Ap Literature Challenges

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Considering the Challenges of the AP Literature and Composition Exam: A Case Study.

Grace Crouthamel, Department of Education, DeSales University SC 519: Secondary Education Principles and Pedagogy. Professor Freya de Conde. May 19th, 2024.

Considering the Challenges of the AP Literature and Composition Exam: A Case Study Standardized testing has existed in the United States of America since the 19th century but is largely a 21st-century phenomenon. By definition, standardized testing is “a test (as of intelligence, achievement, or personality) whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison” (Merriam-Webster, 2024). It serves …show more content…
Looking at Nazareth Area High School's performance on the AP Literature exam, this author will propose a plan of action to mitigate the challenges posed by the test and consider how educators can be better advocates for their students. The AP Literature and Composition Exam at a Glance As of 2020, the AP Literature and Composition exam is composed of two sections: one is multiple choice questions, and the other, is free response questions. Section I includes five sets of multiple choice questions with eight to thirteen questions per set. Each set is preceded by a passage of prose, poetry, or drama with varying levels of difficulty. Section I represents approximately 45% of the exam score and the allotted time is 1 hour (College Board, 2024). Section II, or the free-response section, has students write essays that respond to three prompts from the following categories: a literary analysis of a poem; a literary analysis of a passage of prose fiction (including drama); and an analysis of a specific concept, issue, or element in a work selected by the student. Section II reflects 55% of the total exam score and has an allotted duration of 2 hours (College Board, 2024). The major …show more content…
Copyright 2024 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In terms of the AP Literature and Composition Exam, NAHS had 19 students take the test in May of 2021. The average exam score was reported as 2.63 with a passing rate (3+ on the exam) of 53% (NASD Report Card, 2020-2021). College Board reported 321,029 test takers in May of 2021 with a mean score of 2.47 and a passing rate of 43.9%. Considering this data, NAHS did score slightly better in terms of the mean score and passing rate compared to the national average. There is no available data beyond the composite score reported for NAHS. Looking at the national data, reported by the College Board, the skills test-takers most struggled with in Section I were Skills Category 4, or identifying the function of the narrator or speaker. Whereas students scored well on Skill Sets 1, 5, and 6 (see Figure 1). Generally speaking, students scored worse on the poetry multiple-choice question sets than the prose ones. Looking at Section II, the lowest mean score on the free response prompts was 3.18 for question 2. Question 2’s prompt was to respond to a passage of prose fiction. Trevor Packer, for the College Board, notes “That said, the performance differences are very narrow, indicating that students had developed very similar levels of proficiency this year across these various modes of analysis and characterization.” Therefore, the data regarding Section II was not particularly
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