Award-Winning AP English Language and Composition Tutors
serving Ann Arbor, MI

AP Lang is ultimately about rhetoric: understanding how writers construct arguments through tone, structure, and strategic evidence. Martha's PhD research at Michigan requires exactly this kind of analytical reading — dissecting published studies for their persuasive strategies — and she applies that same lens to teaching students how to decode synthesis prompts and write arguments that earn top scores on the exam.

Rhetorical analysis is the backbone of AP Lang, and it demands a vocabulary most high schoolers haven't developed yet — understanding how ethos, logos, and pathos function in a real argument, not just defining them on a flashcard. Allie unpacks professional essays and speeches with students, showing them how to identify an author's strategic choices and write about those choices with specificity. Her own writing background means she can model the kind of tight, evidence-driven prose the exam rewards.

Most AP Lang students can spot a metaphor — the harder skill is explaining why an author chose that metaphor in that moment and what it does to the argument's momentum. Mark's English and History degree from the University of Detroit Mercy trained him to read nonfiction as a series of deliberate choices, and he walks students through how to translate that close reading into timed essays that analyze rather than summarize.

I'm working towards a B.S. in Physics at Michigan State University with a minor in Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering. I've made the Chancellor's List every semester and am a member of my university's Honors College. I've worked with students as young as 11 and as old as 25 for the past couple of years, both online and in-person. Since I'm still a student myself, I can relate to clients and teach in a way that creates a comfortable and safe space. I tutor a broad range of subjects and would love to help you!

Todd's social work training at the University of Chicago — where every case study demanded parsing competing narratives and constructing evidence-backed arguments — maps directly onto what AP Lang asks students to do with nonfiction prose. His biology background also means he's comfortable coaching students through the science-heavy source sets that frequently appear in synthesis prompts, where translating data into persuasive claims is half the battle. Rated 5.0 by students.

A published novelist with a Penn M.S. in Education and a B.A. in English from the University of Washington, Christian has spent years inside the mechanics of persuasive prose — not just reading it, but constructing it from scratch. That dual perspective sharpens his AP Lang teaching, especially when it comes to the argument essay, where he coaches students to treat their own writing the way an author revises a manuscript: tightening claims, cutting weak evidence, and making every sentence earn its place.

AP Lang is fundamentally an argumentation course, and Richard's Government major at Harvard means he spends most of his academic life analyzing rhetorical strategies in political speeches, policy briefs, and persuasive essays. He teaches students to dissect how authors deploy ethos, logos, and pathos — then apply that same awareness to their own synthesis and argument essays. That analytical muscle is exactly what earns 7s, 8s, and 9s on the free-response section.

AP English Language is really a course in rhetoric — understanding how writers use structure, diction, and evidence to persuade specific audiences. Michelle's MA in American Studies at Columbia centered on exactly this: analyzing speeches, essays, and cultural texts for their argumentative strategies. She teaches students to write synthesis and rhetorical analysis essays that go beyond summary and actually engage with how a source works.

Scoring well on AP Lang means recognizing how writers construct arguments — the difference between an anecdote used as evidence and one used as an emotional hook, or why a concession strengthens rather than weakens a claim. Kirstie unpacks rhetorical strategies like ethos, logos, and kairos through real op-eds and speeches, then applies that same analytical lens to students' own argumentative writing. Her 1550 SAT reflects the kind of reading and writing precision this exam demands.

The rhetorical analysis essay on AP Lang is where most students lose points, often because they summarize the author's argument instead of dissecting how it's constructed. Cassandra teaches students to spot specific persuasive moves — appeals to authority, strategic concessions, shifts in diction — and explain their effect on the audience. She's rated 4.9 across her subjects.

AP English Language is where Patrick's two degrees converge perfectly — English Literature gives him deep fluency with rhetorical analysis, while Linguistics gives him the technical vocabulary to explain how syntax, diction, and structure create persuasive effects. He has taught academic writing to students ranging from middle schoolers to university freshmen, so he knows how to build the kind of evidence-driven argumentation the AP exam's free-response questions demand.

Trained in NYU's Accelerated MAT program for Secondary English, Jennifer knows the AP Lang exam inside and out — from rhetorical analysis essays to the synthesis prompt's demand for integrating multiple sources into a cohesive argument. She teaches students to identify an author's strategic choices (diction, structure, appeals) and articulate their effects with precision, which is exactly what earns high marks on the rhetorical analysis free response.

Denay's public policy training at the University of Chicago — where every seminar meant tearing apart policy arguments and rebuilding them with sharper evidence — maps directly onto what AP Lang essays require: identifying how authors construct claims, deploy data, and anticipate opposition. She teaches the synthesis essay as a policy brief in miniature, showing students how to integrate multiple sources into a single coherent argument rather than summarizing each one in sequence. Rated 5.0 by students.

Medical school trains you to read dense, argument-driven texts and extract exactly what matters — a skill Abrahim now applies to AP Lang's multiple-choice passages and timed essay prompts. His biology degree from UCLA (cum laude) required extensive analytical writing, and he teaches students to construct argument and synthesis essays the way a scientist builds a case: clear claim, targeted evidence, no filler. Rated 5.0 by students.

AP English Language is essentially an argument class, and Jenna spent three years in law school doing nothing but dissecting and constructing arguments. She teaches students to identify rhetorical strategies like appeals, tone shifts, and structural choices in source texts, then deploy those same tools in their own synthesis and persuasive essays.

AP Lang is ultimately about argument — how writers build it, how readers detect it, and how students construct their own on exam day. Shreya tackles rhetorical analysis by teaching students to identify specific moves like concession, juxtaposition, and shifts in tone, then translate those observations into thesis-driven essays that earn top scores.