DAY 2.5: DAYTONA AP REPORT

So far, I’ve read around 275 essays since yesterday afternoon.

Here’s what I learned from essays today:

1. Syntax can be: impressive, captivating

2. Diction can be: heavy, audacious, demanding, aggressive

3. Hyperboles are available in small amounts, but rhetorical questions are available in a handful.

4. Repetition is repeating itself throughout the passage; in fact, it’s gargantuan.

5. Writing devices are stupendous.

At a meeting this evening, a representative of The College Board said they’re predicting there will be 4 million AP exams by 2012.

A few rambling points for future AP test takers and for those who are teachers of future AP test takers:

1.  For some reason, students feel compelled to define tone, diction, syntax, metaphors, similes, and a host of other common  literary terms. Then, there are those who bandy about obscure literary terms. (Paraprosdokian? Really, now.). Think: opposite of Nike.

2. TERMINOLOGY DOES NOT EQUAL ANALYSIS. In some cases, it doesn’t equal anything: “The author uses fabulous diction.”  Well, if the author wasn’t using diction, you would not have had anything to read.

3. The only introduction worse than a poor introduction is one that doesn’t live up to its promise.

4. As readers, we truly want to reward you for what you do well. We want to find a reason, a shred of evidence to bubble in a higher score.

5. Letters written to us as readers bemoaning the stupidity of the AP test are futile. If you’re convinced that your expertise in selecting essay questions for the AP test far exceeds that of the committee of college professors and certified teachers who have written and field tested the questions for years before you ever sit to answer them, please direct your frustration to The College Board.

6. Those of you whose handwriting appears as an army of fleas marching across the page: well, if we can’t see it, we can’t read it, and if we can’t read it, we can’t give it the best score it deserves. Read IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. It will help your understanding of causal analysis.

7. Paragraphs. Use them.

More later.