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

1. Choose an author whose prose is clear and of intermediate to advanced intermediate (undergraduate) level of difficulty. 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:
   
   

Caesar
Cicero (works not on the syllabus)
Gellius
Livy
Nepos
Pliny the Younger
Sallust

2. 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. Add macrons only where their presence will help students distinguish between forms; e.g., over the a in the ablative singular of the first declension.
  
  
3. Seek a passage that
   
   
• is approximately 100-120 words, or approximately 9-13 lines in an Oxford Classical Text
  
  
• is an excerpt that 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, figures of speech, background)
  
  
• is not likely to be found in school textbooks (a very important consideration)
  
  

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