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With college application season out of the way, the second semester of high school boils down to two things for everyone: 1) keeping yourselves sane while you finish off whatever’s left of high school and 2) studying
(or at least pretending to study)
for the AP exams. Though some colleges choose not to accept AP credit for a variety of reasons, your best bet would be to finish off your high school career on a strong note and at least try to have some credit before heading off to college.
Having already published an article breaking down the AP Bio exam, it’s only fair to bring into light two of the most popular AP exams administered by the College Board–the AP English Language exam and the AP English Literature exam.
AP English Lit? Language? What’s the difference?!
As stated by the College Board, the AP English Language course “focuses on the development and revision of evidence based analytic and argumentative writing and the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts”, whereas the AP English Literature course “focuses on reading, analyzing, and writing about imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, drama) from various periods”. Many students choose to take the English Lang exam as a junior, whereas most seniors choose to take the English Lit exam. Depending on your school, this may vary.
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Breaking Down the AP Lang Exam
An Overview
The AP English Language & Composition course serves as an introductory rhetoric/writing course, typically taken as a freshman in college. The curriculum revolves around analyzing arguments, satire, research, and persuasion–basically everything and anything about rhetoric. Students taking this exam will usually read material dealing with major themes across different periods, as well as developing an understanding of how research goes (ex: I had to write an 18 page paper discussing how W.H. Auden’s life, personal choices, and experiences shaped his writing in poetry).
The AP exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes–60 minutes of which is devoted to about 55 multiple choice questions accompanied by “excerpts from several non-fiction texts”, and 2 hours 15 minutes of which is devoted to the free response section. The free response section has 15 minutes to read the source materials and questions given as a prompt, as well as 120 minutes to actually construct 3 essays to 3 prompts. The free response section is 55% of the exam score, whereas the 45% remaining is compromised by the multiple choice.
One of the most important things to remember that the multiple choice questions are not easy–in fact, many of them deal with understanding themes, satire, etc. They require critical thinking and an understanding of why the piece was written. Even if you don’t understand a question, move on to the next one and come back to it later.
Completely Solicited Advice and Helpful Links
“I took AP Lang last year, and my only advice for AP Lang is that preparation really begins on the first day of your class. There’s really no way to cram becoming a good writer into one day. To score well on the exam, just listen to your teacher – and if you get a bad teacher, listen to your review book – and read as much as you can.” – Lily Lou, TP Spring Intern
“I definitely recommend studying with other people in your classes. You can always ask questions that you may have missed and get another insight or look into the course. Additionally, study basic terms and vocabulary as much as you can. When you start analyzing passages, your knowledge will make answering questions a lot less confusing.” – Anabella Tourkaman, TP Writer
“The most important part is to be able to pick a stance before looking at the documents–that way you can come to each document with an idea of what you’re looking for: something to support or something to oppose. As for multiple choice on both, I was never really great at it; the only thing I can really suggest is taking as many practice exams as possible.” – Gabrielle Scullard, TP Writer and University of Rochester ’18
Past Free Response Questions/Prompts/Essay Examples
Masterpost of AP English Language and Review Posts
AP English Lanuage Course Overview (with sample questions/prompts)
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Breaking Down the AP Lit Exam
An Overview
The AP English Literature & Composition course serves as an introductory literary analysis course, typically taken by college sophomores. Unlike English Lang, where the focus is on your writing, the English Lit exam focuses on why the writing took place–meaning why did the author choose to use so and so as a symbol? What was the meaning behind the tone and imagery used? Students taking the class consider a variety of elements used by the author, as well as analyze the meaning behind the work.
The exam is broken up into two sections: section I consists of 55 multiple choice questions, “including excerpts from several published words of drama, poetry, or prose fiction” accompanied by questions, all of which takes place in 60 minutes. Section II consists of 3 free response questions taking place over a course of 120 minutes where students respond to three categories: a literary analysis of a poem, a literary analysis of a prose fictional passage, and an analysis examining a “specific concept, issue, or element in a work of literary merit selected by the student”. The multiple choice section is 45% of the exam score, whereas the free response makes up 55% of the exam score.
A major tip to note for this exam is that the exam is all about how well you analyze things. Remember the “it’s a metaphor” craze following the release of TFIOS? The same rule applies in this exam. If you’re stuck on analyzing a piece of work, chances are, the passage is an extended metaphor (or symbol), and it’s up to you to decide what the metaphor stands for. Draw back lines to the author’s tone, style, and purpose, and you’re sure to do well on this exam!
We DEFINITELY do not advise you smoke.
Completely Solicited Advice and Helpful Links
“When my teacher had us study for exams he had us pick 3-4 of the books we read and really know them well with concrete examples…not necessarily page numbers as so much key rising moments in the plots, any sections of the book that could be a large over arching symbol for something else, and general information about all the characters…Practicing writing all the essays within a constrained time limit helps so you know what type of essay you’ll need more time on and what you can skimp on. We peer graded as well as submitted a few essays to our teacher based on the AP Scale and guidelines for each prompt.” – Stephanie Jones, TP Writer and Villanova University ’18
“I did the IB English at Higher Level, so take this story if you think it’s applicable! I went to boarding school, so the night before the English paper it was essentially 30 girls dancing till early hours, because nobody studied for English! We knew that what we had done over the two years would determine our grades. Some of the girls jokingly called it ‘Nurture vs nature'”. – Nika Roychoudhury, TP Writer
“One thing that really helps is reading a lot of classics outside of class. If you limit yourself to the books you read in class, the free-response essay on the exam could potentially address a topic that you’re not really prepared for. That being said, it’s definitely important to study all the books you read throughout high school, their literary devices, themes, etc., because it might not be enough to just be able to talk about the little you remember about the last book you read. (Fun fact: Last year, the prompt didn’t immediately suggest any books to me, so I went through the list of recommended books and picked my favorite. Partway through the essay, I realized that I could really only talk about one specific scene. So I did. For the whole essay. #doesntmatterstillgotafive)”. – Gabrielle Scullard, TP Writer and University of Rochester ’18
Past Free Response Questions/Prompts/Essay Examples
How to English Lit
AP English Literature Course Overview (with sample questions/prompts)
Masterpost on the Best Study Guides