5 Steps to a 5: Writing the AP English Essay 2018

by Barbara L. Murphy

This insider’s guide provides everything you need to write powerful, high-scoring essays on the AP English Essay

5 Steps to a 5: Writing the AP English Essay 2018 introduces an easy to follow, effective 5-step study plan to help you build the skills, knowledge, and writing confidence you need to achieve a high score on the essay. This valuable guide matches the latest course syllabus and explains exactly what the graders are look for in the essay. You’ll find expert advice and strategies to help you write great essays, as well as tons of essay writing practice.  5 Steps to a 5: Writing the AP English Essay 2018

• Examples of AP essays from varied subject areas• Strategies and techniques to help you write effective, well-received essays • Advice for planning, prewriting, writing, and reviewing your essay• Sample student essays with expert commentary

390 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2017

Reviews

[Sophia F · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all honesty, this book could not keep my attention. Although it is supposed to serve as a guide towards writing the AP English Essay, it continually drives the reader away to perform "warm-ups." I did not see the necessity of having a "warm-up" nearly every single page of the book. Some of these warm-ups are used as examples to prove the definition or identification of a certain vocabulary term, but these words don't need proof. Showing the reader the definition should be sufficient, instead of going on a tangent about other concepts not pertaining to the exam, or about English at all.
Other warm-ups try to personalize the experience, having the reader mark what applies to them or fill in the blanks due to certain topics. This is also a structure that I did not find helpful. Not every single prompt or novel/play is going to work perfectly with a fill-in-the-blank structure. I also understand that for some it is helpful to see other media (e.g. ads) in a way that can be interpreted to help prepare for the AP English essays, but I'd rather be studying useful vocabulary than identifying the subject/purpose/audience for ads, (page 34).
This book manages to do a good job at providing an initial list of concepts that need to be understood and breaking each one down individually, but the warm-ups overall irritated me beyond the point of assisting me in preparing. Don't get me wrong, other students may find this book to be incredibly helpful due to its personalized examples, but it did not help me at all.