Advanced Placement English Information

AP English Language and Composition AP English Literature and Composition

AP English Language and CompositionThe AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.

Focus: Non-fiction, rhetoric

Similarity: Intro college composition class

The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed to engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students can deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students should consider a work's structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.

Focus: Fiction, analytical writing

Similarity: Intro college literature class

Advanced Placement Considerations-1.0 bump on my GPA (Must Pass the Course!)-College credit potential or course exemption-Rigorous College Syllabus-Develops writing and critical thinking skills-Must demonstrate superior performance for “A” grade-Must balance extra curricular with AP course load-Absences impact content retention-Independent learning is an expectation NO AP DROPS AFTER THE FIRST THREE WEEKS

$86.00 for each exam

General RequirementsAP Literature • Five novels read outside class

each semester• Many short stories and poems

read in class each day• Extensive practice in test-taking

and writing• At least 5 major essays per

semester• Many quizzes and projects• College-level expectations

(literature selection, independent work, analysis and work product)

• Nightly homework in addition to the novels

• Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary to appropriately and effectively write prose

AP Language• 2 novels and 1 novella • Nonfiction Articles (Magazine

articles from Time, Newsweek, Esquire, Shape, Men’s Health, New Yorker, etc.) emphasis on nonfiction analysis

• Textbook readings nightly, with occasional assessments

• Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques

• 8 major essays per semester• Develop a wide-ranging

vocabulary to appropriately and effectively write prose

A Sampling of BooksAP Literature• Prayer for Owen Meany—John

Irving• Slaughterhouse Five—Kurt

Vonnegut• Life of Pi—Yann Martel• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are

Dead—Tom Stoppard• Poisonwood Bible—Barbara

Kingsolver• Song of Soloman—Toni Morrison• Othello--Shakespeare• Billy Budd—Herman Melville• Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austin• Heart of Darkness—Joseph Conrad• Death of a Salesman—Arthur Miller• The Stranger—Albert Camus• Siddartha—Herman Hesse

AP Language• The Overachievers –Alexandra

Robbins• Everything’s an Argument – John

J. Ruszkiewicz & Andrea A. Lunsford

• The Shawshank Redemption— Stephen King

• The Kite Runner—Khaled Hosseini • Into the Wild—John Krakauer• Tuesdays with Morrie–Mitch

Album• Princess –Jean P. Sasson• Glass Castle—Jeannette Walls• If It Bleeds, It Leads: An Anatomy

of Television News – by Matthew R. Kernel

• In Cold Blood—Truman Capote• All the King’s Men – by Penn

Warren• Song Dogs – by Colin McCann• Growing Up—by Russell Baker

Still Unsure??

Visit the HHS Website for AP Course Information; you will find a detailed

example of the course syllabus.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”- Martin Luther King Jr.