Semester Exam Study Guide

AP Lit & Comp

1st Semester Study Guide

Literary Terms

Matching—these terms will pull from the poetry and short stories sections of the Bedford.

Critical Lenses

Matching—know the different lenses discussed in your textbook.

Good Readers & Good Writers

This section will test your understanding of the key points of Nabokov, Frost, and Perrine.  You’ll want to go back and review your annotations, notes, and reading journals. 

Short Stories

I’ll pull key passages from a variety of stories we’ve read this semester.  You’ll need to match them to the correct title and author.

AP Multiple Choice

I’ll give you one section of an AP exam (one poem and the questions following).  Answer all of the questions even if you don’t have a clue. =)

AP Free-Response Essay--Annie John

I’ll give you one essay question for which you should allow yourself 40 minutes.  Free response essay questions ask an open question/make a statement about literature in general.  You would then answer the question by writing an essay on the topic as it directly relates to a piece of literature (one from a provided list or, if you choose, another novel or play “of similar literary quality.”)  You should answer the prompt on your final exam using Annie John.

End of the Semester Reflection

The goal of the course is that you are making progress, seeing improvement, feeling more confident in your critical reading skills.  We've had lots of practice:  homework readings and class discussion, new terminology and perspectives that give you additional details to look for, one-pagers that put you on the spot for the day and make you show off your skills for the class, reading journal questions that help guide and deepen your thinking, and--oh yeah--tests where you have to actually critically read and answer crazy-detailed, written-to-screw-you-up AP questions. =)

So here's your latest way to show me where you are in these all-important skills:  your journal and reflection.

Last quarter I looked at your reading journal for a few things:

1. Were you using it to keep all of your Lit stuff in one spot?
2. Were you using it to record the in-brain processes of a critical reader of the varied assignments in AP Lit (details you noticed, interpretations of readings, etc.)
3. Were you adding to those notes with class discussion notes that help you see what you understand on your own and how that understanding changes with others' thoughts and interpretations?

This quarter, I'm looking for the same PLUS something else...and THAT is your journal reflection assignment.

In your journal, date an entry and title it "1st Semester Journal Reflection."  Complete a thorough, thoughtful, and detailed reflection of your reading skills thus far.  You should consider and include the following in your entry:

• What are your strengths as a critical reader?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What growth have you seen in your critical reading since the beginning of AP Lang last year?
• Since the beginning of AP Lit this year?
• How do you know this growth is occurring?  What evidence do you have?
• How effectively do you feel you are using your journal?
• Could you use it differently to make a bigger difference in your critical reading skill growth?
• How well do you feel you've been able to express your critical reading in the writing assignments this semester (in-class essays, poetry write-up, and lit analysis)?  What strengths and weaknesses in your writing impact that ability?
• What goals (related to reading AND the class at large) do you have for the rest of the year?

Spend some time and thought on this.  It's not HARD, but it will require some honest reflection to do it well. And guess what?  Even though it's an assignment I'm giving you and will grade you on, YOU will actually get the most benefit out of the activity--so do a good job for YOURSELF rather than your grade. =)

7th hour

Check your email--whichever one you've shared or emailed my Google account with because that's where I found all of your emails.  I've sent you a message with important info, especially if you're going to miss class tomorrow!

Annie John Journal Questions

AP LitAnnie John

1. As you read, keep in mind the aspects of post-colonialism we discussed in class.  Make note of important details, questions, or literary devices that connect to those ideas.

2. How is the parent-child struggle between power and lack of power extended to other conflicts in the novel?  Make note of the different places you see struggle for power, the ways it is achieved, lost, etc.  Who has the power and who does not?

3. How does identity work in this novel?  When does Annie discover she has an identity separate from her mother?  How does she assert it?  What implications does Kincaid’s choice to use a bildungsroman have on the novel as a whole?

4. As Kincaid tells the story, she relates it as an expulsion from Paradise.  What was the original expulsion from Paradise?  Who was expelled and why?  What do the references to Lucifer and Paradise Lost indicate to you?

5. Make note of the many references to sexuality.  How do these details contribute to Kincaid’s point?

6. By the end of the book, Annie has rejected every aspect of her home and childhood:  “As I was lying there my heart could have burst open with joy at the thought of never having to see any of it again.”  Is this sort of rejection an inevitable part of growing up?  Is Annie’s hostility and rejection unusually extreme?  If so, why?


COME TO CLASS HAVING PUT THOUGHT INTO ALL OF THE QUESTIONS.  COME WITH SPECIFIC QUESTIONS OR PARTS OF YOUR JOURNAL TO DISCUSS.  KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO GET FROM CLASS DISCUSSION IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THIS NOVEL.