The Ten Commandments of Writing and Testing

 1. I am the Prompt, thy Prompt; thou shalt have no other Prompt before me. Thou shalt                  read the Prompt with rapt attention; the Prompt is thy friend. Thou shalt address the                Prompt.  Thou shalt not just get the general idea of the Prompt, nor shalt thou fight the               Prompt or substitute thine own ideas forthe Prompt.

 2. Thou shalt not postpone, omit or bury thy Thesis Statement.

 3. Thou shalt not commit plot-summary, for it is an abomination in my sight.

 4. Thou shalt not commit free-floating generalization, but shall support and develop thy every assertion.

 5. Thou shalt not mistake complexity for confusion, or subtlety for indecisiveness.  The fact that thou gettest not the point doesn't mean that the passage hath no point: thou hast missed the point. Deal with it.

 6. Thou shalt read every multiple choice or short answer question with the same exquisite care that thou devotest to the essay Prompt: thou shalt not 'get the drift.' By the same token, thou shalt strive to read what the writer actually wrote, not what thou expectest him or her to have written.

 7. Thou shalt not finish timed writings early. Thou shalt spend plenty of thy time

planning thine essay responses and reading them over.

 8. Thou shalt guess when thou knowest not the answers, but thou shalt be asked to prove thine answers.

 9. Thou shalt not merely identify rhetorical and stylistic devices, but shalt show how they function and why the author useth them..

 10. Thou shalt never permit thyself to become discouraged: I am the prompt, thy Prompt. Thou shalt maintain thy focus, attention and confidence. Yea, though thou hast totally screwed up thy last essay, this next essay maketh a fresh start.

 (adapted from Paula Jay’s Ten Commandments of AP Language)