Hanford West High School
AP Language and Composition
Course Description
Advanced Placement is a program that gives students the opportunity to earn advanced placement and/or college credit while they are still in high school, dependent on scores earned on the national test. Colleges recognize that AP students are better prepared academically for the demands of college courses.
AP Language and Composition teaches students to read complex texts with understanding and write to communicate effectively. The course prepares students to become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts. Students also become skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes and in a variety of forms. The course curriculum requires that students already understand and use standard English grammar while enhancing their ability to use grammatical conventions appropriately and with sophistication in their writing.
Upon completion of the course, students should be prepared to take the AP Language exam.
Prerequisites
� Grade of A or high B in Composition/Literature 2 (Honors)
� Teacher recommendation
� Agreement to take the AP Language exam in May
Areas of Emphasis
� Improved reading skills and knowledge of American literature
In addition to selections from the literature anthology, eight to ten novels and plays will be read throughout the year.
� Knowledge of advanced literary terms and vocabulary in preparation for the AP test and SAT
� Writing skills necessary to be a successful college student
Formal essays will be written every two weeks and will alternate between in-class and out-of-class assignments. Other writing assignments will include analysis questions on assigned reading, AP essay questions, and a research paper.
� AP practice exams (multiple choice and free response)
By second semester, these practice exams will be incorporated into the grade.
Summer Reading Requirements
The following literary works should be read prior to the beginning of school in August. You have already read most of them, so you should only have to read two or three books during the summer. You will be tested on the summer reading at the beginning of the school year.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Grapes of Wrath
Night
The Odyssey
Of Mice and Men
The Old Man and the Sea
Romeo and Juliet
To Kill a Mockingbird