LATIN V AP SYLLABUS
I. GOAL (as stated by the College Board):
AP Latin is designed to provide advanced high school students with a rich and rigorous Latin course, approximately equivalent to an upper-intermediate college or university Latin course. Students who successfully complete the course are able to read, understand, translate, and analyze Latin poetry and prose.
II. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Reading and Comprehending
- Translation
- Contextualization
- Analysis of Texts
III. METHODOLOGY:
- Practice sight reading and translating
- Practice writing literal translations to show understanding of grammar and syntax
- Demonstrate mastery of grammatical forms, syntactic structures, and terminology
- Practice scansion indication, elision, and quantities
- Practice identifying figures of speech
- Study of pertinent vocabulary used in the Aeneid and Gallic Wars
- Study of pertinent Roman cultural, social, and political history
- Study of ancient epic and history as a literary genre
IV. REQUIRED READING: Latin and English lines assigned on AP syllabus
V. REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- 2 NOTEBOOKS: a large, three ring binder for notes, translations, classwork, handouts, etc.; one for Vergil and one for Caesar
- Aeneid in English translation
- Suggested: Translation by Allen Mandelbaum
VI. PROCEDURES:
a. Homework: Students will prepare translations over a set of Latin lines for homework nearly every night. All prepared translation assignments will be discussed in class for accuracy in grammatical forms, vocabulary, and basic content understanding. Each day the students will be quizzed on the assigned lines from the previous day. The format of these preparation quizzes will be either oral or written.
b. Quizzes:
- Quizzes on sight translations
- Quizzes on daily classwork/homework
- Quizzes on scansion, literary terms, and grammar
- Quizzes on vocabulary
- Tests: Tests on translations of works already read with essay questions on content, figures of speech, and analysis as well as literal translations and grammar questions *designed in AP format
- Projects/Presentations
SYLLABUS
Vergil, Aeneid
Required Readings in Latin
Book 1: Lines 1-209, 418-440, 494-578
Book 2: Lines 40-56, 201-249, 268-297, 559-620
Book 4: Lines 160-218, 259-361, 659-705
Book 6: Lines 295-332, 384-425, 450-476, 847-899
Required Readings in English
Books 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12
Caesar, Gallic War
Required Readings in Latin
Book 1: Chapters 1-7
Book 4: Chapters 24-35 and the first sentence of Chapter 36
Book 5: Chapters 24-48
Book 6: Chapters 13-20
Required Readings in English
Books 1, 6, 7
The Latin lines required are complete passages that represent crucial and important scenes from the works. The purpose of the English readings is to put the Latin passages in context, with their significant themes, central characters, and key ideas. The English also helps students relate the passages studied in Latin to the overarching themes and essential questions proposed for the course.
AP LATIN EXAM
The AP Latin Exam tests students ability to 1) write a literal translation of Latin passages on the syllabus, 2) explain specific words or phrases in context, 3) identify context and significance of short excerpts from the syllabus, 4) identify and analyze characteristic or noteworthy features of the author’s manner of expression, including use of word choice and placement, imagery, figures of speech, sound and metrical effects in certain passages, 5) discuss themes in specific passages and their relevancy to the whole work(s), and 6) analyze characters or situations in specific passages.
A student must convince the reader that he/she is drawing conclusions or support from the Latin text and not from a general recall of the passage. Therefore, the student must write out the Latin lines, accurately translate or paraphrase, and discuss on the free-response section of the exam. The Chief Reader of the AP Latin Exam states: “Students need to understand that paraphrase or description is not synonymous with real literary analysis….Those who succeed read Latin well, have developed a real sense of the author, understand the cultural context of the work, and may well have formulated original interpretations that caused the readers to reconsider their own understanding of the literature.”
EXAM
SECTION I: MULTIPLE CHOICE
The first part is a multiple-choice section, which tests students’ ability to read and understand Latin poetry and prose syllabus readings and AT SIGHT. This section begins with two sections, ten questions each, over both authors on the AP Latin syllabus. The questions are on vocabulary, syntax, grammatical terminology, political, historical, and cultural contexts, scansion, stylistic features, and comprehension. The next portion is comprised on two sections, fifteen questions each, over sight readings. The questions are on vocabulary, syntax, grammatical terminology, political, historical, and cultural contexts, scansion, stylistic features, and comprehension.
50 QUESTIONS, 60 MINUTES, 50% OF OVERALL SCORE
SECTION II: FREE RESPONSE
The second part of the exam assesses the students’ ability in readings and comprehending, translation, contextualization, and analysis of texts. Question 1 and 2 in this section, the Vergil and Caesar translation, requires students to read syllabus-based passages and provide a literal translation of the Latin text. Question 3, the analytical essay, provides students with two excerpts from the required readings (two Vergil passages, two Caesar passages, or one from each). The passages will relate to each other by character, theme, or event. In a well-developed essay, students must provide an analysis of the text and must refer specifically to the Latin found in the excerpts to support the arguments. Questions 4 and 5 are short answers, one from the Aeneid and one from Gallic War. Students must answer a series of questions, including literal translation, scansion, grammatical constructions, contextualization, and connections to English readings.
5 QUESTIONS, 120 MINUTES, 50% OF OVERALL SCORE