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Home > Advice from the Chief Reader
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Advice from the Chief Reader
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| | The following advice was written by the Chief Reader for AP Studio Art, after the 2001 AP Reading.
I can't stress enough the importance of high quality slides. At the Reading, the slides are not projected; they are viewed with magnifiers on a light box. That means that if the slides look dark when projected, they will be very difficult to make out on the light box. Readers cannot fairly evaluate what they cannot see. I would recommend that you instruct students to shoot slides over the course of the year rather than waiting until the portfolio deadline approaches to shoot them all. If slides are shot early, then those that are too dark or out of focus can be re-taken. To evaluate the slides, look at them as the Readers do, with a magnifier over a light box. If you can't see the work, they can't see it either. The College Board's Teacher's Guide to AP Courses in Studio Art has a complete description of effective slide shooting procedures.
Remind students that they have an opportunity to illuminate their work with a Concentration statement. Though these statements are not scored, they provide invaluable assistance to Readers as they look at the work. A good Concentration statement gives a clear and concise verbal accompaniment to the visual work; it will convey a sense of the direction of investigation in the Concentration and provide insights into what the student learned in the process of doing the work. I think that it would be fruitful for students to write a statement at the beginning of their work on the Concentration, and then revise it when the portfolio is due. This type of reflection over time can provide excellent insight for the student in understanding the process of their work, and can assure that the statement actually helps the Readers look at the work. Further, it is advisable to type the statement whenever possible to assure readability.
The order of slides can also be illuminating; one of the qualities Readers are looking for is development of skill and idea. If slides are placed to effectively demonstrate this, it works to the student's benefit. Readers generally read the slides left to right, top to bottom, and a common assumption is that the more recent (well-developed) work is at the bottom. Although Readers adjust when this is obviously not the order the student used, in general it is a good idea to place the slides in the order of reading preferences.
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