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AP Lit

AP English Literature and Composition

Read poems, stories, and plays closely, then write the three timed essays that decide the score.

Category
English
Units
9 units
Exam
Exam May 5, 2027 (in 220 days)
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What the course covers

A full year of college-level literary analysis built on the College Board framework: nine units that cycle three times through short fiction, poetry, and longer fiction or drama, each pass adding complexity. You learn to explain how character, setting, structure, narration, and figurative language create meaning, and to turn that reading into a defensible argument. Practice mirrors the exam: passage-based multiple-choice sets with four choices, and the three essays (Poetry Analysis, Prose Fiction Analysis, Literary Argument) scored on the official six-point analytic rubric.

9 units, with exam weights

  1. Unit 1

    Short Fiction I

    42-49% (Short Fiction, Units 1, 4, 7) of examFree
    The foundations of reading fiction: what details reveal about characters, how setting and plot are built, who tells a story and from what position, and how to write a paragraph that pairs a claim needing defense with the textual evidence that defends it.
    7 topics
    1. 1.1Characterization: What Details Reveal
    2. 1.2Setting: Time and Place
    3. 1.3Plot and the Dramatic Situation
    4. 1.4Sequence and Exposition
    5. 1.5The Narrator or Speaker
    6. 1.6Point of View
    7. 1.7Claim and Evidence Paragraphs

  2. Unit 2

    Poetry I

    36-45% (Poetry, Units 2, 5, 8) of exam
    The move from prose to poetry: speakers as characters, how lines and stanzas organize meaning, contrasts and shifts, precise word choice and repetition, and the foundations of simile and metaphor, practiced through claim-and-evidence paragraphs about poems.
    7 topics
    1. 2.1Speakers and Characters in Poems
    2. 2.2Lines, Stanzas, and Structure
    3. 2.3Contrasts and Shifts
    4. 2.4Word Choice, Reference, and Repetition
    5. 2.5Simile
    6. 2.6Metaphor
    7. 2.7Writing About Poems: Claim and Evidence

  3. Unit 3

    Longer Fiction or Drama I

    15-18% (Longer Fiction or Drama, Units 3, 6, 9) of exam
    Working with a full novel or play: characters whose perspectives shift, motives inferred from action and inaction, social and historical setting, significant events, layered conflict, and the move from single paragraphs to a full essay with a thesis, a line of reasoning, and commentary.
    8 topics
    1. 3.1Character Expectations and Motives
    2. 3.2Dynamic and Static Characters
    3. 3.3Social, Cultural, and Historical Setting
    4. 3.4Significant Events
    5. 3.5Conflict
    6. 3.6From Claim to Thesis
    7. 3.7Line of Reasoning and Commentary
    8. 3.8Choosing Evidence and Writing Clearly

  4. Unit 4

    Short Fiction II

    42-49% (Short Fiction, Units 1, 4, 7) of exam
    Complexity in short fiction: characters defined by agency and competing values, setting as mood and environment, familiar plot patterns, contrasts that carry conflict, narrative distance, stream of consciousness, and tone, with body paragraphs and transitions that hold a full essay together.
    9 topics
    1. 4.1Agency, Values, Protagonists, and Antagonists
    2. 4.2Relationships and Competing Values
    3. 4.3Setting as Mood and Environment
    4. 4.4Familiar Patterns in Plot
    5. 4.5Contrast and Conflicting Values
    6. 4.6Narrative Distance and Stream of Consciousness
    7. 4.7Tone and Perspective
    8. 4.8Thesis, Body Paragraphs, and Commentary
    9. 4.9Evidence and Coherence

  5. Unit 5

    Poetry II

    36-45% (Poetry, Units 2, 5, 8) of exam
    Deeper poetry interpretation: closed and open forms, multiple meanings and connotation, modifiers, hyperbole and understatement, imagery, extended metaphor, personification, and allusion, with full essays that defend an interpretation of a poem.
    8 topics
    1. 5.1Closed and Open Forms
    2. 5.2Literal and Figurative Meaning
    3. 5.3Modifiers, Hyperbole, and Understatement
    4. 5.4Images and Imagery
    5. 5.5Metaphor and Extended Metaphor
    6. 5.6Personification and Allusion
    7. 5.7Thesis and Line of Reasoning About a Poem
    8. 5.8Evidence and Transitions

  6. Unit 6

    Longer Fiction or Drama II

    15-18% (Longer Fiction or Drama, Units 3, 6, 9) of exam
    Complexity in longer works: foils and competing perspectives, gaps between private thought and public action, interrupted chronology, contrasts that create ambiguity, tone and omission, narrator bias and reliability, and symbols, with sentence-level control in the essay.
    9 topics
    1. 6.1Perspectives and Foils
    2. 6.2Private Thoughts, Public Actions
    3. 6.3Interrupted Chronology
    4. 6.4Contrasts, Ambiguity, and Complexity
    5. 6.5Tone, Syntax, and Omission
    6. 6.6Narrator Bias and Reliability
    7. 6.7Symbols and Symbolic Characters
    8. 6.8Arguing About Complex Texts
    9. 6.9Evidence and Sentence-Level Control

  7. Unit 7

    Short Fiction III

    42-49% (Short Fiction, Units 1, 4, 7) of exam
    Fiction that engages experiences, institutions, and social structures: epiphanies and change, characters in relation to groups and forces, shifting and symbolic settings, pacing, contradictory narrators, motif and figurative language in prose, and sophisticated arguments that situate an interpretation and revise it when the evidence demands.
    9 topics
    1. 7.1Change and Epiphany
    2. 7.2Characters, Groups, and Forces
    3. 7.3Shifting and Contrasting Settings
    4. 7.4Pacing
    5. 7.5Multiple and Contradictory Narrators
    6. 7.6Symbolic Settings
    7. 7.7Motif, Simile, and Personification in Prose
    8. 7.8Sophisticated Arguments
    9. 7.9Revising an Interpretation

  8. Unit 8

    Poetry III

    36-45% (Poetry, Units 2, 5, 8) of exam
    The most demanding poetry reading: ideas that run past line and stanza boundaries, punctuation and broken patterns, juxtaposition, irony, paradox, ambiguity, symbols that reveal attitude, conceits, and allusion, with arguments that explore complexity and credit others' ideas.
    8 topics
    1. 8.1Enjambment, Punctuation, and Broken Patterns
    2. 8.2Juxtaposition, Irony, and Paradox
    3. 8.3Ambiguity
    4. 8.4Symbols and Attitude
    5. 8.5Conceits and Combined Comparisons
    6. 8.6Allusion
    7. 8.7Complex Arguments About Poems
    8. 8.8Evidence and Attribution

  9. Unit 9

    Longer Fiction or Drama III

    15-18% (Longer Fiction or Drama, Units 3, 6, 9) of exam
    Synthesis on a longer work: change and stasis, characters' responses to the resolution, significant events and suspense, catharsis, unseen forces and unresolved endings, and shifting perspectives, all aimed at the literary argument about a work as a whole.
    7 topics
    1. 9.1Change, Stasis, and Minor Characters
    2. 9.2Responses to the Resolution
    3. 9.3Significant Events and Suspense
    4. 9.4Catharsis, Unseen Forces, and Open Endings
    5. 9.5Multiple and Shifting Perspectives
    6. 9.6The Work as a Whole
    7. 9.7Evidence From Memory

The exam, part by part

2 parts, 3 h in all.

  • Section I: Multiple Choice

    Questions
    55
    Time
    1 h
    Weight
    45%
    Format details

    Five passage-based sets of 8 to 13 questions, each with four answer choices. At least two sets use prose fiction (which may include drama) and at least two use poetry; more passages come from the 20th century and later than from earlier periods. Approximate skill-category weighting: Character 16-20%, Setting 3-6%, Plot and Structure 16-20%, Narration 21-26%, Word Choice/Imagery/Symbols 10-13%, Comparison 10-13%, Literary Argumentation 10-13%. By genre: Short Fiction 42-49%, Poetry 36-45%, Longer Fiction or Drama 15-18%.

  • Section II: Free Response

    Questions
    3
    Time
    2 h
    Weight
    55%
    Format details

    Task types: Poetry Analysis, Prose Fiction Analysis, Literary Argument

    One essay of each type, always in this order: Question 1 Poetry Analysis, Question 2 Prose Fiction Analysis, Question 3 Literary Argument. About 40 minutes each is recommended, but the two hours are shared and students may move between questions. Each essay is scored 0-6 on the analytic rubric.

How the 1 to 5 score is set

Section I: 55 multiple-choice questions, one point each, with no penalty for wrong answers; the section is 45% of the composite score. Section II: three essays, each scored 0-6 on the analytic rubric (Row A Thesis 0-1, Row B Evidence and Commentary 0-4, Row C Sophistication 0-1), together 55% of the composite. The weighted composite is converted to the 1-5 AP score; the conversion is set after each administration and is not published in advance.

What you bring and get

Nothing is provided beyond the passages and prompts: no reference sheet, no glossary, no texts to consult. The exam is fully digital in the Bluebook app, where students read every passage and type all three essays. Scratch paper is allowed for planning, but only text typed into the response box is scored (in-app annotations are not). Question 3 prints a list of about 40 works, yet students may write about any appropriate work of fiction they know well, entirely from memory.

Skills the exam scores

  • 1.ACharacter details

    Identify and describe what specific textual details reveal about a character, including that character's perspective and motives.

  • 1.BCharacter change

    Explain what a character's changing, or remaining the same, contributes to a text.

  • 1.CContrasting characters

    Explain the function of characters set against one another, including foils.

  • 1.DCharacter relationships

    Describe how textual details reveal nuance and complexity in characters' relationships with one another.

  • 1.ECharacter complexity

    Explain how a character's own choices, actions, and speech reveal complexity, and what that complexity does in the text.

  • 2.ASetting details

    Identify and describe the specific textual details that establish or reveal a setting.

  • 2.BFunction of setting

    Explain what a setting does in a narrative.

  • 2.CCharacter and setting

    Describe the relationship between a character and a setting.

  • 3.APlot order

    Identify and describe how a plot orders the events of a narrative.

  • 3.BSequence of events

    Explain the function of a particular sequence of events in a plot.

  • 3.CStructure

    Explain the function of structure in a text, from line and stanza breaks to overall form.

  • 3.DContrasts

    Explain the function of contrasts within a text, including shifts and juxtapositions.

  • 3.ESignificant events

    Explain the function of a significant event, or a related set of events, in a plot.

  • 3.FConflict

    Explain the function of conflict in a text.

  • 4.ANarrator or speaker

    Identify and describe the narrator or speaker of a text.

  • 4.BPoint of view

    Identify and explain the function of point of view in a narrative.

  • 4.CPerspective and tone

    Identify and describe the details, diction, or syntax that reveal a narrator's or speaker's perspective.

  • 4.DReliability

    Explain how a narrator's reliability affects a narrative.

  • 5.ALiteral and figurative

    Distinguish between the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.

  • 5.BWord choice

    Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a text.

  • 5.CSymbol

    Identify and explain the function of a symbol.

  • 5.DImagery

    Identify and explain the function of an image or of imagery.

  • 6.ASimile

    Identify and explain the function of a simile.

  • 6.BMetaphor

    Identify and explain the function of a metaphor, including extended metaphors and conceits.

  • 6.CPersonification

    Identify and explain the function of personification.

  • 6.DAllusion

    Identify and explain the function of an allusion.

  • 7.AClaim and evidence

    Write a paragraph containing a claim that requires defense with textual evidence, together with that evidence.

  • 7.BThesis

    Write a thesis that states a defensible interpretation of literature and may establish a line of reasoning.

  • 7.CCommentary

    Write commentary that explains the relationships among textual evidence, the line of reasoning, and the thesis.

  • 7.DEvidence

    Select and use relevant and sufficient evidence to develop and support a line of reasoning.

  • 7.EComposition

    Control the elements of composition, from sentence to paragraph to essay, to communicate clearly.