We are going to be doing some studying and practicing for the AP Exam next week, and I've been making (with some student support) a game to help us do this. I've been making it using Google Sheets for about the last week
The game is competitive and team-based, where teams compete to correctly answer questions across five categories. Each side will take a stab at answering three of the five available categories, but this is complicated in a few ways. The most basic complication is the timer, but the most significant complication are 10 skills that can significantly effect play. These skills can cut the timer in half, remove key players from a team, put a spy into the other team's discussions, or even remove the vowels from the opposition's questions (Question: "Dfn Fllng ctn").
There are more than 300 questions across five categories: questions on each of our four class texts/novels, to include Hamlet; questions on the key terms and concepts of the poetry unit, chapters 11-17 of our textbook; all of the terms from the "131 Literary Terms" handout from earlier in the year; all of the words from the College Level Vocabulary handout from earlier in the year; and a variety of questions based on the various approaches to critical analysis (Moral, Formalist, Allegorical, Archetypal).
This information may find its way into your AP Exam in a variety of ways. While it is somewhat unlikely that any of the AP Lit multiple choice questions will simple ask you to define these concepts (or ask that you identify a particular passage from Heart of Darkness for that matter), having this content in your back pocket could prove invaluable. You will likely run into questions that use some of this literary vocabulary when asking about the prose or poetic passages; knowing the language of the question makes your success in choosing the correct response more likely. Similarly, your ability to accurately use academic terminology and select college-level language with proficiency could make the difference between one score and another. Remember that AP response readers reward you for what you do well, so explaining why Claudius' fears were vindicated, or how Victor Frankenstein's reticence to build a new creature extirpates the last hope of humanity from the devil haunting him, could be the very thing that separates the 7 you receive from the 6 you had otherwise earned. The same applies to referencing Plato's Realm of Forms (or Ideals) or Kant's concern for using others as a means rather than as an ends. High-scoring writing is written with an academic, social, and cultural awareness that you cannot fake.
This should be reason enough to want to know this material. But, also, I'll have prizes for the winners, so...
If you have an interest in preparing, I've got all the material you need, which you should download below - I've even got about half of the questions themselves!
- Materials to prepare for Blitzkrieg Pop (oh yeah, that's the name of the game)
- Half the Questions from the study game.
- Literary Devices handout (it has been updated a bit since I have it to you)
- College-Level Vocabulary handout
- Poetry
- Allegory of the Cave
- Formalist Criticism
- Moral Criticism
- Archetypes
- Half the Questions from the study game.