Crash Course AP Literature

A: I READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE TEXT. WHY DID I

GET A LOW SCORE?

Even if you have read the passage correctly and you’ve accurately grasped the main point of the text,
you still may fail in your analysis if you have any of the problems listed below:

Problem

The writer.

..

Solution/Strategy

Fails to

support claims

with textual

evidence.

You cannot simply state claims without proving them. If your reader constantly

needs proof, you have not done your job. If you say something is so, then you have

to show how it is so by citing your proof from the text.

Relies on only

one or two

claims and

simply repeats

those again and

again.

Even if the points are excellent, repeating them again and again shows you don’t

really have anything else in your bag of tricks. If you find yourself relying on one or

two claims, go back to the text. What did you miss?

Provides too

little analysis.

The writer doesn’t go far enough. Some students are happy with a minimum effort.

This attitude will not help you earn a high score. You should never just say, “good

enough.”

Is

disorganized.

His/her points

are

disconnected,

illogically

place and

inconsistently

argued.

Disorganization seems to be the result of not having thought your essay out at the

beginning. It is important to make a mini-outline in the margin of your page. While

you may not follow it exactly, this outline will help you reconnect to thoughts you

had and points you wanted to make.

It should also help you avoid digression.

Find a good list of transitional words and phrases and learn to integrate them

naturally into your writing. This will help you with organization.

Has too many

errors, such as

blatant

misspellings

(author’s name,

title,

character’s

If a word is in the prompt or the passage, there is no excuse for misspelling it.

Simply give a visual backward glance before proceeding. Misspelling easy words

is not good for AP-level students. Be careful. If you’re using a difficult word, one

you can use fluently when you speak, but you simply forget how to spell it, put a

little “(sp.)” behind it, indicating that you forgot. It’s one thing to misspell

“ignominious” and another to write “metafor.”

You simply must know how to write complete and fluent sentences and punctuate