on a rubric of 0-6, and raw scores are converted to a final scaled score from 1 to 5.

Here are some things you can do to prepare for the exam:

• Read books and be particularly familiar with four to five works for the student-choice essays
• Read poetry
• Work on your close reading and analysis skills
• Learn common literary devices
• Practice writing essays
• Take practice tests!

On test day, be sure to really look closely at all the passages and really interact with them by marking the text in a way that makes sense to you. This will help on both multiple-choice questions and the free-response essays. You should also outline your essays before you write them.

With all this in mind, you're well on your way to AP Lit success!

What's Next?

If you're taking other AP exams this year, you might be interested in our other AP resources: from the Ultimate Guide to the US History Exam , to the Ultimate AP Chemistry Study Guide , to the Best AP Psychology Study Guide , we have tons of articles on AP courses and exams for you !

Looking for practice exams? Here are some tips on how to find the best AP practice tests . We've also got comprehensive lists of practice tests for AP Psychology , AP Biology , AP Chemistry , and AP US History .

Deciding which APs to take? Take a look through the complete list of AP courses and tests , read our analysis of which AP classes are the hardest and easiest , and learn how many AP classes you should take .

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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AP English Literature and Composition

Learn all about the course and exam. Already enrolled? Join your class in My AP.

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Go to AP Central for resources for teachers, administrators, and coordinators.

About the Course

What makes a work of literature great? In AP English Literature and Composition, you’ll examine how authors and poets create meaning through their rich, purposeful use of language. As you write and refine essays about literature, you’ll develop the skills of analysis and composition that will allow you to communicate your interpretation effectively.

New for 2024-25: MCQs Will Have Four Answer Choices

Starting in the 2024-25 school year, AP English Literature and Composition multiple-choice questions (MCQs) will have four answer choices instead of five. This change will take effect with the 2025 exam. All resources have been updated to reflect this change. 

Skills You'll Learn

Read a text closely and draw conclusions from details

Identify the techniques used by an author and their effects

Develop an interpretation of a text

Present your interpretation and make an argument for it in writing

Equivalency and Prerequisites

College course equivalent.

An introductory college-level literature course

Recommended Prerequisites

Wed, May 7, 2025

AP English Literature and Composition Exam

This is the regularly scheduled date for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam.

About the Units

The course content outlined below is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. Your teacher may choose to organize the course content differently based on local priorities and preferences.

Course Content

Unit 1: short fiction i.

You’ll learn critical reading skills to help you critically read, interpret, and analyze prose.

Topics may include:

• Interpreting the role of character in fiction
• Identifying and interpreting setting
• Understanding how a story’s structure affects interpretations
• Understanding and interpreting a narrator’s perspective
• Reading texts literally and figuratively
• The basics of literary analysis

Unit 2: Poetry I

You’ll continue your critical reading exploration in poetry and learn to analyze similar elements within a wide variety of poems.

• Identifying characters in poetry
• Understanding and interpreting meaning in poetic structure
• Analyzing word choice to find meaning
• Identifying techniques like contrast, simile, metaphor, and alliteration

Unit 3: Longer Fiction or Drama I

You’ll observe how the literary techniques you’ve explored in prior units unfold over the course of longer works and analyze how characters develop and interact over the course of a narrative.

• Interpreting character description and perspective
• Character evolution throughout a narrative
• Conflict and plot development
• Interpreting symbolism
• Identifying evidence and supporting literary arguments

Unit 4: Short Fiction II

You’ll delve deeper into the roles of character and conflict in fiction and explore how a narrator’s perspective can color storytelling.

• Protagonists, antagonists, character relationships, and conflict
• Character interactions with setting and its significance
• Archetypes in literature
• Types of narration like stream of consciousness
• Narrative distance, tone, and perspective

Unit 5: Poetry II

You’ll study different forms of poetry and examine how structure and figurative language can create and impact meaning.

• Traits of closed and open structures in poetry
• Use of techniques like imagery and hyperbole
• Types of comparisons in poetry including personification and allusion
• Identifying and interpreting extended metaphors

Unit 6: Longer Fiction or Drama II

You’ll analyze how various literary techniques play out and shift over the course of longer works, charting how characters change (or don’t) as they’re affected by developments in the plot.

• Interpreting foil characters
• Understanding and interpreting character motives
• Understanding nonlinear narrative structures like flashbacks and foreshadowing
• The effect of narrative tone and bias on reading
• Characters as symbols, metaphors, and archetypes
• Developing literary arguments within a broader context of works

Unit 7: Short Fiction III

You’ll examine how works of fiction interact with and comment on the world around them and the society their authors live or lived in.

• Sudden and more gradual change in characters
• Epiphany as a driver of plot
• Relationships between characters and groups
• Character interactions with settings
• The significance of the pacing of a narrative
• Setting as a symbol
• Interpreting texts in their historical and societal contexts

Unit 8: Poetry III

You’ll develop your interpretation of poetry further by examining how contrasts, ambiguous language, and various other techniques can add layers of meaning to a poetic work.

• Looking at punctuation and structural patterns
• Interpreting juxtaposition, paradox, and irony
• How ambiguity can allow for various interpretations
• Identifying symbols, conceits, and allusions
• Learning proper attribution and citation in literary analysis

Unit 9: Longer Fiction or Drama III

You’ll consider longer narratives in the context of the various techniques and interpretations you’ve learned in prior units and build a nuanced analysis of each complex work as a whole.

• Looking at a character’s response to the resolution of a narrative
• Suspense, resolution, and plot development
• Narrative inconsistencies and contrasting perspectives

Credit and Placement

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AP English Literature and Composition Reading Study Skills

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AP English Literature and Composition Writing Study Skills

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AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description

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The Difference Between AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, ap lit essay types.

Hey guys! I need some clarification on the different types of essays that can show up on the AP Lit exam. I'm a little bit confused about the different formats and expectations for each essay type. Could someone break down the types for me? Much appreciated!

Certainly! The AP Literature and Composition Exam consists of three essays that you'll need to write within a 2-hour time frame. Here's a breakdown of the three types of essays:

1. Poetry Analysis Essay: In this essay, you will be provided with a poem and given a prompt that asks you to analyze specific elements of the poem. The prompt may ask you to examine the speaker's tone, the use of literary devices (e.g., imagery, metaphor, or symbolism), or the poet's overall message.

Your task is to closely read the poem, identify the key elements in the text that relate to the prompt, and write a well-structured essay to analyze those elements. Make sure to provide textual evidence (quotes or close readings) to support your claims.

2. Prose Analysis Essay: Similar to the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay requires you to analyze a passage from a work of literature (usually a novel or short story). The prompt will ask you to examine a particular aspect of the passage, such as character development, the author's use of language and style, or the impact of literary techniques (e.g., point-of-view, structure, or motifs).

Your essay should focus on the careful analysis of the passage and how the author achieves specific effects through the use of language and literary elements. Supporting your analysis with textual evidence is crucial for a strong essay.

3. Literary Argument Essay: This essay asks you to develop an argument in response to a given question about a literary work (or works) that you have read. Unlike the previous two essays, you will not be provided with a text to analyze. You'll need to draw on your own knowledge of literature and provide specific examples from the work(s) to support your argument.

The prompt may ask you to discuss themes, compare and contrast different works or characters, or evaluate the significance of a specific element or scene within the work(s). Make sure your thesis statement is clear, and structure your essay around strong points that support your argument.

For all three essay types, it's important to practice writing under timed conditions and to become familiar with the expectations of the AP Literature Exam. Pay attention to the rubric and focus on organizing your essay effectively, providing sufficient textual evidence, and clearly analyzing the elements of the text(s) in question. Good luck!

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I used 'Ratatouille' on my Lit open essay - and got a 5

Here 's my original post if anyone wants proof of my thought process.

I was able to see my scores through my college's portal (sorry underclassmen, just a few more days of waiting). I was shocked to see that I got a 5 on the Lit open (question 3).

The day of, I wasn't really sure if I'd go through with it, but I did. I had read the screenplay while watching the film multiple times, looking up some facts relating to the different choices the writer Brad Bird had picked, etc. I referred to it as "Brad Bird's screenplay work 'Ratatouille'" in the essay. Outlined facts relating to the hierarchy of a kitchen, where rats like Remy are at the bottom; however, he rises to the top, eventually falling again at the end of the plot.

It was an extremely long essay compared to the one about shaving and the merpeople/octopus? I would not recommend this strategy to anyone, but seeing as it worked out for me, it could work out for you, as long as your other things can hold up. The readers do not score based on the choice of work itself, which is what made me confident that they'd at least score it.

I just placed an order for my free response packet, so hopefully, in a month or two, I'll be able to post photos of it to further corroborate and share my love for Pixar.

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