“It All Comes Down
to Reading the Latin”

Wells S. Hansen (Milton Academy, MA)

The AP Course Description notes that students are expected to translate accurately from Latin to English, to demonstrate understanding of grammatical structures and of vocabulary, to understand poetic meter, literary techniques, and the historical, political and cultural context of the works they read. In fact, though, what is essential for a student is to read Latin, and that principle underlies every question on the exam.

The paper focuses on common errors of inclusion and exclusion on essays and “spot” (short answer) questions. AP students sometimes construct clever and well-written essays that do not demonstrate the students’ mastery of the Latin, and hence earn low grades.

The paper reviews briefly the rubrics used in scoring essay and spot questions, the intent of question developers in designing the questions, and the analysis of the chief readers (CFCs) in recent years. All these data point to the same fact: the skills students use to write excellent literal translations are the same skills they employ in writing the best essays.

A knowledge of what the examiners expect will help teachers prepare students to write more effective responses. When students remember that the AP examinations are essentially “Latin tests” and not tests of creativity, background knowledge, or writing fluency, they focus on the elements of the examination that are most important.

The paper concludes with practical suggestions on how to prepare students to read closely, think critically, and stay on-point in their writing. These are skills highly valued in the AP class and beyond.