Rhetorical Analysis (AP Lang.) Scoring Practice

This document offers a selection of Rhetorical Analysis essays (From the AP English Language and Composition exam) for your review. These essays address different prompts (which should become clear in their respective theses) and contain moments with writing errors and indelicacies, as well as artful and articulate moments. The goal is to score the following essays, as best you can, and then compare your scoring to the scoring at the end of the document. This exercise works for students and teachers alike because it helps to calibrate one's scoring with college board scoring. As an AP Reader, my years of experience assure me that these scores are in accordance with the College Board rubrics and expectations.

Assign each essay section a single score, even if you are vacillating between two scores (in the case of the Evidence and Commentary section). After you score each one, go to the answer page with the scores and explanations, located after all the essays.

How to use this document:

I score immediately. If I stop to analyze the essay, I will become distracted by the little details and begin scrutinizing the essay; this often impedes a fair assessment of the studentwriter’s ability to write an initial draft of an essay within 40 minutes.

I look for the things they did right, not for the mistakes they make. As a rule, if the mistake does not impede the reading or significantly hinder my understanding of their ideas, then it’s a mistake I can accept.

I grade as I go. I look for the thesis somewhere in the introduction and I assign it a score right after I see it (whether complete, partial, or absent).

I score each body paragraph the same way, attributing a score to each one and then collectively.

I keep my eyes open for signs of sophistication in the essay and score immediately after seeing it. - 6s are not perfect. They are not mythical. They exist.