Exam Overview

We will begin at the end, so to speak, by fully understanding what will be expected on the exam next May. Once a week this year, we will also practice for the exam by completing previous exam multiple choice questions in teams and individually, then discussing correct answers and strategies afterwards. In order to achieve this most effectively, I would like you all to purchase this book:

We will be working out of this book throughout our first semester.

Now for some classics...

Summer Assignments

You will submit your annotated books to me (Gatsby and How to Read Literature Like a Professor), and your Gatsby essays to turnitin.com. Expect a test on the assigned movie Great Expectations.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

This book is fantastic. Truly. I wish it had been around when I was eighteen; it would have broadened my understanding and bettered my grades!

Lit. Theory and Criticism

Using The Great Gatsby, we will study four of the the many literary theories that I find the most significant in literature today. These will include: Marxist Criticism, Feminist Criticism, New Historical Criticism, and New Criticism. Putting on these "lenses", we will analyze differing interpretations of the same work.

Paper

The major assignment this unit will be a paper written on The Great Gatsby using a past AP exam prompt.

Vocabulary and Literary Terms

Using some vocabulary strengthening games, we will expand our vernacular so that you will learn to opt for stronger verbs, impressive adjectives and adverbs, and more interesting nouns. AP exam readers love a sophisticated vocabulary!

In addition to this, we will explore a few more literary terms to add to your repertoire so that you may apply them in your close reading.