(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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Ap® english literature exam faq: everything you need to know for 2024.
Are you hoping to find answers to the most commonly asked questions about the 2024 AP® English Literature exam? You’ve come to the right place!
In this article, we’ll cover how difficult the AP® English Literature exam is, how the exam is scored, strategies for passing the exam, and much more. Let’s get started!
What We Review
The AP® English Literature exam is not considered easy. A review of passing rates over the last few years has shown it to be one of the more difficult tests to pass. That level of difficulty will be increased if reading, writing, and analyzing texts are not academic strengths for you or if you cannot succeed in a class designed to teach at a college level.
In 2021, the AP® English Literature exam had a passing rate of 43.9% and a mean score of 2.47 . Both of these statistics showed that, in 2021, the AP® English Literature exam was harder than the average AP® exam for students to pass.
However, the 2022 AP® English Literature exam results showed a major jump in passing rate!
In 2022, the AP® English Literature and Composition exam had a passing rate of 77.9% and a mean score of 3.31 . These are both significant improvements over previous years! This growth likely results from hard work from students and improved instructional focus from teachers.
The passing rate percentages for the 2022 AP® English Literature exam are based on an average total of 339,401 test takers. That number makes the AP® English Literature exam the third most popular AP® exam, behind AP® US History and AP® English Language. The high number of test takers provides a higher level of reliability to the passing percentages for this exam.
In order to do your best on the AP® English Literature exam, you will want to know how the content units are weighted in the exam. For the AP® English Literature exam, the units are divided into three categories: short fiction, poetry, and longer fiction or drama.
Of these sections, short fiction makes up 42-49% of the exam. Poetry accounts for 36-45%, and longer fiction or drama makes up 15-18% of the exam questions. Understanding these weightings can help you create a study plan to prepare for the AP® English Literature exam.
You can increase your chances of passing by knowing how many questions you need to answer correctly on the exam in order to pass. This can help you to know if you need to devote valuable time to tough questions or if it is safe to skip them.
Albert provides an AP® English Literature score calculator that can provide information on how many questions you need to get right to achieve the score you want. For example, if you want to score a 3, you need something like the score breakdown shown below:
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The AP® English Literature exam is worth taking for a variety of reasons, from academic to financial. When you successfully complete an AP® course, you can know that you are prepared for the increased pace and academic rigor that is required of college-level courses. This knowledge will increase your confidence as you move into this new phase of academic life.
Passing the AP® English Literature exam can also help you with the college admissions process. AP® courses send a signal to admissions counselors that you are prepared for college and that you approached your high school education with ambition and determination.
Perhaps the most important benefit of AP® courses is in their ability to save you money. Graduating from high school with college credits means that those are classes you won’t need to pay for in college. You can either bank those savings or use the freed-up credit hours to explore earning a minor or other classes outside your major.
This chart shows just a few of the colleges that will allow you to use your passing AP® English Literature score for college credit and the estimated savings you could see from that decision.
American University | 4 | 6 | |
University of CA- Berkeley | 4 | 5.3 | |
Syracuse University | 4 | 6 | |
Texas A & M | 3 | 3 | |
San Diego State University | 3 | 6 | |
Auburn University | 4 | 3 | |
University of WI: Madison | 4 | 3 | |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 5 | 9 |
As you can see from the chart, there is a real financial savings opportunity when you take and pass AP® English Literature. These savings, combined with the academic benefits of AP® exams, show that taking AP® English Literature is worth it.
The 2024 AP® English Literature exam will be given in person using paper-and-pencil tests. The AP® English Literature and Composition exam will take place on:
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at 8am local time
Curious about when other AP® exams are happening in 202 4? View or download the complete AP® exam schedule here .
Schools can take the 2024 AP® English Literature exam as a traditional paper-and-pencil test or as an in-school digital exam on computers. More information on the digital option is available here .
You should check with your teacher and AP® Coordinator to know if you’ll take a paper-and-pencil or digital version.
According to the latest update from the College Board exam season timeline , students will receive their AP® scores in July 2024. Historically, the College Board typically releases AP® scores early in the month of July.
You’ll be able to access your AP® scores online with your College Board account username and password.
The chart below outlines the scoring breakdown for the AP® English Literature exam:
1: Multiple Choice | 55 questions | 1 hour | 45% |
2: Free Response | 3 questions | 2 hours | 55% |
This breakdown is somewhat unusual among AP® courses. Most AP® courses put at least half, and often over half, of the scoring percentage in the multiple choice question. Over half of the points in the AP® English Literature course will come from the free response questions .
Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to let your own belief system show in your essays. These can add weight and personality to your argument.
You can view the chart below to see how the individual units from the course are reflected in the exam questions. You can see how these weightings translate to the overall exam score with Albert’s free AP® English Literature score calculator .
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% |
If you happen to fail the AP® English Literature exam, don’t panic! It’s not the end of the world, and you can minimize the impact on your academic future in several ways.
As far as your high school grades go, failing the AP® English Literature exam won’t have any impact on your GPA. Your school will use your academic year coursework to determine your grade in AP® English Literature. Your AP® exam grade is separate and not factored into your course grade.
If you want to use the AP® English Literature exam for college credit, you will need to retake the exam. Most colleges won’t award credit for any score lower than 3. Some schools require a 4 or even a 5 for college credit.
Luckily, you can retake the AP® English Literature exam as often as you want. You can retake it to achieve a passing score or reach a higher score. You will need to pay the exam fee each time you take the exam, but there are no penalties for retaking it.
You also get to choose who sees your AP® exam scores. If you scored lower than you want on the AP® English Literature exam, you could choose not to share that score with colleges. If you send in a score and then score higher at a retake, you can also ask the college to substitute your higher score for the earlier lower score.
AP® English Literature is typically taken during your junior or senior year in high school. Technically, the course has no prerequisites, so you could theoretically take it earlier.
However, this course is considered one of the more time-consuming AP® courses, so students typically wait until they have more time management experience before taking it.
AP® English Literature is an extremely reading and writing-intensive course. You should wait to take this course until you feel confident you can spend long periods of time reading complex texts.
You should also have enough writing experience to feel comfortable crafting a written argument about the assigned texts and meeting the page requirements.
If you want to take AP® English Literature, you should consider all of these factors and decide when it feels right for you to take it. You will want to be sure to balance AP® English Literature with any other AP® courses you may want to take.
As with all academic decisions, you may want to consult your guidance counselor and get advice from some of the AP® teachers before deciding when to take AP® English Literature.
Reviewing past AP® exam questions can be a very useful study strategy. The College Board has made the FRQs from the last 20 years of AP® English Literature exams available to you via the AP® Central website .
While this year’s test won’t be likely to reuse questions from past exams, the questions will likely cover the same general concepts and require the same skills to answer. You should review the past free-response exam questions from the last 5 years to get an idea of the types of questions they will ask to test your knowledge of the material covered in the course.
You can access those past free-response questions using the links below:
You’ll also want to spend some time studying for the multiple-choice portion of the exam. The College Board has also provided a few sample multiple choice questions on the AP® English Literature Course and Exam Description. The number of questions is pretty limited, so you’ll want to add in more practice questions.
You can find additional multiple-choice practice questions on Albert’s AP® English Literature website . Albert’s team has designed these questions to ensure that they cover the units as they are weighted on the exam.
The College Board’s AP® English Literature website offers some really useful information from past exams. You should really take the time to look over the resources they have provided. Reviewing the links below will make you more prepared and confident going into this year’s exam.
The Scoring Guidelines report lets you view previous free-response questions along with a detailed breakdown of the rubric used to determine the points awarded for each question. Your questions might be different, but you may find some common elements in past questions that would be useful for this year’s exam.
The Chief Reader report is one you should not ignore when preparing for this year’s AP® English Literature exam. Chief Readers are experts in the field of the AP® exam and provide their expert analysis of past exam answers. These reports detail what elements were included in a strong answer and where weak answers went wrong.
Understanding the weaknesses and strengths of past answers can ensure that you focus your study in those areas and are prepared to address often overlooked concepts and arguments.
For example, in the 2019 Chief Reader report, the reader noted that some of the best essays incorporated the student’s beliefs about concepts such as “idealism” and allowed those beliefs to permeate their discussion of the work and the concept.
The sample responses can also provide useful information from past exams. The College Board provides three sample responses for each past exam question: a strong answer, an average answer, and a weak answer. Each response is graded, and an explanation of that grade is included.
While the free-response portion takes most of the exam time and accounts for over half of your score, don’t forget to prepare for the multiple-choice section. It makes up 45% of your score and can’t be your downfall if you aren’t prepared. Check out Albert’s AP® English Literature practice page for multiple-choice practice before the exam.
Not everyone will excel at AP® English Literature, so you should consider how the course aligns with your academic strengths before deciding to take it. The decision should also be based on your academic goals after high school.
If you plan to major in English in college, taking AP® English Literature is an easy choice. If you enjoy reading, AP® English Literature could be a good choice, as long as you are equally comfortable with analyzing what you read and writing a cohesive essay about that analysis.
Unlike AP® English Language, AP® English Literature focuses primarily on poetry and fiction. There is a significant amount of reading, so you will also need to possess the ability to read for large stretches of time. The course overview can shed more light on what to expect from the course.
Non-English majors can also benefit from taking AP® English Literature. The course teaches how to read texts critically, which can be useful for various disciplines. It also relies heavily on classroom discussion, which can benefit future college classes.
The passing rate for the AP® English Literature exam is fairly low, at 49.7% for 2019. This factor should be considered if you plan to use the course for college credit. If your goal is to score a 4 or 5 on this exam, you’ll want to devote extra study time to accomplish that goal. In 2019, only 21.9% of students scored a 4 or 5 on the AP® English Literature exam.
Taking AP® English Literature is a personal decision only you can make. You’ll want to review the course overview and decide if this course is a good fit for your academic talents and if it is a course that would interest you. You might also want to consult with your guidance counselor and your parents before making this decision.
The AP® English Literature exam is one that has a wide variety in score distribution. As one of the most popular AP® exams, past scores reflect a variety of factors, such as how well students studied for the exam, their writing aptitude and their ability to do well at the advanced placement level. The score distributions for the AP® English Literature exam for the last three years are below.
2023 | 14.9% | 27.8% | 34.5% | 29.5% | 14.4% | 77.2% |
2022 | 16.9% | 27.3% | 33.7 | 14.1% | 7.9% | 77.9% |
2021 | 4.9% | 12.0% | 26.9% | 37.3% | 18.8% | 43.9% |
2019 | 6.2% | 15.7% | 27.8% | 34.3% | 16.0% | 49.2% |
2018 | 5.6% | 14.5% | 27.2% | 36.0% | 16.7% | 47.3% |
2017 | 6.8% | 16.1% | 29.7% | 33.9% | 13.5% | 52.6% |
Until the 2022 exam cycle, the AP® English Literature exam had averaged a passing rate of slightly below 50%. In 2022, there was a significant jump in the pass rate for the exam — nearly 78% passing!
The exam typically attracts around 400,000 exam takers each year.
In 2023, the mean score among all 356,043 AP® English Literature exam test takers was 3.26 .
Albert has hundreds of AP® English Literature multiple-choice practice questions, free-response questions, and full-length practice tests to try out.
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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, creating a thesis for ap lit.
This year, I'm taking AP Lit and I'm struggling with writing thesis statements for my essays. Does anyone have any tips or insight on how to write a solid thesis statement for AP Lit essays?
I can definitely give you some advice on how to create a solid thesis statement for your AP Lit essays. In AP Lit, your thesis statement should provide a clear, original, and specific claim about your chosen literary work, which your essay will then analyze and support with textual evidence.
Here are a few steps you can follow to create a strong thesis statement:
1. Read the prompt carefully: Make sure you understand what the prompt is asking you to do, whether it's analyzing a specific aspect of the text, exploring a theme, or discussing a particular character.
2. Choose a clear and specific focus: Decide what aspect of the work you want to explore, such as characterization, theme, symbolism, or structure. Your thesis statement should be specific enough that your analysis doesn't become too broad or unfocused.
3. Make an original claim: Your thesis statement should present an original argument or interpretation, rather than merely stating an obvious fact or restating the prompt. Make sure your claim is one that can be both supported by evidence from the text and challenged by other interpretations.
4. Include some direction for your essay: A strong thesis statement not only makes a claim but also gives some indication of how your essay will support that claim. This helps guide your reader and sets up the organization of your essay.
For example: In The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the contrasting settings of East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes to illustrate the corrupting influence of wealth and social class on the characters and their ultimate disillusionment with the American Dream.
In this thesis statement, the focus is on the contrasting settings and their impact on the characters, making a specific claim about the author's intent. It provides direction for the essay, indicating that the writer will explore how Fitzgerald uses these settings to convey his message.
Remember, writing a strong thesis statement takes practice, so keep working at it and tweaking it until you feel confident in your ability to craft a well-argued and coherent claim about the text. Good luck in your AP Lit class!
CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.
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The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections in this order: An hour-long, 55-question multiple-choice section. A two-hour, three-question free-response section. The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and cogently communicate that analysis in essay form.
Hey there! In AP Lit, the essay length ultimately depends on the depth and quality of your analysis and how effectively you can communicate your points. However, as a general guideline, most high-scoring AP Lit essays tend to be around 2-3 pages double-spaced (approximately 600-900 words). This allows you to provide a thorough analysis while being concise enough to stay focused on the main points.
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.
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).
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. ... Students write essays that respond to 3 free-response prompts from the following categories: A literary analysis of a given poem;
The first section of the AP Literature exam is one hour long and consists of 45 multiple-choice questions—23-25 Reading questions and 20-22 Writing questions. The multiple-choice questions are grouped in five sets of questions, with each set linked to a passage of prose fiction or poetry that contains between 8 and 13 questions.
2. Pick one side of the argument, but acknowledge the other side. When you write the essay, it's best if you pick one side of the debate and stick with it for the entire essay. All your evidence should be in support of that one side. However, in your introductory paragraph, as you introduce the debate, be sure to mention any merit the ...
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?".
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.
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 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.
Write an essay that argues your position on the value of striving for perfection. In your response you should do the following: Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position. Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning. Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
The Best AP® English Literature Review Guide for 2024. Scoring a 5 on the AP® English Literature and Composition exam is no easy task. In 2019, for example, only 6.2% of students earned a 5 on the test. While this statistic may be discouraging at first glance, it does indicate that a perfect score is possible for those willing to do extra ...
Each body paragraph should focus on one main idea, which supports your thesis in a coherent way. 7. Keep track of time: Time management is crucial during the AP Lit Exam. Allocate enough time for each essay, and make sure you're aware of how much time you have left while writing. Try to allocate time for planning, writing, and proofreading. 8.
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.
The AP® English Literature and Composition exam is designed to test your ability to think critically and analyze literary excerpts. The test is three hours long and consists of a multiple-choice portion (worth 45% of your grade) and a free response portion (worth 55% of your grade). The best way to score a 5 on the AP® English Literature exam ...
For AP lit, I think I wrote ~700-800 words in 40 mins 3x for 3 essays. 600 definitely isn't bad, but try to get it to at least 700 just to ensure your analysis is strong. 1000 definitely isn't necessary, imo. Reply.
The exam takes 3 hours. 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 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.
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.
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.
The passing rate for the AP® English Literature exam is fairly low, at 49.7% for 2019. This factor should be considered if you plan to use the course for college credit. If your goal is to score a 4 or 5 on this exam, you'll want to devote extra study time to accomplish that goal.
In AP Lit, your thesis statement should provide a clear, original, and specific claim about your chosen literary work, which your essay will then analyze and support with textual evidence. Here are a few steps you can follow to create a strong thesis statement: 1. Read the prompt carefully: Make sure you understand what the prompt is asking you ...