So if students are fully doing this to answer the prompt, does that not fulfill the complexity point? I’ve really got nothing on this path to sophistication and am eager to see more examples of this path at the reading this summer. This path is the one I struggle with on the sophistication point because a prompt typically asks students to address the complexities within the text. Teachers may want to scaffold students to seeing more complexities and tensions in a work by asking: How does the title/epigraph/last line/shift/etc. If a student is able to find one of the tensions in a work and fully unpack it they could be on their way to the sophistication point. Paradox, juxtaposition, and irony all seem to be possible vehicles to seeing complexities and tensions in a work. Identifying and exploring complexities or tensions within the poem/passage. There are four enumerated ways to earn the sophistication point.ġ. This could be an example of the 1-4-0 type of score. It would be hard to get the sophistication point if a writer starts with one thesis and then has a shift in focus to another thesis/claim. One thing is for sure, to receive the sophistication point, the students have to fully do the work for the reader. The sophistication point…ah, the pesky sophistication point…do teachers even need to worry about it? Are only the best writers going to get this point? Is trying to teach sophisticated writing a futile effort? Well, honestly, who knows how many sophistication points will be earned on the exam in May, but there do seem to be several entry points to understanding the sophistication point a little more. My apologies – this was more than one point this is pretty much like a day in my class.

If we are teaching these things, our students will not only be prepared for the exam but will more importantly be prepared for future academic writing.

Teach your students to write essays that explore tensions and complexities within a text, interpret a text within broader contexts, accounts for alternative interpretations, and uses a vivid and persuasive style. Of course I want them to do well on the exam and want to prepare them as best as I can, but I will not let myself stress out about it.

Whether they get it or not is a non-issue to me. Before launching into this, I want this sophisticated point (haha) to guide your approach to Row C in the classroom: Do not worry about the sophistication point. I have added a few ideas which are in italics and a teaching point for each path. This post is written by Adrian Nester who put some thoughts on paper after the pilot reading.

Ap literature cheat sheet