What Is the "APLC Survival Guide?"

Some of you may be asking yourself a few questions, the most important of which being, "What is this so-called 'APLC Survival Guide?'"

First off, a better question could be, "What is APLC?" Well, APLC is both the acronym of and the quickest way to type "Advanced Placement Language and Composition [often stylized as 'Language & Composition']."

Now then. AP Language & Composition can be a pretty terrifying-sounding course. It doesn't just sound like one; it is. It might even be the most terrifying course of your high school career. Especially if you have absolutely no idea what you're getting into. This Survival Guide is an attempt to mentally and physically prepare you for the grueling, intense battleground of the Advanced Placement English classroom.

About the Survival Guide


Yeah, sure, just ignore this page, if you really want to. Everything you really, totally need to know, you must already know, right?

Of course you do. Because you're you, and everyone knows you're the best. Right?

Okay, if you couldn't answer yes to that honestly, good. That means we might actually get somewhere!

Obviously, this is a survival guide, if you couldn't guess from, you know, the title, the description, the title, this page, or even the title. Said survival guide was created as, believe it or not, a project. I know, right? Coolest project ever. No grades for punctuation or grammar? I'm in. Of course, you must be wondering...

Why would you need a survival guide for some stupid English class, if you're fluent in the language?

First off, if everyone was fluent in English, I don't think people would be required to take it during pretty much every year of their schooling, when English is their native tongue. That being said, there are totally guidelines for every class, right? Well...English courses tend to be far more strict and confusing. With the exception of, possibly, physics or chemistry...I will stand by the fact that science has its own language--and therefore, various dialects, such as biology and chemistry--until the day I die. Maybe high school should give Foreign Language credits for science classes, as well.

Anyway, on the topic of guidelines for the oh-so-wonderful English language, there are some basic principles, right? Synonyms, grammar, punctuation, syntax, and several other wonderfully hard to pronounce things are just a few of these "basic" principles. Well, APLC likes to expand on all of these principles. Tenfold. Yippee.

Think of the hardest English course you've ever taken. Now imagine you had the worst possible teacher, who liked to explain things in difficult ways, therefore making the course (and, of course, the finals and standardized tests) far more excruciating. Multiply that fear times, well, let's say one hundred. Now you have a slight inkling of how difficult APLC can (and, quite possibly will) be for someone.

This here guide was created with the intentions of helping you out, giving you helpful hints and tips, and just generally exposing the secrets of succeeding in any English class--not just AP Lang. Among the things planned for your survival are a top five list (incremented into several posts to increase the suspense; it would only be natural.) of things you absolutely must know before you even think about taking this course and even some of my own examples (including my personal writing--both good and bad), to give you an idea of what to expect.

Hope you stick around for this exceedingly important guide to really get going! You certainly won't regret it.
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