You Go FO-FO

            AP English as a whole was a very pleasant, enjoyable course. I feel like I have grown in a multitude of ways from this class. I think it is pretty clear that I matured as a writes through the course of the year, but also I am confident that I grew as student in many aspects.

            This year, I can truly say that I put effort and actual thought into every assignment from August to June. Before this year, my English performances in class were fairly inconsistent and lackluster. However, this English class was not the same. I drew connections to the different works of literature that we read this year, and I actually took an interest in what I was writing when we completed our assignments. 

            Many different techniques worked to my advantage this year. For example, I thought the practice of reading and annotating the columnist articles was very beneficial. I really appreciated breaking down advanced, intellectual sports writing and then reflecting on the article as a whole. I also took advantage of the teacher feedback on my research paper to improve my essay greatly. I read through each circled word and each comment to make my essay much more effective, with a valid proposal in my conclusion to fix the problem with “shameful secreted sports”.

            Looking back at my Marquart quarter one FRQ, I can critique a number of things. First off, my opening sentence is horrendously long, and contains about ten too many examples. After reading the rest of the essay, I can say that the overall maturity of my writing has greatly enhanced and my understanding of every prompt has improved. My first in class essay (Marquart) was not terrible, but I know that my writing is of higher quality now then in September just based off my in class essay grades going from a five on the Marquart to some eventual eights in May. 

            The great thing about this past English class was that there were no low points throughout the entire year. In APUSH, I struggled for the better part of September, but got my act together to pull my grades up come October. In this class, I did not really find any times where I felt defeated or wanted to give up during an assignment. Each task that we were given was a chance for me to improve my writing and reading skills. Contrary to my math class, I do feel like I can take on any assignment given to me and do well on it, which was why I liked this AP English class so much.

            If someone who is taking this class is struggling, I would give them a few words of advice. First off, one of the worst things to do for AP English is to get behind. When you get an assignment the first thing you should think about is when you’re going to start it, what you’re going to write about, and exactly how you’re going to go about executing your plan. This is what would call the pre-planning stage, which is necessary for every task in AP English. This whole process might take five minutes or a full day, but it makes a huge difference when trying to effectively complete any writing or reading assignment. In order to do well in AP English, you have to seriously commit to finishing independent tasks with effort. You may not like every assignment given to you, but if you analytically dissect the prompt or reading passage, and try to find something interesting about the task, you will be successful in completing your assignment.

            Also, don’t ever get frustrated! When doing a math problem, I occasionally feel beaten by the question, and I want to ‘tap out’ to end the madness. There is always help available for any student to finish any assignment, especially when Ms. Fogarty gives very generous deadlines for any homework or essay task.

            One of the most important things I learned this year is applicable to every subject in school. After taking this class, I realized it is not all about the facts; it is more about how you take in or interpret the information given to you. When writing an English essay, obviously there is no right or wrong answer, so the essay grade is mainly a reflection of exactly how you went about answering the prompt and what examples you use to support your claims. If you can analyze any work of literature and interpret it in a way where supporting evidence backs up your claims successfully, then you can tackle any assignment.

            Honestly, AP English is only hard if you make it hard. If you stress out and don’t think you can finish an assignment, it is time to take a deep breath realize that you’re probably over thinking the task. Learn to prioritize your time and the class is actually pretty fun, and AP English will become the period you look forward to every day.