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Your Complete Guide: AP English Literature and Composition Exam

What's on The Exam?

Exam Format

Exam Scoring

Expert Tips

If you're gearing up to take the AP English Literature and Composition exam, your literary prowess, we've got your back.

In this complete guide, we’ll explain what the AP English Lit exam will test you on, shed light on the format and duration, explain how the exam is graded, and most importantly, provide you with expert tips to ace it!

What’s on the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

You can anticipate what the AP English Literature and Composition exam will test you on by looking at the skills the AP English Literature and Composition course aims to teach you.

Here are the skills you’ll learn on The AP English Literature and Composition course:

• Explain the function of character.
• Explain the function of setting.
• Explain the function of plot and structure.
• Explain the function of the narrator or speaker.
• Explain the function of word choice, imagery, and symbols.
• Explain the function of comparison.
• Develop textually substantiated arguments about interpretations of part or all of a text.

The foundation of the AP English Literature and Composition course rests on a set of big ideas. These ideas aren’t just concepts; they're the pillars that you build your understanding on.

Here are the big ideas of The AP English Literature and Composition course as defined by the College Board :

• Character: Characters in literature allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters.
• Setting: Setting and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that setting.
• Structure: The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text.
• Narration: Enduring Understanding NAR-1: A narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text.
• Figurative Language: Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text.
• Literary Argumentation: Enduring Understanding LAN-1: Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence.

What’s the Format of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The AP English literature and composition exam is split into sections:

Section 1: Multiple Choice

• Duration: 1 Hour
• 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.

The multiple-choice section will always include at least 2 prose fiction passages (including drama) and at least 2 poetry passages.

Section 2: Free Response

• Duration: 2 Hours
• Total Questions: 3
• 55% of exam score

In this section, you’ll write three different essays in response to three free-response prompts. These three prompts combined make up more than half your exam weight.

The 3 prompts are from the following categories:

• A literary analysis of a given poem
• A literary analysis of a given passage of prose fiction (this may include drama)
• An analysis that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a work of your choice.

In responding to the third prompt, you should select a work of fiction that’s appropriate to the question. The College Borad lists a general rule for this: use a work that is similar in quality to those you have read in your AP class.

AP English Literature and Composition Format

How Long Is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The exam is 3 hours long. The first section is 1 hour long, and the second section is 2 hours long.

How is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam Scored?

Your total score is scaled down to be a number from 1 to 5, similar to a letter grade.

To put this into context, let’s compare AP scores to its closet letter grade equivalent: 

AP English Literature Exam Scores

To increase your chances of getting credit at a top university , you’ll need a score of 4 or 5 - that’s the score most schools accept to grant college credit .

The multiple choice section is graded by a computer, and it’s worth 55 points in total, 1 point per question. These points are then scaled down to equal 45% of your total score.

On the other hand, the free response section is worth 18 points, with 6 points allocated to each of the 3 questions.

Expert Tips and Material to Prepare For the AP English Literature Exam

1. understand the scoring rubrics and guidelines.

Before diving into preparation, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the scoring rubrics and guidelines provided by the College Board.

Understanding how your essays will be evaluated can significantly impact your approach to studying and writing.

Take the time to dissect these guidelines, paying close attention to what examiners are looking for in your responses.

You can read the rubrics and guidelines from the College Board here:

• Scoring Guidelines Set 1
• Scoring Guidelines Set 2

2. Review the Chief Reader Report  

The Chief Reader Report from previous years can be a goldmine of insights. This report offers valuable feedback from experienced AP Literature teachers who have evaluated student responses. 

By reviewing these reports, you can gain a deeper understanding of common mistakes, successful strategies , and areas where students often struggle. Learning from others' experiences can help you refine your own exam-taking skills.

You can read the Chief Reader Reports here:

3. Study past exams

Practice makes perfect, and there's no better way to prepare for the AP English Literature Exam than by tackling past exam questions.

Dive into previous years' exams and familiarize yourself with the format, types of questions, and the literary works covered. Pay attention to the themes, characters, and literary devices commonly examined in these questions.

Practice dissecting passages, analyzing poetry, and crafting insightful essays under timed conditions to build your confidence and proficiency.

• You can view all past exams here .  

4. Take practice exams

In addition to studying past exams, we recommend you simulate the exam experience as closely as possible by taking practice exams. Set aside dedicated time to complete full-length practice tests under timed conditions.

This will not only help you gauge your readiness but also improve your time management skills and endurance for the actual exam day.

• You can find practice exams from the College Board here .  

5. Interact with the text

When preparing for the exam, don't just passively read through texts. Engage with them actively by circling, underlining, and highlighting key passages, literary devices, and themes.

Resist the temptation to rely solely on your memory when answering questions. Instead, return to the text and examine it closely for evidence to support your interpretations. 

By developing a habit of close reading and textual analysis, you'll be better equipped to tackle any question that comes your way on exam day.

6. Read books and poems, more than once

To excel in the student-choice essay section of the exam, it's essential to have a deep understanding of a variety of literary works. 

Read books and poems multiple times, each time focusing on different aspects such as characterization, imagery, symbolism, and themes.

By revisiting texts and gaining new insights with each reading, you'll be better prepared to write a strong, well-supported essay that demonstrates your literary analysis skills.

7. Work with a tutor

If you're feeling overwhelmed or struggling to grasp certain concepts, consider working with one of our expert tutors who specialize in AP English Literature. 

A qualified tutor can provide personalized guidance, targeted practice, and valuable feedback to help you improve your skills and confidence, and we have some of the best teachers in the world tutoring at Crimson!

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay + Example

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What is the ap lit prose essay, how will ap scores affect my college chances.

AP Literature and Composition (AP Lit), not to be confused with AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang), teaches students how to develop the ability to critically read and analyze literary texts. These texts include poetry, prose, and drama. Analysis is an essential component of this course and critical for the educational development of all students when it comes to college preparation. In this course, you can expect to see an added difficulty of texts and concepts, similar to the material one would see in a college literature course.

While not as popular as AP Lang, over 380,136 students took the class in 2019. However, the course is significantly more challenging, with only 49.7% of students receiving a score of three or higher on the exam. A staggeringly low 6.2% of students received a five on the exam. 

The AP Lit exam is similar to the AP Lang exam in format, but covers different subject areas. The first section is multiple-choice questions based on five short passages. There are 55 questions to be answered in 1 hour. The passages will include at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages and will account for 45% of your total score. All possible answer choices can be found within the text, so you don’t need to come into the exam with prior knowledge of the passages to understand the work. 

The second section contains three free-response essays to be finished in under two hours. This section accounts for 55% of the final score and includes three essay questions: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the thematic analysis essay. Typically, a five-paragraph format will suffice for this type of writing. These essays are scored holistically from one to six points.

Today we will take a look at the AP Lit prose essay and discuss tips and tricks to master this section of the exam. We will also provide an example of a well-written essay for review.  

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 depending on the quality of your thesis (0-1 points), evidence and commentary (0-4 points), and sophistication (0-1 points). 

While this exam seems extremely overwhelming, considering there are a total of three free-response essays to complete, with proper time management and practiced skills, this essay is manageable and straightforward. In order to enhance the time management aspect of the test to the best of your ability, it is essential to understand the following six key concepts.

1. Have a Clear Understanding of the Prompt and the Passage

Since the prose essay is testing your ability to analyze literature and construct an evidence-based argument, the most important thing you can do is make sure you understand the passage. That being said, you only have about 40 minutes for the whole essay so you can’t spend too much time reading the passage. Allot yourself 5-7 minutes to read the prompt and the passage and then another 3-5 minutes to plan your response.

As you read through the prompt and text, highlight, circle, and markup anything that stands out to you. Specifically, try to find lines in the passage that could bolster your argument since you will need to include in-text citations from the passage in your essay. Even if you don’t know exactly what your argument might be, it’s still helpful to have a variety of quotes to use depending on what direction you take your essay, so take note of whatever strikes you as important. Taking the time to annotate as you read will save you a lot of time later on because you won’t need to reread the passage to find examples when you are in the middle of writing. 

Once you have a good grasp on the passage and a solid array of quotes to choose from, you should develop a rough outline of your essay. The prompt will provide 4-5 bullets that remind you of what to include in your essay, so you can use these to structure your outline. Start with a thesis, come up with 2-3 concrete claims to support your thesis, back up each claim with 1-2 pieces of evidence from the text, and write a brief explanation of how the evidence supports the claim.

2. Start with a Brief Introduction that Includes a Clear Thesis Statement

Having a strong thesis can help you stay focused and avoid tangents while writing. By deciding the relevant information you want to hit upon in your essay up front, you can prevent wasting precious time later on. Clear theses are also important for the reader because they direct their focus to your essential arguments. 

In other words, it’s important to make the introduction brief and compact so your thesis statement shines through. The introduction should include details from the passage, like the author and title, but don’t waste too much time with extraneous details. Get to the heart of your essay as quick as possible. 

3. Use Clear Examples to Support Your Argument 

One of the requirements AP Lit readers are looking for is your use of evidence. In order to satisfy this aspect of the rubric, you should make sure each body paragraph has at least 1-2 pieces of evidence, directly from the text, that relate to the claim that paragraph is making. Since the prose essay tests your ability to recognize and analyze literary elements and techniques, it’s often better to include smaller quotes. For example, when writing about the author’s use of imagery or diction you might pick out specific words and quote each word separately rather than quoting a large block of text. Smaller quotes clarify exactly what stood out to you so your reader can better understand what are you saying.

Including smaller quotes also allows you to include more evidence in your essay. Be careful though—having more quotes is not necessarily better! You will showcase your strength as a writer not by the number of quotes you manage to jam into a paragraph, but by the relevance of the quotes to your argument and explanation you provide.  If the details don’t connect, they are merely just strings of details.

4. Discussion is Crucial to Connect Your Evidence to Your Argument 

As the previous tip explained, citing phrases and words from the passage won’t get you anywhere if you don’t provide an explanation as to how your examples support the claim you are making. After each new piece of evidence is introduced, you should have a sentence or two that explains the significance of this quote to the piece as a whole.

This part of the paragraph is the “So what?” You’ve already stated the point you are trying to get across in the topic sentence and shared the examples from the text, so now show the reader why or how this quote demonstrates an effective use of a literary technique by the author. Sometimes students can get bogged down by the discussion and lose sight of the point they are trying to make. If this happens to you while writing, take a step back and ask yourself “Why did I include this quote? What does it contribute to the piece as a whole?” Write down your answer and you will be good to go. 

5. Write a Brief Conclusion

While the critical part of the essay is to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs, a conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay and the last opportunity to drive home your argument. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of extra time spent in the preceding paragraphs, do not worry, as that is not fatal to your score. 

Without repeating your thesis statement word for word, find a way to return to the thesis statement by summing up your main points. This recap reinforces the arguments stated in the previous paragraphs, while all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.

6. Don’t Forget About Your Grammar

Though you will undoubtedly be pressed for time, it’s still important your essay is well-written with correct punctuating and spelling. Many students are able to write a strong thesis and include good evidence and commentary, but the final point on the rubric is for sophistication. This criteria is more holistic than the former ones which means you should have elevated thoughts and writing—no grammatical errors. While a lack of grammatical mistakes alone won’t earn you the sophistication point, it will leave the reader with a more favorable impression of you. 

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Here are Nine Must-have Tips and Tricks to Get a Good Score on the Prose Essay:

• Carefully read, review, and underline key instruction s in the prompt.
• Briefly outlin e what you want to cover in your essay.
• Be sure to have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.
• Include the author’s name and title  in your introduction. Refer to characters by name.
• Quality over quantity when it comes to picking quotes! Better to have a smaller number of more detailed quotes than a large amount of vague ones.
• Fully explain how each piece of evidence supports your thesis .  
• Focus on the literary techniques in the passage and avoid summarizing the plot. 
• Use transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs.
• Keep your introduction and conclusion short, and don’t repeat your thesis verbatim in your conclusion.

Here is an example essay from 2020 that received a perfect 6:

[1] In this passage from a 1912 novel, the narrator wistfully details his childhood crush on a girl violinist. Through a motif of the allure of musical instruments, and abundant sensory details that summon a vivid image of the event of their meeting, the reader can infer that the narrator was utterly enraptured by his obsession in the moment, and upon later reflection cannot help but feel a combination of amusement and a resummoning of the moment’s passion. 

[2] The overwhelming abundance of hyper-specific sensory details reveals to the reader that meeting his crush must have been an intensely powerful experience to create such a vivid memory. The narrator can picture the “half-dim church”, can hear the “clear wail” of the girl’s violin, can see “her eyes almost closing”, can smell a “faint but distinct fragrance.” Clearly, this moment of discovery was very impactful on the boy, because even later he can remember the experience in minute detail. However, these details may also not be entirely faithful to the original experience; they all possess a somewhat mysterious quality that shows how the narrator may be employing hyperbole to accentuate the girl’s allure. The church is “half-dim”, the eyes “almost closing” – all the details are held within an ethereal state of halfway, which also serves to emphasize that this is all told through memory. The first paragraph also introduces the central conciet of music. The narrator was drawn to the “tones she called forth” from her violin and wanted desperately to play her “accompaniment.” This serves the double role of sensory imagery (with the added effect of music being a powerful aural image) and metaphor, as the accompaniment stands in for the narrator’s true desire to be coupled with his newfound crush. The musical juxtaposition between the “heaving tremor of the organ” and the “clear wail” of her violin serves to further accentuate how the narrator percieved the girl as above all other things, as high as an angel. Clearly, the memory of his meeting his crush is a powerful one that left an indelible impact on the narrator. 

[3] Upon reflecting on this memory and the period of obsession that followed, the narrator cannot help but feel amused at the lengths to which his younger self would go; this is communicated to the reader with some playful irony and bemused yet earnest tone. The narrator claims to have made his “first and last attempts at poetry” in devotion to his crush, and jokes that he did not know to be “ashamed” at the quality of his poetry. This playful tone pokes fun at his childhood self for being an inexperienced poet, yet also acknowledges the very real passion that the poetry stemmed from. The narrator goes on to mention his “successful” endeavor to conceal his crush from his friends and the girl; this holds an ironic tone because the narrator immediately admits that his attempts to hide it were ill-fated and all parties were very aware of his feelings. The narrator also recalls his younger self jumping to hyperbolic extremes when imagining what he would do if betrayed by his love, calling her a “heartless jade” to ironically play along with the memory. Despite all this irony, the narrator does also truly comprehend the depths of his past self’s infatuation and finds it moving. The narrator begins the second paragraph with a sentence that moves urgently, emphasizing the myriad ways the boy was obsessed. He also remarks, somewhat wistfully, that the experience of having this crush “moved [him] to a degree which now [he] can hardly think of as possible.” Clearly, upon reflection the narrator feels a combination of amusement at the silliness of his former self and wistful respect for the emotion that the crush stirred within him. 

[4] In this passage, the narrator has a multifaceted emotional response while remembering an experience that was very impactful on him. The meaning of the work is that when we look back on our memories (especially those of intense passion), added perspective can modify or augment how those experiences make us feel

More essay examples, score sheets, and commentaries can be found at College Board .

While AP Scores help to boost your weighted GPA, or give you the option to get college credit, AP Scores don’t have a strong effect on your admissions chances . However, colleges can still see your self-reported scores, so you might not want to automatically send scores to colleges if they are lower than a 3. That being said, admissions officers care far more about your grade in an AP class than your score on the exam.

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The Ultimate Guide to Acing the AP English Literature and Composition Exam

By Eric Eng

For high school students who are looking to expand their knowledge and increase their chances of getting accepted to some of the world’s top colleges and universities , AP courses such as the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam have always been an incredible option.

Preparing for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam can be a daunting task, but with the right strategies and study techniques, you can set yourself up for success. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the exam, from understanding its importance to tips for test day and post-exam advice. Let’s dive in!

What is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam is a standardized test administered by the College Board. It is designed to assess a student’s understanding and analysis of various forms of literature. This exam is typically taken by high school students who have completed an advanced English course. It consists of both multiple-choice questions and free-response prompts that require critical thinking and literary analysis skills.

Why is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam important?

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam carries significant weight regarding college admissions and credit. Many colleges and universities grant credit or advanced placement to students who achieve a high score on the exam. This means that by performing well on the exam, you can potentially save time and money by earning college credits before even stepping foot on campus.

However, the importance of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam goes beyond just college credit. Excelling in this exam demonstrates your ability to critically analyze complex texts, which is a valuable skill for any major or career path that involves reading and interpreting literature.

By studying for and taking the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, you are not only preparing yourself for success in college but also developing skills that will benefit you throughout your life. The exam requires you to closely read and analyze various literary works, ranging from classic novels to contemporary poetry. This process of close reading and analysis helps you develop a deeper understanding of the texts and the ability to interpret and evaluate their themes, characters, and literary techniques.

Moreover, the exam also assesses your ability to write effectively about literature. You will be asked to write essays that analyze and interpret specific passages or entire works. This requires you to not only have a strong command of the English language but also to be able to articulate your thoughts and ideas in a clear and coherent manner.

Preparing for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam involves not only reading and analyzing a wide range of literary works but also practicing your writing skills. Through practice essays and timed writing exercises, you can hone your ability to craft well-structured and persuasive arguments about literature.

Furthermore, the exam provides an opportunity for you to showcase your passion for literature and your ability to engage with complex texts. By performing well on the exam, you demonstrate to college admissions officers and potential employers that you have the skills and dedication necessary to succeed in a rigorous academic environment.

Ultimately, the AP English Literature and Composition Exam is important because it not only opens doors to college credit and advanced placement, but also helps you develop critical thinking, reading, and writing skills that are essential for success in college and beyond. So, whether you aspire to major in English or pursue a different field altogether, taking the AP English Literature and Composition Exam can be a valuable and rewarding experience.

What can students expect to cover in the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The AP English Literature and English Composition Exam and the course teach and challenge students to learn how to read carefully and master the art of critical analysis in fictional literature, which ultimately leads to a much deeper understanding of how some of the English language’s most famous and impactful writers have brought profound meaning, enjoyment, and impact to readers.

Students will also learn about the many different structures, styles, themes, and elements of literature and English. In the process, they will become accomplished and advanced writers as well.

While there is not a required reading list to score a perfect 5 out 5 on the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam, there are several authors that the College Board has provided in previous AP Literature and English Composition course descriptions.

Some of the most common works that are studied in the course include:

• Great Expectations
• The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• King Lear by William Shakespeare
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Students should not expect to have to read all of these books, and technically, none are required to take the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam, but if enrolled in the course at school, students will read several of these books as a part of their coursework.

What is on the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The AP English Literature and Composition curriculum consists of nine units that are organized in a logical sequence. This sequence has been developed through feedback from educators, as well as analysis of high school and college courses and textbooks. The units in this course scaffold skills and knowledge through three genre-based, recurring units. The course framework provides a description of what students should know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.

The nine units in the AP English Literature and Composition curriculum are as follows:

• Short Fiction
• Longer Fiction or Drama

The exam weighting for the multiple-choice section is as follows:

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. The College Board has identified the following skills as major components of the course:

How long is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam?

The AP English Literature and Composition exam is 3 hours long and consists of two sections: multiple-choice and free-response. The multiple-choice section is worth 45% of the exam score and consists of 55 questions that students have 1 hour to complete. The free-response section is worth 55% of the exam score and consists of 3 questions that students have 2 hours to complete.

Format of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam

The exciting thing about every AP exam is that the content of the exam is not the only thing that tests the students. The format of each AP exam is also something that the students who are most determined to succeed and score a perfect 5 out of 5 also study and prepare for.

That is the case for the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam, which is one of the longer AP exams available. In all, the exam is made up of two different sections. The first section is the multiple-choice section, while the second section is a free-response.

Let AdmissionSight break down what to expect in both sections for you!

Multiple Choice

The first section of the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam will include 55 total multiple-choice questions, and every student will get one hour to complete the entire team. The questions are grouped up into 5 sets of questions that will include anywhere from 8 to 13 questions that are linked to a single bit of poetry or prose writing.

The purpose of the multiple-choice portion of the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam is to test the student’s ability to analyze and deconstruct English and literature in five different ways. They are as follows:

Understand and break down word choice, comparisons, and figurative language : These questions test a student’s ability to answer questions related to a word’s meaning or the meaning of an entire phrase. Students will also be asked how specific terms can impact the meaning of the rest of a more significant sentence. Finally, students will need to be able to understand and identify the figurative language within a sentence .

Understand the theme of a poem or prose passage : Students will be expected to be able to summarize and explain what a given excerpt from a poem or prose passage is saying. Whether it be about love, conflict, human nature, and more. These can be quite varied and will test the student’s ability to analyze literature at a deep level .

Explain and reformulate selected lines from a passage : In these types of multiple-choice questions, students will be asked to explain and paraphrase a passage that is provided to them. This will test their ability to understand both basic and complex styles of writing that may rely heavily on metaphor .

Explain the function of multiple different factors regarding a poem or prose passage : In these types of questions, students will be asked to explain the function of many different factors including the narrator or speaker, characters, structure of plot and story, symbolism and motif, and parts of speech, verb forms, and poetic rhythm/meters. Students must be able to analyze and break down the narrator’s ability to control perspective and emphasize important details to impact the reader’s experience.

They must also understand how characters allow readers to explore many different lessons within great works of literature such as values, belief systems, biases, societal norms, and more. Additionally, students must be able to understand what story the author is intending to tell based on the arrangement of the work including text, sequence, and how these two interact to impact how the work is understood and interpreted. Finally, students must be able to accurately describe the purpose of symbolism and use of motif within works of literature. They will also be expected to identify technical aspects of speech and explain the different aspects of poetic meter.

Free Response

Following the multiple-choice section of the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam, students will then dive into the final section of the exam . A two-hour trial in which they will be asked to read prompts and answer three questions related to those prompts.

The prompts that students will be expected to answer include:

• A deep literary analysis of a poetic work
• A deep literary analysis of a work of prose fiction or play
• A deep analysis in which the student is able to examine a specific issue, idea, concept, element, or literary work that the student themselves selects.

One of the most exciting aspects of the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam is that this section is graded by college and AP lit teachers who follow a standardized rubric. This means that, to a certain extent, the grading of the free-response section is subjective. Of course, the standardized grading rubric has been created to take as much subjectivity out of the grading process as possible, however.

Below are sample questions and answers were taken from an official AP English Literature and English Composition Exam:

AP English Literature and Composition Scoring Breakdown

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam is scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. The multiple-choice section accounts for 45% of your overall score, while the free-response section makes up the remaining 55%. In the free-response section, you will be scored based on your understanding of the prompt, your analysis and interpretation of the text, your use of evidence and textual support, and your overall writing skills.

The scoring process involves a careful evaluation of each essay, taking into consideration the depth of analysis, the clarity of expression, and the coherence of the argument. Scorers look for essays that demonstrate a strong command of the English language, a sophisticated understanding of literary concepts, and a clear and logical organization of ideas. They also value originality and creativity, rewarding students who offer unique perspectives and interpretations.

The scoring process is rigorous and impartial, ensuring that each student’s work is evaluated fairly and accurately.

How hard is the AP English Literature and Composition exam?

The difficulty level of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam can vary from student to student. However, it is widely regarded as one of the more challenging AP exams due to the complex analysis and critical thinking skills required. The exam pushes students to think beyond surface-level interpretations and encourages them to explore the deeper meanings and implications of literary works.

To succeed in this exam, it is crucial to have a deep understanding of literary techniques, genres, and various literary works. This requires extensive reading and analysis of a wide range of texts, including classic novels, plays, and poems. Students must develop the ability to identify and analyze literary devices, such as metaphor, symbolism, and irony, and understand how these devices contribute to the overall meaning and impact of a work.

Adequate preparation and practice can greatly improve your chances of acing the exam. This includes reading and annotating texts, practicing close reading and analysis, and honing your essay writing skills. It is also beneficial to engage in discussions and participate in literature-focused activities, such as book clubs or literary analysis workshops. By immersing yourself in the world of literature and actively engaging with the texts, you can develop the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in the AP English Literature and Composition Exam.

How to study for the AP English Literature and Composition exam

Now that you have a basic understanding of the format of the exam itself let’s break down the very best ways in which you can prepare for the exam at home. Whether you are taking the course at school or are self-studying for the exam, here are some of the best tips we at AdmissionSight have found.

Analyze your ability and understanding

The very first step the excelling at nearly every AP exam is to first take a practice version of the exam to see where you currently stand. There are some fantastic options where you can find great examples of sample multiple-choice and free-response questions. Additionally, you will be able to find official examples of the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam from previous school years that you can use to test your ability.

From there, you will want to identify the areas of the exam that you are already strong at, as well as remember the places that you need to work on. The best way to do this is to take the exam and then compare your answers to the answer key that is provided with the sample or past exam that you have used. This will not only serve as a way to identify places that need work but also help serve as a valuable learning experience for you.

Mastering the material

Unlike many AP exams, the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam does not allow a person to rely on memorizing equations that can help students get to the correct answer. Instead, students will have to train themselves to master the material and the lessons of the English language to approach the exam with as much knowledge and confidence as possible. There are practices that students can carry out throughout the studying process in order to improve their chances of earning that elusive 5 out of 5 scores.

The first way to improve your chances is to make sure that you are behaving as an active, critical reader when you are reading books, plays, and poems. Treat everything you read like an opportunity to sharpen your essential reading and thinking ability so that it is almost second nature by the time the exam arrives.

You will also want to write a lot. According to the College Board, the goal for all students taking the AP English Literature and English Composition Exam is to become a “practiced, logical, clear, and honest” writer. To succeed on the exam, you will be able to map out your ideas and arguments ahead of time so that you can get to writing and mapping out your introductory paragraph and thesis as clearly as possible before defending your statement. Also, if you feel like you may need to, make sure that you are testing yourself on grammar, vocabulary, correct sentence structure, and more.

If you are looking for resources that you should use to ensure you are getting the most out of your critical reading and writing practice, don’t hesitate to purchase and refer to some of the most popular study guides on the market. Similarly, there are also many online resources and even smartphone apps that you can use to study while you are on the go.

Return to practice tests

As the exam day approaches, you will want to set aside the studying material and instead focus heavily on practicing questions that are in the format of questions that you may very well see on the actual day of the exam.

The best resources for multiple-choice questions are the study guides that you have. Before you purchase any study guide, make sure that it comes with an ample amount of sample questions that you can use to test your growing knowledge and skills.

When you are reviewing your answers by cross-referencing with the key that is provided, make sure that you are keeping track of the kinds of questions or topics that seem to get in your way. That way, you will know what information you need to put extra emphasis on as you continue to study.

With that being said, make sure that you do not end up ignoring the topics that you are comfortable with. You do not want any of your strengths to become a weakness simply because you stop studying them. When it comes to practicing for the free-response section of the exam, make sure that you are focusing heavily on your writing skills and making sure that you can form cohesive and clear-to-understand arguments and ideas within your writing. It is your job to make sure that your essay is excellent and will earn excellent marks from the college or AP Lit professor who is grading your specific exam.

Another great way to improve your chances of getting a great score is to understand that standardized scoring. , each free-response essay is graded on a scale from 0 to 6 points. Points are awarded for three elements of the response essay: Thesis, Evidence and Commentary, and Sophistication. Gaining a deep understanding of what earns top scores in each section will give you the knowledge you need to construct your free-response answer in the best way possible.

Take another full practice exam

As the exam day nears, you will want to make sure that you are not only taking sample questions but taking the time necessary to take a full sample exam. Not only that, but you will want to be sure that you are timing yourself using the time you will get on the day of the exam. This will allow you to get used to how to manage your time in both sections so that you can answer all of the questions to the very best of your ability.

Test-taking Tips on the Day of Exam

On the day of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, it is essential to be well-prepared and focused. Here are some tips to help you perform your best:

First and foremost, make sure you have all the necessary materials for the exam. Double-check that you have your identification, pencils, erasers, and any other required items. Being prepared with the right tools will give you peace of mind and prevent any last-minute stress.

Next, it’s crucial to get a good night’s sleep. Adequate rest is essential for your brain to function optimally. Aim for at least eight hours of sleep the night before the exam. This will ensure that you are well-rested and able to stay alert and focused throughout the test.

In addition to a good night’s sleep, starting your day with a nutritious meal is equally important. Fueling your brain with a healthy breakfast will provide you with the energy you need to tackle the challenging questions that await you. Choose foods that are rich in protein, whole grains, and fruits to give your brain the nutrients it needs to perform at its best.

Before heading to the exam, take a few minutes to review key literary devices. Quickly revisit common literary techniques such as simile, metaphor, personification, and symbolism. This quick refresher will help refresh your memory and ensure that you can identify and analyze these devices effectively during the exam.

Once you begin the exam, it’s crucial to read each question carefully. Pay close attention to the wording of each question to avoid misinterpretation. Take your time to fully understand what the question is asking before formulating your response. This will help you provide accurate and concise answers that address the question’s requirements.

Time management is another critical aspect of test-taking. Pace yourself during the exam to ensure that you have enough time to complete all sections. Allocate a specific amount of time for each question or section, and stick to your plan. Avoid spending too much time on one question, as it may cause you to rush through the remaining questions. Remember, it’s better to answer all questions to the best of your ability than to leave some unanswered due to time constraints.

Lastly, it’s essential to stay calm and confident throughout the exam. Trust in your preparation and believe in your abilities. Remember that you have spent countless hours studying and preparing for this moment. Trust that your hard work will pay off and that you are capable of performing well. Take deep breaths, stay focused, and approach each question with confidence.

When is the AP English Literature and Composition Exam in 2024?

The exam will take place on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at 8:00 am local time. For a complete list of the 2024 AP Exam dates, here’s a complete list:

When do AP scores come out?

AP scores are typically released in early to mid-July of the year the exams were taken. The exact release date may vary slightly from year to year, but students who took their AP exams in May can generally expect their scores to become available.

If you are waiting for your AP scores, you can check for updates on the College Board’s official AP scores website. They will also send you an email notification when your scores are added to your score report. If you haven’t received your scores by mid-August, it’s recommended to contact AP Services for Students for assistance.

Post-Exam Tips

After completing the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, it is essential to reflect on your performance and take necessary steps for improvement or celebration. Here are some post-exam tips:

• Assess your performance: Take some time to evaluate how well you think you did on the exam and what areas you could improve in.
• Review your essays: Read through your essays and identify areas where you could have provided stronger analysis or improved your writing.
• Celebrate your accomplishments: Regardless of your score, acknowledge your hard work and dedication to the subject.
• Continue building your skills: Keep reading and analyzing literature to further enhance your literary analysis skills.
• Seek feedback: If possible, ask your teacher or peers for feedback on your essays to gain insights for future improvement.
• Set new goals: Whether you plan to take additional English courses or pursue literature in higher education, set new goals to continue your literary journey.

After the intensity of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam, it is natural to feel a mix of emotions. You may feel relieved that the exam is over, anxious about your performance, or even a sense of accomplishment for completing such a challenging task. Take a moment to acknowledge and process these emotions. Reflecting on your performance is an important step in your post-exam journey.

When assessing your performance, consider the different sections of the exam. Did you feel confident in your multiple-choice answers? Were there specific essay prompts that you found more challenging? By identifying areas of strength and weakness, you can gain valuable insights into your test-taking strategies and areas for improvement.

Once you have evaluated your performance, it’s time to review your essays. Take the opportunity to read through your essays with a critical eye. Look for areas where you could have provided stronger analysis, supported your arguments more effectively, or improved your writing style. Consider the feedback you received from your teacher or peers during the exam preparation process and see if there are any recurring patterns or areas of improvement to focus on.

While it is important to strive for improvement, it is equally important to celebrate your accomplishments. Regardless of your score, recognize the effort and dedication you put into preparing for the exam. Completing the AP English Literature and Composition Exam is no small feat, and you should take pride in your commitment to the subject.

As you move forward, continue building your skills by reading and analyzing literature. This ongoing practice will not only enhance your understanding of literary works but also strengthen your ability to critically analyze complex texts. Explore different genres, authors, and time periods to broaden your literary horizons.

Seeking feedback is another valuable step in your post-exam journey. If possible, reach out to your teacher or peers and ask for their insights on your essays. Their perspectives can provide you with valuable feedback and different ways of approaching literary analysis. Use this feedback to refine your writing skills and develop a deeper understanding of the subject.

Finally, set new goals for yourself. Whether you plan to take additional English courses, pursue literature in higher education, or simply continue your literary journey independently, setting goals will help you stay motivated and focused. Consider what aspects of literature you are most passionate about and tailor your goals accordingly. Whether it’s exploring a specific literary movement, mastering a particular writing style, or delving into the works of a favorite author, let your goals guide your literary pursuits.

By following this ultimate guide and implementing effective study techniques, you can increase your chances of acing the AP English Literature and Composition Exam . Remember, this exam not only tests your knowledge of literature but also your ability to think critically and analyze complex texts. With dedication and practice, you can conquer this challenging exam and set yourself up for success in your literary endeavors.

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Expert's Guide to the AP Literature Exam

AP English Literature: Exam Format and Question Types

The AP English Literature and Composition exam is designed to test students' understanding and analysis of literary works. It consists of two main sections: multiple-choice and free-response. Understanding the exam format and question types is crucial for success. 

1. Multiple-Choice Section:

   - Format: 55 questions with four or five answer choices.

   - Time: 60 minutes.

   - Content: Passage-based questions that assess comprehension, interpretation, and analysis of literary texts.

   - Question Types: These include identifying literary devices, analyzing the author's tone, understanding the meaning of words in context, and interpreting the overall purpose and structure of a passage.

2. Free-Response Section:

   - Format: Three essay prompts.

   - Time: 120 minutes.

   - Question Types:

     a. Poetry Analysis Essay: Students analyze a poem and discuss its poetic techniques, theme, and meaning.

     b. Prose Analysis Essay: Students analyze a prose passage, focusing on its style, tone, and literary devices.

     c. Open-Ended Essay: Students choose a novel or play and respond to a prompt by developing a thesis and supporting it with evidence and analysis.

Key Tips for Success:

1. Read and annotate the texts carefully to understand the nuances and literary devices used.

2. Practice close reading to develop a deep understanding of the passages.

3. Review literary terms and techniques commonly used in literature.

4. Develop strong essay writing skills by structuring your responses with clear introductions, well-supported arguments, and insightful analysis.

5. Manage your time effectively during the exam to allocate enough time for each question.

6. Practice with past exams and sample questions to become familiar with the exam format and timing.

By understanding the exam format and question types, and employing effective strategies, students can confidently approach the AP English Literature exam and demonstrate their analytical skills and understanding of literary works.

How Is the AP Literature Test Graded?

The AP Literature and Composition exam is graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. The scoring process involves multiple steps to ensure fairness and consistency in evaluating students' performance. Here's an overview of how the AP Literature test is graded:

   - Raw Score: The number of correct answers is counted, and there is no penalty for incorrect responses.

   - Conversion to Scaled Score: The raw score is converted to a scaled score ranging from 1 to 45. This score is then weighted and combined with the free-response section score to determine the overall exam score.

   - Essay Scores: Each essay is scored on a 0 to 6 scale by trained AP readers. These readers are experienced English teachers and college professors who follow a detailed rubric provided by the College Board.

   - Scoring Rubric: The rubric assesses students' ability to understand the prompt, analyze the text, develop a thesis, provide supporting evidence, and demonstrate strong writing skills.

   - Holistic Approach: AP readers consider the overall quality of the essay, including its coherence, organization, use of evidence, and insightfulness.

   - Final Scores: The scores from the three essays are added together to give a total essay score ranging from 0 to 18.

3. Composite Score:

   - Weighting: The multiple-choice section and the essay section are weighted to calculate the final composite score.

   - Composite Score Calculation: The multiple-choice score is converted to a scaled score on a 1 to 45 scale. This score is combined with the essay score on a 0 to 18 scale, with the essay score weighted more heavily.

   - Conversion to AP Grade: The composite score is converted to the final AP grade on a scale of 1 to 5.

The exact cutoffs for each AP grade may vary from year to year, depending on the performance of students across the country. Generally, a score of 3 is considered a passing grade, while scores of 4 and 5 indicate higher levels of mastery and may result in college credit or advanced placement.

It's important to note that the grading process for the AP Literature exam is rigorous and aims to maintain consistency and fairness. The College Board takes several measures to ensure accurate and reliable scoring, including extensive training for AP readers and a robust quality assurance process.

Understanding how the AP Literature test is graded can help students prepare effectively and focus on developing the necessary skills to excel in both the multiple-choice and free-response sections.

Skill-Building for Success on the AP Literature Exam

To achieve success on the AP Literature exam, it is crucial to develop and refine certain skills that will enhance your ability to analyze and interpret literary texts effectively. Here are some key skill-building strategies to help you prepare for the AP Literature exam:

1. Close Reading: Practice close reading of literary texts to develop a deep understanding of the author's purpose, themes, and literary techniques. Pay attention to details, symbolism, imagery, and figurative language. Take notes and annotate the text to capture your observations and interpretations.

2. Literary Analysis: Enhance your ability to analyze and interpret literary works. Focus on identifying and discussing literary elements such as plot, character development, setting, point of view, symbolism, and themes. Practice analyzing how these elements contribute to the overall meaning and impact of the text.

3. Essay Writing: Master the art of writing strong, well-structured essays. Familiarize yourself with the three essay prompts in the free-response section: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the open-ended essay. Practice developing clear and concise thesis statements, providing textual evidence to support your arguments, and organizing your essay effectively.

4. Time Management: Develop effective time management skills to ensure you can complete all sections of the exam within the allocated time. Practice timed essay writing to improve your ability to plan, write, and revise your essays under time constraints. Use practice exams to simulate the actual testing conditions and become comfortable with the time limits.

5. Vocabulary Expansion: Build a strong vocabulary to enhance your comprehension and analysis of complex texts. Read widely, including classic literature and contemporary works, to expose yourself to various writing styles, themes, and vocabulary. Learn new words, their meanings, and how to use them appropriately in your writing.

6. Exam Strategies: Familiarize yourself with the exam format, question types, and scoring rubrics. Review sample questions and essay prompts from past exams to understand the expectations and requirements. Practice answering multiple-choice questions strategically by eliminating incorrect options and making educated guesses when necessary.

7. Practice and Review: Regularly practice with sample questions, timed exams, and essay prompts. Seek feedback from teachers or peers on your essays to identify areas for improvement. Review your mistakes and focus on strengthening your weak areas. Use study guides, review books, and online resources to reinforce your understanding of key literary concepts.

8. Reading Widely: Read a diverse range of literature, including novels, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. Engage with different genres, time periods, and cultural perspectives. This will expand your literary knowledge, expose you to various writing styles, and help you make connections across texts.

Remember, consistent practice and focused skill-building are essential for success on the AP Literature exam. Develop a study plan that incorporates these strategies, and dedicate regular time to practice, review, and refine your skills. With preparation and a solid foundation in literary analysis, you can approach the exam with confidence and achieve a strong performance.

AP Literature: 6 Critical Test-Day Tips

Preparing for the AP Literature exam is essential, but it's equally important to have effective strategies for test day. Here are six critical tips to help you perform your best on the AP Literature exam:

1. Read the Instructions Carefully: Before diving into the exam, take a moment to read and understand the instructions for each section. Pay attention to any specific guidelines or requirements, such as the number of questions to answer or the time allotted for each section. Familiarize yourself with the scoring rubrics to know how your responses will be evaluated.

2. Pace Yourself: Time management is crucial during the exam. Allocate your time wisely to ensure you have enough time to answer all the questions. Plan your approach for each section and stick to your allocated time. For example, in the multiple-choice section, aim to answer each question within one minute to allow time for review.

3. Analyze Prompts and Questions: Take the time to carefully analyze the prompts and questions before answering. Understand what each question is asking for and how it relates to the given texts. Highlight keywords and key phrases to ensure you stay focused on addressing the specific requirements of each question. Pay attention to directive words like "analyze," "compare," or "evaluate" to guide your response.

4. Organize Your Essay: In the essay sections, it's crucial to have a clear and well-organized structure. Start with a concise and strong thesis statement that directly addresses the prompt. Use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph and ensure a logical flow of ideas. Support your arguments with evidence from the texts, and provide insightful analysis to demonstrate your understanding.

5. Engage with Texts: Show a deep engagement with the literary texts in your responses. Use specific examples and quotations from the texts to support your analysis. Referencing key scenes, dialogues, or literary devices demonstrates a thorough understanding of the texts and enhances the strength of your arguments. Avoid vague or general statements and focus on precise textual evidence.

6. Review and Revise: Before submitting your responses, take a few minutes to review and revise your work. Check for any grammatical or spelling errors and ensure your writing is clear and concise. Verify that you have addressed all parts of the question and that your arguments are well-supported. If time allows, read your essays aloud to catch any awkward phrasing or unclear ideas.

Remember, practice is key to success on the AP Literature exam. Familiarize yourself with the exam format, practice with sample questions and essays, and seek feedback on your writing. Develop a study schedule that allows you to build your skills and knowledge over time. By following these critical test-day tips and remaining calm and focused, you can approach the AP Literature exam with confidence and maximize your chances of achieving a high score.

In conclusion, the AP Literature exam requires a combination of critical reading skills, strong analytical thinking, and effective writing abilities. By understanding the exam format and question types, knowing how the test is graded, and building essential skills, you can set yourself up for success. Additionally, following critical test-day tips, such as managing your time, carefully analyzing prompts, organizing your essays, engaging with the texts, and reviewing your work, will help you perform your best on the exam. With diligent preparation and practice, you can approach the AP Literature exam with confidence and increase your likelihood of achieving a favorable score.

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., guide to the ap english literature and composition exam.

Do you know how to conduct a close reading of prose and poetry? Can you write effectively under time constraints? The AP ® English Literature and Composition exam tests topics and skills discussed in your AP English Literature course. If you score high enough, your AP English score could earn you college credit!

Check out our AP English Literature Guide for what you need to know about the exam:

• Exam Overview
• Structure & Question Types
• How to Prepare

What’s on the AP English Literature & Composition Exam?

The College Board lists 6 Skill Categories that should be covered in your AP English Literature and Composition course, or as you prepare for the test:

•  Character—Characters in literature show a wide range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms, and provide an opportunity to study and explore what the characters represent.
• Setting—A setting and the details associated with it represent a time and place, but also convey values associated with the setting.
• Structure—Structure refers to the arrangements of sections and parts of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information. These are all choices made by a writer that allow you to interpret a text.
• Narration—Any narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that readers encounter; therefore, narration affects how readers experience and interpret a text.
• Figurative language—Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative. Figurative language can include word choice, imagery, and symbols. Simile, metaphor, personification, and allusions are all examples of figurative language.
• Literary argumentation—How do you write about literature yourself? You develop your interpretation (using the first five of the Big Six!) and then communicate it. You need to develop a thesis—a defensible claim—and support it with textual evidence. 

The multiple-choice section of the AP English Literature and Composition exam will be testing your knowledge of the Big Six. Each one is weighted a certain amount in the multiple-choice questions.

AP English Literature & Composition Book List

There is no required reading or book list for the AP English Literature exam, but the College Board provides a list of authors and poets with whom you should be familiar and whose work is of the caliber and density that you are expected to understand. These lists include:

• Poetry: W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, William Blake, Anne Bradstreet, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Browning, George Gordon/Lord Byron, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Geoffrey Chaucer, Lucille Clifton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Billy Collins, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Rita Dove, Paul Laurence Dunbar, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Joy Harjo, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, Garrett Hongo, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Ben Jonson, John Keats, Philip Larkin, Robert Lowell, Andrew Marvell, John Milton, Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Alexander Pope, Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton, William Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leslie Marmon Silko, Cathy Song, Wallace Stevens, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Derek Walcott, Walt Whitman, Richard Wilbur, William Carlos Williams, William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats
• Drama: Aeschylus, Edward Albee, Amiri Baraka, Samuel Beckett, Anton Chekhov, Caryl Churchill, William Congreve, Athol Fugard, Lorraine Hansberry, Lillian Hellman, David Henry Hwang, Henrik Ibsen, Ben Jonson, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Molière, Marsha Norman, Sean O’Casey, Eugene O’Neill, Suzan-Lori Parks, Harold Pinter, Luigi Pirandello, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Sam Shepard, Sophocles, Tom Stoppard, Luis Valdez, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson
• Fiction (Novel and Short Story): Chinua Achebe, Sherman Alexie, Isabel Allende, Rudolfo Anaya, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Raymond Carver, Willa Cather, John Cheever, Kate Chopin, Sandra Cisneros, Joseph Conrad, Edwidge Danticat, Daniel Defoe, Anita Desai, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Ralph Ellison, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, Henry Fielding, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.M. Forster, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Kazuo Ishiguro, Henry James, Ha Jin, Edward P. Jones, James Joyce, Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Laurence, D.H. Lawrence, Chang-rae Lee, Bernard Malamud, Gabriel García Márquez, Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Bharati Mukherjee, Vladimir Nabokov, Flannery O’Connor, Orhan Pamuk, Katherine Anne Porter, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, John Updike, Alice Walker, Evelyn Waugh, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton, John Edgar Wideman, Virginia Woolf, Richard Wright
• Expository Prose: Joseph Addison, Gloria Anzaldua, Matthew Arnold, James Baldwin, James Boswell, Joan Didion, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Hazlitt, bell hooks, Samuel Johnson, Charles Lamb, Thomas Macaulay, Mary McCarthy, John Stuart Mill, George Orwell, Michael Pollan, Richard Rodriguez, Edward Said, Lewis Thomas, Henry David Thoreau, E.B. White, Virginia Woolf

Read More: Review for the exam with our AP English Literature Cram Courses

AP English Literature Structure & Question Types

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.

Multiple-Choice

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! 

Free Response

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents an interpretation and may establish a line of reasoning.
• Select and use evidence to develop and support your line of reasoning.
• Explain the relationship between the evidence and your thesis.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

How to Interpret AP English Literature Scores

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:

Source: College Board

How can I prepare?

AP classes are great, but for many students they’re not enough! For a thorough review of AP English Literature content and strategy, pick the AP prep option that works best for your goals and learning style.

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AP English Literature and Composition Writing Study Skills

Writing is central to the AP English courses and exams. Both courses have two goals: to provide you with opportunities to become skilled, mature, critical readers, and to help you to develop into practiced, logical, clear, and honest writers. In AP English, writing is taught as “process”—that is, thinking, planning, drafting the text, then reviewing, discussing, redrafting, editing, polishing, and finishing it. It’s also important that AP students learn to write “on call” or “on demand.” Learning to write critical or expository essays on call takes time and practice.

Here are some key guidelines to remember in learning to write a critical essay:

• Take time to organize your ideas.
• Make pertinent use of the text given to you to analyze.
• Quote judiciously from it to support your observations.
• Be logical in your exposition of ideas.

If you acquire these skills—organizing ideas, marshalling evidence, being logical in analysis, and using the text judiciously—you should have little trouble writing your essays on the AP Exam. Practice in other kinds of writing—narrative, argument, exposition, and personal writing—all have their place alongside practice in writing on demand.

As you study and practice writing, consider the following points.

Reading directly influences writing skills and habits.

Reading and writing are intertwined. When you read what published authors have written you are immersed not just in their ideas, but in the pulsing of their sentences and the aptness of their diction. The more you read, the more that the rhythm of the English language will be available to influence your writing. Reading is not a substitute for writing, but it does help lay the foundation that makes good writing possible.

Writing is fun.

When you have penned what you think is a great sentence or a clean, logical paragraph, read it over to yourself out loud. Enjoy it. Delight in the ideas, savor the diction, and let the phrases and clauses roll around in your mind. Claim it as part of your self. You may discover you have a voice worthy of respect.

A tip from E. M. Forster

He is reputed to have said that he never knew clearly what it was he thought until he spoke it; and once he had said it, he never knew clearly what it was that he said until he had written it down. Then, Forster noted, he could play with it and give it final form. Be like Forster: think, speak, write, analyze your writing, then give it final shape.

Grammar, mechanics, and rhetoric

Think of them as elements that you can order to clean up your ideas, to sharpen your statements, to make your words and sentences glisten and stick.

Writers and critical readers have a “technical vocabulary” they use when talking about the language of drama, poetry, and fiction. Compile a list of such words. Notice writing that uses such vocabulary. Here are some of the words you should already know: syntax, tone, rhetoric, attitude, antecedent, denouement, exposition, climax, atmosphere, voice, speaker, stock character, thesis, ideology, persuasion, paradox, allusion, ambivalence, syllogism, and aphorism.

Your teachers may specify an audience that you are supposed to keep in mind when writing a paper. Most of us in daily life are not writing for a particular person or audience, but rather for someone called “the general reader.” The general reader is someone, anyone, who possesses an average intelligence and has a fairly sound general education. This general reader is interested in the events of the day and in the world as a whole. He or she has a good measure of sympathy for humankind, appreciates the happy as well as the unhappy accidents of life. This reader also is blessed with a good sense of humor and the ability to listen to others; to writers like you, in fact. Keep the general reader in mind when you write.

Pay close attention to the task verbs used in the free-response questions. Each one directs you to complete a specific type of response. Here are the task verbs you’ll see on the exam:

• Analyze: Examine methodically and in detail the structure of the topic of the question for purposes of interpretation and explanation.
• Choose: Select a literary work among provided choices.
• Read: Look at or view printed directions and provided passages.

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing? 

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples 

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay 

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer,  conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well? 

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis 

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

• Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
• Is specific and precise in its use of language
• Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out 

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

• Choose your evidence first
• Develop your commentary about the evidence
• Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary 

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

• Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
• Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

• Autumn dismantles Summer
• “Stray through stubble fields”
• Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

• Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
• Bright imagery/fallen leaves
• Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
• But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis 

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph 

In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is “romantic imagery” and the second is “hyperbolic imagery.” The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion 

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication 

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

• Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
• Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
• Oversimplifying your interpretation
• Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. 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.

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AP English Literature and Composition

Ap english literature and composition course and exam description.

This is the core document for the course.

New for 2024-25: MCQs Will Have Four Answer Choices

Starting in the 2024-25 school year, AP English Literature and Composition multiple-choice questions (MCQs) will have four answer choices instead of five. This change will take effect with the 2025 exam. All resources have been updated to reflect this change.  

Course Overview

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works.

Course and Exam Description

This is the core document for this course. Unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year.

Course Resources

Ap english literature and composition course overview.

This resource provides a succinct description of the course and exam.

AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description Walk-Through

Learn more about the CED in this interactive walk-through.

AP English Literature and Composition Course at a Glance

Excerpted from the AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description, the Course at a Glance document outlines the topics and skills covered in the AP English Literature and Composition course, along with suggestions for sequencing.

The Difference Between AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition

Learn the similarities and differences between these two courses and exams.

Course Content

The course content is organized into units that have been arranged in a logical sequence. This sequence has been developed through feedback from educators as well as analysis of high school and college courses and textbooks. The units in AP English Literature and Composition scaffold skills and knowledge through three genre-based, recurring units. This course framework provides a description of what students should know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.

The AP English Literature and Composition curriculum is made up of nine units. Teachers have the flexibility to organize the course content as they like.

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.

AP and Higher Education

Higher education professionals play a key role in developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education section features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.

This chart  shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the  AP Credit Policy Search .

Meet the AP English Literature and Composition Development Committee

The AP Program is unique in its reliance on Development Committees. These committees, made up of an equal number of college faculty and experienced secondary AP teachers from across the country, are essential to the preparation of AP course curricula and exams.

AP English Literature and Composition Development Committee

5 Tips for Writing a Great AP Lit Essay

Nervous about the 'free response prompt' on AP Lit? Don't be. We broke it down into manageable steps!

This year, if you’re taking the AP English Literature exam, you’ll be responsible for responding to three questions, which the College Board calls “free response prompts.” First , you’ll write a literary analysis of a poem. Second, you’ll write a literary analysis of a piece of fiction, which could be an excerpt from a play. Third , you’ll analyze a major literary aspect—a theme or a literary device, for example—of a literary work of your choosing.

The last of these prompts attracts perhaps the most attention and, by extension, produces the most anxiety among students. Anyone would admit that such a capacious (‘open, roomy’) question is challenging, especially when a year of AP Lit has taught you to focus on the details of the book you’re reading. And it certainly doesn’t help that this question comes at the very end of the essay, and you and your fingers are about as tired as they could possibly be!

But if you approach the prompt with enthusiasm, it can be the cherry on top of your exam, not the straw that breaks the camel’s back (getting creative with metaphors is always important in AP Lit!).

Here are five tips to help you write a great essay response to the third prompt on the AP Lit exam.

1. Select the perfect work.

Wait a minute—you can write about anything under the sun, as long as the College Board defines it as “a work of literary merit?” How is that even possible? In truth, your evaluators are using this prompt as a way to gauge your analytical abilities no matter the text. You’re not going to be judged for the work you select, as long as it’s substantial enough to ensure your analysis can be rich and meaningful. A good rule to live by: if a work pops into your head and you don’t immediately have at least a few different ideas for how to answer the prompt with it, toss it out of your brainstorming process. You want to find a work that is challenging and complex in order to show that you’re capable of effectively analyzing such works.

You have two main options for selecting the perfect work, both equally effective. The first is probably the most common: choose a book, play, or other literary work you read in AP Lit. Because you read it in class, you will almost surely be familiar with its themes and literary devices. Your second option is to pick a work you’ve read on your own, which could be anything from a novel you adored over summer break or the Shakespeare play you starred in at school. We recommend creating a short list of works you’d like to write about before you take your AP Lit exam, just to have your options at hand. As you’ve learned to do in class, consider each work’s rhetorical situation. This way, if you’re on the fence about whether a work is really “of literary merit,” you can ask your teacher or someone else in the know for an expert second opinion!

2. Practice really does make perfect.

You don’t know what the third free-response prompt will be, but you know that it will be! The College Board’s AP Lit exam page is only one of a gazillion easily accessible resources online that compile prompts from past years and devise hypothetical ones, too. These are great places to look. In the weeks leading up to the exam, we recommend selecting three to seven prompts—the more diverse in content, the better—and practicing with your list of works of literary merit. We recommend practicing with a work no more than two or three times—it’s great to know a text inside and out, but you don’t want to be a one-trick pony in case the prompt on the exam doesn’t lend itself to an essay about that text.

3. Outline, outline, outline!

Whether for AP exams , the SAT , or the ACT , you’ve heard the dictum a million times—outlines make better essays, even when your time feels extremely limited! When it’s time for the test, this can feel a little bit trite, but we challenge you to find one soul in the grand history of the AP English Literature exam who hasn’t benefited from creating even a rough outline. This is the place where your reasoning and organization come alive. We recommend devoting 5-7 minutes to your outline—the lower end if you’re confident you know the text inside and out and just need to nail down your claims and evidence, and the higher end if you need to jog your memory and give your thesis a bit more time to gestate.

What should your outline include? Keep it clear and concise. You definitely want to write your thesis; plan the topics of your body paragraphs, including potential topic sentences; and—a helpful, oft-forgotten third part—remind yourself why the work you’ve chosen is the best for the prompt. This last part won’t be formally integrated into your essay, but it’s extremely helpful as you try to stay focused and pointed while writing what can feel like an impossible broad essay.

4. Each paragraph is a new opportunity to be creative

The third free-response prompt, and the AP Lit exam in general, is extremely structured. It can feel downright constricting. The little-known truth about the last essay is that it’s the most creative part of the whole exam. You not only get to choose the prompt, but within the roughly five-paragraph structure of the essay you’re penning, you get to be quite creative with what you say in each paragraph. There are so many ways to explain to your readers how, say, a symbol illuminates an important theme in a text. We find this knowledge incredibly liberating; paired wisely with the organization that the outline and the essay require, this creative approach can lead to a top-notch essay.

5. Proofread, but not just for the sake of proofreading.

We’ve all been there—time is nearly up, you’ve put the period at the end of your conclusion, and now it’s time to make sure you haven’t written an incoherent jumble of nothingness. This is the last, crucial step before handing in your AP Lit exam and never reading again (just kidding!)

Because you’re so exhausted from hours of test-taking, proofreading your third free-response essay can feel like a chore—a hurdle you have to jump to reach the finish line. But it can also be an opportunity to make sure your argument, your analysis, and your claims and evidence are coherent . We don’t mean that you should restructure your thesis—there isn’t time for that, and we’re sure it’s great, anyway!—but we encourage you to make sure that every sentence is as clear, concise, and (reasonably) creative as possible. Proofreading is the time to read every sentence with a fundamental question in the back of your head: What is this sentence doing, and what are the words that form it doing? If something feels like it’s not pulling its weight, don’t hesitate—change or delete it. Now that you’ve nailed the bigger picture, you must demand only the best from the details.

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AP® English Literature

How to approach ap® english literature free-response questions.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: February 28, 2023

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What is the Format of AP® English Literature?

What content is covered in the free-response section of ap® english literature.

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How to Prepare for AP® English Literature Free-Response

Practice Makes Perfect

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.

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Outline your essay, write clearly and eloquently, what are ap® english literature free-response questions like.

How Can I practice AP® English Literature Free-Response?

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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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!

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How to Crush It on the AP® English Literature Exam Essays

by Heather Garcia

Many students are far too familiar with multiple-choice tests and they know, relatively, what to expect when they sit down to take one. Even though the AP ® English Literature Exam has multiple-choice questions that are a little more intense than other tests, it is still, at its core, a multiple-choice test. For many kids, that isn’t too scary. (But seriously, all literature and no non-fiction can be a bit daunting, especially when you hit those sonnets. Phew!)

When taking the AP ® English Literature exam, the part that intimidates many students is the Free-Response section. In other terms, the essay section. The AP ® English Literature exam has an essay section where you get the opportunity to show the readers, AP ® English Literature teachers and college professors from around the nation, what you can do. The readers are looking to see how well you read, how well you think, and how well you write in a timed setting. This is your chance to prove to the world (or to the readers) that you have thoughtfully prepared for this exam and you are ready for college-level literary analysis.

The AP ® readers are not expecting perfection in the essays you write. You are writing under a time constraint and the readers are completely aware of this. However, they do expect you to write three essays in two hours, spending approximately 40 minutes on each essay. The three essays are quite different, so it helps to start preparing early for each type of essay. Timed essay writing can certainly improve, but only with repeated practice and constructive feedback (or intense analysis of previously-scores samples).

The three essay types that you will be asked to write are: poetry analysis , prose analysis , and a literary argument .

For each essay that you write, it is my suggestion that you annotate the prompt. Read the prompt once. Then read it again and annotate how many separate tasks the prompt is asking you to perform. Sometimes you only need to identify the purpose and the devices being used. Sometimes there are four components of the prompt you need to address. Either way, number them so you can be certain when you are writing that you aren’t leaving anything important out.

Beyond that, each of the three essays requires a slightly different approach during the testing period. Below you will find specific suggestions for each one:

Poetry Analysis:

In this essay, you will be given a poem that you most likely have never read. I am surprised every year by which poem the test writers choose. They work diligently to ensure that they find poems that are rich in interpretive opportunities and that are not frequently included in textbook anthologies. They want students to have an interpretation that isn’t filtered through a textbook company or a teacher. They want thought and analysis from you, the student.

When you approach this essay, it is best to read and annotate the prompt, but also to give the poem a solid first read before you try to do any interpretation. On the first read-through, check to see if you can determine the tone, the purpose, and a general gist of what the poem is about. Then go back and re-read the prompt and poem again. In this read-through, you should start underlining and circling, making quick notes about what you notice so that you have fodder to write about. This should take you about 7-8 minutes.

The next step is to complete a quick, and I mean quick , outline. I use the word outline loosely. This could be a scribbled list of topics you want to cover with arrows pointing to the textual evidence you plan to use. It could be a brain map with lines and bubbles and arrows. It could be just placing numbers beside your annotations so you know what order you want to tackle them in. Regardless of the method you choose, it is important that you choose one. So many students think they are beyond pre-planning for an essay, and sadly, it shows. The essays lack the finesse that they could have had if they had taken the three or four minutes to jot down a map of where the essay was headed.

The final step is to write the essay. This part should take about 30 minutes. It may seem like an impossible task, but with a specific direction to head and with the poem already analyzed, the essay should flow smoothly. You aren’t writing a 200 page dissertation. You are writing a 2 to 4 page essay. In pen. In your best handwriting. Saving a few minutes at the end for proofreading. No problem. Right?

This is just the first essay. There are two more. (See why I said preparing early is key?)

Prose Analysis:

This essay is similar to the poetry essay in many respects. You will be given a passage that you most likely have never seen before, and you must respond to a prompt asking you about it. The main difference is that this excerpt will not be a poem. It will be an excerpt from a novel, a short story, or a play. Again, most likely one you haven’t read or even heard of, but that is half the fun.

Similar to the poetry essay, you will begin by reading the prompt and annotating it, but for this essay, you most likely won’t have time to read the passage in its entirety twice.

You will want to annotate and respond to the prompt as you go. Speed is as essential as analysis. You don’t want to spend more than 10 minutes reading and making notes. You need to save 3 or 4 minutes for a pre-write, just like you did with the poetry prompt. Then, you will spend about 25 minutes writing. Quickly. I like that this essay is in the middle of the Free Response section of the test because even though you can write the essays in any order you choose, if you keep this one in the middle, your brain is already in analysis mode, your hands are warmed up, but not yet beyond achy, and this essay can run smoothly.

Literary Argument:

This, by far, is my favorite essay. This essay asks you to respond to an open prompt about a novel you read and analyzed deeply. College Board asks that you write about books that are worthy of college-level analysis and that you only write about a single book, but other than that, the options are open. College Board will provide you a list of book titles that would fit the prompt, but you are certainly not limited to that list.

Even though this essay appears last in the test packet, I always encourage my students to write this essay first. My students usually spend the last couple of weeks prior to the exam reviewing specific scenes from their favorite novels, refreshing themselves on the themes, symbols, and how to spell the characters’ names (you think I am kidding, but some of those names are tricky). When they get to the essay section, they feel like their brains are going to explode with all of the information, so they write this essay first. They get it out of the way before the other passages fill them up with more themes and symbols to contend with.

When writing this essay, it is still important to annotate the prompt and to make a pre-writing plan, but there is no text to cite from. You only have your brain. When you choose the book to write about, ensure that you include the full title and the author’s name in the introductory paragraph. Without that the reader is just guessing at your book. And don’t worry if you choose an obscure book. Your reader will most likely have read it. And if not, they will pass the essay on to someone who has read the book.

DO NOT spend time summarizing the plot of the book you choose. It is a waste of time and space and does nothing to influence your score positively. Instead, assume the reader has read your chosen book, and use a phrase to ground them in the plot before jumping into analysis. Instead of giving three sentences to describe a scene, just say, “in the part where Jane and Rochester kiss under the chestnut tree” or “in the section of the play where King Lear cuts Cordelia out of her inheritance.” Nothing more is needed that that. The readers will jump right into the plot with you.

You have to remember that the readers are there to reward what you do well, not bash you on the moments where you might mess up. On test day, it is important to remember to have fun with each of the essays. If you are enjoying the process of writing them, the readers will enjoy the process of reading them. Find interesting perspectives, make cogent observations, and dazzle the readers with your insight and thought-provoking arguments. But leading up to test day…PRACTICE!

While the AP ® English Literature free-response questions can be challenging, practicing will ease your stress on test day!

Heather Garcia is an English teacher at Charlotte High School, Florida, where she teaches AP English Literature and AP ® English Language. She is a professional development leader in her district, running annual new-teacher trainings and is now the Curriculum and Instructional Specialist for her district for grades 6-12. After 16 years of hands-on experience, Heather has developed a series of strategies to help her students navigate challenging texts. Her favorite book is the Steinbeck classic, East of Eden .

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Expert Guide to the AP Language and Composition Exam

Advanced Placement (AP)

With the 2023 AP English Language and Composition exam happening on Tuesday, May 9, it's time to make sure that you're familiar with all aspects of the exam. In this article, I'll give a brief overview of the test, do a deeper dive on each of the sections, discuss how the exam is scored, offer some strategies for studying, and finally wrap up with some essential exam day tips.

Exam Overview

The AP Language and Composition exam tests your rhetorical and composition skills. Essentially, how do authors construct effective arguments in their writing? What tools do they use? How can you use those tools to craft effective writing yourself? That is the essence of rhetorical analysis.

The exam has two parts: the first section is an hour-long, 45 question multiple-choice section. It includes five sets of questions, each based on a passage or passages. In this section, there will be 23-25 rhetorical analysis questions which test your rhetorical skills. There will also be 20-22 writing questions which require you to consider revisions to the texts you're shown.

The second section is free response. It starts with a 15-minute reading period, and then you'll have 120 minutes to write three analytical essays:

• One essay where you synthesize several provided texts to create an argument
• One essay where you analyze a nonfiction passage for its rhetorical construction
• One essay where you create an original argument in response to a prompt.

You will have about 40 minutes to write each essay, but no one will prompt you to move from essay to essay—you can structure the 120 minutes as you wish.

In the next sections I'll go over each section of the exam more closely—first multiple choice, and then free response.

The AP English Language and Composition Multiple-Choice

The multiple-choice section tests you on two main areas. The first is how well you can read and understand nonfiction passages for their use of rhetorical devices and tools. The second is how well you can "think like a writer" and make revisions to texts in composition questions.

You will be presented with five passages, about which you will receive a small amount of orienting information, e.g. "This passage is excerpted from a collection of essays on boating" or "This passage is excerpted from an essay written in 19th-century Haiti." Each passage will be followed by a set of questions.

There are, in general, eight question types you can expect to encounter on the multiple-choice section of the exam. I've taken my examples from the sample questions in the " Course and Exam Description ."

Magic eight-ball says there are eight types of multiple-choice questions!

Type 1: Reading Comprehension

These questions are focused on verifying that you understood what a certain part of the passage was saying on a concrete, literal level. You can identify these questions from phrases like "according to" "refers," etc. The best way to succeed on these questions is to go back and re-read the part of the passage referred to very carefully.

Type 2: Implication

These questions take reading comprehension one step further—they are primarily focused on what the author is implying without directly coming out and saying it. These questions will have a correct answer, though, based on evidence from the passage. Which interpretation offered in the answers does the passage most support? You can identify questions like these from words like "best supported," ‘"implies," "suggests," "inferred," and so on.

Type 3: Overall Passage and Author Questions

These questions ask about overall elements of the passage or the author, such as the author's attitude on the issue discussed, the purpose of the passage, the passage's overarching style, the audience for the passage, and so on.

You can identify these questions because they won't refer back to a specific moment in the text. For these questions, you'll need to think of the passage from a "bird's-eye view" and consider what all of the small details together are combining to say.

Type 4: Relationships Between Parts of the Text

Some questions will ask you to describe the relationship between two parts of the text, whether they are paragraphs or specific lines. You can identify these because they will usually explicitly ask about the relationship between two identified parts of the text, although sometimes they will instead ask about a relationship implicitly, by saying something like "compared to the rest of the passage."

Type 5: Interpretation of Imagery/Figurative Language

These questions will ask you about the deeper meaning or implication of figurative language or imagery that is used in the text. Essentially, why did the author choose to use this simile or this metaphor? What is s/he trying to accomplish?

You can generally identify questions like this because the question will specifically reference a moment of figurative language in the text. However, it might not be immediately apparent that the phrase being referenced is figurative, so you may need to go back and look at it in the passage to be sure of what kind of question you are facing.

Type 6: Purpose of Part of the Text

Still other questions will ask you to identify what purpose a particular part of the text serves in the author's larger argument. What is the author trying to accomplish with the particular moment in the text identified in the question?

You can identify these questions because they will generally explicitly ask what purpose a certain part of the text serves. You may also see words or phrases like "serves to" or "function."

Type 7: Rhetorical Strategy

These questions will ask you to identify a rhetorical strategy used by the author. They will often specifically use the phrase "rhetorical strategy," although sometimes you will be able to identify them instead through the answer choices, which offer different rhetorical strategies as possibilities.

Type 8: Composition

This is the newest question type, first seen in the 2019/2020 school year. For these questions, the student will need to act as though they are the writer and think through different choices writers need to make when writing or revising text.

These questions can involve changing the order of sentences or paragraphs, adding or omitting information to strengthen an argument or improve clarity, making changes to draw reader attention, and other composition-based choices.

Some very important stylish effects going on here.

The AP English Language and Composition Free Response

The free response section has a 15-minute reading period. After that time, you will have 120 minutes to write three essays that address three distinct tasks.

Because the first essay involves reading sources, it is suggested that you use the entire 15-minute reading period to read the sources and plan the first essay. However, you may want to glance at the other questions during the reading period so that ideas can percolate in the back of your mind as you work on the first essay.

Essay One: Synthesis

For this essay, you will be briefly oriented on an issue and then given anywhere from six to seven sources that provide various perspectives and information on the issue. You will then need to write an argumentative essay with support from the documents.

If this sounds a lot like a DBQ , as on the history AP exams, that's because it is! However, this essay is much more argumentative in nature—your goal is to persuade, not merely interpret the documents.

Example (documents not included, see 2022 free response questions ):

Essay Two: Rhetorical Analysis

In the second essay, you'll be presented with an excerpt from a nonfiction piece that advances an argument and asked to write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies used to construct the passage's argument. You will also be given some orienting information—where the passage was excerpted from, who wrote it, its approximate date, where it was published (if at all), and to whom it was directed.

Example (excerpt not included, see 2022 free response questions ):

Essay Three: Argument

In the third essay, you will be presented with an issue and asked to write a persuasive essay taking a position on the issue. You will need to support your position with evidence from your "reading, experience, and observations."

This doesn't look like a very well-constructed argument.

How The AP Language and Composition Exam Is Scored

The multiple-choice section of the exam is worth 45% of your score, and the free-response section is worth the other 55%. So each of the three free-response essays is worth about 18% of your score.

As on other APs, your raw score will be converted to a scaled score of 1-5. This exam has a relatively low 5 rate. Only 10% of test takers received a 5 in 2022 , although 56% of students received a score of 3 or higher.

In terms of how the raw score is obtained, the multiple-choice section is similar to other AP multiple-choice sections: you receive a point for every question you answer correctly, and there is no penalty for guessing.

The grading rubrics for the free-response questions were revamped in 2019. They are scored using analytic rubrics instead of holistic rubrics. For each free-response question, you will be given a score from 0-6. The rubrics assess three major areas:

#1: Thesis (0 to 1 points): Is there a thesis, and does it properly respond to the prompt?

#2: Evidence and Commentary (0 to 4 points): Does the essay include supporting evidence and analysis that is relevant, specific, well organized, and supports the thesis?

#3: Sophistication (0 to 1 points): Is the essay well-crafted and does it show a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the prompt?

Each scoring rubric broadly assesses these three factors. However, each task is also different in nature, so the rubrics do have some differences. I'll go over each rubric—and what it really means—for you here.

Synthesis Essay Rubrics

EVIDENCE AND COMMENTARY

SOPHISTICATION

Time to synthesize this dough into some cookies.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Rubrics

Examine your texts closely!

Argumentative Essay Rubrics

The best kind of frenzy is a puppy frenzy!

AP English Language Prep Tips

Unlike its cousin, the AP English Literature and Composition exam, the AP Language and Composition exam (and course) have very little to do with fiction or poetry. So some students used to more traditional English classes may be somewhat at a loss as to what to do to prepare.

Luckily for you, I have a whole slate of preparation tips for you!

Read Nonfiction—In a Smart Way

A major thing you can do to prepare for the AP Lang and Comp exam is to read nonfiction— particularly nonfiction that argues a position , whether explicitly (like an op-ed) or implicitly (like many memoirs and personal essays). Read a variety of non-fiction genres and topics, and pay attention to the following:

• What is the author's argument?
• What evidence do they use to support their position?
• What rhetorical techniques and strategies do they use to build their argument?
• Are they persuasive? What counterarguments can you identify? Do they address them?

Thinking about these questions with all the reading you do will help you hone your rhetorical analysis skills.

Learn Rhetorical Terms and Strategies

Of course, if you're going to be analyzing the nonfiction works you read for their rhetorical techniques and strategies, you need to know what those are! You should learn a robust stable of rhetorical terms from your teacher, but here's my guide to the most important AP Language and Composition terms .

• We've compiled a list of 20 rhetorical devices you should know.
• A heroic individual from Riverside schools in Ohio uploaded this aggressively comprehensive list of rhetorical terms with examples. It's 27 pages long, and you definitely shouldn't expect to know all of these for the exam, but it's a useful resource for learning some new terms.
• Another great resource for learning about rhetorical analysis and how rhetorical devices are actually used is the YouTube Channel Teach Argument , which has videos rhetorically analyzing everything from Taylor Swift music videos to Super Bowl commercials. It's a fun way to think about rhetorical devices and get familiar with argumentative structures.
• Finally, a great book—which you might already use in your class—is " They Say, I Say. " This book provides an overview of rhetoric specifically for academic purposes, which will serve you well for AP preparation and beyond.

You also need to practice argumentative and persuasive writing. In particular, you should practice the writing styles that will be tested on the exam: synthesizing your own argument based on multiple outside sources, rhetorically analyzing another piece of writing in-depth, and creating a completely original argument based on your own evidence and experience.

You should be doing lots of writing assignments in your AP class to prepare, but thoughtful, additional writing will help. You don't necessarily need to turn all of the practice writing you do into polished pieces, either—just writing for yourself, while trying to address some of these tasks, will give you a low-pressure way to try out different rhetorical structures and argumentative moves, as well as practicing things like organization and developing your own writing style.

Not the most auspicious start to an argumentative essay.

Practice for the Exam

Finally, you'll need to practice specifically for the exam format. There are sample multiple-choice questions in the " AP Course and Exam Description ," and old free-response questions on the College Board website.

Unfortunately, the College Board hasn't officially released any complete exams from previous years for the AP English Language and Composition exam, but you might be able to find some that teachers have uploaded to school websites and so on by Googling "AP Language complete released exams." I also have a guide to AP Language and Composition practice tests .

Once you're prepped and ready to go, how can you do your best on the test?

AP Language and Composition Test Day Tips

Here are four key tips for test-day success.

You are one hundred percent success!

Interact With the Text

When you are reading passages, both on the multiple-choice section and for the first two free-response questions, interact with the text! Mark it up for things that seem important, devices you notice, the author's argument, and anything else that seems important to the rhetorical construction of the text. This will help you engage with the text and make it easier to answer questions or write an essay about the passage.

Think About Every Text's Overarching Purpose and Argument

Similarly, with every passage you read, consider the author's overarching purpose and argument. If you can confidently figure out what the author's primary assertion is, it will be easier to trace how all of the other aspects of the text play into the author's main point.

Plan Your Essays

The single most important thing you can do for yourself on the free-response section of the AP English Language exam is to spend a few minutes planning and outlining your essays before you start to write them.

Unlike on some other exams, where the content is the most important aspect of the essay, on the AP Language Exam, organization, a well-developed argument, and strong evidence are all critical to strong essay scores. An outline will help you with all of these things. You'll be able to make sure each part of your argument is logical, has sufficient evidence, and that your paragraphs are arranged in a way that is clear and flows well.

Anticipate and Address Counterarguments

Another thing you can do to give your free responses an extra boost is to identify counterarguments to your position and address them within your essay. This not only helps shore up your own position, but it's also a fairly sophisticated move in a timed essay that will win you kudos with AP graders.

Address counterarguments properly or they might get returned to sender!

Key Takeaways

The AP Language and Composition exam tests your rhetorical skills. The exam has two sections.

The first section is an hour-long, 45 question multiple-choice test based on the rhetorical techniques and composition choices.

The second section is a two-hour free-response section (with a 15-minute initial reading period) with three essay questions: one where you must synthesize given sources to make an original argument, one where you must rhetorically analyze a given passage, and one where you must create a wholly original argument about an issue with no outside sources given.

You'll receive one point for every correct answer on the multiple-choice section of the exam, which is worth 45% of your score. The free-response section is worth 55% of your score. For each free-response question, you'll get a score based on a rubric from 0-6. Your total raw score will be converted to a scaled score from 1-5.

Here are some test prep strategies for AP Lang:

#1 : Read nonfiction with an eye for rhetoric #2 : Learn rhetorical strategies and techniques #3 : Practice writing to deploy rhetorical skills #4 : Practice for the exam!

Here are some test-day success tips:

#1 : Interact with each passage you encounter! #2 : Consider every text's overarching purpose and argument. #3 : Keep track of time #4 : Plan your essays #5 : Identify and address counterarguments in your essays.

With all of this knowledge, you're ready to slay the AP English Language and Composition beast!

Noble knight, prepare to slay the AP dragon!

What's Next?

Want more AP Lang review? We have a complete collection of released AP Language practice tests , as well as a list of the AP Lang terms you need to know and a guide to the multiple choice section .

Taking the AP Literature exam? Check out our ultimate guide to the AP English Literature test and our list of AP Literature practice tests .

Taking other AP exams? See our Ultimate Guides to AP World History , AP US History , AP Chemistry , AP Biology , AP World History , and AP Human Geography .

Need more AP prep guidance? Check out how to study for AP exams and how to find AP practice tests .

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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