School

AP Language and Literature

Summary: School teach my grammers good

Reading Skills: Close, Purposeful Reading

  • Core Idea: Whether it’s a novel or a nonfiction speech, great readers read with intention — looking for meaning, not just information.
  • Annotation strategies: underline key moments, ask questions, track shifts
  • Diction: word choice — formal, informal, connotative, abstract, etc.
  • Syntax: sentence structure — fragments, repetition, punctuation, rhythm
  • Tone: the author’s attitude — analyze how it’s created, not just name it
  • Imagery: appeals to senses — builds mood, theme, and tone
  • Symbolism: objects or actions that represent deeper meanings
  • Theme: central message or insight — what the text says about life, society, or humanity
  • Always ask: Why did the writer make this choice? What effect does it create?

Rhetorical Analysis (AP Lang Focus)

  • Core Idea: Rhetoric is how authors use language to influence audiences — it’s persuasion, not just pretty words.
  • Rhetorical situation:
    • Speaker: Who’s talking and why?
    • Audience: Who are they speaking to?
    • Purpose: What are they trying to achieve?
    • Context: What’s the time, place, situation?
    • Exigence: What event or urgency prompted this message?
  • Appeals:
    • Ethos: credibility
    • Pathos: emotion
    • Logos: logic/evidence
  • Strategies & Devices:
    • Analogy, repetition, rhetorical questions, irony, juxtaposition, allusions, anecdotes
  • Structure:
    • Intro → tone/appeals → development → conclusion
  • Analyze how and why the author uses each move — don’t just list devices.

Argumentative Writing (AP Lang Focus)

  • Core Idea: You’re not just making a point — you’re building a case.
  • Thesis: Make a defensible claim (not a summary)
  • Evidence: Use examples (historical, personal, current events, etc.)
  • Reasoning: Explain how your evidence supports your claim
  • Structure:
    • Clear intro, body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a conclusion
  • Counterargument: Acknowledge and refute opposing views
  • Keep tone academic but direct — clarity > complexity

Synthesis Writing (AP Lang Focus)

  • Core Idea: Synthesis = argument + sources — use provided texts to support your claim.
  • Use 3+ sources effectively and cite (Source A, Source B, etc.)
  • Don’t summarize — integrate evidence with your own reasoning
  • Organization matters: group sources by idea, not by label
  • Stay focused on your claim — sources should support you, not replace you

Literary Analysis (AP Lit Focus)

  • Core Idea: Great literature reveals something universal — your job is to unpack how it does that.
  • Analyze how literary elements develop meaning:
    • Characterization: motivations, transformations, contradictions
    • Conflict: internal vs. external — drives plot and theme
    • Setting: not just where/when, but how it shapes events/mood
    • Narrator/POV: 1st, 3rd limited, omniscient — how does this shape meaning?
    • Figurative Language: metaphor, simile, irony, paradox — dig deeper into why it’s used
    • Structure: nonlinear, flashbacks, in media res, etc.
  • Don’t just identify, analyze how elements reveal something larger about theme or the human condition

Poetry Analysis (Lit Focus)

  • Core Idea: Poems are dense, musical arguments, every word counts.
  • Speaker vs. Poet: not always the same
  • Form: sonnet, free verse, narrative – shape = meaning
  • Sound devices: alliteration, rhyme, meter — affect tone and pace
  • Imagery & Symbolism: layers of meaning often packed into a few lines
  • Ask: What is the poem saying, and how is it saying it?

Prose Fiction Analysis (Lit Focus)

  • Core Idea: Prose tells a story — but beneath that, it explores relationships, themes, and structures.
  • Use same strategies as literary analysis
  • Focus on complex characters, moral dilemmas, social commentary
  • Pay attention to irony, unreliable narration, time shifts, and contrasts
  • Ask how the narrative voice shapes the reader’s understanding

Drama Analysis (Lit Focus)

  • Core Idea: Plays are written to be performed: tension, subtext, and staging all matter.
  • Analyze dialogue and stage directions
  • Tragedy vs. comedy: look at character arcs and structural choices
  • Themes often emerge through conflict, foil characters, and turning points
  • Consider audience expectations and how the play might challenge or fulfill them

Essay Writing Across Both Exams

  • Golden Rules:
  • Answer the prompt clearly — don’t dance around it
  • Support every claim with evidence — direct quotes or paraphrased details
  • Explain how the evidence works — don’t assume it’s obvious
  • Stay in control of your tone and structure — academic but not robotic
  • Write with a purpose — every sentence should move the argument or analysis forward