Everything I need to know about college I learned in AP Lit

The idea behind Advanced Placement (AP) classes is that you get a taste of a college workload and experience in order to test the waters, so to speak. This is why you get college credits for the majority of AP classes in which you score at a certain level on their respective tests. Granted, I got credit for 3s that now require at least a 4 to even be considered for credit. Thank you AP Biology. But honestly, half of the AP classes I took were no different from high school classes I was taking simultaneously, the only difference being that they were essentially over by the second week of May.

This was not the case for AP Literature, thanks to Mrs. Stairet. She taught her class in almost an identical way to the literature courses I've had at Whitworth so far, and in some cases I think she did it better than some of my professors here have, at times. Especially for someone who went into studying English, that class gave me an incredible advantage in college classes, especially in the areas of critical theory. I came into Reading Lit with a working knowledge of at least 5 different approaches to literature, while the majority of my classmates were still analyzing plot development as the "rising action."

And in light of my evening that has been spent cranking out a 10-page literary analysis paper, Mrs. Stairet was right on target. She trained me in how to write an independent thesis without having someone spoon-feed me ideas. She gave me the close reading tools to be able to annotate a novel as I go, even before I know my writing topic. And logistically, I can now write lengthy papers at high quality in one sitting, or at least a decent first draft. I appreciate high school teachers who teach to prepare, rather than teach to meet a template lesson plan.