(40 minutes recommended per essay)
3 free response questions
55%
AP English Literature multiple-choice questions are grouped in sets. You will be given 5 passages or poems to read, with 8-13 multiple-choice questions to assess your reading comprehension. Each multiple-choice question has 5 answer choices (A through E). That’s a lot of reading then recalling, understanding, and interpreting. Use your time effectively and wisely!
AP scores are reported from 1 to 5. Colleges are generally looking for a 4 or 5 on the AP English Literature exam, but some may grant credit for a 3. (Here's a quick overview of AP credit policy .) Each test is curved so scores vary from year to year. Here’s how AP English Lit students scored on the May 2022 test:
|
|
|
5 | Extremely qualified | 16.9% |
4 | Well qualified | 27.3% |
3 | Qualified | 33.7% |
2 | Possibly qualified | 14.1% |
1 | No recommendation | 7.9% |
Source: College Board
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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Review the free-response questions from the 2024 ap exam, 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.
Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information, download the AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description (.pdf) (CED).
Encourage your students to visit the AP English Literature and Composition student page for exam information.
Wed, May 7, 2025
Exam format.
The AP English Literature and Composition Exam has consistent question types, weighting, and scoring guidelines every year, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day. There will also be a consistent range of difficulty in the reading passages across all versions of the exam from year to year. The free-response questions will be scored using analytic rubrics, rather than the previous holistic rubrics.
55 Questions | 1 Hour | 45% of Exam Score
3 Questions | 2 Hours | 55% of Exam Score
One-page ap english literature and composition scoring rubrics.
This is a simplified version of the longer scoring rubric document, with the decision rules and scoring notes taken out. This document features a student-friendly single-page rubric for each free-response question.
This document features general scoring criteria that apply to each of the three free-response questions, regardless of specific question prompt.
Ap english literature and composition exam questions and scoring information.
View free-response questions and scoring information from past exams.
Online score reports.
Access your score reports.
Learn all about the course and exam. Already enrolled? Join your class in My AP.
Go to AP Central for resources for teachers, administrators, and coordinators.
What makes a work of literature great? In AP English Literature and Composition, you’ll examine how authors and poets create meaning through their rich, purposeful use of language. As you write and refine essays about literature, you’ll develop the skills of analysis and composition that will allow you to communicate your interpretation effectively.
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.
Read a text closely and draw conclusions from details
Identify the techniques used by an author and their effects
Develop an interpretation of a text
Present your interpretation and make an argument for it in writing
College course equivalent.
An introductory college-level literature course
Wed, May 7, 2025
This is the regularly scheduled date for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam.
The course content outlined below is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. Your teacher may choose to organize the course content differently based on local priorities and preferences.
Unit 1: short fiction i.
You’ll learn critical reading skills to help you critically read, interpret, and analyze prose.
Topics may include:
You’ll continue your critical reading exploration in poetry and learn to analyze similar elements within a wide variety of poems.
You’ll observe how the literary techniques you’ve explored in prior units unfold over the course of longer works and analyze how characters develop and interact over the course of a narrative.
You’ll delve deeper into the roles of character and conflict in fiction and explore how a narrator’s perspective can color storytelling.
You’ll study different forms of poetry and examine how structure and figurative language can create and impact meaning.
You’ll analyze how various literary techniques play out and shift over the course of longer works, charting how characters change (or don’t) as they’re affected by developments in the plot.
You’ll examine how works of fiction interact with and comment on the world around them and the society their authors live or lived in.
You’ll develop your interpretation of poetry further by examining how contrasts, ambiguous language, and various other techniques can add layers of meaning to a poetic work.
You’ll consider longer narratives in the context of the various techniques and interpretations you’ve learned in prior units and build a nuanced analysis of each complex work as a whole.
Credit and Placement
Find colleges that grant credit and/or placement for AP Exam scores in this and other AP courses.
Ap classroom resources.
Once you join your AP class section online, you’ll be able to access AP Daily videos, any assignments from your teacher, and your assignment results in AP Classroom. Sign in to access them.
Advice to keep up with the reading workload in your AP class.
Learn to craft your writing process.
This is the core document for the course. It clearly lays out the course content and describes the exam and AP Program in general.
Learn the similarities and differences between these two courses and exams.
AP English Literature and Composition can lead to a wide range of careers and college majors
All Subjects
15 min read • july 11, 2024
We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We created a study plan to help you crush your AP English Literature exam. This guide will continue to update with information about the 2025 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you do your best on test day. Unlock Cram Mode for access to our cram events—students who have successfully passed their AP exams will answer your questions and guide your last-minute studying LIVE! And don't miss out on unlimited access to our database of thousands of practice questions.
Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:
Multiple Choice | 1 Hour | 45% of Exam Score - 55 questions total - 5 sets of questions with 8–13 questions per set. - Each set is preceded by a passage of prose fiction, drama, or poetry of varying difficulty. - Will always include at least 2 prose fiction passages (this may include drama) and at least 2 poetry passages. Free Response | 2 hours | 55% of your score
View an example set of questions and the corresponding scoring guidelines from the College Board to get an idea of what they look for in your responses!
Check out our study plan below to find resources and tools to prepare for your AP English Literature exam.
The exam is on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM your local time—this will be a paper test at your school.
Before you begin studying, take some time to get organized.
🖥 Create a study space.
Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space.
📚 Organize your study materials.
Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also, create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get yourself set up!
📅 Plan designated times for studying.
The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.
🏆 Decide on an accountability plan.
How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First, set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!
🌱 unit 1: intro to short fiction, big takeaways:.
Unit 1 is the first prose analysis unit, focusing on short fiction. It helps to establish your prose analysis vocabulary, focusing on identifying and describing basic literary elements such as plot, narrator, and setting. This unit also gives the foundations for writing analyses of text, beginning with paragraph structuring and claim defense.
📚 Read these study guides:
Unit 1 Overview: Introduction to Short Fiction
1.1 Interpreting the role of character in fiction
1.2 Identifying and interpreting setting
1.3 Identifying how a story’s structure affects interpretation
1.4 Understanding and interpreting a narrator’s perspective
1.5 Reading texts literally and figuratively
1.6 The basics of literary analysis 🎥 Watch these videos:
Prose Prompt Deconstruction : An overview of the Prose Analysis prompt and strategies for preparing to respond
What Lit Is : An overview of the course and exam and their expectations 📰 Check out this articles:
[object Object] : Short stories of literary merit to stretch your analysis muscles ✍️ Practice
Best Quizlet Decks for AP English Literature : Practice with these quizlets to strengthen your AP Lit vocabulary!
Unit 2 is the first poetry analysis unit, focusing on everyone's favorite figurative language devices -- metaphor and simile . Because poems often have a specific form, this unit also begins analysis of form/structure and also looks at contrasts in a text (which create the complexity that the exam expects you to analyze). All of these poetic elements, though, are being analyzed for their function in the poem -- this unit helps you practice looking for why authors make the choices that they do.
This unit continues the work of Unit 1 in developing paragraphs that establish a claim and provide evidence to support that claim. It’s more important that you can write a stable, defensible, claim-based paragraph at this point than it is that you can write an entire essay (that might not be as strong).
Unit 2 Overview: Introduction to Poetry
2.1 Identifying characters in poetry
2.2 Understanding & interpreting meaning in poetic structure
2.3 Analyzing word choice to find meaning
2.4 Identifying techniques in poetry to analyze literary works 🎥 Watch these videos:
Literary Device Review : An overview of some literary devices that you may have forgotten, or an introduction to some new ones that you want in your analysis vocabulary.
Defending a Claim : Before practicing your paragraphs, watch this stream for guidance in building a claim from the passage in response to a prompt.
How to Read a Poem : A stream dedicated to developing poetry reading skills, including a useful acronym (SIFT) for prioritizing important elements of a poem.
Annotating for Understanding: This stream guides you through the annotation process, making sure that you are annotating purposefully, and developing your own library of symbols. 📰 Check out these articles:
Poetry Overview : Our Fiveable guide to the poetry analysis question -- what to expect and what you need to do to respond effectively.
Here we go with the novels! Because the exam’s literary argument essay (also affectionately known as Q3 in the Lit circles) asks students to analyze a novel-length text, it’s important to get practice on analyzing novels or plays (did someone say, Shakespeare?). This unit boils down to paying closer attention to character and plot, with a sprinkling of setting analysis. Because novels are longer than short stories, not only can authors spread out the creation of literary elements and go deeper, but you can see more about how it’s done.
In terms of composition, this unit starts discussing the development of a thesis statement! So now we can establish a thesis, and then support it with a paragraph (or two). This means we’re also starting to create a line of reasoning that is introduced in the thesis statement, and supported in the body of your essay.
Unit 3 Overview: Introduction to Longer Fiction and Drama
3.1 Interpreting character description and perspective
3.2 Character evolution throughout a narrative
3.3 Conflict and plot development
3.4 Interpreting symbolism
3.5 Identifying evidence and supporting literary arguments 🎥 Watch these videos:
Theme Statements and Thesis Statements: This stream distinguishes between these two important statements in a Q3 response, and further discusses thesis statements in general.
Annotating for Analysis, part 2: This stream is more about annotating an exam prompt, and then preparing to respond to it.
Characters and Relationships : All about characterization, with terms and tips for understanding the creation of characters and why they matter. 📰 Check out these articles:
Fiveable study guide to the Literary Argument prompt
Because of the way that the AP Lit units are structured, we spiral skills and text types, so this is phase 2 of short fiction analysis. While the first short fiction unit was focused on identifying and describing elements, now you’re being asked to explain the function (that why again) and describe relationships.
This unit also asks you to start analyzing how those relationships and elements are created by authors. That means you are reading more closely for diction and syntax and paying more attention to how a speaker/narrator’s perspective is shown to you.
We’re still working on defensible thesis statements and building commentary to make clear connections between our claim and the evidence. This is what builds the line of reasoning and earns a 4 in evidence and commentary on the Lit rubric.
Unit 4 Overview: Character, Conflict, and Storytelling
4.1 Protagonists, antagonists, character relationships, and conflict
4.2 Character interactions with setting and its significance
4.3 Archetypes in literature
4.4 Types of narration like stream of consciousness
4.5 Narrative distance, tone, and perspective 🎥 Watch these videos:
Prose Analysis Prompt Deconstruction and Strategies : Before you read the text, make sure that you know the task before you, and you’re ready to read with that in mind.
Q2 Thesis and Introduction : There are some exam-taking tips in here, from a college freshman who conquered the exam. She also discusses forming a thesis and an introduction that works. Quickly.
Q2 Evidence and Commentary : Practicing creating commentary to respond to the prompt efficiently. This stream uses practice prompts to show the process of reading a text with the prompt in mind to select evidence while reading. 📰 Check out these articles:
Short Fiction Overview : Revisit this guide! Read the section on “How to Read a Short Story. Like, Really Read It.”
💎 Check out this stream on creating a "boot camp" that was originally meant for teachers, but gives guidelines and suggestions on how to dive into short fiction. ✍️ Practice
AP Lit Prose Analysis Practice Prompt Answers & Feedback – [object Object] (Diction): The focus of this practice prompt is diction – analyzing it AND using it yourself, with a little syntax thrown in! Try it yourself and compare it with student responses and feedback.
AP Lit Prose Analysis Practice Prompt Samples & Feedback – [object Object] : Practicing prose analysis is a great way to prep for the AP exam! Respond to this practice prompt and review practice writing samples and their corresponding feedback.
AP Lit Prose Analysis Practice Essays & Feedback – [object Object] : Writing essays is a great way to practice prose analysis and prep for the AP exam! Review student responses for an essay prompt and corresponding feedback
We’re going back to poems! This unit asks you to “identify and explain the function” of various poetic elements and devices. All at the same time. Those literary devices you learned in Poetry I might come in handy here, but the analysis is more about why the author made those choices about repetition, reference, comparison, etc.
In order to select the most significant, “relevant, and sufficient” evidence to support your line of reasoning from your thesis , you have to know the function of the personification or metaphor or imagery. Ask yourself, “Why would the author write ____ instead of ____?” This helps you analyze the connotations of the choice, and therefore the function in the text.
By now, we’re writing a thesis plus paragraphs. This is also an opportunity to work on the organization of your essays (hint: organizing by the device is neither efficient nor sophisticated; try to find a shift or two in the poem and use them to develop your paragraph chunks.
Unit 5 Overview: Structure and Figurative Language
5.1 Traits of closed and open structures in poetry
5.2 Use of techniques like imagery and hyperbole
5.3 Types of comparisons in poetry including personification and allusion
5.4 Identifying and interpreting extended metaphors 🎥 Watch these videos:
How Form Creates Meaning: Learn about poetry-specific choices authors make, and what elements of form look like in practice. Also, explore a couple of common forms and why they might be used.
Open Poetry Study : An opportunity to practice some of the skills from “How to Read a Poem ”.
Q1 Evidence and Commentary : Follow the process of reading a poem and selecting evidence in real-time. You can have an essay before it’s through.
The complexity of Poetry: This is an opportunity to look specifically at how poets create tensions and complexity in their work. Since this complexity is always a point of analysis on the exam, you can study how it works, and how to write about it
Because novels are longer stories, we can look at more elements at a time. That’s what this unit wants from you -- examining speaker perspective and reliability, the formation and function of literary or contextual symbolism, characterization, character relationships and contrasts, the function of plot events, etc. All at the same time.
What you need to know: The bottom line of reading for Q3 is the meaning of the work as a whole or theme . And you might not fully understand what that is until the novel or play is finished, but you can start to build ideas around what BIG IDEA the author is addressing. Your job is to keep track of how characters, plot, and setting contribute to the discussion of this big idea (like greed or isolation or jealousy or love or anger or insanity).
Unit 6 Overview: Literary Techniques in Longer Works
6.1 Interpreting foil characters
6.2 Understanding and interpreting character complexity
6.3 Understanding nonlinear narrative structures like flashbacks and foreshadowing
6.4 The effect of narrative tone and bias on reading
6.5 Characters as symbols, metaphors, and archetypes
6.6 Developing literary arguments within a broader context of works 🎥 Watch these videos:
Finding Theme Through Characterization : A discussion of the function of characterization as it applies to the meaning of the work as a whole.
🎥 Watch these videos:
Multiple Choice Intro : an introduction to the AP Literature multiple choice -- an overview of the weights, number and types of questions you will encounter, with some tips for practice and preparation.
Prose MC Strategies and Practice: covers all aspects of the Multiple Choice section of the AP Lit Exam, including tips on-time efficiency, annotation, and picking the best answer choice. This is followed by 2 sets of practice passages and questions and explanations for each of the provided answer choices. 📰 Check out these articles:
English Literature Multiple Choice Study Guide
AP English Literature Multiple Choice Help (MCQ) ✍️ Practice
AP English Lit MCQ Practice Tests
The last three units of AP Lit ask you to dig even deeper into what you're reading to analyze it. In Unit 7, you'll focus on how characters fit into the societal and historical context of the work they're in, and how those features can become important facets of stories. Importantly, you'll be asked to analyze how complexity develops over the course of the story.
Unit 8 will introduce you to more complicated techniques in poetry that are harder to spot and analyze. You will be asked to identify and analyze devices like punctuation and structural patterns, juxtaposition, paradox, irony, symbols, conceits, and allusions. Although these are a little harder to correctly identify in poetry, if you can master them, they can earn you major points on the exam. Additionally, you'll learn about how to correctly cite and attribute information when writing literary analysis!
The final unit of AP Lit will task you with creating even more nuanced analyses of longer works and drama. To do this, we'll look at how characters change over the course of the plot and react to the resolution of the narrative, how suspense, resolution, and plot development contribute the meaning of a work, and how inconsistencies and differing perspectives create nuance in longer works.
Breaking Down an Exam Prompt: A discussion of how to break down an AP Literature exam prompt into smaller questions. We end with some do's, don'ts, and common pitfalls for students writing AP Literature essays.
Commentary and Sophistication FAQs: Review the criteria for earning maximum evidence/commentary points and the one sophistication point from the rubric. Next, read scored examples and see what they earned in those two categories. ✍️ Practice
AP English Literature Free Response Questions (FRQ) – Past Prompts : A sortable list of all the AP English Literature free-response questions.
Ap® and sat® are trademarks registered by the college board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website..
How to get a 9 on prose analysis frq in ap® english literature.
When it’s time to take the AP® English Literature and Composition exam, will you be ready? If you’re aiming high, you’ll want to know the best route to a five on the AP® exam. You know the exam is going to be tough, so how do prepare for success? To do well on the AP® English Literature and Composition exam, you’ll need to score high on the essays. For that, you’ll need to write a competent, efficient essay that argues an accurate interpretation of the work under examination in the Free Response Question section.
The AP® English Literature and Composition exam consists of two sections, the first being a 55-question multiple choice portion worth 45% of the total test grade. This section tests your ability to read drama, verse, or prose fiction excerpts and answer questions about them. The second section, worth 55% of the total score, requires essay responses to three questions demonstrating your ability to analyze literary works. You’ll have to discuss a poem analysis, a prose fiction passage analysis, and a concept, issue, or element analysis of a literary work–in two hours.
Before the exam, you should know how to construct a clear, organized essay that defends a focused claim about the work under analysis. You must write a brief introduction that includes the thesis statement, followed by body paragraphs that further the thesis statement with detailed, thorough support, and a short concluding paragraph that reiterates and reinforces the thesis statement without repeating it. Clear organization, specific support, and full explanations or discussions are three critical components of high-scoring essays.
You may know already how to approach the prose analysis, but don’t forget to keep the following in mind coming into the exam:
The newly-released 2016 sample AP® English Literature and Composition exam questions, sample responses, and grading rubrics provide a valuable opportunity to analyze how to achieve high scores on each of the three Section II FRQ responses. However, for purposes of this examination, the Prose Analysis FRQ strategies will be the focus. The prose selection for analysis in last year’s exam was Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge , a 19th-century novel. Exam takers had to respond to the following instructions:
For a clear understanding of the components of a model essay, you’ll find it helpful to analyze and compare all three sample answers provided by the CollegeBoard: the high scoring (A) essay, the mid-range scoring (B) essay, and the low scoring (C) essay. All three provide a lesson for you: to achieve a nine on the prose analysis essay, model the ‘A’ essay’s strengths and avoid the weaknesses of the other two.
The first sample essay (A) begins with a packed first sentence: the title of the work, author, named characters, and the subject alluded to in the prompt that will form the foundation of the upcoming argument — the strained relationship between father and daughter. Then, after summarizing the context of the passage — that tense relationship — the student quotes relevant phrases (“lower-class”, “verbal aggressions”) that depict the behavior and character of each.
By packing each sentence efficiently with details (“uncultivated”, “hypocritical”) on the way to the thesis statement, the writer controls the argument by folding in only the relevant details that support the claim at the end of the introduction: though reunited physically, father and daughter remain separated emotionally. The writer wastes no words and quickly directs the reader’s focus to the characters’ words and actions that define their estranged relationship. From the facts cited, the writer’s claim or thesis is logical.
The mid-range B essay introduction also mentions the title, author, and relationship (“strange relationship”) that the instructions direct the writer to examine. However, the student neither names the characters nor identifies what’s “strange” about the relationship. The essay needs more specific details to clarify the complexity in the relationship. Instead, the writer merely hints at that complexity by stating father and daughter “try to become closer to each other’s expectations”. There’s no immediately clear correlation between the “reunification” and the expectations. Finally, the student wastes time and space in the first two sentences with a vague platitude for an “ice breaker” to start the essay. It serves no other function.
The third sample lacks cohesiveness, focus, and a clear thesis statement. The first paragraph introduces the writer’s feelings about the characters and how the elements in the story helped the student analyze, both irrelevant to the call of the instructions. The introduction gives no details of the passage: no name, title, characters, or relationship. The thesis statement is shallow–the daughter was better off before she reunited with her father–as it doesn’t even hint at the complexity of the relationship. The writer merely parrots the prompt instructions about “complex relationship” and “speaker’s tone, word choice, and selection of detail”.
In sum, make introductions brief and compact. Use specific details from the passage that support a logical thesis statement which clearly directs the argument and addresses the instructions’ requirements. Succinct writing helps. Pack your introduction with specific excerpt details, and don’t waste time on sentences that don’t do the work ahead for you. Be sure the thesis statement covers all of the relevant facts of the passage for a cohesive argument.
The A answer supports the thesis by qualifying the relationship as unhealthy in the first sentence. Then the writer includes the quoted examples that contrast what one would expect characterizes a father-daughter relationship — joyous, blessing, support, praise — against the reality of Henchard and Elizabeth’s relationship: “enigma”, “coldness”, and “open chiding”.
These and other details in the thorough first body paragraph leave nothing for the reader to misunderstand. The essayist proves the paragraph’s main idea with numerous examples. The author controls the first argument point that the relationship is unhealthy by citing excerpted words and actions of the two characters demonstrating the father’s aggressive disapproval and the daughter’s earnestness and shame.
The second and third body paragraphs not only add more proof of the strained relationship in the well-chosen example of the handwriting incident but also explore the underlying motives of the father. In suggesting the father has good intentions despite his outward hostility, the writer proposes that Henchard wants to elevate his long-lost daughter. Henchard’s declaration that handwriting “with bristling characters” defines refinement in a woman both diminishes Elizabeth and reveals his silent hope for her, according to the essayist. This contradiction clearly proves the relationship is “complex”.
The mid-range sample also cites specific details: the words Elizabeth changes (“fay” for “succeed”) for her father. These details are supposed to support the point that class difference causes conflict between the two. However, the writer leaves it to the reader to make the connection between class, expectations, and word choices. The example of the words Elizabeth eliminates from her vocabulary does not illustrate the writer’s point of class conflict. In fact, the class difference as the cause of their difficulties is never explicitly stated. Instead, the writer makes general, unsupported statements about Hardy’s focus on the language difference without saying why Hardy does that.
Like the A essay, sample C also alludes to the handwriting incident but only to note that the description of Henchard turning red is something the reader can imagine. In fact, the writer gives other examples of sensitive and serious tones in the passage but then doesn’t completely explain them. None of the details noted refer to a particular point that supports a focused paragraph. The details don’t connect. They’re merely a string of details.
Rather than merely citing phrases and lines without explanation, as the C sample does, the A response spends time thoroughly discussing the meaning of the quoted words, phrases, and sentences used to exemplify their assertions. For example, the third paragraph begins with the point that Henchard’s attempts to elevate Elizabeth in order to better integrate her into the mayor’s “lifestyle” actually do her a disservice. The student then quotes descriptive phrases that characterize Elizabeth as “considerate”, notes her successfully fulfilling her father’s expectations of her as a woman, and concludes that success leads to her failure to get them closer — to un-estrange him.
The A sample writer follows the same pattern throughout the essay: assertion, example, explanation of how the example and assertion cohere, tying both into the thesis statement. Weaving the well-chosen details into the discussion to make reasonable conclusions about what they prove is the formula for an orderly, coherent argument. The writer starts each paragraph with a topic sentence that supports the thesis statement, followed by a sentence that explains and supports the topic sentence in furtherance of the argument.
On the other hand, the B response begins the second paragraph with a general topic sentence: Hardy focuses on the differences between the daughter’s behavior and the father’s expectations. The next sentence follows up with examples of the words Elizabeth changes, leading to the broad conclusion that class difference causes clashes. They give no explanation to connect the behavior — changing her words — with how the diction reveals class differences exists. Nor does the writer explain the motivations of the characters to demonstrate the role of class distinction and expectations. The student forces the reader to make the connections.
Similarly, in the second example of the handwriting incident, the student sets out to prove Elizabeth’s independence and conformity conflict. However, the writer spends too much time re-telling the writing episode — who said what — only to vaguely conclude that 19th-century gender roles dictated the dominant and submissive roles of father and daughter, resulting in the loss of Elizabeth’s independence. The writer doesn’t make those connections between gender roles, dominance, handwriting, and lost freedom. The cause and effect of the handwriting humiliation to the loss of independence are never made.
While it’s more important to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs than it is to conclude, a conclusion provides a satisfying rounding out of the essay and last opportunity to hammer home the content of the preceding paragraphs. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of the thorough preceding paragraphs, that is not as fatal to your score as not concluding or not concluding as robustly as the A essay sample.
The A response not only provides another example of the father-daughter inverse relationship — the more he helps her fit in, the more estranged they become — but also ends where the writer began: though they’re physically reunited, they’re still emotionally separated. Without repeating it verbatim, the student returns to the thesis statement at the end. This return and recap reinforce the focus and control of the argument when all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.
The B response nicely ties up the points necessary to satisfy the prompt had the writer made them clearly. The parting remarks about the inverse relationship building up and breaking down to characterize the complex relationship between father and daughter are intriguing but not well-supported by all that came before them.
Though pressed for time, it’s important to write an essay with crisp, correctly punctuated sentences and properly spelled words. Strong compositional skills create a favorable impression to the reader, like using appropriate transitions or signals (however, therefore) to tie sentences and paragraphs together, and making the relationships between sentences clear (“also” — adding information, “however” — contrasting an idea in the preceding sentence).
Starting each paragraph with a clear, focused topic sentence that previews the main idea or focus of the paragraph helps you the writer and the reader keep track of each part of your argument. Each section furthers your points on the way to convincing your reader of your argument. If one point is unclear, unfocused, or grammatically unintelligible, like a house of cards, the entire argument crumbles. Excellent compositional skills help you lay it all out neatly, clearly, and fully.
For example, the A response begins the essay with “In this passage from Thomas Hardy”. The second sentence follows with “Throughout the passage” to tie the two sentences together. There’s no question that the two thoughts link by the transitional phrases that repeat and reinforce one another as well as direct the reader’s attention. The B response, however, uses transitions less frequently, confuses the names of the characters, and switches verb tenses in the essay. It’s harder to follow.
So by the time the conclusion takes the reader home, the high-scoring writer has done all of the following:
To get a nine on the prose analysis FRQ essay in the AP® Literature and Composition exam, you should practice timed essays. Write as many practice essays as you can. Follow the same procedure each time. After reading the prompt, map out your thesis statement, paragraph topic sentences, and supporting details and quotes in the order of their presentation. Then follow your plan faithfully.
Be sure to leave time for a brief review to catch mechanical errors, missing words, or clarifications of an unclear thought. With time, an organized approach, and plenty of practice, earning a nine on the poetry analysis is manageable. Be sure to ask your teacher or consult other resources, like albert.io’s Prose Analysis practice essays, for questions and more practice opportunities.
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Lit & More
October 4, 2020 ·
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources
One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is “complex,” usually paired with the word “relationship.” When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word “complex” is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are often confused. Some interpret complex writing to simply be advanced or “fancy-sounding.” Others think it has to do with the inclusion of literary elements. However, there’s one simple way to help your students understand complexity and score high on an essay.
* AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website .
For example, take a look at the first paragraph from this released essay from the 2020 exam, which scored a 1-4-1 (a perfect score).
In this paragraph, we see the student’s claim. He or she says that the narrator, Philip Hutton, is experiencing anger and resentment as well as peace and reconciliation. This is a complex argument! This blending of different emotions makes it unique and complicated, thus the complex attitude that College Board is looking for.
Once you’ve grasped the concept of complexity, your students will probably still need practice in making complex claims. I recently attempted this with my AP ® class in our discussion of Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing.”
First, I asked students to analyze the narrator’s attitude towards motherhood. After a lengthy discussion, I asked them to shout out any word they could use to describe or associate with the mother from “I Stand Here Ironing.” Then, we talked about how a complex argument would say the mother felt a sense of both guilt and pride. Or we could talk about how she shows feelings of inadequacy but also a lack of regret for her daughter’s trauma. Another wanted to talk about she seems helpless and defensive at times, but proud and assertive at others. What complex arguments!
If you’re looking for more ways to discuss complexity with your students, consider analyzing non-literary texts, such as music, movies, or art. Here are some ideas I came up with, but I’m sure there are plenty of other and better options out there too!
One of my favorite songs of the moment is “If the World Was Ending” by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels. As a mother of three kids, I don’t get to drive alone very often. However, when I do, this is one I love to jam out to.
The lyrics of this song are very relatable and easy for teenagers to understand. Essentially, both singers in the song express understanding that the other isn’t a good fit for a relationship. However, a physical desire remains. The chorus of the song is, “If the world was ending you’d come over, right?” The singers end almost every question like this with the word, “right,” showing their hesitancy and fear of looking vulnerable. I love the complexity in these lyrics. They capture the mixed emotions of desire and fear of looking vulnerable, which is one of the most relatable complex feelings.
Another example of complexity, and possibly interpretation, comes from both an art piece and a movie. One of my favorite movies is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . In one scene from that movie, Cameron looks into this famous painting while Ferris and his girlfriend make out. The message is clearly on introspection and peace, until the camera begins a gradual zoom-in on Cameron and a figure in the painting.
As the camera zooms closer into Cameron, it also zooms closer into the child in the center of the painting. If you get extremely close, it looks as though the child is screaming, presenting a new perspective to the painting. Is it simply a trick of the pointillism used in the art? Or is it a complex perspective behind the painting, that a peaceful afternoon in the park cannot be interrupted by the distraction of your screaming child? Cameron’s backstory in the movie adds to this complexity, as Cameron, too, is silently screaming throughout his whole existence.
I had a hard time picking a clip to show complexity from movies. In the end, I like this one from Jordan Peele’s Get Out , a brilliant thriller. In this scene, Chris has traveled to his girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time. Upon meeting his girlfriends’s parents and their friends, race becomes an uncomfortable barrier between Chris and almost every other character. Things move from awkward to spooky when the few other African American characters behave strangely towards Chris, almost as if they’re struggling to say something they cannot.
In this clip, Chris depicts his complex feelings of both fear and intrigue when he talks to the housekeeper. For context, the housekeeper is inhabited by another person’s brain, which has taken over her entire personality. She gravitates towards Chris because her original body, or host, is trying to find a way to warn him that his girlfriend’s family wants to lobotomize him and do the same thing to him. Chris is completely creeped out by this woman’s strange behavior, but her eerie desperation seeps out through her fake smile. Her depiction is complex, as is Chris’ curiosity and revulsion.
Looking for more lesson plans and strategies for teaching complexity? Check out these other web pages for more information! You can also learn more about complexity, making claims, and the elusive sophistication point in my AP ® Lit Test Prep materials , available for purchase from Teachers Pay Teachers.
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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.
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 ...
The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections in this order: An hour-long, 55-question multiple-choice section. A two-hour, three-question free-response section. The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and cogently communicate that analysis in essay form.
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 ...
The AP Literature exam has two sections. Section I contains 55 multiple choice questions, with 1 hour time allotted. This includes at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages. Section II, on the other hand, is a free response section. Here, students write essays to 3 prompts.
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.
In this video, I'll show you how to write the AP English Literature poetry essay (Q1) step by step using the actual 2018 prompt. Watch me annotate the poem g...
Learn how to annotate an AP Literature prose passage and write a prose essay step by step! This video uses a real passage and prompt from a past AP exam. In ...
AP® English Literature Multiple-Choice Review: 11 Tips. 1. Choose a multiple-choice strategy: read the passages first or read the questions first. Most people are familiar with the classic shortcut when it comes to taking multiple choice tests—read the questions first, then scan the passages to look for the answers.
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.
Step 2: Know Your Material. In the case of the AP Literature exam, this means focusing on your reading and writing skills. Become an Active Reader: When reading, take care to go slowly and reread important or complex sections. Pause often to consider meaning, context, and intent.
How to Study for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam. Preparing for the AP Lit exam requires a mix of reading, analysis, and practice. Here are some key tips: Read a Variety of Literature: To do well on the exam, you should read a wide range of AP Lit books, including novels, plays, and poetry from different time periods and genres ...
Learn some strategies to help you ace the book essay in the free response portion of the AP Literature exam! I'll show you how to choose 6 to 8 books to read...
The AP English Literature & Composition exam takes 3 hours to complete and consists of two sections: a multiple-choice section and a free response section. Timing. Number of questions. % of Exam Score. Section 1. 60 minutes. 55 multiple-choice questions. 45%. Section 2.
Download free-response questions from this year's exam and past exams along with scoring guidelines, sample responses from exam takers, and scoring distributions. If you are using assistive technology and need help accessing these PDFs in another format, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 212-713-8333 or by email at ssd@info ...
AP® English Literature and Composition 2021 Scoring Guidelines ... Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Ai uses literary elements and techniques to convey the complexity of the speaker's encounter with the saxophone ... • Writing that suffers from grammatical and/or mechanical errors that interfere with communication cannot earn the ...
Students write essays that respond to 3 free-response prompts 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 selected by the student.
It is comprised of three free-response essays and 55 multiple-choice questions. The free-response section accounts to 55% of your score. You will be given two hours to complete three free-response essays. The first will correspond to a given poem. The second will be regarding an excerpt from prose fiction or drama.
Here are the best writing HACKS to help you consistently produce commentary for your AP® Lit prose analysis. Following this advice WILL help you earn you a ...
In AP English Literature and Composition, you'll examine how authors and poets create meaning through their rich, purposeful use of language. As you write and refine essays about literature, you'll develop the skills of analysis and composition that will allow you to communicate your interpretation effectively.
The more essays you write, the more automatic the process will come, and the easier the AP exam will be! ... AP Lit Prose Analysis Practice Essays & Feedback - [object Object]: Writing essays is a great way to practice prose analysis and prep for the AP exam! Review student responses for an essay prompt and corresponding feedback
To do well on the AP® English Literature and Composition exam, you'll need to score high on the essays. For that, you'll need to write a competent, efficient essay that argues an accurate interpretation of the work under examination in the Free Response Question section. The AP® English Literature and Composition exam consists of two ...
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources. One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is "complex," usually paired with the word "relationship.". When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word "complex" is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are ...