(40 minutes recommended per essay)
3 free response questions
55%
AP English Literature multiple-choice questions are grouped in sets. You will be given 5 passages or poems to read, with 8-13 multiple-choice questions to assess your reading comprehension. Each multiple-choice question has 5 answer choices (A through E). That’s a lot of reading then recalling, understanding, and interpreting. Use your time effectively and wisely!
AP scores are reported from 1 to 5. Colleges are generally looking for a 4 or 5 on the AP English Literature exam, but some may grant credit for a 3. (Here's a quick overview of AP credit policy .) Each test is curved so scores vary from year to year. Here’s how AP English Lit students scored on the May 2022 test:
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5 | Extremely qualified | 16.9% |
4 | Well qualified | 27.3% |
3 | Qualified | 33.7% |
2 | Possibly qualified | 14.1% |
1 | No recommendation | 7.9% |
Source: College Board
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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing an ap lit literary argument essay: what are the key elements.
Hi! I'm taking AP Lit this year and I need some help with the literary argument essay. Can someone give me some guidance on the key elements I need to include, like thesis statement, evidence, structure, etc., to have a strong essay? Thank you so much!
Hey! Here are some key elements to include in your essay for a strong result:
1. Introduction: Start with a hook to engage the reader. Introduce the work you'll be discussing (including the title and author). Provide any necessary context or background info.
2. Thesis statement: In a clear, concise sentence, state your overall argument or claim. This should appear towards the end of your introduction.
3. Body paragraphs: In each body paragraph, present a specific point that supports your thesis. Begin with a topic sentence, provide textual evidence (like quotes), and then analyze the significance of that evidence. Make sure to connect each point back to your thesis.
4. Structure: Make sure your essay follows a logical structure. Each paragraph should flow smoothly into the next, and your ideas should be organized in a coherent manner.
5. Conclusion: Restate your thesis (in slightly different words) and summarize your main points. Finish your essay with a final thought that connects your argument to a broader context or theme.
Good luck with your essay, and I hope this helps!
CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.
How to approach ap® english literature free-response questions.
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What content is covered in the free-response section of ap® english literature.
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Focus on critical reading, utilize your syllabus, take notes as you read, carefully consider principal ideas, explore the context, read out loud, reread when necessary, consult your dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia, write, review, and rewrite regularly, how to answer ap® english literature free-response questions.
Outline your essay, write clearly and eloquently, what are ap® english literature free-response questions like.
Looking for ap® english literature practice, interested in a school license, 2 thoughts on “how to approach ap® english literature free-response questions”.
Are you expected to have read the actual work previously for free response question #1 and #2? (For instance, would the test writers expect you have read Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) for 2016 essay?)
Can you still pull out score 5, even if you haven’t read the work before and write your response solely based on the given passage?
Hi Jen, you would not have had to have read the passage before. You’d be expected to be able to interpret from the passage provided — this is how they assess you on your analysis skills.
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After students have been introduced to the "four pillars" of style analysis —diction, imagery, language, and syntax—they are ready to write an AP Passage Analysis essay. When choosing a passage from a novel or play to use as a sample AP Passage Analysis prompt, we use the following 2011 AP Literary Argument prompt (Form B) as a guide:
In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following:
At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.
Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay in which you describe an "illuminating" episode or moment and explain how it functions as a "casement," a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a whole.
As we read a novel or play, we encourage students to look for passages that serve as an "illuminating incident" that, one could argue, reveals the meaning of the work as a whole. These "magic casements" —as Wharton calls them— then become the subject of our AP Passage Analysis essay prompt for that book. For example, when we teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby , we sometimes use the opening paragraphs of Chapter 3 when Nick Carraway describes a typical party at Gatsby's house over the summer as our AP Passage Analysis essay:
When students read the passage for the first time, they should highlight or underline any examples of diction, imagery, language, or syntax that seem interesting, unusual, or potentially loaded with meaning. To help students with their analysis, we also provide a study guide on the back of the prompt that they should try to complete on their own:
After annotating the text and completing the study guide, students should then begin the process of organizing their argument. Similar to the other AP essays, we encourage students to use Hegel's Dialectic to construct their arguments:
When following Hegel's Dialectic , students should first look for tensions within the passage that might serve as the focus of their first two body paragraphs in the essay. In the passage describing Gatsby's party, one tension is the surface energy and excitement of the guests that contrasts with the underlying shallowness and artificiality of their interactions. As soon as students identify a tension, they find textual evidence to support their claims and are ready to craft their thesis and antithesis paragraphs. The final body paragraph, or synthesis, should explore how these competing, yet complementary, tones help reveal the author or playwright's overall theme. In other words, students should consider how the passage might serve as an "illuminating incident" that reveals the meaning of the work as a whole.
Even though students will not have finished the novel or play when they analyze the passage, they should make a prediction on how the passage might serve as one of those "magic casements" that potentially reveals the work's overall theme. In other words, students should consider what larger message or point the author or playwright seems to be making in the passage. What can we learn about human nature or human behavior from this section of the novel or play? In the description of Gatsby's party, for instance, one could argue that living in the present might feel spontaneous and exciting, but it potentially comes at a cost that will need to be paid in the future.
Below is a sample AP Passage Analysis essay for Gatsby's party that follows Hegel's Dialectic . Please note that the introductory paragraph cites the author, title, and argument by reflecting the three topic sentences in the body paragraphs that follow:
When students write their AP Passage Analysis essay, they should also think how the passage connects to the general theme of the AP Literary Argument prompt that provides a focus for the entire unit. For example, when we read The Great Gatsby , we chose the following 2016 AP Literary Argument prompt f or the final essay:
Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character's dishonesty may be intended either to help or hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone's feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character's deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
When students prepare to write their AP Passage Analysis essay, students should think about how Gatsby's parties could be seen as "dishonest" and a "deception." Even though students do not yet know Gatsby's whole story in Chapter 3, they eventually will discover that Gatsby uses his parties as a way to attract and impress Daisy. We also find out that the persona of "Jay Gatsby" is similarly a fraud, and when that deception is revealed, his dream dies with it. The tragedy of Gatsby's story is not just that someone with his background could never win the love of someone like Daisy, but that he would pursue someone so unworthy of his love in the first place. In a similar way, the energy and excitement of Gatsby's parties are also an illusion; they might be superficially appealing, but Fitzgerald suggests through his description that they lack substance and meaning underneath. A close analysis of Gatsby's party for the AP Passage Analysis essay not only reveals the overall theme of the novel, but it also helps students prepare for the AP Literary Argument at the end of the novel.
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Lit & More
October 4, 2020 ·
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources
One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is “complex,” usually paired with the word “relationship.” When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word “complex” is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are often confused. Some interpret complex writing to simply be advanced or “fancy-sounding.” Others think it has to do with the inclusion of literary elements. However, there’s one simple way to help your students understand complexity and score high on an essay.
* AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website .
For example, take a look at the first paragraph from this released essay from the 2020 exam, which scored a 1-4-1 (a perfect score).
In this paragraph, we see the student’s claim. He or she says that the narrator, Philip Hutton, is experiencing anger and resentment as well as peace and reconciliation. This is a complex argument! This blending of different emotions makes it unique and complicated, thus the complex attitude that College Board is looking for.
Once you’ve grasped the concept of complexity, your students will probably still need practice in making complex claims. I recently attempted this with my AP ® class in our discussion of Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing.”
First, I asked students to analyze the narrator’s attitude towards motherhood. After a lengthy discussion, I asked them to shout out any word they could use to describe or associate with the mother from “I Stand Here Ironing.” Then, we talked about how a complex argument would say the mother felt a sense of both guilt and pride. Or we could talk about how she shows feelings of inadequacy but also a lack of regret for her daughter’s trauma. Another wanted to talk about she seems helpless and defensive at times, but proud and assertive at others. What complex arguments!
If you’re looking for more ways to discuss complexity with your students, consider analyzing non-literary texts, such as music, movies, or art. Here are some ideas I came up with, but I’m sure there are plenty of other and better options out there too!
One of my favorite songs of the moment is “If the World Was Ending” by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels. As a mother of three kids, I don’t get to drive alone very often. However, when I do, this is one I love to jam out to.
The lyrics of this song are very relatable and easy for teenagers to understand. Essentially, both singers in the song express understanding that the other isn’t a good fit for a relationship. However, a physical desire remains. The chorus of the song is, “If the world was ending you’d come over, right?” The singers end almost every question like this with the word, “right,” showing their hesitancy and fear of looking vulnerable. I love the complexity in these lyrics. They capture the mixed emotions of desire and fear of looking vulnerable, which is one of the most relatable complex feelings.
Another example of complexity, and possibly interpretation, comes from both an art piece and a movie. One of my favorite movies is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . In one scene from that movie, Cameron looks into this famous painting while Ferris and his girlfriend make out. The message is clearly on introspection and peace, until the camera begins a gradual zoom-in on Cameron and a figure in the painting.
As the camera zooms closer into Cameron, it also zooms closer into the child in the center of the painting. If you get extremely close, it looks as though the child is screaming, presenting a new perspective to the painting. Is it simply a trick of the pointillism used in the art? Or is it a complex perspective behind the painting, that a peaceful afternoon in the park cannot be interrupted by the distraction of your screaming child? Cameron’s backstory in the movie adds to this complexity, as Cameron, too, is silently screaming throughout his whole existence.
I had a hard time picking a clip to show complexity from movies. In the end, I like this one from Jordan Peele’s Get Out , a brilliant thriller. In this scene, Chris has traveled to his girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time. Upon meeting his girlfriends’s parents and their friends, race becomes an uncomfortable barrier between Chris and almost every other character. Things move from awkward to spooky when the few other African American characters behave strangely towards Chris, almost as if they’re struggling to say something they cannot.
In this clip, Chris depicts his complex feelings of both fear and intrigue when he talks to the housekeeper. For context, the housekeeper is inhabited by another person’s brain, which has taken over her entire personality. She gravitates towards Chris because her original body, or host, is trying to find a way to warn him that his girlfriend’s family wants to lobotomize him and do the same thing to him. Chris is completely creeped out by this woman’s strange behavior, but her eerie desperation seeps out through her fake smile. Her depiction is complex, as is Chris’ curiosity and revulsion.
Looking for more lesson plans and strategies for teaching complexity? Check out these other web pages for more information! You can also learn more about complexity, making claims, and the elusive sophistication point in my AP ® Lit Test Prep materials , available for purchase from Teachers Pay Teachers.
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any essay advice, mc help, anything please god just help me we didn't write any essays all year except for the past two weeks and we did nothing to actually prepare for the test
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The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections in this order: An hour-long, 55-question multiple-choice section. A two-hour, three-question free-response section. The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and cogently communicate that analysis in essay form.
The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points ...
Download free-response questions from this year's exam and past exams along with scoring guidelines, sample responses from exam takers, and scoring distributions. If you are using assistive technology and need help accessing these PDFs in another format, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 212-713-8333 or by email at ssd@info ...
The English Literature and Composition exam is one of the most popular AP exams among self-studiers and enrolled students alike. In 2019, a total of 380,136 students took the AP Literature exam, making it the third most favored AP exam, trailing only English Language and U.S. History in popularity. If you are interested in taking the AP Literature exam—and are taking a class or self-studying ...
The AP Literature exam has two sections. Section I contains 55 multiple choice questions, with 1 hour time allotted. This includes at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages. Section II, on the other hand, is a free response section. Here, students write essays to 3 prompts.
Total questions: 55. 45% of exam score. The multiple choice section is computer-graded, and it makes up 45% of your total exam score. The 55 questions in this section consist of: 5 passages of prose fiction, drama, or poetry of varying difficulty. 5 sets of questions for each passage, with 8-13 questions per set.
Additionally, she's held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany's work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee. AP Lit Prose Essay Examples - we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of ...
Starting with the 2025 exam, AP English Literature and Composition multiple-choice questions (MCQs) will have four answer choices instead of five. Most AP courses have already implemented this change, which research indicates could improve students' exam-day experience. This summer we'll release updated resources reflecting the change.
Course Skills. The AP English Literature and Composition framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to read texts critically. Skill Categories. Exam Weighting (Multiple- Choice Section) Explain the function of character. 16% ...
You'll read literary works and write essays to explain and support your analysis of them. New for 2024-25: MCQs Will Have Four Answer Choices Starting with the 2025 exam, AP English Literature and Composition multiple-choice questions (MCQs) will have four answer choices instead of five.
In previous years, the AP® Lit essays were scored using holistic rubrics on a scale of 0-9. However, after the 2019 exam, the evaluation changed to a new analytic rubric which runs on a scale of 0-6. ... Moreover, you must also explain how multiple literary elements or techniques in the poem contribute to its meaning, not just one like we saw ...
The AP English Literature & Composition exam takes 3 hours to complete and consists of two sections: a multiple-choice section and a free response section. Timing. Number of questions. % of Exam Score. Section 1. 60 minutes. 55 multiple-choice questions. 45%. Section 2.
Question 3: Mysterious Origins. The score should reflect the quality of the essay as a whole — its content, style, and mechanics. Reward the students for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise appropriate score. A poorly written essay may not be scored higher than a 3.
1. Introduction: Start with a hook to engage the reader. Introduce the work you'll be discussing (including the title and author). Provide any necessary context or background info. 2. Thesis statement: In a clear, concise sentence, state your overall argument or claim. This should appear towards the end of your introduction.
Question 1: Olive Senior, "Plants". The score should reflect the quality of the essay as a whole — its content, style, and mechanics. Reward the students for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise appropriate score.
It is comprised of three free-response essays and 55 multiple-choice questions. The free-response section accounts to 55% of your score. You will be given two hours to complete three free-response essays. The first will correspond to a given poem. The second will be regarding an excerpt from prose fiction or drama.
Question 1: P. K. Page, "The Landlady". The score should reflect the quality of the essay as a whole — its content, style, and mechanics. Reward the students for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise appropriate score. In no case may a poorly written essay be ...
After students have been introduced to the "four pillars" of style analysis—diction, imagery, language, and syntax—they are ready to write an AP Passage Analysis essay. When choosing a passage from a novel or play to use as a sample AP Passage Analysis prompt, we use the following 2011 AP Literary Argument prompt (Form B) as a guide: In The ...
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources. One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is "complex," usually paired with the word "relationship.". When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word "complex" is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are ...
1981. The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of litera-ture. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.
Question 1. (Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.) Carefully read P. K. Page's 1943 poem "The Landlady.". Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the speaker's complex portrayal of the landlady. You may wish to consider such elements as imagery, selection of detail, and tone.
Stick to your position and make it relevant. Analysis: They will give you some literary work to read, and ask you to write an essay on the author's rhetoric (usually rhetoric). MANY students think this is their chance to write their thesis statement like: "the author uses ethos, alliteration, and metaphors.".
AP English Literature Scoring Rubric, Free-Response Question 1-3 | SG 1 Scoring Rubric for Question 1: Poetry Analysis 6 points Reporting Category Scoring Criteria Row A Thesis (0-1 points) 7.B 0 points For any of the following: • There is no defensible thesis. • The intended thesis only restates the prompt.