May 18 - 22

It's finally here! The AP exam is this Wednesday. I think the classes are in pretty good shape, and it'll be great to have an opportunity to show off your skills. The College Board readers understand it's a best first draft -- they are asked to reward writers for what they do well, keep that in mind.

Note: due to reported issues last week with some of the submissions, the College Board released the following update on Sunday, May 17. This is great news for us:

	Beginning Monday, May 18, and continuing through the makeup window, there will be a backup email submission process for browser-based exams.
•	This option will only be available for students who were not able to submit in the standard process—and they must then email their responses immediately following their exam.
•	These students will see instructions about how to email their response on the page that says, "We Did Not Receive Your Response." The email address that appears on this page will be unique to each student.
•	Any student testing between May 18–22 who can't successfully upload their response through the exam platform or send it to us by email, will need to request a makeup exam.

PRINTING THE PROMPT:  

Here are some suggestions I found from hearing from teacher contacts whose students took the AP Lit exam last week:

 

Student 1: I pressed file and then print on my laptop

Student 2: I went to the “share” option on the top right of safari, then the print option.

Student 3: I wasn't sure how I was supposed to go about printing, so I quickly just copy and pasted the text into a word doc and printed it out.

Student 4: Ctrl +P, but it cut off a few lines

• • My Lit/Gov students - ctrl-P (or go to the three dots in Chrome and choose Print). Hide the timer first so it won’t cut off the bottom.

From what I gather, a person can print directly from their browser when they access the exam. I'd suggest some trial printing directly from your default browser to see what the process is, and make sure it's smooth. I might even create a post-it about the process and stick it on the computer itself. 

Here's the agenda for the week: 

TUESDAY: Live on Zoom: in groups, come up with dos and don'ts for the exam. Check to make sure you received and/or can access your ticket to the exam. Go over last-minute information and any questions. (See the bottom of this entry for additional AP info.)

WEDNESDAY: The day of the AP exam. Log in at 10:30 a.m. to take the exam. Take the submission time seriously and begin the submission immediately after the 45 minutes.

THURSDAY: Live on Zoom: debrief after the exam, celebrate.

Have a marvelous Memorial Day weekend!
We will begin the college essay (or short research paper) after the three-day holiday. 

Additional info for the AP exam: 

1. If you are most comfortable typing in a Google Doc, you will want to 
choose the paste option for submitting. Some districts which have issued
devices block downloads/conversions of Google Docs for attachment purposes.

2. You have a limited time to enter your info at the beginning before the exam 
question appears. Have handy your 8-character AP ID and email address which
you use for MyAP.

3. If you choose copy/paste, some of the formatting does not seem to transfer
such as indentations for new paragraphs. Instead, double space to show paragraph
breaks. Once you paste into the provided text box, you can't edit your response and 
have to click on "clear field," revise on your original, and re-paste.

4. You can't have any browser add-ins like Grammarly on the browser you use to
access the exam, but you CAN have Grammarly in a different company's browser
and copy/paste your text back and forth. Be sure to budget time for going back and
forth before the five-minute submission time.

5. If you choose the photo upload or attachment upload, prepare your paper/doc
before exam day. For photos, you should write your AP ID, initials, and page numbers
at the top of at least 5 pages of paper (I'm encouraging my students to write in black ink).
For attachments, set up a header with your AP ID and initials on a doc and then save the
doc so that it's ready to go! 
 ***************************************************************************

If you're nervous about the exam, read the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”