I have just finished scoring two classes worth of essay responses on Crime and Punishment. That added up to approximately 65 students though I didn't count precisely. At most ten students answered the prompt correctly. Most provided plot summary with no argument to support, making their papers book reports not essays.
If any of you people out there who read this blog have students in AP English Literature, work with them on reading and understanding the prompts. All forty odd years of open prompts are available online and most of the targeted prompts are as well. Only very rarely do the prompts care about what happens in the book. Many even caution students not to give "mere plot summary". If I were to describe the general thrust of the questions it would be that they want a discussion of an author's skill in using some element of language to enhance meaning. In this case, the prompt from last year's exam asks how does a pivotal moment in a character's maturation process"shape the meaning of the work as a whole"? So the prompt assumes there is maturation. The prompt assumes a pivotal moment in that process. Neither one needs to be proven to exist. "Mere plot summary" does not answer the question asked.
Anyway, I am done now and can go back to quilting my Christmas cats quilt. I have made a lot of progress on completing this project. That's good since I now have a new one in mind. My tutee from last year who just completed her early admission application to MIT came by the other day to thank me for all my help and support. I told her I would make her a science or math focused quilt for a graduation present. There are many examples online if I need inspiration. She raised her SAT writing sample score over a 100 points after working with me. Of course she's smart and a hard worker anyway so it isn't entirely down to me by any means.
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