Exam Overview
The AP English Literature and Composition Exam assesses student
understanding of the skills and essential knowledge outlined in the
course framework. The exam is 3 hours long and includes 55 multiple-choice
questions and 3 free-response questions. The details of the exam, including
exam weighting and timing, can be found below:
Number of Exam
Section Question Type Questions Weighting Timing
I Multiple-choice questions 55 45% 60 minutes
II Free-response questions 3 55% 2 hours
Question 1: Poetry Analysis (6 points)
40 minutes
Question 2: Prose Fiction Analysis (6 points) recommended
per essay
Question 3: Literary Argument (6 points)
The exam assesses the six big ideas of the course:
Character
Setting
Structure
Narration
Figurative Language
Literary Argumentation
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The exam also assesses the nine units of the course, listed below with their
approximateweightingonthemultiple-choicesectionoftheexam:
Units Exam Weighting
Short Fiction (Units 1, 4, 7) 42–49%
Poetry (Units 2, 5, 8) 36–45%
Longer Fiction or Drama (Units 3, 6, 9) 15–18%
The exam relies on texts from a variety of time periods. The exam includes a higher
numberof20th-centuryandcontemporarytextsthantextspublishedpriortothe
20th century.
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How Student Learning Is
Assessed on the AP Exam
Section I: Multiple-Choice
The seven AP English Literature and Composition skill categories are assessed in
themultiple-choicesectionwiththefollowingweighting:
Skill Category Exam Weighting
1: Explain the function of character 16–20%
2: Explain the function of setting 3–6%
3: Explain the function of plot and structure 16–20%
4: Explain the function of the narrator or speaker 21–26%
5: Explain the function of word choice, imagery, and symbols 10–13%
6: Explain the function of comparison 10–13%
7: Develop textually substantiated arguments about 10–13%
interpretations of part or all of a text
Themultiple-choicesectionwillincludefivesetsof8to13questionsperset,with
eachsetprecededbyapassageofprosefictionorpoetryofvaryingdifficulty.Each
multiple-choicesectionwillincludeatleasttwoprosefictionpassagesandatleast
two poetry passages.
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Section II: Free-Response
The second section of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam includes
three questions.
FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION 1: POETRY ANALYSIS
Free-responsequestion1presentsstudentswithapassageofpoetryof
approximately 100 to 400 words. This question assesses students’ ability to do the
following:
§§ Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
§§ Select and use evidence to support the line of reasoning.
§§ Explain how the evidence supports the line of reasoning.
§§ Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating the argument.
Sample Question
In Olive Senior’s poem “Plants,” published in 2005, the speaker portrays the
relationships among plant life and the implied audience. Read the poem carefully. Then,
inawell-writtenessay,analyzehowSeniorusespoeticelementsandtechniquesto
develop those complex relationships.
Stable Prompt Wording
The text in italics will vary by question, while the remainder of the prompt will be
consistently used in all Poetry Analysis essay questions.
In [poet’s] poem [title], published in [publication date], the speaker [comment on what
is being addressed in the poem].Readthepoemcarefully.Then,inawell-writtenessay,
analyzehow[author] uses [poetic or literary] elements and techniques to [convey/
portray/develop a thematic, topical, or structural aspect of the poem that is complex and
specific to the poem provided].
FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION 2: PROSE FICTION ANALYSIS
Free-responsequestion2presentsstudentswithapassageofprosefictionof
approximately 600 to 800 words. This question assesses students’ ability to do the
following:
§§ Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
§§ Select and use evidence to support the line of reasoning.
§§ Explain how the evidence supports the line of reasoning.
§§ Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating the argument.
Sample Question
The following excerpt is from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Blithedale Romance,
published in 1852. In this passage, two characters who have been living on the
Blithedalefarm—acommunitydesignedtopromoteanidealofequalityachieved
throughcommunalruralliving—areabouttopartways.Readthepassagecarefully.
Then,inawell-writtenessay,analyzehowHawthorneusesliteraryelementsand
techniques to portray the narrator’s complex attitude towards Zenobia.
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Stable Prompt Wording
The text in italics will vary by question, while the remainder of the prompt will be
consistently used in all Prose Fiction Analysis essay questions.
The following excerpt is from [author, text, and date of publication]. In this passage,
[comment on what is being addressed in the passage]. Read the passage carefully.
Then,inawell-writtenessay,analyzehow[author] uses literary elements and
techniques to [convey/portray/develop a thematic, topical, or structural aspect of the
passage that is complex and specific to the passage provided].
FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION 3: LITERARY ARGUMENT
Free-responsequestion3presentsstudentswithaliteraryconceptoridea,along
with a list of approximately 40 literary works. Students are required to select a work of
prosefictioneitherfromtheirownreadingorfromtheprovidedlistandanalyzehow
the literary concept or idea described in the question contributes to an interpretation
of the work as a whole. This question assesses students’ ability to do the following:
§§ Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
§§ Provide evidence to support the line of reasoning.
§§ Explain how the evidence supports the line of reasoning.
§§ Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating the argument.
Sample Question
Manyworksofliteraturefeaturecharacterswhohavebeengivenaliteralorfigurative
gift. The gift may be an object, or it may be a quality such as uncommon beauty,
significantsocialposition,greatmentalorimaginativefaculties,orextraordinary
physical powers. Yet this gift is often also a burden or a handicap.
Eitherfromyourownreadingorfromthelistbelow,chooseaworkoffictioninwhich
a character has been given a gift that is both an advantage and a problem. Then, in
awell-writtenessay,analyzehowthegiftanditscomplexnaturecontributetoan
interpretationoftheworkasawhole.Donotmerelysummarizetheplot.
Stable Prompt Wording
The text in italics will vary by question, while the remainder of the prompt will be
consistently used in all Literary Argument essay questions.
[Lead that introduces some concept or idea that students will be asked to apply to a
text of their choosing.]
Eitherfromyourownreadingorfromthelistbelow,chooseaworkoffictioninwhich
[some aspect of the lead is addressed].Then,inawell-writtenessay,analyzehow[that
same aspect of the lead] contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole. Do not
merelysummarizetheplot.
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Task Verbs Used in
Free-Response
Questions
Thefollowingtaskverbsarecommonlyusedinthefree-responsequestions:
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 from among provided choices.
Read: Look at or view printed directions and provided passages.
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Sample Exam
Questions
The sample exam questions that follow illustrate the relationship between the
course framework and the AP English Literature and Composition Exam and serve
as examples of the types of questions that appear on the exam. After the sample
questions is an answer key and alignment table that shows how the questions relate to
the course framework.
Section I: Multiple-Choice
Questions 1 through 10 refer to the following. Read the following carefully before
you choose your answers.
This passage is excerpted from Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Ruth, published in 1853.
There is an assize-town1 in one of the eastern counties
which was much distinguished by the Tudor sovereigns,
and, in consequence of their favour and protection,
Line attained a degree of importance that surprises the
5 modern traveler.
A hundred years ago, its appearance was that of
picturesque grandeur. The old houses, which were the
temporary residences of such of the county-families as
contented themselves with the gaieties of a provincial
10 town, crowded the streets and gave them the irregular but
noble appearance yet to be seen in the cities of Belgium.
The sides of the streets had a quaint richness, from the
effect of the gables, and the stacks of chimneys which cut
against the blue sky above; while, if the eye fell lower
15 down, the attention was arrested by all kinds of
projections in the shape of balcony and oriel2; and it was
amusing to see the infinite variety of windows that had
been crammed into the walls long before Mr Pitt’s3 days
of taxation. The streets below suffered from all these
20 projections and advanced stories above; they were dark,
and ill-paved with large, round, jolting pebbles, and with
no side-path protected by kerbstones; there were no
lamp-posts for long winter nights; and no regard was
paid to the wants of the middle class, who neither drove
25 about in coaches of their own, nor were carried by their
own men in their own sedans into the very halls of their
friends. The professional men and their wives, the
shopkeepers and their spouses, and all such people,
1
a locus of judicial authority in Great Britain
2
a type of window
3
William Pitt the Younger was a British prime minister.
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walked about at considerable peril both night and day.
30 The broad unwieldy carriages hemmed them up against
the houses in the narrow streets. The inhospitable houses
projected their flights of steps almost into the
carriage-way, forcing pedestrians again into the danger
they had avoided for twenty or thirty paces. Then, at
35 night, the only light was derived from the glaring, flaring
oil-lamps hung above the doors of the more aristocratic
mansions; just allowing space for the passers-by to
become visible, before they again disappeared into the
darkness, where it was no uncommon thing for robbers
40 to be in waiting for their prey.
The traditions of those bygone times, even to the
smallest social particular, enable one to understand more
clearly the circumstances which contributed to the
formation of character. The daily life into which people
45 are born, and into which they are absorbed before they
are well aware, forms chains which only one in a hundred
has moral strength enough to despise, and to break when
the right time comes—when an inward necessity for
independent individual action arises, which is superior to
50 all outward conventionalities. Therefore it is well to know
what were the chains of daily domestic habit which were
the natural leading-strings of our forefathers before they
learnt to go alone.
The picturesqueness of those ancient streets has
55 departed now. The Astleys, the Dunstans, the
Waverhams—names of power in that district—go up
duly to London in the season, and have sold their
residences in the county-town fifty years ago, or more.
And when the county-town lost its attraction for the
60 Astleys, the Dunstans, the Waverhams, how could it be
supposed that the Domvilles, the Bextons, and the Wildes
would continue to go and winter there in their
second-rate houses, and with their increased
expenditure? So the grand old houses stood empty
65 awhile; and then speculators ventured to purchase, and to
turn the deserted mansions into many smaller dwellings,
fitted for professional men, or even (bend your ear lower,
lest the shade of Marmaduke, first Baron Waverham,
hear) into shops!
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