9 Key Concepts for AP English Language and Composition
AP Exams Spring 2021 The Princeton Review
Hello, friends!
I’m Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief at The Princeton Review—and if you’re prepping for the
AP English Language & Composition exam, then today’s video is for you!
We’re sharing 9 key concepts you’ll need to master to ace the exam this May.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a quick step back and clarify the difference
between the AP English Language exam and the AP English Literature exam.
The AP English Literature exam focuses on analyzing fiction, poetry, and the use of
literary devices...whereas, AP English Language—the exam we’re discussing today—assesses how
you deconstruct arguments and rhetorical strategies in works of nonfiction.
Some of the major skills tested on the AP English Language exam include the ability
to identify an author’s purpose and intended audience, as well as the ability to plan and
write cogent, clear essays.
Now that we’ve established the difference between the exams, let’s dig into the key
concepts you need to understand for the AP English Language & Composition exam.
Concept #1 – Active Reading: The passages on the exam tend to make heavy reading, with
long sentences and obscure words.
Given the limited exam time, however, you’ll need to be able to read quickly AND with understanding.
This requires becoming skilled in active reading because, folks, you don’t have time to waste
even 2 to 3 precious minutes rereading sentences you didn’t grasp the first time!
Instead, you should engage with each passage and ask yourself key questions to help you
identify the main point of the passage, the author’s purpose, and the rhetorical strategies
used to achieve that purpose.
As you’re reading, a few questions to ask yourself include:
What is the author’s main point in this paragraph?
How does it connect to the paragraph that came before it?
Where is it likely to lead in the next paragraph?
Concept #2 – Understanding Words in Context: There’s a good chance that you’ll stumble
across a few unfamiliar words during the exam.
A key skill that can help you quickly overcome that obstacle is the ability to guess the
meaning of a word from its context.
Take, for example, the following sentence from our prep book:
The speaker’s passion and ebullience began to cut through the dour mood of the audience
that confronted him.
Some readers may not know what “ebullience” means.
However, you can make an educated guess from the context.
If the speaker is speaking passionately about a topic and the word “ebullience” is paired
with “passionate,” then one could reasonably deduce that “ebullience” has something
to do with enthusiasm and exuberance.
Learning how to guess the meaning of a word from its context will be an invaluable reading
technique—for this exam and in life.
Concept #3 – Rhetoric & Language Style, Tone, and Theme: By the time the exam arrives
in May, there are certain terms you should know cold.
You will be tested on your understanding of rhetoric and the stylistic devices an author
uses to appeal to an audience.
This includes the three classical rhetorical appeals—logos, ethos, and pathos.
You can also count on seeing multiple choice and essay questions related to style, tone,
and theme.
You’ll need to be familiar with their definitions, and you should also clearly understand what
words like diction, syntax, denotation, and connotation mean.
We strongly encourage you to study up on the vocabulary of rhetorical and literary devices
that commonly appear on the exam.
Concept #4 – Figurative Language: Unless you're reading a training or instruction manual,
most written works are not meant to be taken literally, and often incorporate figurative
language.
Figurative language can be understood as the speech or writing that deviates from its literal
or conventional meaning to achieve a special effect.
On this exam, it will be very helpful to review and understand common terms associated with
figurative language, including the use of imagery, hyperbole, understatement, simile,
metaphor, symbolism, personification, euphemism, and so on!
And while there’s no need for you to strain yourself attempting to use figurative language
in the free-response section, you will need to analyze texts that contain figurative language
on the test.
Concept #5 – Basic & Complex Rhetorical Modes: “Rhetorical modes” refer to the
ways that writers organize their arguments.
As you prepare for the exam and take practice tests, you’ll quickly see that 40 minutes
isn’t a lot of time to write a polished essay.
Learning the three basic rhetorical modes—example or illustration, classification, and analogy—will
be invaluable in helping you write a great essay within the allotted time.
Beyond the basics, it is also worthwhile to examine more complex rhetorical modes including
process analysis, cause and effect, definition, description, narration, and induction and
deduction.
Knowing all you can about rhetorical modes on test day will not only help you recognize
when these modes are used in the sample passages, but will also enable you to use them with
ease in your essays.
Concept #6 – Rhetorical Fallacies: Writers use all kinds of faulty reasoning or rhetorical
fallacies to push readers to a certain conclusion.
Be prepared to find these errors lurking in the passages or sources you have to analyze
on exam day.
Remember, the test covers how language works, which includes how rhetorical fallacies are
used—or misused—to hoodwink readers into accepting the author’s conclusion.
You should aim to fully understand common rhetorical fallacies such as ad populum, dogmatism,
sentimental appeals, scare tactics, red herring, faulty causality, and more.
With rhetorical fallacies, the conclusion may appear to be true at first, but the link
to the evidence supporting it will crumble if you’re actively reading—remember concept
#1?
So, always remember to check in with yourself and ask, “Why should I believe this?”
On the exam, you need to be able to recognize faulty reasoning, so you won’t be led astray
in your multiple choice answers or mistakenly use them in your own essays.
Concept #7 – Having a Conversation with Your Sources: In the synthesis essay, you’ll
be given a scenario and tasked with writing a response using at least 3 sources to support
it.
You’ll need to cite the sources you use and incorporate them into your own position.
You’ll be assessed on your ability to (1) judge the best sources to back up your position,
(2) incorporate other writers’ claims into your own argument, and (3) draw on sources
in an order that develops your argument in a logical, persuasive way.
Your aim is to seamlessly weave your sources together to support and develop the position
you take.
To do this, act as if your sources are in conversation with each other.
Imagine sitting in a room with the creators of your chosen sources—with each person
contributing to the discussion.
You want to respond to each person’s comments, build on them, and use them to create a well-supported
argument of your own.
You’ll also want to identify fallacies in sources that don’t agree with your argument,
and point out those issues to help make your position even stronger.
As with all the free-response questions on the AP English Language exam, the synthesis
essay gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the totality of what you’ve learned in the
course.
Concept #8 – The Rhetorical Diamond: When it comes to the rhetorical essay, AP evaluators
are assessing your ability to analyze the techniques an author uses and discuss how
those techniques contribute to the author’s purpose.
You’ll want to demonstrate the following 3 skills: (1) an understanding of the author’s
intended purpose (which you’ll determine through Active Reading, concept #1), (2) the
ability to identify the chief rhetorical strategies used to achieve that purpose effectively (Rhetoric
and Language, concept #3), and (3) an analysis of how those strategies contribute to the
development and effectiveness of the writer’s argument (Rhetorical Modes, concept #5).
To help with this, while you’re reading the prompt and passage, imagine a baseball
diamond with the following four points, or bases—Author, Context, Purpose, and Audience.
These are the 4 main points of a passage.
You should aim to understand how the passage interacts with each point and allow this understanding
to help you predict the rhetorical strategies being used in the text.
Concept #9 – The Argument Essay Checklist: In the argument essay, you have the opportunity
to make your own argument, without being bound by source documents or having to focus on
rhetorical strategies.
Instead, you're being asked to argue a position based on your own knowledge and experience.
That said, you still want to take a structured, well-supported position by using everything
you’ve learned in your course.
To perform well, follow the 4 steps in this argument essay checklist:
Take a definite position, so it is clear where you stand on the topic in the prompt.
Develop an argument that builds and moves forward.
You don’t want to repeat the same points in different ways.
Support the points in your argument using evidence from your knowledge and experiences.
Provide commentary explaining how your evidence supports the argument you’re making.
Familiarizing yourself with this checklist before the exam, will help you organize your
essay and achieve a higher score on test day.
That’s it for today, my friends.
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