As the AP exam gives students a 15 minute reading period prior to commencing the timed essays, we today began examining the essay portion of a practice test by first reading all of the essay material which includes 6 sources for the synthesis essay, an argumentative prompt, and a speech . Matthew then began his synthesis essay in class. We worked on pacing and toward the end of the session, I reviewed the first paragraphs of Matthew's essay and provided direction on avoiding merely summarizing sources rather than creating and arguing a thesis .