Acknowledgements

 It's been a long time since I started AP Lang class. When I started the class, I didn't even know how to write an in class essay. But as I progressed through the class, I learnt a lot and a lot of factors helped to advance to the level I am currently on. 

People

Throughout the journey of AP Lang, I have encountered many people who inspired me. From authors to classmates, individuals have had an efficacious impact on me. But one of the most important individuals that helped me succeed in the class was my teacher: Ms Valentino. When I started this class, my biggest weakness was the essays. I was used to writing 5 paragraph essays and I had never written an in-class essay before. Thus, some of my first in class essays scored very low. In order to learn for improvement, I approached Ms. Valentino for help and asked for strategies and tactics to get better. I scheduled multiple morning meetings with her to discuss my essays and took her advice. I even sent multiple schoology messages and the replies were very helpful. All that helped me understand the concepts and strategies of writing AP Lang essays, and as the second semester approached, I improved a lot. I would like to thank her for helping me so much in the class and preparing me for the AP Lang test so well.

My family was another important factor that led me to success in the AP Lang class. Many times, I was struggling in class and very despondent . At that time, my family encouraged me to work hard and they told me that I could get better in class. Encouraged from their words, I started working hard and thus I improved a lot in the class.  

Essays

Throughout the course of the class, I saw a massive change in my essay writing abilities. I improved a lot in all 3 types of essays, but the one I learned about the most was rhetorical essay. 

The first rhetorical essay I wrote was the compare and contrast essay of 2 of Fitzegrald’s pieces: The Great Gatsby and Diamond as Big as a Ritz. In that essay, I was not able to analyze my essay effectively. Additionally, there was lack of unity and coherence in my essay. It was visible in my essay especially when I said, “author exaggerates Gatsby’s status in terms of wealth by making him the son of God. After exaggeration, the author describes…” In that sentences, I had established no connection. Both the sentences were not coherent with each other and thus they were not connecting well to the thesis well. 

As I got feedback for that essay, I learned from my mistake and tried to improve. Throughout the first semester, I was at same level of analysis and writing style, but as the second semester approached, I clutched up. The first improved essay I wrote was In Class Essay (ICE) 1. That essay had the task of analyzing Nancy Mairs’s piece. In that essay, I did a very improved analysis than before and scores 1 - 4 - 0 (a big improvement from my score of 1 - 2 - 0 in the essay described above). As mentioned before, I improved my analysis and took a deeper look in author’s choices - for example, I stated in the that “the word ‘cripple,’ which prompts portrays something as really messed up and messed up and non functioning, is used because it succeeds to describe her accurate condition.” In that sentence, I was able to identify the author's cause of using specific words. I was not able to do this before and it was a huge improvement in my skills.

Improving in analysis was only one part of the essay writing skills. When I wrote some of the early essays, even most essays in second semester, my style was very basic and I was using basic words to describe my ideas. For example, I stated in my ICE 2 that “Chavez suggests that because people like peace, nonviolence attracts people.” In that sentence, I used very basic words including the word “like.” The word “like” is a very colloquial word that gives the essay very informal tone.  As I realized later, instead of using the word “like,” I could have used the word “including.” The same informal tone was persistent in my later essays, including ICE 5 where I said that “Price shows that Americans are very attracted to…” In that sentence, I could have used the word “suggests” instead of “shows.” In both the essays (ICE 2 & 5) I got a score of 4 out of 6 partially due to my lack of analysis and informal style.

As I realized that my style was not very convincing by reading sample essays, I committed myself to improve my style. I continued experimenting with different techniques until I realized that usage of complex words can make my style persuasive. I continued doing so, and improved my style. It was visible in my latest rhetorical essay in which I had to analyze a Eulogy written after death of Ronald Reagan. I that essay, I used complex words including the phrase “despondent  world.” By using that phrase, and similar phrases, I was able to develop a persuasive style. By writing that essay, and a couple practice ones after it, I learned how to improve my style. I plan to continue using that style in the AP exam in an effort to get the sophistication point.

Things to Admit

Throughout my study of AP Lang, I have read a lot of pieces that taught me about the reality and hardships of life. One of the most important authors that made me realize the following was Lynn Nottage. Viewing her plays of Sweat and Clyde’s was very eye opening for me. In her play Sweat, Nottage addressed the drug addiction and low job security within financially challenged communities. Through her play, I further learned that these unfortunate circumstances force people to resort to criminal life which further deteriorates their life by making them get arrested. As Nottage advances to her play Clyde’s, she points out that these prisoners are subject to even more misfortunes because the society does not accept them due to their status after being released. Overall, I learnt about the injustices faced by financially struggling people through Nottage’s play.