ap lit essay writing tips

How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing? 

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. 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. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples 

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay 

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer,  conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well? 

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis 

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

• Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
• Is specific and precise in its use of language
• Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out 

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

• Choose your evidence first
• Develop your commentary about the evidence
• Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary 

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

• Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
• Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

• Autumn dismantles Summer
• “Stray through stubble fields”
• Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

• Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
• Bright imagery/fallen leaves
• Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
• But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis 

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

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.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion 

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication 

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

• Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
• Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
• Oversimplifying your interpretation
• Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, she’s held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany’s work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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2024 AP English Literature Exam Guide

15 min read • august 18, 2023

Your Guide to the 2024 AP English Literature Exam

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 2024 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. FYI, something cool is coming your way Fall 2023! 👀

Format of the 2024 AP English Literature Exam

Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:

Multiple Choice | 1 Hour | 45% of Exam Score

55 questions

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

3 questions

• 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 of literary merit selected by the student

FRQ Scoring Rubric for the 2024 AP Lit Exam

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.

When is the 2024 AP exam and How Do I Take It?

How should i prepare for the exam.

First, download the AP English Literature Cheatsheet PDF - a single sheet that covers everything you need to know at a high level. Take note of your strengths and weaknesses!

Review every unit and question type, and focus on the areas that need the most improvement and practice. We’ve put together this plan to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam

Practice essays are your best friends! The more essays you write, the more automatic the process will come, and the easier the AP exam will be!

Try some of the past exam essays here

We've put together the study plan found below to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam. Pay special attention to the units that you need the most improvement in.

Study, practice, and review for test day with other students during our live cram sessions via  Cram Mode . Cram live streams will teach, review, and practice important topics from AP courses, college admission tests, and college admission topics. These streams are hosted by experienced students who know what you need to succeed.

Pre-Work: Set Up Your Study Environment

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!

🤝 Get support from your peers.  

There are thousands of students all over the world who are preparing for their AP exams just like you! Join  Rooms  🤝 to chat, ask questions, and meet other students who are also studying for the spring exams. You can even build study groups and review material together! 

AP English Literature 2024 Study Plan

🌱 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.

Definitely do this:

📚 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:

12 Classic Short Stories : 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: Intro to Poetry

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

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.

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

Theme Statements and Thesis Statements : This stream teaches you how to determine and state a theme, and how to establish a claim to defend for poem analysis.

💎 Play Figurative Language Trivia ! It’s not the names that are important, but it’s fun to know them, anyway!

🎭 Unit 3: Intro to Longer fiction or Drama

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

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.

Fiveable study guide to the Literary Argument prompt

💎 Check out John Green’s YouTube channel Crash Course for help analyzing some English teacher novel favorites.  These don’t substitute for reading, but they help when you’re done.

📖 Read this Ultimate AP Literature Reading List from Albert.io to see what you’ve read, or what you might want to read. You might even find them free online, or you can support your local library.

⚔️ Unit 4: Character, Conflict, & Storytelling in Short Fiction

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

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.

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.

AP Lit Prose Analysis Practice Prompt Answers & Feedback – Fahrenheit 451 (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 – The Street : 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 – The Rainbow : 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 

🌈 Unit 5: Structure & Figurative Language in Poetry

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

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

💎 Browse through the Poetry Foundations resources for students , including annotations, poem guides, podcasts, and poet studies.

🛠️ Unit 6: Literary Techniques in Longer Works

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

Finding Theme Through Characterization : A discussion of the function of characterization as it applies to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) Resources

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.

English Literature Multiple Choice Study Guide

AP English Literature Multiple Choice Help (MCQ)

AP English Lit MCQ Practice Tests

🏛️ Unit 7: Societal & Historical Context in Short Fiction

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 7 Overview: Societal and Historical Context

7.1 Sudden and more gradual change in characters

7.2 Epiphany as a driver of plot

7.3 Relationships between characters and groups

7.4 Character interactions with changing and contrasting settings

7.5 The significance of the pacing of a narrative

7.6 Setting as a symbol

7.7 Interpreting texts in their historical and societal contexts

🤾 Unit 8: Advanced Techniques in Poetry

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!

Unit 8 Overview

8.1 Looking at punctuation and structural patterns

8.2 Interpreting juxtaposition, paradox, and irony

8.3 How ambiguity can allow for various interpretations

8.4 Identifying symbols, conceits, and allusions

8.5 Learning proper attribution and citation in literary analysis

🚣🏿 Unit 9: Nuanced Analysis in Longer Works

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.

Unit 9 Overview: Nuanced Analysis

9.1 Looking at a character's response to the resolution of a narrative

9.2 Suspense, resolution, and plot development

9.3 Narrative inconsistencies and contrasting perspectives

Exam Skills 

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.

AP English Literature Free Response Questions (FRQ) – Past Prompts : A sortable list of all the AP English Literature free-response questions.

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Ultimate Guide to the AP English Literature and Composition Exam

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The English Literature and Composition exam is one of the most popular AP exams among self-studiers and enrolled students alike. In 2019, a total of 380,136 students took the AP Literature exam, making it the third most favored AP exam, trailing only English Language and U.S. History in popularity. If you are interested in taking the AP Literature exam—and are taking a class or self-studying—read on for a breakdown of the test and CollegeVine’s advice for how to best prepare for it.

When is the AP Literature Exam?

2020’s AP English Literature and Composition exam day is Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 8 AM. Check out our blog 2020 AP Exam Schedule: Everything You Need to Know to learn more about this year’s AP exam dates and times. 

What Does the AP Literature Exam Cover?

The AP Literature course engages students in careful reading and critical analysis of fictional literature, leading to a deeper understanding of the ways in which writers provide both meaning and pleasure to their readers—considering structure, style, theme, and smaller-scale elements such as figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. 

Although there is no required reading list, the College Board formerly provided a list of prospective authors in its past AP Literature course description. Regardless of which specific titles are read in preparation for the exam, students should be familiar with works from both British and American authors written from the 16th century to the present. Ten of the commonly studied works in AP Literature courses are:

• Great Expectations , Charles Dickens 
• Invisible Man , Ralph Ellison
• Beloved , Toni Morrison 
• King Lear , William Shakespeare 
• Heart of Darkness , Joseph Conrad 
• The Portrait of a Lady , Henry James 
• Wuthering Heights , Emily Bronte 
• Their Eyes Were Watching God , Zora Neale Hurston 
• To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee 
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , James Joyce 

How Long is the AP Literature Exam? What is the Format?

The AP Literature exam is one of the longer AP exams, clocking in at 3 hours. It is comprised of two sections. 

Section 1: Multiple Choice

1 hour | 45 Questions | 45% of Score

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. Students receive two sets of questions about both prose fiction and poetry, with the fifth set varying between prose fiction and poetry. The function of the multiple choice section is to assess a student’s ability to: 

1. Understand and interpret word choice, comparisons, and figurative language

This is one of the most common questions types on the AP Lit exam. Students are frequently asked to infer the meaning of certain words and phrases, and how they impact the rest of the passage. You will also be asked to identify and interpret figurative language.

Source: The College Board

2. Understand the theme of the poem or passage

You should be able to summarize and articulate what the excerpt is about and what sort of message it conveys.

3. Paraphrase or reformulate selected lines from the passage

Students are tested on their reading comprehension by being asked to select the reformulated response that most closely aligns with the original excerpt.

4. Explain the function of…

• The narrator or speaker: Know how a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text.

• Characters : Grasp how characters allow the reader to explore values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms.

• The plot and structure : Understand what the author conveys by the arrangement of the sections of text, their relationship to each other, and sequence, along with how the reader’s interpretation of the text is affected by these choices.

• Symbols and motifs : Describe the purpose of symbols and motifs and how they contribute to the meaning of the passage.

5. Identify parts of speech, verse forms, and meters

You’ll occasionally need more technical knowledge of parts of speech (adjective, adverb, etc.) and verse forms (blank verse, free verse, sonnet, etc.). You should also have a basic knowledge of poetic meter (iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, etc).

Section 2: Free Response

2 hours 15 minutes | 3 questions | 55% of Score

The second section of the AP Literature exam is two hours (plus a 15-minute reading period) and contains three free response questions. These prompts test three core abilities:

• A literary analysis of a poem
• A literary analysis of a piece of prose fiction (this may include drama) 
• An analysis that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a meritorious literary work selected by the student. 

The free response essays are graded by college and AP Lit teachers following a standardized rubric.

Below are 3 example free response questions from 2019’s AP Literature Exam: 

1. “Carefully read P. K. Page’s 1943 poem “The Landlady.” Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the speaker’s complex portrayal of the landlady. You may wish to consider such elements as imagery, selection of detail, and tone.”

2. “Carefully read the following excerpt from William Dean Howells’ novel The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays the complex experience of two sisters, Penelope and Irene, within their family and society.  You may wish to consider such literary elements as style, tone, and selection of detail.”

AP Literature Exam Score Distribution, Average Score, and Passing Rate

The AP Literature exam is extremely challenging, with less than half (49.7%) of students achieving a passing score of 3 or higher. The average student score is 2.62—only Physics (2.51) and Human Geography (2.55) have lower average scores. If you’re curious about other score distributions, see our post Easiest and Hardest AP Exams .

Best Ways to Study for the AP Literature Exam

One of the first steps you should take when preparing for the AP Literature exam is to look at its full course description . This will help guide your studying and understanding of the knowledge required for the AP Literature exam. Below are a few more steps you can take to ace the AP Literature exam. 

Step 1: Assess Your Skills

Practice Questions and Tests: Take a practice test to assess your initial knowledge. The College Board’s AP English Literature Course and Exam Description offers some sample multiple-choice questions, and the College Board also provides six sample AP Lit free-response questions with scoring commentaries . Older versions of the AP English Literature exam are also available; you can find a copy of the 2012 AP Lit exam and the 1999 AP Lit exam . Search around the web and you’ll likely turn up even more practice exams with answers keys —some will even have explanations of the questions. You’ll also find practice tests in many of the official study guides, and some even include a diagnostic test to act as your initial assessment.

Identify Areas in Need of Improvement: Once you have taken some kind of formative assessment, score it to identify your areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. It can be helpful to have a friend (or even better, a teacher) score your free-response essays, since they are more subjective than the multiple-choice section. With an accurate formative assessment, you’ll have a better idea of where to focus your studying efforts.

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. Become an active reader, underlining and taking notes as you go. Remember that the importance of the text comes not only from the author, but also from how the text affects you, the reader. Pay attention to how you feel and why you feel that way. Visit the College Board’s Reading Study Skills for more information.         

Write Frequently: Prepare for the writing section of your exam by writing frequently. According to the College Board, the goal is to become a “practiced, logical, clear, and honest” writer through the writing process. This means that you will plan, draft, review, redraft, edit, and polish your writing again and again. To be a successful writer on your exam, you will need to organize your ideas ahead of time, use your text wisely to support a clearly stated thesis, and provide a logical argument. Finally, you should pay close attention to your use of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Visit the College Board’s Writing Study Skills for more information. 

Get Expert Advice: For more specific guidance about test preparation, consider using a formal study guide. One good choice is Barron’s AP English Literature and Composition, 6th Edition . This study guide contains a review of test topics covering details test takers need to know about poetry, fiction, and drama, and includes five full-length practice tests. Some users do criticize it for providing few examples of scored student essays, but plenty of those are available on the College Board scoring examples page . 

The Princeton Review’s Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, 2020 Edition: Proven Techniques to Help You Score a 5 is another solid choice containing a summary of test strategies and a focused review of course content. 

Alternatively, there are many online study resources available. Some AP teachers have even published their own study guides or review sheets online. You can find one such guide here .

Consider using an app to study: A convenient way to study is to use one of the recently-developed apps for AP exams. These can be free or cost a small fee, and they provide an easy way to quiz yourself on-the-go. Make sure you read reviews before choosing one—their quality varies widely. One that does receive good reviews is the McGraw Hill 5 which also saves you some money by covering 14 different AP subjects.      

Step 3: Practice Multiple-Choice Questions

Once you have your theory down, test it out by practicing multiple-choice questions. You can find these in most study guides or through online searches. There are some available in the College Board’s course description.

Try to keep track of which concept areas are still tripping you up, and go back over this theory again. Keep in mind that the key to answering questions correctly is understanding the passage, so practice active reading skills as you’re tackling the multiple-choice questions. This includes underlining, mouthing words, and circling key points. Remember, the answer will always be found in the text, and often the question will tell you exactly where in the text to look for it.

Step 4: Practice Free-Response Essays

Focus on Writing Skills: Use a rich vocabulary, varied sentence structure, and logical progression of ideas. Make sure that your words flow easily from one to the next. According to the College Board’s scoring criteria , writing that suffers from grammatical and/or mechanical errors that interfere with communication cannot earn a the maximum score of a 6, no matter how strong your thesis, compelling your argument, or convincing your evidence is.  

Cultivate Cohesive Writing: You should also strive to write a thoughtful and persuasive analysis of the literature. Begin by writing a quick outline to structure your piece. Make sure that your introduction leads to a clearly stated thesis and use supporting paragraphs to build this argument. Use quotes judiciously in your answers and focus on writing with sophistication and clarity.

Practice, Practice, Practice: The best way to prepare for these free-response questions is through repeated exercises analyzing short prose passages and poems, and through practicing with open analytical questions. 

Understand Scoring: As you prepare for the writing portion of your exam, be sure to review how your free responses will be scored. Each free-response essay is graded on a scale from 0 to 6 with points awarded for three elements: Thesis (0-1 point), Evidence and Commentary (0-4 points), and Sophistication (0-1 point). A comprehensive explanation of the College Board’s scoring rubric is found on their website.  

Study the free-response questions and scored student responses with written explanations provided by the College Board . The most effective way to use these is to read and respond to the prompts first, then review the student samples and scoring explanations. Use this feedback to practice another prompt and repeat the cycle until you are confident that your responses are as strong as the top scorers’. 

Step 5: Take Another Practice Test

As you did at the beginning of your studying, take a practice test to see which areas you’ve improved in and which still require practice.

If you have time, repeat each of the steps above to incrementally increase your score.

Step 6: Exam Day Specifics

If you’re taking the AP course associated with this exam, your teacher will walk you through how to register. If you’re self-studying, check out CollegeVine’s How to Self-Register for AP Exams .

For information about what to bring to the exam, see CollegeVine’s What Should I Bring to My AP Exam (And What Should I Definitely Leave at Home)?

CollegeVine can’t predict how you’ll score on your AP Literature exam, but we can help take the guesswork out of college admissions. Our free chancing engine uses a data-driven algorithm taking into consideration criteria such as GPA, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities to tell you your odds of acceptance at over 500 colleges and universities.

Check out these other Collegevine articles for more information about AP exams. 

• 2020 AP Exam Schedule
• How Long is Each AP Exam?

Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free. Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey.

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5 Tips for Writing a Great AP Lit Essay

Nervous about the 'free response prompt' on AP Lit? Don't be. We broke it down into manageable steps!

This year, if you’re taking the AP English Literature exam, you’ll be responsible for responding to three questions, which the College Board calls “free response prompts.” 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 attention and, by extension, produces the most anxiety among students. Anyone would admit that such a capacious (‘open, roomy’) question is challenging, especially when a year of AP Lit has taught you to focus on the details of the book you’re reading. And it certainly doesn’t help that this question comes at the very end of the essay, and you and your fingers are about as tired as they could possibly be!

But if you approach the prompt with enthusiasm, it can be the cherry on top of your exam, not the straw that breaks the camel’s back (getting creative with metaphors is always important in AP Lit!).

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?” How is that even possible? In truth, your evaluators are using this prompt as a way to gauge your analytical abilities no matter the text. You’re not going to be judged for the work you select, as long as it’s substantial enough to ensure your analysis can be rich and meaningful. A good rule to live by: if a work pops into your head and you don’t immediately have at least a few different ideas for how to answer the prompt with it, toss it out of your brainstorming process. You want to find a work that is challenging and complex in order to show that you’re capable of effectively analyzing such works.

You have two main options for selecting the perfect work, both equally effective. The first is probably the most common: choose a book, play, or other literary work you read in AP Lit. Because you read it in class, you will almost surely be familiar with its themes and literary devices. Your second option is to pick a work you’ve read on your own, which could be anything from a novel you adored over summer break or the Shakespeare play you starred in at school. We recommend creating a short list of works you’d like to write about before you take your AP Lit exam, just to have your options at hand. As you’ve learned to do in class, consider each work’s rhetorical situation. This way, if you’re on the fence about whether a work is really “of literary merit,” you can ask your teacher or someone else in the know for an expert second opinion!

2. Practice really does make perfect.

You don’t know what the third free-response prompt will be, but you know that it will be! The College Board’s AP Lit exam page is only one of a gazillion easily accessible resources online that compile prompts from past years and devise hypothetical ones, too. These are great places to look. In the weeks leading up to the exam, we recommend selecting three to seven prompts—the more diverse in content, the better—and practicing with your list of works of literary merit. We recommend practicing with a work no more than two or three times—it’s great to know a text inside and out, but you don’t want to be a one-trick pony in case the prompt on the exam doesn’t lend itself to an essay about that text.

3. Outline, outline, outline!

Whether for AP exams , the SAT , or the ACT , you’ve heard the dictum a million times—outlines make better essays, even when your time feels extremely limited! When it’s time for the test, this can feel a little bit trite, but we challenge you to find one soul in the grand history of the AP English Literature exam who hasn’t benefited from creating even a rough outline. This is the place where your reasoning and organization come alive. We recommend devoting 5-7 minutes to your outline—the lower end if you’re confident you know the text inside and out and just need to nail down your claims and evidence, and the higher end if you need to jog your memory and give your thesis a bit more time to gestate.

What should your outline include? Keep it clear and concise. You definitely want to write your thesis; plan the topics of your body paragraphs, including potential topic sentences; and—a helpful, oft-forgotten third part—remind yourself why the work you’ve chosen is the best for the prompt. This last part won’t be formally integrated into your essay, but it’s extremely helpful as you try to stay focused and pointed while writing what can feel like an impossible broad essay.

4. Each paragraph is a new opportunity to be creative

The third free-response prompt, and the AP Lit exam in general, is extremely structured. It can feel downright constricting. The little-known truth about the last essay is that it’s the most creative part of the whole exam. You not only get to choose the prompt, but within the roughly five-paragraph structure of the essay you’re penning, you get to be quite creative with what you say in each paragraph. There are so many ways to explain to your readers how, say, a symbol illuminates an important theme in a text. We find this knowledge incredibly liberating; paired wisely with the organization that the outline and the essay require, this creative approach can lead to a top-notch essay.

5. Proofread, but not just for the sake of proofreading.

We’ve all been there—time is nearly up, you’ve put the period at the end of your conclusion, and now it’s time to make sure you haven’t written an incoherent jumble of nothingness. This is the last, crucial step before handing in your AP Lit exam and never reading again (just kidding!)

Because you’re so exhausted from hours of test-taking, proofreading your third free-response essay can feel like a chore—a hurdle you have to jump to reach the finish line. But it can also be an opportunity to make sure your argument, your analysis, and your claims and evidence are coherent . We don’t mean that you should restructure your thesis—there isn’t time for that, and we’re sure it’s great, anyway!—but we encourage you to make sure that every sentence is as clear, concise, and (reasonably) creative as possible. Proofreading is the time to read every sentence with a fundamental question in the back of your head: What is this sentence doing, and what are the words that form it doing? If something feels like it’s not pulling its weight, don’t hesitate—change or delete it. Now that you’ve nailed the bigger picture, you must demand only the best from the details.

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AP® English Literature

How to get a 9 on prose analysis frq in ap® english literature.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

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.

General Tips to Bettering Your Odds at a Nine on the AP® English Literature Prose FRQ

You may know already how to approach the prose analysis, but don’t forget to keep the following in mind coming into the exam:

• Carefully read, review, and underline key to-do’s in the prompt.
• Briefly outline where you’re going to hit each prompt item — in other words, pencil out a specific order.
• Be sure you have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.
• Include the author’s name and title of the prose selection in your thesis statement. Refer to characters by name.
• Use quotes — lots of them — to exemplify the elements and your argument points throughout the essay.
• Fully explain or discuss how your examples support your thesis. A deeper, fuller, and more focused explanation of fewer elements is better than a shallow discussion of more elements (shotgun approach).
• Avoid vague, general statements or merely summarizing the plot instead of clearly focusing on the prose passage itself.
• Use transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs.
• Write in the present tense with generally good grammar.
• Keep your introduction and conclusion short, and don’t repeat your thesis verbatim in your conclusion.

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:

• Analyze the complex relationship between the two characters Hardy portrays in the passage.
• Pay attention to tone, word choice, and detail selection.
• Write a well-written essay.

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.

Start with a Succinct Introduction that Includes Your Thesis Statement

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.

Use Clear Examples to Support Your Argument Points

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.

Discussion is Crucial to Connect Your Quotes and Examples to Your Argument Points

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.

Write a Brief Conclusion

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.

Write in Complete Sentences with Proper Punctuation and Compositional Skills

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:

• followed the prompt
• followed the propounded thesis statement and returned to it in the end
• provided a full discussion with examples
• included quotes proving each assertion
• used clear, grammatically correct sentences
• wrote paragraphs ordered by a thesis statement
• created topic sentences for each paragraph
• ensured each topic sentence furthered the ideas presented in the thesis statement

Have a Plan and Follow it

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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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!

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