AP English Literature and Composition - EN610A/B

AP English Literature and Composition - EN610A/B

Learning Recommendations: Strong critical reading and writing skills are recommended. Students are required to complete summer reading, with details available in June via the link on the school website. It is strongly recommended that students have at least a B+ in their current English class.

General Description: This year-long course for 12th-grade students follows the College Board’s suggested curriculum, designed to parallel college-level English courses. It engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Students analyze how writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure, considering a work's structure, style, themes, and smaller-scale elements such as figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. This course prepares students to take the AP English Literature and Composition Exam given in May. Satisfactory performance on this exam may enable students to earn college credit.

Content:

• Intensive study of literature written in several genres from the 16th century to the present, primarily from British and American writers
• Reading of 7-8 major works of drama and fiction, extensive poetry, and selected short fiction
• Occasional academic essays and articles to establish historical and social context, major philosophical movements, and various critical approaches to literature
• Writing interpretations based on careful observation of textual details; structure, theme, style (sentence structure and diction), figurative language, imagery, symbolism, irony, and tone
• Instruction and feedback to develop apt and precise word choice, inventive sentence structure, effective organization, and effective use of rhetoric and how structure and techniques develop themes in fiction and poetry

Homework: Expect a homework load of 30-40 minutes a night of reading during novel units or 150-200 minutes per week.

Course Fees / Materials: There is a $50 course fee for books. Students have the option of paying to take the AP English Literature exam. AP exam fees vary each year, and scholarships are available for qualifying students. Registration for the AP exam takes place in September and October. College credit can be earned with a passing score on the AP exam, but the score qualification and amount of credit earned vary by college.