MOCK EXAMINATION FOR GRADE 12

OAK INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

AP English Language and Composition

Free-Response Questions

SECTION II

Total time—2 hours and 15 minutes

Answer all 3 Questions Question 1 Suggested reading and writing time—55 minutes. It is
suggested that you spend 15 minutes reading the question, analyzing and evaluating the sources,
and 40 minutes writing your response. Note: You may begin writing your response before the
reading period is over. (This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

Urban rewilding is an effort to restore natural ecological processes and habitats in city
environments. Many cities around the world have embraced rewilding as part of larger
movement s to promote ecological conservation and environmentally friendly design. Now, a
movement to promote urban rewilding is beginning to take shape in the United States as well.
Carefully read the six sources, including the introductory information for each source. Write an
essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on
the extent to which rewilding initiatives are worthwhile for urban communities to pursue.

Source A (infographic from Fastnacht)

Source B (Jepson and Schepers policy brief)

Source C (NRPA article) Source

D (Garland article)

Source E (graph from McDonald et al.)

Source F (Chatterton book excerpt)

In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.

• Select and use evidence from at least three of the provided sources to support your line of
reasoning. Indicate clearly the sources used through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary.
Sources may be cited as Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the description in parentheses.

• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.

1
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

Source A

Fastnacht, Sarah. “The Necessity of Rewilding our Cities.” Makers of Sustainable Spaces,
MOSS, 29 Apr. 2021, moss.amsterdam/2021/04/29/rewilding-our-cities. The following
infographic is based on an image in a blog post published by an architecture and design company
that specializes in sustainability.

Note: Priority areas refers to

ecosystems identified by
researchers as particularly
important for biodiversity.
Sequestration is the capture of
carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere so that it does not
contribute to global climate
change.

Source B

Jepson, Paul, and Frans Schepers. “Making Space for Rewilding: Creating an Enabling Policy
Environment.” Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Europe, May 2016, www.rewildingeurope.com/
wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Making-Space-for-Rewilding-Policy-Brief1.pdf.

The following is excerpted from a policy brief published as a collaboration between the
University of Oxford and a nonprofit organization that promotes rewilding in Europe.

Rewilding is a powerful new term in conservation. This may be because it combines a sense of
passion and feeling for nature with advances in ecological science. The term resonates with
diverse publics and seems to have particular appeal to a younger urban generation and among
those who want a voice in shaping a new rural environment. Rewilding is exciting, engaging and

2
challenging: it is promoting debate and deliberation on what is natural and the natures we
collectively wish to conserve and shape. Rewilding is a multifaceted concept with three broad
dimensions that interact with each other: 1) restoring and giving space to natural processes, 2)
reconnecting wild(er) nature with the modern economy, and 3) responding to and shaping
cosmopolitan perceptions of nature conservation among European society. The following
principles are coming to characterise and guide rewilding as a distinct approach to conservation.
1. Restoring natural processes and ecological dynamics—both abiotic such as river flows, and
biotic such as the ecological web and food-chain—through reassembling lost guilds 1 of animals
in dynamic landscapes. 2. A gradated and situated approach, where the goal is to move up a scale
of wildness within the constraints of what is possible, and interacting with local cultural
identities. 3. Taking inspiration from the past but not replicating it. Developing new natural
heritage and value that evokes the past but shapes the future. 4. Creating self-sustaining, resilient
ecosystems (including re-connecting habitats and species populations within the wider
landscapes) that provide resilience to external threats and pressures, including the impact of
climate change (adaptation). 5. Working towards the ideal of passive management, where once
restored, we step back and allow dynamic natural processes to shape conservation outcomes. 6.
Creating new natural assets that connect with modern society and economy and promote
innovation, enterprise and investment in and around natural areas, leading to new nature-inspired
economies. 7. Reconnecting policy with popular conservation sentiment and a recognition that
conservation is a culturally dynamic as well as a scientific and technical pursuit. As a new
conservation frame, rewilding brings together established and newer conservation worldviews.
People are combining these in different ways creating different ‘shades’ of rewilding, many of
which have labels. This is a limitation and opportunity. On the one hand it exposes rewilding to
sensationalists media interpretations and charges of a lack of clarity, consensus and evidence by
groups within conservation science.

Free-Response Questions hand it reflects innovation and creates the possibility for a common,
but differentiated (situated) mode of conservation: one that is guided by a set of principles that
member states or regions can interpret in ways suited to their nature conservation traditions,
landscapes, culture and economies. 1 Groups of organisms that use natural resources in similar
ways

Source C

“Urban Rewilding.” Parks and Recreation, National Recreation and Park Association, 1
Nov. .2016, nrpa.org/parks-recreation-magazine/2016/november/urban-rewilding/.

The following is excerpted from an article in a magazine published by a nonprofit organization

that promotes parks and environmental conservation.

“Close your eyes for a moment and picture a place from childhood that’s extremely meaningful,”
directed Opening Session keynote speaker Dr. Scott Sampson. “Imagine what it looks like, feels

3
like, who you’re there with, what the smells are.” By an almost unanimous show of hands, Dr.
Scott, host and science advisor of the Emmy-nominated PBS KIDS television series “Dinosaur
Train” and author of How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with
Nature, illustrated how, for a large number in the audience, that extremely meaningful childhood
place involves the outdoors. The audience largely consisted of Baby Boomers/Generation Xers
who remember enjoying abundant, unstructured outdoor playtime as kids. For many of today’s
youth, those childhood places will look much different.… Imagine 25 years from now, he posits,
how many hands would be raised in response to the same question about a meaningful childhood
place involving the outdoors. “If people don’t spend any time outside, why are they going to care
about their local places let alone the national parks in the distance,” he asked. Dr. Scott suggests
that “urban rewilding” in our cities and towns is what’s needed to head off this crisis. Rewilding
is a term usually used in connection with reintroducing an apex predator into an ecosystem in an
attempt to restore balance. A familiar example of this top-down approach to restoring balance
would be the efforts to return wolves to Yellowstone Park. Urban rewilding is a bottom up
approach that starts with the simple act of planting mostly native plants. They are critical to
attracting native insects, which in turn attract birds and various animals back to the local
ecosystem. And, if we do urban rewilding right, cities could become places where nature is
welcome. And once that happens, we need to help children develop NEW eyes to see nature: to
notice it, engage with it—play is an important way for kids to engage with nature and it also
allows them to gain some experience with risk-taking, while developing a sense of wonder about
it. This movement to “rewild” or “wild” children touches on all three NRPA Pillars—
Conservation, Health and Wellness and Social Equity. However, it’s a movement that requires
big thinking about what we want the future to look like and for each community that future will
look different. It also will require deep collaboration among multiple organizations that bring
their various areas of expertise, each doing their part to achieve the end goal of successful,
thriving communities. “We’re at a juncture where the decisions we and the next generation make
will determine the course of this planet for thousands of years to come,” Dr. Scott noted. He then
challenged us to go out into our communities and think about what those collaborations could be,
look like and grow into, and to think big because “that’s where success resides.”

Source D

Garland, Lincoln. “Let Go of Some Urban Domestication: How Would You Convince the Mayor
to Re-wild the City?” The Nature of Cities, The Nature of Cities,
w.thenatureofcities.com/2017/11/13/re-wilding-make-cities-betterjust-wilder/.

The following is excerpted from an online discussion of urban rewilding in the United Kingdom
hosted by a nonprofit organization that publishes research and writing about cities. The author is
the associate director of an environmental consultancy.

There are certainly opportunities for introducing re-wilding in rural parts of the UK, in particular
in upland regions where, without subsidy, agriculture is economically unviable for the most part.

4
With respect to the UK’s cities, nature should also be allowed to take its own path in certain
select locations to create some semblance of wildness. I am unconvinced however that re-wilding
is the appropriate terminology or the approach to wildlife restoration that we should be pursuing
in UK cities at any meaningful scale. The large expanses of greenspace that would be required to
recreate fully functioning wildwood, including relatively large numbers of herbivores and viable
populations of naturally scarce predators at the top of food chain, are simply not available in our
cities, where space is increasingly at a premium. Sustainable urban design should be seeking to
avoid low-density sprawl and instead promote compact, transit-oriented, pedestrian-and-bicycle
friendly urban development that provides easy access to services. This development model is
crucial for tackling congestion and for reducing CO2 and other harmful emissions. Given this
compact city imperative, the proposition of devoting large areas of urban space for re-wilding in
anything approaching its true sense is untenable.… Some authors/practitioners respond that there
should be no minimum area thresholds for wilderness and re-wilding from an ecological
perspective, frequently quoting Aldo Leopold who declared that “no tract of land is too small for
the wilderness idea”. While it is true that ecosystems can be considered at the microcosm, there
really is not the space available to recreate complex self-sustaining food webs, with meaningful
ranges of predators and prey, in accordance with the true principles of re-wilding. Even ignoring
the seeming disregard for matters relating to population viability analysis and the principles of
island biogeography, other concerns remain. In those small areas where nature can be left to its
own devices, many people may have a profound dislike for the outcome that sometimes emerges.
Negative comments may be expressed relating to perceptions of safety, the appearance of
neglect, reduced accessibility and visual/aesthetic preference. With respect to the last of these
concerns, while education programmes can attune people’s valuation patterns, within an urban
context a great many people will continue to favour more ordered, manicured environments.
Undeniably, a previously accessible urban greenspace that has been left to nature, which then
rapidly succeeds into a monoculture of impenetrable bramble or butterfly-bush, is unlikely to be
well-received by most local residents.… The disturbed nature of urban soils is likely to be
another major limiting factor, impoverished as they frequently are in terms of seedbank, organic
material and soil organisms. Without active management newly emerging urban woodland would
also be subject to degradation by trampling, visual and noise disturbance, fire, invasive species,
effects of predatory pets etc. To reiterate, unencumbered natural succession may well produce
landscapes in urban areas dramatically less visually and ecologically appealing than anticipated.

Source E

McDonald, Robert Ian, et al. “The Green Soul of the Concrete Jungle: The Urban Century, the
Urban Psychological Penalty, and the Role of Nature.” Sustainable Earth, vol. 1, no. 3, 2018,
sustainableearth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42055-018-0002-5.

The following is based on a graph published in a community-focused academic journal dedicated

to advancing environmental sustainability. It shows responses from a survey conducted in three
towns in the United Kingdom.

5
 Forest cover in urban
neighborhoods and its
impact on mental health.
The bar chart shows the
fraction of urban
dwellers who live in
neighborhoods with
varying levels of forest
cover.

Source F

Chatterton, Paul. Unlocking Sustainable Cities: A Manifesto for Real Change. Pluto Press, 2019.

The following is an excerpt from a book exploring the benefits of urban rewilding.

We are beginning to see a proliferation of hybrid natural and built forms through, for example,
living walls, rooftop farms, vertical or sky gardens and breathing buildings. These can have
significant beneficial effects. For example, urban street canyons refer to the effect created by
high buildings lining a street, which can become hotspots for harmful pollutants, such as nitrogen
dioxide and particulate matter. A study by Thomas Pugh and colleagues from the Lancaster
Environment Centre suggests that strategic placement of vegetation in street canyons can cut air
pollution by up to 30 per cent. They can also stop urban overheating and provide effective
insulation and shading for buildings, as well as reducing noise pollution. And of course, there are
the psychological and aesthetic benefits of being proximate to an abundance of natural greenery.
Green corridors and linear parks can be retrofitted into the existing city. For example, the High
Line project in New York transformed an old rail line into a nearly two-mile urban park. It
opened in 2014 and became a short cut for walkers and one of the city’s favourite parks featuring
art installations and places for hanging out. Other cities are following suit including Chicago’s
606 Park and Toronto’s Bentway, which has slotted 55 outdoor rooms under its Gardiner
Expressway featuring farmers’ markets, performance spaces and a children’s garden. Miami is
also building the Underline, a nine-mile linear park underneath its metrorail line. In my own city
of Leeds, a community group is attempting to do the same thing on one of Leeds’ abandoned
Victorian train viaducts. The Madrid Rio project was one of the most exciting urban reclamation
projects in Europe—burying a former ring road to create over 600 hectares of parkland. Efforts
are being made not just to create greenspaces, but to create interconnected green corridors. For
example, the All London Green Grid (ALGG) is the green infrastructure strategy for London,

6
which sets out a vision to create an interconnected network of green and blue spaces across the
entire city. It is this interconnection that is so important in terms of creating space for
biodiversity to move more extensively. Singapore is one of the pioneers of placing nature at the
heart of its planning and urban design process. As a self-labelled garden city, it now prefers to
call itself ‘the city in a garden’. To realize this vision of living in an urban park, Singapore
implemented a landscape replacement policy whereby any greenery removed during construction
has to be reinstated as part of the development. It is estimated that the amount of urban greenery
has been at least doubled, but mainly through sky gardens. The city has also built nearly 300km
of park connectors to create deeper connections between parks and neighbourhoods.

Begin your response to this question at the top of a new page in the separate Free Response
booklet and fill in the appropriate circle at the top of each page to indicate the question number.

Question 2

Suggested time—40 minutes

(This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

Michelle Obama was the First Lady of the United States during the presidential administration of
her husband, Barack Obama (2009–2017). During that administration, she led programs
including the Reach Higher Initiative, which encourages students to continue their education
after high school. One way it does so is by supporting high school counselors’ efforts to get
students into college. On January 6, 2017, Obama gave her final speech as First Lady at an event
honoring outstanding school counselors.

The following passage is an excerpt from that speech. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay
that analyzes the rhetorical choices Obama makes to convey her message about her expectations
and hope for young people in the United States. In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writer’s rhetorical choices.

• Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning. • Explain how the evidence supports
your line of reasoning.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.

• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

[A]s I end my time in the White House, I can think of no better message to send our young
people in my last official remarks as First Lady. So, for all the Line young people in this room

7
and those who are watching, know that this country belongs to you—to all of you, from every
background and walk of life. If you or your parents are immigrants, know that you are part of a
proud American tradition—the infusion of new cultures, talents and ideas, generation after 10
generation, that has made us the greatest country on earth. If your family doesn’t have much
money, I want you to remember that in this country, plenty of folks, including me and my
husband—we started out with 15 very little. But with a lot of hard work and a good education,
anything is possible—even becoming President. That’s what the American Dream is all about. If
you are a person of faith, know that religious 20 diversity is a great American tradition, too. In
fact, that’s why people first came to this country—to worship freely. And whether you are
Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh—these religions are teaching our young people about
justice, and 25 compassion, and honesty. So I want our young people to continue to learn and
practice those values with pride. You see, our glorious diversity—our diversities of faiths and
colors and creeds—that is not a threat to who we are, it makes us who we are. So the young 30
people here and the young people out there: Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t
matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story—because you do. And you have a
right to be exactly who you are. 35 But I also want to be very clear: This right isn’t just handed
to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for
granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve
and protect 40 those freedoms. And that starts right now, when you’re young. Right now, you
need to be preparing yourself to add your voice to our national conversation. You need to
prepare yourself to be informed and engaged as a 45 citizen, to serve and to lead, to stand up for
our proud American values and to honor them in your daily lives. And that means getting the
best education possible so you can think critically, so you can express yourself clearly, so you
can get a good job 50 and support yourself and your family, so you can be a positive force in
your communities. And when you encounter obstacles—because I guarantee you, you will, and
many of you already have—when you are struggling and you start thinking about giving up, I
want you to remember something that my husband and I have talked about since we first 2
started this journey nearly a decade ago, something that has carried us through every moment in
this White House and every moment of our lives, and that 60 is the power of hope—the belief
that something better is always possible if you’re willing to work for it and fight for it. It is our
fundamental belief in the power of hope that has allowed us to rise above the voices of doubt 65
and division, of anger and fear that we have faced in our own lives and in the life of this country.
Our hope that if we work hard enough and believe in ourselves, then we can be whatever we
dream, regardless of the limitations that others may place on us. The hope that 70 when people
see us for who we truly are, maybe, just maybe they, too, will be inspired to rise to their best
possible selves. That is the hope of students like Kyra 1 who fight to discover their gifts and
share them with the world. It’s 75 the hope of school counselors like Terri and all these folks up
here who guide those students every step of the way, refusing to give up on even a single young
person. Shoot, it’s the hope of my—folks like my dad who got up every day to do his job at the
city water 80 plant; the hope that one day, his kids would go to college and have opportunities he
never dreamed of. That’s the kind of hope that every single one of us—politicians, parents,
8
preachers—all of us need to be providing for our young people. Because that is 85 what moves
this country forward every single day—our hope for the future and the hard work that hope
inspires.

1 a student who worked with school counselor Terri Tchorzynski

2 Terri Tchorzynski, the 2017 National School Counselor of the Year and honoree of the event.

Begin your response to this question at the top of a new page in the separate Free Response
booklet and fill in the appropriate circle at the top of each page to indicate the question number.

Question 3

Suggested time—40 minutes (This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

In a 2016 interview published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Maxine Hong Kingston, an
award-winning writer famous for her novels depicting the experiences of Chinese immigrants in
the United States, stated: “I think that individual voices are not as strong as a community of
voices. If we can make a community of voices, then we can speak more truth.” Write an essay
that argues your position on the extent to which Kingston’s claim about the importance of
creating a community of voices is valid. In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.

• Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning. • Explain how the evidence supports your
line of reasoning.

• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

Begin your response to this question at the top of a new page in the separate Free Response
booklet and fill in the appropriate circle at the top of each page to indicate the question number.