AP English Literature and Composition 2017 FRQ 2 Student Samples

2017

AP English Literature

and Composition

Sample Student Responses

and Scoring Commentary

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R Free Response Question 2

R Scoring Guideline

R Student Samples

R Scoring Commentary

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

2017 SCORING GUIDELINES

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Question 2: Tobias Smollett,

The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle

The score should reflect the quality of the essay as a whole — its content, style, and mechanics. Reward

the students for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by

1 point above the otherwise appropriate score. A poorly written essay may not be scored higher than a 3.

9−8 These essays offer a persuasive analysis of how Smollett explores the interplay between emotions

and social propriety through such literary techniques as tone, narrative pace, and dialogue. The essays make

a strong case for their interpretation of how the interplay works in this passage. While students may consider

a variety of literary techniques, they engage the text through apt and specific references. Although these

essays may not be error-free, their perceptive analysis is apparent in writing that is clear and effectively

organized. Essays scored a 9 reveal more sophisticated analysis and more effective control of language than

do essays scored an 8.

7−6 These essays offer a reasonable analysis of how Smollett explores the interplay between emotions

and social propriety through such literary techniques as tone, narrative pace, and dialogue. While students

may consider a variety of literary techniques, they provide a sustained, competent reading of the passage.

Although these essays may not be error-free and are less perceptive or less convincing than 9–8 essays,

the ideas are presented with clarity and control and refer to the text for support. Essays scored a 7 present

better-developed analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition than do

essays scored a 6.

5 These essays respond to the assigned task with a plausible reading of the passage, but they tend

to be superficial or thin in their analysis of how Smollett explores the interplay between emotions and

social propriety through such literary techniques as tone, narrative pace, and dialogue. They often rely on

summary or paraphrase, which may contain some analysis, implicit or explicit. The analysis of the

interplay between emotions and social propriety and/or the use of literary techniques may be slight. While

these essays demonstrate adequate control of language, they may be marred by surface errors. These

essays are not as well conceived, organized, or developed as 7–6 essays.

4−3 These lower-half essays fail to offer an adequate analysis of the passage. The analysis may be

partial, unconvincing, or irrelevant; the essays may ignore the interplay between emotions and social

propriety and/or the use of literary techniques. These essays may be characterized by an unfocused or

repetitive presentation of ideas or an accumulation of errors. Evidence from the passage may be slight or

misconstrued, or the essays may rely on summary or paraphrase only. Essays scored a 3 may contain

significant misreading and/or demonstrate inept writing.

2−1 These essays compound the weaknesses of the essays in the 4–3 range. They may persistently

misread the passage or be unacceptably brief. They may contain pervasive errors that interfere with

understanding. Although some attempt has been made to respond to the prompt, the ideas are presented

with little clarity, organization, or support from the passage. Essays scored a 1 contain little coherent

discussion of the passage.

0 These essays give a response that is completely off-topic or inadequate; there may be some mark

or a drawing or a brief reference to the task.

— These essays are entirely blank.

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ENGLISH LITERATURE

2017 SCORING COMMENTARY

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Question 2

Overview

For Question 2, the prose question, students were asked to read an excerpt from The Adventures of

Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett and respond to the following prompt:

In the passage below, from The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) by Tobias Smollett, Mr. Pickle

encounters Godfrey Gauntlet, the brother of his beloved Emilia. Consider how the two men confront

their own uncontrolled emotions and yet attempt to abide by their social norms. In a well-developed

essay, analyze how the author explores the complex interplay between emotions and social propriety

in the passage. You may wish to consider such literary techniques as dialogue, narrative pace, and

tone.

The students were expected to accomplish three tasks successfully:

• They were to consider a particular feature in the prose text.

• They were to analyze how the author explores the complex interplay between emotions and social

propriety/social norms.

• They were to write a well-developed essay.

The three tasks, of course, are interdependent and are actually one unified task; consideration leads to

analysis leads to writing.

• “Consider” means to focus on a particular feature of the text and to determine how it might lead to

an understanding of the text. In this case, students were cued that there was a tension between

the emotions of the two characters and the social codes within which each was attempting to act.

Students did not have to know 18

-century social mores to answer this question; they simply had

to understand that sometimes people feel one way but are constrained to behave in another. The

prompt gave the students a contextual way of understanding what was being asked by equating

“social norms” with “social propriety.”

• Analysis means identifying the important parts of a larger whole and being able to explain how

those parts connect to and function within that whole. In this case, students needed to identify the

authorial decisions that reveal the complex interplay between emotions and “social propriety” in

the passage. The prompt did not ask students to analyze each character or even to identify specific

social norms, but rather to focus on the interplay itself. The word “complex” here is a cue to the

students that they might see complicated, shifting, paradoxical, or even opposing elements in the

tension between emotions and social norms. In this case, students were asked to analyze how the

author explores those complexities.

• Finally, writing a well-organized essay means understanding how their own thoughts are connected,

being able to support those assertions with clear, concrete examples, and cueing the reader with the

appropriate compositional techniques, such as establishing a thesis and using transitional devices.

ENGLISH LITERATURE

2017 SCORING COMMENTARY

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Question 2 (continued)

Sample: 2A

Score: 7

This essay offers a sustained and competent reading of the interplay between emotion and social propriety in

the passage. It claims that “[t]hrough the contentious dialogue between Peregrine and Godfrey, Smollett

reveals the will of the men to not go against social norms.” This, the essay claims, “show[s] how society

tampers down [sic] the animal-like instinct of people to lash out during confrontations.” The essay is less

perceptive in its supporting analysis, arguing that the dialogue “reveal[s] society’s ability to stifle some of

human’s animal-like instincts” and perhaps overstating the tension between ‘civilized’ and ‘savage’ behavior

in the passage, but it moves into a sustained paragraph that makes that claim reasonable by referencing

diction (“ferocity,” “adversary,” and later, “rage” and “blood”) that conveys “the two mens’ [sic] hostility for

each other” and that develops animal imagery. The essay also shows better-developed analysis of diction in

demonstrating that the word “Sir” is used “ironically, for … [the men] have lost respect for each other,” and it

explains that “Smollett satirizes their attachment to this traditional greeting as their anger becomes more

apparent” and Peregrine uses the word “to demean Godfrey.” While the essay is not as well conceived overall

as essays in the very top range of the scoring guide, it nevertheless presents a reasonable analysis of the

excerpt with clarity and control, and thus it earned a score of 7.

Sample: 2B

Score: 5

This essay begins with a clearly stated claim: “in this time period, emotional issues were less important than

maintaining a positive reputation in society.” It introduces the two characters and their “feelings of loathing

towards each other” and notes that “they decide to handle it [sic] in a socially acceptable way, rather than

expressing their feelings verbally or physically otherwise.” While the essay does not fully realize the promise

of this opening, it nonetheless offers and develops plausible claims throughout. The essay is organized into

three body paragraphs (on dialogue, tone, and diction), each of which is explicitly connected to the language

of the prompt and to the essay’s initial claims. In these paragraphs, the essay offers either summary or

paraphrase that contains some analysis, and so it constructs a plausible reading of the passage. For example,

the essay offers paraphrases as evidence from the initial conversation between Pickle and Gauntlet as well as

quoting the “Sir” interchange and then through implicit analysis reaches the claim that the characters’

actions and words are “a sign of passive-aggressive behavior.” Rather than presenting specific evidence, the

essay makes general references to the text (e.g., “In their verbal encounter, neither Pickle nor Gauntlet says

anything directly insulting towards the other”). Although the analysis is somewhat underdeveloped, the

essay manages to present a plausible reading in writing that shows adequate control. This essay is not as

well conceived, organized, or developed as one would expect of essays in the 7−6 range of the scoring guide;

it thus earned a score of 5.

ENGLISH LITERATURE

2017 SCORING COMMENTARY

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Question 2 (continued)

Sample: 2C

Score: 3

This essay fails to offer an adequate analysis of the passage. The essay mentions “pace, tone of the

characters, and word usage (Diction)” and references the two characters, but it does not analyze how these

elements function in the excerpt sufficiently well enough to explain how they convey the interplay between

emotions and social propriety. The analysis is partial and unconvincing. The essay consists almost entirely of

summary, but it does offer some slight analysis: the first body paragraph, on tone, for example, explains that

“[a]s the novel progresses the tone of both men change [sic]. When Gauntlet first spoke he held himself with

dignaty [sic]; only wanting a simple answer. And right before the duel he was yelling insults to the young

man.” The essay as a whole relies on weak and incomplete summary and paraphrase, for example, “[b]oth felt

threatened by each other. One being accused of being dishonorable and the other their gentelmanliness

being questioned [sic].” Inept writing and an inadequate understanding of the effects of tone and pace

combine to generate such unfocused statements as “how as the duel was over how the pace got slower

when he made the choice to walk away, showing his social stature; his gentelmanlyness [sic].” The

proliferation of partial, unconnected points, numerous imprecise statements, inept writing, and inadequate

analysis earned this essay a score of 3.