English Language & Composition

What would you say is the difficulty level of this class?

“AP Language is a skills-based course versus a content-based course, so it is not about work level or work amount, it is more about the skills you bring to the table. If you are coming to the table with lots of skills as far as being able to unpack complex texts and read super difficult prose, then you would not have such a difficult time. However, if you were trying to level-up and you weren’t experienced with reading more complex text, you would probably struggle more.” (Shannon Alberts, teacher)

“AP Lang is pretty challenging, but I really liked it.” (Krishna Rode, senior)

“AP Lang is probably one of the harder AP classes I’ve taken. In class, workload-wise, is a lot of hard essay writing and wrapping your mind around abstract concepts — which is pretty difficult in itself — and then being able to concisely express ideas that are effective and sound pretty.” (Drake Trent, senior)

What is the workload like?

“The workload ebbs and flows. Sometimes it is quite a bit of homework, but most of the time we do the work inside of class, so it is imperative that you are in your seat, ready to learn and completely focused.” (Shannon Alberts, teacher)

“It’s not too bad, at most you’ll have like an hour every few nights.”

“Workload — in class — is a lot of on-demands, you have to read a lot [and] you have to understand [the] reading. Homework-wise it didn’t have a ton of at-home work because so much of the class is skills based and you had to have a teacher there to help explain it, but largely homework was reading like “The Great Gatsby” — or news articles. We had a few take-home essays that we would do.” (Drake Trent, senior)

Why would a student want to take this class?

“A student that has… [had] a fair amount of success in an English course—at least an A in a CP class, at least a B in an honors class—that feels ready to challenge themselves, to grow as a reader and a thinker. It is not an easy A, so I wouldn’t take this class if I was looking for an easy A.” (Shannon Alberts, teacher)

What kind of careers could this class lead to?

“This class can train you for basically any career because it teaches you how to write for any discipline.” (Shannon Alberts, teacher)

Any tips for students looking to take this class?

“I would make sure that you know your literary terms really well.” (Krishna Rode, senior)

“Rely on Mrs. Alberts … She helped me get a five on the exam, so she knows what she’s doing. When she leaves a comment on your essay, listen to that comment, and apply it to the next one: Take everything that you got critiqued on in the last one and apply it to the next. Work on thesis writing. The AP editors aren’t going to thoroughly read most of your essay, but they are going to thoroughly read and examine your thesis, so make sure your thesis is strong and specific and doesn’t box you into a certain essay path.” (Drake Trent, senior)

Is there anything you would have done differently now that you have taken this course?

“I would have practiced my essays more.” (Krishna Rode, senior)

“I probably would have liked to have read more speeches and essays outside of class just to broaden my knowledge and have more things to allude to on essays, and make essay reading on the test itself a little bit easier because I would be more familiar with more pieces.” (Drake Trent, senior)