You Fell Victim to One of the Classic Blunders (3 - C)

In my completely honest opinion, synthesis prompts are weird. Synthesis essays are basically just advanced arguments, but they're just kind of wack. Argument prompts are all like "describe the connection between certainty and doubt," while synthesis prompts are "so, wind farms?"

Nah, I'm just kidding. I actually quite liked the synthesis essay, even though we learned it a bit too close to test date for comfort. It did give me major PTSD from APUSH sophomore year, when I absolutely BOMBED every DBQ we wrote all year (yes, including the one on the exam), but a DBQ is a lot more complicated than an AP Lang synthesis. I used to think that it was way too much to have to be able to read seven documents AND put them together into a cohesive, thoughtful essay in under an hour; now I think I could do it in my sleep (hyperbole, but the point has been made). 

We spent a rather long time on our first synthesis, going through it piece by piece in groups and focusing on the relationships between the documents. It didn't erase my anxiety completely (let's be honest, nothing will), but it certainly helped me feel more comfortable. I felt as prepared as I could have been by the time we wrote the essay in class, and I didn't do horrible on it.

In this lovely piece about the process behind planning and building monuments, you can read all of my petty and angry comments about how a monument depicting Christopher Columbus is absolutely absurd. It's nowhere close to my best or favorite synthesis, but for my first legitimate synthesis, it's adequate. 

"Why do you say 'legitimate synthesis,' Teagan?" Well, crazy voice in my head, I say this because, plot twist, this in class synthesis was not the first timed and graded synthesis I wrote in my glorious AP Lang career. In fact, my first one was none other than the one I had to write on the mock AP test, you know, the one we did before we had finished learning everything (this is not a jab at Ms. McMahon and I'm not even salty about it, I just like acting petty for entertainment). And, plot twist part two, I actually didn't fail that synthesis!

And before you ask, yes, voice in my head, I am this dramatic in writing, but only if I'm really into it. This may be a sign that I'm having a bit too much fun with this blog, but is that really a bad thing? (please don't give me a bad grade, Ms. McMahon, I'm trying really hard)

Anyway, remember before how I was talking about how wack synthesis prompts are? This one was a little less so, but it was also rather amusing because I am a gen z teenager who lives vicariously through memes on the internet. That's right, I got to write an entire essay about veganism, and I wasn't even sarcastic! And I got a 7, which is, I guess, the real point of including this piece. 

I know, a whole three pages! And in pen, the writing utensil that was created to make me go insane! (all that darn INK everywhere!) But anyway, the point of including this piece is to show just how awesome I am at writing synthesis essays, so amazing that I could write one with no prior practice and still get a 7. What's that? Oh, no, head voice, I'm not this narcissistic in real life. 

In all, non-sarcastic honesty, even though we learned the synthesis last and only a few weeks before test date, I was already pretty comfortable with it. I guess that's just another example of how well this class prepared me for things: I didn't need to know the specifics of a synthesis to be able to write a good one, just the essay basics I had already been taught. Yes, it was difficult and confusing to have to incorporate sources into my argument without having any prior experience, but even then, I used all three of my sources in the first paragraph and none in the second one, and I still got a high grade. That alone gave me more confidence going into the test, because I already knew that the structure didn't have to be perfect for me to do well. So, in a way, the start of AP Lang broke down any confidence I'd ever had in my essay writing, but over the course of the year, it built it all back up again and reinforced it; I just didn't realize it until it showed itself in my writing. I doubt I'll ever be able to structure a synthesis perfectly, but I know I've been prepared enough and don't need it to be perfect for it to be at least acceptable. 

The golden rule of synthesis