Assignment 26 - Erin

To be quite honest, the AP Lang exam was the one exam that I spent the year dreading. The idea of having to write three essays in the span of two hours just made me want to tear my hair out because writing isn't something I am particularly quick about. I can think through math problems and questions about history like there's no tomorrow, but when it comes to producing my own ideas my gears tend to grind to a halt. However, when the day finally came for the exam I didn't feel as frustrated as I expected to.

I think that the sheer volume and variations of essays that we read and discussed as a class (from the benchmarks to our own) really helped me to prepare and grow as a writer. As much as I despise writing timed essays, it did pay off to hear what other people had to say about my work. And the benchmarks helped lay a foundation of understanding what the graders will be expecting of my test. The class format of completing a timed writing and then spending time critiquing each others' work every few weeks wasn't something I initially thought of as helpful, but I see now (post-exam) how it improved me as a writer. I rarely spoke up during essay scoring because I prefer to listen, but even just listening to everyones' own perspectives was beneficial.

All in all: I was dreading the exam. We read and scored a LOT of essays. I got constructive feedback on my work. I felt better about the exam.