5 Things You Can Do To
Improve Your AP Essay
Writing Right Now
What
…is the reason the College Board assigns essays?
One reason: so you can fully demonstrate your mastery of Latin. Your essay should prove without a doubt
that you understand the Latin right down to its toes. They don’t care if you are the poster child for the Aeneid
fan club. If you can’t show them you know the Latin, it doesn’t matter.
Why
…must you pay extra attention to your performance in this area?
It is impossible to earn a passing score on the AP exam unless you have written proper essays – long and
short ones alike.
When
…is it important to apply these principals?
Every written portion of the AP exam should be analytical, thorough, detailed, and thoughtful. Cutting
corners? Don’t do it on the written portion. You’ll also need to develop the ability to do these amazing things
on a schedule. START now by timing yourself during my exams. If the test says “time yourself: 20 minutes” do
so. Don’t take fewer minutes, don’t take more.
How
…do I write better essays?
I’m glad you asked, but first understand that the College Board recognizes that there are three levels of essay
writing. They grade a lot of essays and are steadfast in how they grade them. They know the majority of the
essays are completed at the lowest level, written by students who prepared mainly by reading a translation
of the Aeneid and then zooming through some of the Latin at a trot. The fine CB judges work from a rubric of
grading. Passing essays MUST contain certain elements—certain analytical elements. Therefore, even if you
write the world’s most eloquent literal essay, it will still earn a failing score because it lacks those analytical
elements.
© The Lukeion Project, 2014 - AP Latin skills development
The three levels of essays, according to the College Board are:
1. Literal
Writers mainly look at the story in English and
answer literal questions about how, when,
why…in reference to a statement or an event. To
them, plot twists and characters are
uppermost.
Clues your essay is too literal or narrative:
when finished with the essay you could
remove all the Latin and still say pretty much
the same thing. Many literal essays are not
much more than a slow motion translation or
(worse) a slow paraphrase of the passage. There’s
little or no analysis of the poetry, the Latin, Vergil’s
technique. Essays written at the literal level will
constitute a fail on the AP Latin exam.
2. Moderately Interpretive
Writers look at how? And Why? …when several pieces of directly stated information leads to something else
also stated in reference to cause and effect, manner of behavior, etc. While there may be mention of themes
and narrative, there will also be a discussion of the Latin technique, word use, etc.—you are starting down
the right road here.
Essays written at the moderately interpretive level will earn a low pass.
Clues your essay is moderately interpretive: you flip back and forth talking about the plot (the Latin really
isn’t too important) and talking about a poetic device, a word choice, a sense of organization in the Latin. This
is the Half-n-half type of essay which is why it is easy to fail even at the second level: sometimes judges think
you are still too literal and narrative.
3. Analytical
Writers answer “how does X show Z?” or “what effect does X have on Z?” or “Why?” (When directly stated
evidence supports a conclusion). They answer these questions in reference to attitude, motivation, or
characterization; patterns of cause and effect, or imagery. Analytical essays:
•
•
•
•
interpret the text
analyze critical statements about the text
compare and contrast different aspects of the form, structure, or content of the text
evaluate issues of importance relevant to the text
Clues your essay is analytical: careful examination of Latin words, techniques, patterns, aspects of form,
structure and content will mean that your whole essay relies on the Latin you’ve cited in your essay. Latin
words sprinkle the whole essay like salt on popcorn. The essay should be a buffet of deep analysis, analysis,
insight, and clear thoughts.
© The Lukeion Project, 2014 - AP Latin skills development
Five things you can do to improve NOW
1. Write enough
• You should never write an essay shorter than five
paragraphs. This includes a BRIEF intro, a BRIEF
conclusion, and three good points MINIMUM. This
is the bare bones minimum.
• If you think that so much writing is not within
your abilities in 40 minutes, much less 20
minutes—you’ll have to train to make this
possible. Assign writing prompts to yourself on a
weekly if not daily basis. Get out a clock. Use it to
limit yourself while you write a solid 5 paragraph
essay in 20 minutes. If you need writing prompts,
let me know. I can help.
• Next develop the mental (and physical) muscles to write 4-7 good points instead of just 3.
Don’t forget that at least a minute or two must be devoted to organizing your ideas before
getting started. They still count in the 20 minutes.
2. Write cleanly
• Remove all fluff, filler, padding, idioms, clichés, most adverbs, and most adjectives. Not only
does this reduce how much wasted writing fills your time (instead of quality writing), it also
allows your good points to shine through. Don’t lose smart insights in glomby writing.
• Do not write long paragraphs. Judges, teachers, professors HATE when students write
ginormous long paragraphs. Instead of 3 loooong ones, write 6 short ones. Same writing,
easier to read. In reference to the minimum of 5 paragraphs above: sometimes you just
need to organize the essay into five parts, but actually write 10 paragraphs…or whatever the
occasion dictates. When in doubt, split a big block into shorter paragraphs.
3. Organize first, write second
• It is obvious to all readers that you have embarked on a train-of-thought-free-fall-throughwhatever-occurs-to-you approach to an essay. Yuck. It is really hard to read these sorts of
things. Find a way to organize your ideas in a way that is actually supported by the Latin.
This means you should spend some of that precious time looking at the Latin, finding real
evidence, and deciding how you’ll organize yourself. Your brief intro should actually tell us
what you plan to do so organizing first helps from start to finish.
4. Edit.
• Always reserve at least a few minutes at the end to reread what you’ve written and improve
it. This is time well spent! Nothing discourages a judge from giving you a pass like
meandering run-on sentences or rambling introductions. Clean it up and make it shine.
© The Lukeion Project, 2014 - AP Latin skills development