Advanced Placement Latin
Course Description
The objective of this course is to read selections from Vergil’s Aeneid and Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War (DBG) in order to prepare for the difficult three-hour Advanced Placement Latin exam, given nationally in early May. Students will develop skills in reading, translating, and analyzing Latin texts, as well as demonstrating contextual knowledge, making connections to other disciplines, and making comparisons between Latin and English usages. Each student will have to pay approximately $87.00 for this exam; financial assistance is available to those who qualify.
To that end, most class sessions will be spent reciting, translating, and discussing the assigned Latin passages as well as translating and discussing sight passages.
All students in AP Latin must take two standardized tests: (i) the National Latin exam in March; and (ii) the AP Latin exam in May. Another highly recommended exam is the SAT II Latin subject test December.
Our goals for the year are:
- You will love Vergil, the Aeneid, and appreciate their significance
- You will appreciate Ceasar’s commentarii and their historic and ethnographic significance
- You will master the vocabulary, syntax, content, and context of Vergil’s Aeneid and Caesar’s Commentarii
- You will earn a gold medal on the National Latin Exam
- You will score at least a 4 on the AP Vergil Test
- You will score a 625 or above on the SAT II: Subject Test if you choose to take it.
Syllabus for the Exam
The following lines of the Aeneid will be read in Latin:
Book I: 1 – 209; 418 – 440; 494 – 578
Book II: 40 – 56; 201 – 249; 268 – 297; 559 – 620
Book IV: 160 – 218; 259 – 361; 659 – 705
Book VI: 295 – 332; 384 – 425; 450 – 476; 847 – 899
Familiarity with the content of Books 1 through 12 will also be tested. The entire epic will be read in English translation.
The following chapters of the Gallic War will be read in Latin:
Book I: Chapters 1–7
Book IV: Chapters 24-35 and the first sentence of Chapter 36
Book V: Chapters 24–48
Book VI: Chapters 13–20
Books I, VI, and VII of the Gallic War will be read in English.
Evaluation
Term grades will be calculated thus:
Preparation & Participation 30%
Tests & Quizzes 50%
Products/Projects 20%
Preparation & Participation
The preparation & participation grade (30%) is derived from completion of homework, and from our reading sessions together as a class. At each session, each student will read in turn and I will assign a grade of 1-5 based on your preparation and execution of the assigned lines. At times, I will take volunteers first; at times, I will call on students randomly.
5: completely prepared, mistakes, if any, are minor (e.g. tense of verb)
4: prepared, but with several mistakes, including vocabulary; your response is lucid and fluid
3: somewhat prepared, but with making critical mistakes; your response is labored and unpolished
2: not prepared, with many mistakes, but you roughly have the overall sense
1: totally unprepared; unresponsive
In order to prepare assigned passages for class, you must scan (for poetry only), translate as literally as possible, learn vocabulary, learn commentary notes, and be prepared to interpret.
It is monumentally important that you keep a complete list of unknown vocabulary and notes on difficult forms and syntax. Inherent in this is your ability to acquire good note-taking skills both in preparation for and in response to class discussion.
Tests and Quizzes
The tests will be modeled off of the Advanced Placement test. This format is for your benefit in making the AP Test itself a more successful venture for you.
Section I (50%): Multiple Choice (equal parts grammar, translation, and allusion/explication of inference; 1-2 questions each of metrics, figures of speech, and cultural/literary background). Questions are based on two passages – one read and one unread before.
Section II (50%): Free Response (two small translations of 3-5 lines each and one essay interpreting/responding to a particular passage or comparing two passages, and two short answer questions)
Additional quizzes on vocabulary, translation, and other course related materials will occur on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays.
Products/Projects
Independently student-generated projects will accompany the coursework. Projects must be turned in, on time, to Ms. Mix. Late projects will lose twenty-five percentage points for each day late. The student may be called upon to present his/her project to the class, for a presentation grade.
Academic Integrity
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Do not pass in someone else’s work under the pretense that it is your own. Copying someone else’s homework will result in a zero for all students involved.
Be aware that I have read most of the available translations. I can easily detect the use of online “translation” tools. Do not cheat yourself by memorizing a translation. You are only hurting your own chances of success. Of course, you must not give or receive aid on quizzes or tests.
Internet Access
As a college preparatory school, Boston Latin Academy prepares its students for a 21st century classroom. Part of this course will include an online component. If Internet access is not available at home, the BLA school library and all Boston Public Library branches offer free Internet access.
Some course material will be available here.
Ms. Mix's Latin Classes 