Between now and the exam, you may prepare for the final section by selecting the prompt you wish to discuss, by completing and reviewing your new free-choice book, by marking your book (if you own it), by selecting quotations, by making notes, and by writing an outline (if you wish). To the exam, we require that you bring one page of notes and outline (one side of one page of paper, please) and the book about which you will write. You may not draft the essay at home, you may not use any secondary sources (in print or online), nor may you discuss this prompt or your ideas with anyone other than another sophomore, Dr. Hood, or Mrs. Johnson.

PART III: LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION (55%)

Allow at least an hour to complete this section.

Respond to one of the prompts below in an organized, thoughtful, and titled composition that takes your reader on a smooth journey to a destination different from (but growing from) your starting point. Using the notes and free-choice book you have most recently read and brought with you to the exam, demonstrate what you have learned about drafting, revising, and proofreading to create a coherent, confident, and competent text. Support your ideas with specific references to and with correctly cited quotations from the text. You might also support your ideas with reference to your own life and experience.

Write in ink on one side of the paper we give to you, skipping one or two lines to leave room for revising, editing, and proofreading. Include a "Work Cited" page. Staple the final copy, all drafts, and your notes to the back of the exam in reverse chronological order (final version of composition first and so on). Label parts clearly and number your pages correctly.

Warning: Avoid mere plot summary! Focus on your idea!

1. Tim O’Brien has said that "stories can save us" by reminding us of our "essential humanity" through exploring "psychological, emotional, and spiritual terrain." Discuss how the free-choice book reminds you of your essential humanity.
2. Pablo Picasso said, "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth." Discuss how the free-choice book made you realize a specific truth.
3. Discuss the "weight" of something specific (memory or guilt or otherness or responsibility or . . . ) suggested in the free-choice book.
4. Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." Discuss a central question the free-choice book raises and the extent to which it suggests any answers.
5. Identify and discuss an especially American theme or conflict or value in the free-choice book.