AP English Literature and Composition

AP English Literature and Composition is an advanced literary analysis course which is predominantly taken by seniors here at RB. Lit involves a large amount of reading and writing, I would argue far more than in any other English class offered. If you wish to take this class, know to expect lots of reading assignments with a quick turnaround. Students will often be given a week to read and complete journal entries on 100 or more pages of a book. Going along with the reading, class discussion is the primary component of this class. My Lit class probably spends 60-70% of our weekly time having open discussions about our reading. These discussions are led by teachers, but students are expected to take notes and chime in with any relevant observations they encountered. My class has been writing a different essay pretty much every week at this point in the school year. We will typically write a timed response in class, receive a grade, and then expand on that essay for a larger one due a week later. While Lit certainly carries a heavy workload, I haven’t had any difficulty keeping my grade up in this class due to Mr. Forbergs policy of offering large amounts of extra credit. Anyone who wants to take this class primarily for the promise of gaining college credit should know a few important things about the AP test. The test requires students to bring up one or more examples from a work of literary credit in their essay, so it is important to pay attention to books read in the class, and it can be helpful to read some classic novels in ones free time. While a high score on an AP exam will usually earn students college credit, that isn’t always the case in AP Lit. Most colleges will only accept credit for one of either AP Lang or Lit, so many RB students who took Lang their junior year may not be able to get college credit for taking this class.