AP Latin Multiple-Choice Item Writing Tutorial
How to Choose a Passage: Sight Passage (Poetry)

1. Choose a poem or excerpt written in either the dactylic or elegiac meter.
   
   
2. Choose an author whose poetry is stylistically compatible with poetry on the AP syllabus (although the time period may vary from that of Ennius to Claudian and beyond). The AP Test Development Committee does not use a list of suggested authors. You may wish to consider, but are not limited to, authors such as:
   
   

Lucan
Lucretius
Martial
Ovid (works not on the syllabus)
Propertius
Tibullus

3. Select a text.
   
   
• If possible, use the most recent Oxford Classical Text edition; otherwise, use the Loeb or another standard edition.
  
  
• Adjust capitalization to conform to common English usage. Change accusative plurals in -is to -es and consonantal u to v. Do not use j for consonantal i. You may adjust punctuation to increase clarity.
  
  
4. Seek a passage that
   
   
• is 8 to 12 lines in length
  
  
• is an entire poem or, if an excerpt, treats a self-contained incident
  
  
• employs manageable vocabulary and syntax (though glosses may be used)
  
  
• lends itself to a variety of item types (grammar, translation/comprehension, reference, metrics, figures of speech)
  
  
• is not likely to be found in school textbooks (a very important consideration)
  
  

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