How to write the AP Lang rhetorical analysis essay: exam skills quiz quiz

5 points

6 points

7 points

9 points

Thesis 1, evidence and commentary 3, sophistication 2

Thesis 2, evidence and commentary 3, sophistication 1

Thesis 3, evidence and commentary 2, sophistication 1

Thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1

By pairing clinical precision with sudden personal grief, the writer earns the reader's trust before asking for action.

The writer uses ethos, pathos, and logos throughout.

The writer was a doctor writing about an outbreak.

This passage is persuasive and well written.

Quoting too little of the passage

Using the word 'rhetoric' too often

Writing too many paragraphs

Labeling devices instead of analyzing their effect

The last sentence of the passage

The italicized note before the passage

The longest paragraph

Your own opinion of the topic

At least eight

Every device in the passage

Exactly one

Two or three key choices

Summary retells what the passage says; analysis explains how the writer says it and why it works

Analysis is shorter than summary

Summary uses quotations and analysis does not

There is no difference

Situating the passage in a broader tension or explaining how the choices work together

Listing more rhetorical devices

Repeating the thesis in every paragraph

Writing a much longer essay

A counterclaim

Ethos through experience and authority

Logos through statistics

Pathos through fear

A full page per choice

No commentary, just the quotation

Two to three sentences explaining its effect

One word naming the device

Analyze the writer's choices

Establish the rhetorical situation

Argue whether you agree with the writer's message

Explain the effect of choices on the audience

Five minutes total

Spend the whole time annotating and never write

About 8 to 10 minutes reading and planning, then about 28 to 30 minutes writing

Write immediately with no planning