Reflective Essay: Mock AP Test For English

The Norton Field Guide to Writing covers topics about writing and composing. Several of which I was already familiar with. In chapter 2, Bullock and Weinberg express how “Many readers find it helps to annotate as they read…” (16). I have become very familiar with annotating over the years. I often use this writing method to help me understand and summarize text I come across.

* establishes a system of praise and constructive criticism - rewards and improvement; grows with the organisation

I decided to take AP Language and Composition due to the requirements of the University of Iowa. For my intended major, I need two rhetoric classes and one literature class. Last year I completed the literature class which improved my reading ability tremendously. After completing ENG 105, I have improved in multiple areas, but I am most proud of my improvement on the writing volume and stamina as I now have the ability to write college level essays. When examining all of the competencies, I have not mastered any one of them, but have improved in multiple categories throughout the semester.

Ever since I was a child, I never really enjoyed the subject of English. Aside from me considering the subject to be boring my vocabulary always seemed to be lacking compared to my peers, and the time I spent on reading passages and answering questions about those passages was much longer than my classmates’. However, my literacy skills started to slowly develop, and I ended up appreciating English in my junior and senior years of high school.

I remember the day I found out my score for the first AP Exam I took in May 2014. Like everyone else, I was very excited to see if all my hard work in AP World History had paid off; however, the moment I saw my score, I felt like a complete failure. While a few other people celebrated that they received passing scores, I felt like crying, and I never wanted to take another AP class again. I could have dropped AP U.S. History like most other people, but I didn’t. My score only motivated me to take the class and aim at getting a passing score that would get me college credit.

English isn't one of my favorite subjects, but it was interesting to learn much more about English through this course. This course, overall, taught me about how to organize my ideas and the importance of clicking the button that checks one's spelling on the paper. Even though, I improved throughout my time in this course in my organization and expressing my ideas. I still have some mistakes to improve on in my writing. English 101 showed the importance of writing and the ability to express my ideas throughout my academic career.

Being a high school student while taking two college English composition classes has been anything but effortless. Essay after essay and something is almost always due the day of class. The assignments are never worksheets that take little to no thought or quick reads in a text book. No, what happens in English 111 and English 112 is the gaining of rhetorical knowledge, mastering the process in developing an academic essay, and plenty of critical thinking.

I learned, that in order to get a good score on my AP essays, it will take a lot of effort, and I won't have a lot of time. I need to write in a way that the reader can understand and comprehend my ideas, and control of language, while successfully getting my point across in a clear-cut way. This will allow me to get a score based how effective the essay is (Nine being the most effective and zero being the least). In addition, my score should reflect the essay’s quality as a whole. Completing this activity helped me realize that the expectations are high when it comes to writing essay, and I will need to work hard to get the best score that I can.

In my third semester, I was privileged to attend the course History of Literatures in English: Reading the Canon and Beyond at the same time as when the world celebrated Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary. The focus of this lecture was three of Shakespeare’s tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Despite having read and analyzed Hamlet in my AP English class, I found it delightsome to partake in a class that focused specifically on the features of Shakespeare’s plays and how they have influenced later generations. The examination of Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead underlined the significance of Shakespeare’s impact. As with Hamlet, I had already studied this play during my AP English course; however, I valued reading

a) Hannah is a friendly and approachable teacher. She creates a positive atmosphere that makes us feel comfortable when answering questions. The start of her lesson are engaging and we enjoy the topics that she covers during her lessons. However, she sometimes goes too slowly when giving feedback or when she is teaching grammar, she will spend a long time at the board which can sometimes get boring. But the speaking tasks at the end of her lessons allow us to practise the new language and to discuss interesting topics that have been covered during the lesson.

No matter what, a person is always learning and throughout the course of my senior year, I have learnt more as compared to my rest of high school English class. In AP English class, I have gained the knowledge of English skills and learnt the techniques in depth which will eventually help me throughout my college careers too. I would also say that because of help and the pressure from the teacher I am used to now writing an essays. Now, I do not get frustrated writing any sort of essays. This class has prepared me for the college too.

The dreaded English 102. Could this be my final English course in my career as a student? I don’t know for sure. I still need to decide what my major will be in. There is something that I know for sure, that is, needing to take this class to move on. I am not certain how my time in this class will go, but I plan to work hard to get the best grade that I can. Hence, I have decided to get this out of the way now, I look to fine-tune my writing skills, and I expect this course to help me understand my writing style.

I am currently a student at AUIS and have three unsuccessful attempts at the USMLE STEP 1 exam. I am writing to you to appeal for sponsorship to sit for my USMLE STEP 1 exam.

All the preparation we did for the AP exam, the timed writes, the vocabulary quizzes, and the required annotating, enabled me to hone my skills and realize my weaknesses so I could critically revise my paper. Considering the new and the old disciplinary conventions I learned in the past years, applying them to different parts of my life will prove beneficial to not only my school career but my future career and social skills. Placing a pen to the paper has never been easier and static no longer fills my head, rather I cannot stifle the ideas bouncing around in my head.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I read a stream of texts from my friends complaining about our AP Language and Composition class summer homework. It was the night before the first day of junior year, and they anxiously texted how they weren’t even close to being done or how they seemed to get severe writers block. I, on the other hand, had not only finished our analytical movie review assignment a week before, but had it proofread, printed, and ready to turn in during class the next day. I was confident and proud of my work and went to bed filled with the typical first day of school jitters.