AP Lang: Feb.26-March

I just entered some things in MiStar and realized that the scores might seem low or cause a little panic.

PLEASE do not be alarmed :)  

We have made a major shift in our work. Students are starting to tackle the beast of writing on demand under time pressure. Hopefully you’ve seen them practicing this at home.  If you haven’t, that’s definitely something to talk with your student about.  Students should be doing one timed practice essay (40 minutes) each week at home.  

After three weeks of work on argumentative writing, students chose their best essay from all their practices for me to score. Those scores are now in MiStar. I think some students still have room to grow with their argumentative writing; in the two weeks prior to the AP Exam in May, students will have a chance to revise that essay for a higher score.  Please encourage your students to continue engaging with the writing practice so that when they have the opportunity to revise, they’ll be confident and ready to do so!

The other slightly concerning score you may see in MiStar is the Multiple Choice Practice.  Please note that this score does NOT count towards students’ grades.  The AP Language multiple choice is incredibly difficult. A few things to note:

• Students only need to score an 80% on the multiple choice to receive the top score (5) on their exam.  
  
• I will never count practice for this portion of the exam toward their grade. I don’t believe that timed multiple choice is a good measure of a student’s reading ability.  
  
• We will continue to practice to prepare for the exam.
  
• After each practice I will post videos of me talking through and explaining the answers on our Google Classroom page.
  

Please encourage your students to take advantage of all the practice we will do in multiple choice. In my experience, students who practice diligently see their scores improve!

For the next few weeks we will be working on synthesis essay writing. This type of writing asks students to make an argument using source material.  Students are also working on a choice writing piece. They chose topics in the last few weeks and have been working on drafting those essays. They should have rough drafts of those essays ready for feedback by Monday.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!


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