AP LANGUAGE · UNITS 1 AND 2
This is help for you to do better on the Unit 1 and Unit 2 retakes. Two ways in: read the study notes for your unit, then practice with a review coach that teaches you the moves, gives you one try at a time, and tells you honestly how you did. Bring your composition book.
How to use this page
1. Read. Open the notes for your unit and read with your composition book beside you.
2. Practice. Open the review coach for your unit, pick a topic (or choose Everything), and work the challenges.
3. Write. Head It, Catch It, Make It Yours, Star It: capture the lines and moves you will use on the retake.
UNIT 1 · RHETORIC AND SATIRE
Unit 1 Retake Notes: Rhetoric and Satire
Swift and Gehrig, and the four big ideas the retake tests: the rhetorical situation, the defensible thesis, satire and the persona split, and commentary that earns points.
What you will be able to do
- Analyze a rhetorical situation with SOAPSTone, including exigence and audience beliefs, values, and needs (RHS-1)
- Write a defensible thesis that passes the Hater’s Test and uses a concession pivot (CLE-1)
- Separate an author from a persona in satire, and explain how irony and refutation carry the real claim (CLE-1, STL-1)
- Write commentary that explains how and why a writer’s choice works on the audience (REO-1)
UNIT 2 · AUDIENCE, EVIDENCE, THESIS
Unit 2 Retake Notes: Audience, Evidence, Thesis
The three moves the retake tests: read the audience and aim the appeals, judge evidence like a skeptic, and synthesize paragraph claims into one thesis that holds the argument.
What you will be able to do
- Read an audience’s beliefs, values, and needs, and choose appeals as strategies aimed at them (Skills 1.B, 2.B)
- Judge evidence by type, function, quality, and sufficiency, and name what a weak set is missing (CLE-1.F, CLE-1.H)
- Synthesize paragraph claims into one defensible thesis that previews the line of reasoning (Skills 3.B, 4.B)
- State an opposing view fairly with They Say / I Say, and answer it without a straw man (CLE-1.I, CLE-1.J)
Getting into the review coaches
Both coaches live in one MagicSchool room: AP Lang Unit 1 and Unit 2 Review. Click either gold Practice button above, or go to student.magicschool.ai and enter the room code UZoPpw. Pick the coach for your unit, choose a topic or take the full Everything route, and finish with the reflection question: which move will you catch on the retake?