AP Lang is not impossible, but there are things I would have done differently if I could retake the class. I wish that I could go back in time to the fall and give myself some advice that would help me a whole lot in the future, but I can't. So this is for the future AP Lang students who will be able to benefit from my advice.
First off: Vocabulary. Do not, under any circumstances, take AP Lang vocab lightly. Sure, previous english classes had ten words a week every week that you learned and took a small quiz on. By the end of the year, you usually forgot some, if not most of them. Well, in AP Lang, vocab is important. Without it, how would you know how to analyze the rhetorical devices in a piece of writing or apply those devices to your own writing? Therefore, if I could go back, I would have done something to record every new word or device that we learned in order to keep them all in an organized, easy-to-follow list that could take me through the year easily.
Secondly: Stay on task. If for one moment you don't know what is going on, ask another student or teacher. If you don't learn the basics of the rhetorical thinking process, it will be hard to get back into the flow of things. Keep up with the reading homework and NEVER put it off until the last moment. For all you know, two chapters that you are assigned to read could end up taking hours upon hours to read (especially if you're a slow reader like myself).
Thirdly: Break old habits. This is a tough one for me. Once I'm used to writing in a certain way, it's hard for me to switch to another form of writing. However, in AP Lang, you have to let go of some of the things that were pounded into your minds for years (such as 5-paragraph essay formatting) and open up a path for new, rhetorical ideas and strategies to flow into your writing. Even though it may take some time, I promise that it is, indeed possible to break some of the worst writing habits with time.
AP Lang truly guides you to think in a different way. When I first heard this, I was pretty confused at what it meant. Now that I have taken a year of the class, I finally understand. Once you take this course, you start to analyze writing in a way that you didn't really do before. It's different, but very helpful in forming effective statements and building on them to form solid arguments that truly call on your reader's attention. Well, good luck, future AP Lang students! I hope this post is somewhat helpful to your life! (:
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