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Tools & Calculators

Ap® english literature score calculator.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: January 29, 2024

If you’re looking for an AP® English Literature score calculator, you’ve come to the right place. Our interactive widget has been used by thousands of students to forecast how they might do come test day.

Need extra help in preparing for AP® English Literature? Check out our AP® English Literature section for tons of review articles or explore The Best AP® English Literature Review Guide for 2022 .

If you’re an educator interested in boosting your AP® English Literature student outcomes, let us know and we’ll tell you how you can get started on Albert for free!

How are you projecting the scoring curve?

At this time, the College Board has not officially released a scoring worksheet that reflects the latest changes in AP® English Literature. In order to create our projected curve, what we have done is taken the relative percentages of the MCQ and FRQ as well as the point values of each question as outlined In the scoring guidelines released for 2020-2021 here .

AP® English Literature

Enter your scores.

Section I: Multiple-Choice

Section II: Free Response - Q1 - Poetry Analysis

Section II: Free Response - Q2 - Prose Fiction Analysis

Section II: Free Response - Q3 - Literary Argument

Section II: Free Response Question 1

Section II: Free Response Question 2

Section II: Free Response Question 3

Section II: Free Response - Question 1

Section II: Free Response - Question 2

Section II: Free Response - Question 3

Choose your score curve

2022 2009 2004

Looking for AP® English Literature study materials?

Also, check out this reference for the  best AP® English Literature review books .

What is a good AP® English Literature score?

When analyzing your score in AP® English Literature, you should consider the overall scoring criteria for AP® exams. In general, a score of 3 or higher on an AP® exam is a solid score. According to The College Board, a 3 is ‘qualified.’ A 4 is considered ‘well qualified.’ Finally, a 5 is deemed ‘extremely well qualified.’ If you earn a 3, 4, or 5, many colleges and universities will award you college credits. You can learn more about AP® credit policies at your dream schools  here .

You should also analyze your AP® English Literature score within the context of scoring averages in recent years. In 2020, 60.1% of students who took the AP® English Literature exam received a score of 3 or higher. You can reference the latest distributions here .

What is the average score in AP English Literature?

This average changes each year, depending on exam revisions and the population of students taking the test. As a rule of thumb, The College Board tries to maintain a consistent distribution for every subject. Perhaps the best way to think about an average score in AP® English Literature is to examine multi-year trends. For instance, according to the AP® Student Score Distribution released by the College Board, the mean AP® English Literature score in 2014 was 2.76, 2015 was 2.78, 2016 was 2.75, 2017 was 2.69, 2018 was 2.57, 2019 was 2.62 and 2.84 in 2020. If you add these seven numbers and calculate a raw average, you can discover a multi-year average score in AP® English Literature as 2.72.

Why are AP English Literature scores curved?

To maintain consistent standards, every year the College Board curves its exams. This includes AP® English Literature. At their core, AP® classes are college-level courses. Therefore, The College Board adjusts its scoring guidelines to reflect the rigor of college-level courses.

How do I get a 5 on the AP® English Literature Exam?

This is the million-dollar question! Alas, there’s no magic trick for achieving a 5 in AP® English Literature. The only time-tested methods for achieving a 5 on test day are applied learning, excellent study habits, and deliberate practice. A high score in AP® English Literature requires strong skills in critical reading, literary analysis, and essay composition. So the best route to a 5 on test day is a comprehensive study plan that incorporates all three of those elements.

Here at Albert, we’ve written tons of free review crash course reviews and study guides to help you prepare for AP® English Literature. Check out some of our most popular posts to get started:

• The Ultimate List of AP® English Literature Tips
• The Ultimate SOAPStone Analysis Guide for AP® Exams
• How to Approach AP® English Literature Multiple-Choice Questions

Looking for practice questions for AP® English Literature review? Albert offers the largest collection of AP-aligned AP® English Literature practice questions anywhere. We have nearly 600 multiple-choice and free-response questions to help you prepare for AP® English Lit. Study anywhere, anytime, and receive instant feedback on every question. In 2019, Albert student users beat the national pass rates in AP® English Literature by 32.48%. Try some of our free practice questions here .

Why should I use this AP® English Literature score calculator?

Albert’s AP® English Literature score calculator uses the College Board’s official scoring worksheets for previously released exams. Ours are the most accurate and up-to-date score calculators available. Score calculators are a handy way to stay motivated when you’re prepping for AP® tests. By better understanding how many multiple-choice questions and free-response points you’ll need to achieve a 3, 4, or 5 in AP® English Literature, you can stress less on test day.

Looking for AP® English Literature practice?

Kickstart your AP® English Literature prep with Albert. Start your AP® exam prep today .

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AP English Literature - Score Calculator

Fill out the info below, and pep will predict your ap score 🪄.

Based on 2023 Exam Scoring Guidelines - these scores may not be 100% accurate

Section I : Multiple Choice

Section ii : free response, multiple choice, free response, weighted score, predicted ap score.

34.50% of students achieved this score last year.

You're doing great! Let's boost your confidence even more

AP Score Calculator FAQ

How does this ap english literature score calculator work.

Adjust the sliders to guesstimate which rubric points you think you’ll get. The calculator will apply the accurate score weights + give you an estimated final score! (Pep’s final form will change depending on your score 🌶️)

Exam sections and scoring

• Every AP subject has standardized sections on the exam. They usually include multiple choice and free response questions.
• Each section is worth some number of points based on 1) the number of questions and 2) sometimes a scoring rubric. Each section also has a different weight on your final score.

Is it accurate?

Yes! The weights of the score + the points possible are very accurate, based on info from the Course & Exam Descriptions and Scoring Guidelines from the 2023 AP exams.

(If you notice any errors, please email us at [email protected] so we can fix it!)

The one area that can’t be perfectly accurate is how we determined the final predicted scores (College Board doesn’t publish the “cut points” for each scores.)

We used old released exams and other calculators to estimate “if you earned this % of points, you would earn this score”:

• 75% or more = 5

These are meant to be benchmarks to give a rough idea of where you might fall, but the actual numbers are adjusted each year to be based on the curve. We’re probably pretty close though.

How are the AP English Literature exams scored?

• Multiple Choice questions are graded with a computer, those are super easy to grade quickly.
• Some teachers do this remotely and grade online, others are physically in person reading essays. They sit together at tables in huge conference centers for ~1 week to go through every single essay.
• These educators are truly rooting for you to get as many points as you can. When there is a high scoring essay, the table quietly celebrates 🥳
• Total scores for multiple choice and free response are combined, then translated into a 5-point scale.

What is a good score on the AP English Literature exam?

It’s all relative (really). We tend to think your score matters far less in the long run, so there really isn’t such thing as a “bad score”.  Taking the test and going through the process is correlated with going to and doing better in college.

Technically, a “3” is considered passing because it’s the lowest score that can earn college credit. Some colleges require 4s or 5s. And some (elite) colleges don’t give credit at all.

You can search all colleges for their AP Credit policy here:  https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies

What were last year’s AP English Literature scores?

College Board publishes the distribution of scores for every subject so you can see what % earned each score on the 5-point scale:  https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions

We listed these on the calculator as well :)

How can I improve my AP English Literature scores?

This calculator is useful because it’s a baseline. Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can make a plan to improve!

In the weeks leading up to the exam, you should do a few things:

Take the time to review all the content. Don’t reread the textbook or anything, but remind yourself of all the key topics.

Go through the study guides and find areas where you remember less content:  https://library.fiveable.me/

Start practicing questions on topics that you know the least. You can do easy, medium, hard, or extremely hard questions to test yourself:  https://library.fiveable.me/practice

When do AP English Literature scores come out?

The scores are usually released the week after the 4th of July. You can get them by signing into your College Board account. Instructions are here:  https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/view-scores

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• Getting your Scores

AP English Literature Test Score Calculator

View study guides (2).

This calculator is based on the 2020 released exam with the latest scoring guidelines, such as these .

Your score on the grading curve:

Why is my grade curved? Once the total composite scores are calculated, Collegeboard curves them differently each year to keep consistent standards and regular pass rates, which means we can only estimate based off of previous years.

Why use AP Pass? I use only past released exam formulas published by Collegeboard, which makes AP Pass the most accurate and up-to-date calculator available. Entering your scores might just give you a confidence boost for your test!

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AP® English Literature Scoring Guide

If you decide to take AP® English Literature and Composition, it is important to understand how the exam is scored. The AP English Literature and Composition exam assesses students' critical reading abilities as well as their understanding of a wide range of literary works across genres and periods.

The test is graded on a scale of 1 to 5 , with 3 considered the passing score by most colleges. Students who score a 3 or higher on the exam may be eligible for college credit and/or placement, depending on the regulations of the institution or university where they want to enroll. If you are taking the AP Lit exam and would like to know how it’s scored, then you’re on the right page! This article is your guide to the AP English Literature and Composition scoring structure and guidelines.

How Is the AP English Literature Exam Scored?

There are two types of questions on the AP English Literature and Composition exam: multiple-choice (MCQ) and free-response (FRQ). Students have three hours to complete the entire exam. The multiple-choice component accounts for 45 percent of the exam's total score, whereas the free-response section accounts for 55 percent . The scores for the MCQ and FRQ sections are combined to get the final composite score.

It’s helpful to note that anything less than a 3 may not be considered by any college admissions for college credit or placement. Now let's look at each section and understand the scoring pattern:

Section I: MCQ

There are 55 multiple-choice questions to answer, and students have one hour to do so. Each MCQ has five answer-choices. There are no penalties for incorrect responses or the questions you leave blank. Therefore, if you are unsure about an answer, it’s best to make a guess! Each correct answer is worth about 1 point and the final score for this section is calculated by adding up all the points earned for those answers.

Section II: FRQ

Students have two hours to answer three free-response questions for that section of the exam. Each essay is assigned a point value ranging from 0 to 6 and is is graded by two individual AP readers. If they both reach the same point value while grading, the score provided is final. If they do not agree, a third reader makes the final decision.

According to the College Board®, each essay is graded as a whole, based on substance, style, and mechanics. Each essay's scores are multiplied by 3.055, then combined together to produce a raw score.

AP English Literature and Composition Scoring Guidelines & Rubrics

The AP Lit FRQs are graded according to an analytical rubric instead of a holistic one. Below is a tabular format of the scoring guideline and rubric, as published by the College Board:

AP English Literature Scoring Table

The final results will not include your composite score or even the individual score for each section of the exam. You will only see your AP scaled score ranging from 1 to 5. Each score represents a certain degree of performance. Colleges use these results to determine who is eligible for college credit and placement. The table below shows the prospective college grade equivalent for AP scores:

As you may have already realized, most institutions do not consider scores below 3 when making admissions decisions. If a student wants to get college credit and/or advanced placement based on their AP English Literature exam score, they typically must earn a score of 3 or higher. Always double-check the minimum requirements of the colleges you want to apply to, since some schools require a higher score for college credit.

AP English Literature Score Distribution

Thousands of students from all around the world take the AP English Literature exam each year. In May 2023 , 356,043 students took the exam, with over 274,836 having received a score of 3 or higher . That's about 77.2% of those who took the exam. Let's take a peek at the AP English Literature score distributions for the last four years, from 2019 to 2023, to gauge its success rates in the past. This may help you decide whether or not to take AP Literature.

Based on data from the last five AP exams, AP English Literature and Composition’s passing rate has hovered around 62%, with a dip in scores in 2019 through 2021. Those particular years' lower success rates were likely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly impacted education systems around the world. However, the passing rates did bounce back in 2022, when students performed with an impressive success rate of nearly 78%.

The average passing rates for AP Lit indicate two things: First, performing well in this course and exam requires grit, dedication, and disciplined study habits. Second, if you practice hard with the right study tools, you, too, can earn a score of 3 or above. This is where UWorld’s practice tests and study tools can help. UWorld's online AP English Literature and Composition practice exam reinforces the concepts that are bound to appear on the exam. Online study tools can also track your progress and build the confidence you need on test day, ensuring nothing catches you by surprise.

AP English Literature Minimum Score Requirements for College Credits

As you may already know, most institutions require a minimum score of 3 to qualify for college credit and placement. Completing the course but skipping the exam can still result in a transcript that looks appealing to college admissions committees.

Here is a list of some universities and their minimum AP English Literature criteria for course credits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good ap english literature score.

The College Board considers a score of 3 or higher on an AP exam as qualified. However, they regard scores of 4 or 5 as truly impressive AP scores.

What is the average AP English Literature score?

The average AP English Literature score for 2023 was 3.26 . Based on historical data (2019-2022), the AP English Lit scores have averaged between 2.62 to 3.31.

What percentage is a 5 on the AP Lit exam?

Why are ap english literature scores curved.

Every year, the College Board curves its exams (including AP English Literature) for consistency. As a result, they also adjust their scoring rules to reflect the intensity of college-level courses.

AP English Literature scores are curved for grading uniformity across both paper-based and digital exams. This all but guarantees that AP exam scores remain comparable college-level grades.

How do I get a 5 on AP English Literature?

There is no secret to getting a 5 in AP English Literature. Applied learning, solid study habits, and purposeful practice are the only time-tested ways of getting a 5 on your exam. Strong critical reading, literary analysis, and essay writing abilities are the core skills you need to master for this exam.

When were the AP English Literature scores released in 2023?

The 2023 exam results were released in July 2023 . Your College Board account allows you to check your results online.

How many people get a perfect score in AP English Literature?

Students earn a perfect score when they correctly answer all of the questions on both portions of the exam. Only three test-takers scored a perfect 5 on the 2021 exam by earning all 120 points possible across all essays and questions.

• (2023, October). 2023 AP Score Distributions . College Board. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions
• (2023, October). STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS* AP Exams - May 2023 . College Board. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-score-distributions-by-subject-2023.pdf
• (2022, October). STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS* AP Exams - May 2022 . College Board. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-score-distributions-by-subject-2022.pdf
• (2021, October). STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS* AP Exams - May 2021 . College Board. https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/2021-ap-student-score-distributions_1.pdf
• (2020, October). STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS* AP Exams - May 2020 . College Board. https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/Student-Score-Distributions-2020_1.pdf
• (2019, October). STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS* AP Exams - May 2019 . College Board. https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2019/Student-Score-Distributions-2019.pdf
• Packer, T. (2021, July 13). AP English Literature and Composition: 2021 Results . College Board All Access. https://allaccess.collegeboard.org/ap-english-literature-and-composition-2021-results

Read More About the AP English Literature

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AP English Literature and Composition Score Calculator

Ap english literature and composition score scale.

Understanding how your raw scores translate into the AP course grade scale is crucial for planning your study and knowing what to aim for on the exam day. Here’s a simplified breakdown of the score scale 📊:

This table shows the range of raw scores needed to achieve a particular AP score, where a 5 is the highest score, indicating extremely well understanding of the material, and a 1 where there’s significant room for improvement.

FAQs Section

Here are some of the most common questions about the AP English Literature and Composition exam grading and scoring system:

What is the difference between HL and SL in the AP English Literature exam?

The AP exams don’t specifically have ‘Higher Level (HL)’ and ‘Standard Level (SL)’ as those are part of the IB (International Baccalaureate) system. However, the AP English Literature exam is considered to be at a higher level due to its rigorous curriculum and in-depth analytical requirements.

How is the essay section scored in the AP English Literature exam?

The essay section is scored by experienced and trained high school and college teachers. Each essay is scored on a scale from 0 to 9, and these scores are then converted into the AP exam’s 1-5 scale.

Do colleges care about AP scores?

Yes, many colleges in the U.S. and internationally recognize AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, or both, especially scores of 3 or higher. Scoring well can significantly enhance your college application!

Can I retake the AP English Literature exam if I’m not happy with my score?

Absolutely! AP exams are offered once a year, but you can retake them in subsequent years if you wish to improve your score. Just be sure to prepare thoroughly to increase your chances of scoring higher. 📚✨

I hope this clears up some of your doubts! Keep studying hard, and good luck on your exam journey! 🌟

Scores for 2024 AP Exams will be available starting July 8.

AP English Literature and Composition

Learn all about the course and exam. Already enrolled? Join your class in My AP.

Not a Student?

Go to AP Central for resources for teachers, administrators, and coordinators.

About the Course

Learn how to understand and evaluate works of fiction, poetry, and drama from various periods and cultures. You’ll read literary works and write essays to explain and support your analysis of them.

New for 2024-25: MCQs Will Have Four Answer Choices

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. 

Skills You'll Learn

Read a text closely and draw conclusions from details

Identify the techniques used by an author and their effects

Develop an interpretation of a text

Present your interpretation and make an argument for it in writing

Equivalency and Prerequisites

College course equivalent.

An introductory college-level literature course

Recommended Prerequisites

About the units.

The course content outlined below is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. Your teacher may choose to organize the course content differently based on local priorities and preferences.

Course Content

Unit 1: short fiction i.

You’ll learn critical reading skills to help you critically read, interpret, and analyze prose.

Topics may include:

• Interpreting the role of character in fiction
• Identifying and interpreting setting
• Understanding how a story’s structure affects interpretations
• Understanding and interpreting a narrator’s perspective
• Reading texts literally and figuratively
• The basics of literary analysis

Unit 2: Poetry I

You’ll continue your critical reading exploration in poetry and learn to analyze similar elements within a wide variety of poems.

• Identifying characters in poetry
• Understanding and interpreting meaning in poetic structure
• Analyzing word choice to find meaning
• Identifying techniques like contrast, simile, metaphor, and alliteration

Unit 3: Longer Fiction or Drama I

You’ll observe how the literary techniques you’ve explored in prior units unfold over the course of longer works and analyze how characters develop and interact over the course of a narrative.

• Interpreting character description and perspective
• Character evolution throughout a narrative
• Conflict and plot development
• Interpreting symbolism
• Identifying evidence and supporting literary arguments

Unit 4: Short Fiction II

You’ll delve deeper into the roles of character and conflict in fiction and explore how a narrator’s perspective can color storytelling.

• Protagonists, antagonists, character relationships, and conflict
• Character interactions with setting and its significance
• Archetypes in literature
• Types of narration like stream of consciousness
• Narrative distance, tone, and perspective

Unit 5: Poetry II

You’ll study different forms of poetry and examine how structure and figurative language can create and impact meaning.

• Traits of closed and open structures in poetry
• Use of techniques like imagery and hyperbole
• Types of comparisons in poetry including personification and allusion
• Identifying and interpreting extended metaphors

Unit 6: Longer Fiction or Drama II

You’ll analyze how various literary techniques play out and shift over the course of longer works, charting how characters change (or don’t) as they’re affected by developments in the plot.

• Interpreting foil characters
• Understanding and interpreting character motives
• Understanding nonlinear narrative structures like flashbacks and foreshadowing
• The effect of narrative tone and bias on reading
• Characters as symbols, metaphors, and archetypes
• Developing literary arguments within a broader context of works

Unit 7: Short Fiction III

You’ll examine how works of fiction interact with and comment on the world around them and the society their authors live or lived in.

• Sudden and more gradual change in characters
• Epiphany as a driver of plot
• Relationships between characters and groups
• Character interactions with settings
• The significance of the pacing of a narrative
• Setting as a symbol
• Interpreting texts in their historical and societal contexts

Unit 8: Poetry III

You’ll develop your interpretation of poetry further by examining how contrasts, ambiguous language, and various other techniques can add layers of meaning to a poetic work.

• Looking at punctuation and structural patterns
• Interpreting juxtaposition, paradox, and irony
• How ambiguity can allow for various interpretations
• Identifying symbols, conceits, and allusions
• Learning proper attribution and citation in literary analysis

Unit 9: Longer Fiction or Drama III

You’ll consider longer narratives in the context of the various techniques and interpretations you’ve learned in prior units and build a nuanced analysis of each complex work as a whole.

• Looking at a character’s response to the resolution of a narrative
• Suspense, resolution, and plot development
• Narrative inconsistencies and contrasting perspectives

Credit and Placement

Search AP Credit Policies

Find colleges that grant credit and/or placement for AP Exam scores in this and other AP courses.

Course Resources

Ap classroom resources.

Once you join your AP class section online, you’ll be able to access AP Daily videos, any assignments from your teacher, and your assignment results in AP Classroom. Sign in to access them.

• Go to AP Classroom

AP English Literature and Composition Reading Study Skills

Advice to keep up with the reading workload in your AP class.

AP English Literature and Composition Writing Study Skills

Learn to craft your writing process.

AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description

This is the core document for the course. It clearly lays out the course content and describes the exam and AP Program in general.

The Difference Between AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition

Learn the similarities and differences between these two courses and exams.

• Go to College Board Blog

See Where AP Can Take You

AP English Literature and Composition can lead to a wide range of careers and college majors

Additional Information

AP English Literature and Composition Practice Tests

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam is 3 hours long and broken up into two sections.

Section I (One hour)

45 percent of total score 55 multiple-choice questions based on 2 or 3 poems and 2 or 3 passages of fiction

Section II (Two hours)

55 percent of total score 3 essays

Essay 1: An analysis of a poem

Essay 2: An analysis of a prose passage from a work of fiction, a letter, or a speech in a play

Essay 3: An analytical essay on a novel or play of your choice

AP English Literature and Composition Glossary

If you are a mobile user, click here: Do AP English Literature and Composition Practice Questions .

AP English Literature and Composition Multiple-Choice Practice Tests

• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 1
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 2
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 3
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 4
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 5
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 6
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 7
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 8
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 9
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 10
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 11
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 12
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 13
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 14
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 15
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 16
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 17
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 18
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 19
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 20
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 21
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 22
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 23
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 24
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 25
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 26
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 27
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 28
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 29
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 30
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 31
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 32
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 33
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 34
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 35
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 36
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 37
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 38
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 39
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 40
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 41
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 42
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 43
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 1: the 2001 novel White Teeth
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 2: the 2002 poem "Litany"
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 3: Almost Livin' Almost Dyin'
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 4: Poem The Good Life
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 5: Beginnings
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 6: a novel
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 7: Planetarium
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 8: Quicksand
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 9: the poem Paterson
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 10: Jonathan Swift’s essay
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 11: Poem The Mower's Song
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 12: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 13: Poem Cozy Apologia
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 14: a short story
• AP English Literature and Composition Practice Test 15: a novel

AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Practice Tests

• AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Practice Test 1
• AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Practice Test 2
• AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Practice Test 3
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AP English Literature & Composition

Ap english literature.

Use the menu above to get started with the best AP English Literature practice exams, free response questions, vocabulary quizzes, and study guides. There are some amazing free online resources available for your test prep and review.

AP English Literature & Composition Exam

The AP English Literature and Composition course focuses on both the reading of literature and writing about it. The reading assignments cover a variety of genres and time periods and students should engage in the critical analysis of each text. The writing focuses on the experience, evaluation, and interpretation of the literature.

The AP English Literature Exam format is:

Multiple-Choice Section -60 minutes -45% of final grade -55 multiple choice questions

Free-Response Section -120 minutes -55% of final grade -3 essay questions:

• Literary analysis of a given poem
• Literary analysis of a given passage of prose fiction
• Literary analysis that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a literary work that you select

When is the AP English Literature Exam?

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam date for the 2022–2023 school year is Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 8 a.m . The test is only offered once per year.

AP English Literature | Practice Exams | Free Response | Vocab |  Study Guides

Expert's Guide to the AP Literature Exam

AP English Literature: Exam Format and Question Types

The AP English Literature and Composition exam is designed to test students' understanding and analysis of literary works. It consists of two main sections: multiple-choice and free-response. Understanding the exam format and question types is crucial for success. 

1. Multiple-Choice Section:

   - Format: 55 questions with four or five answer choices.

   - Time: 60 minutes.

   - Content: Passage-based questions that assess comprehension, interpretation, and analysis of literary texts.

   - Question Types: These include identifying literary devices, analyzing the author's tone, understanding the meaning of words in context, and interpreting the overall purpose and structure of a passage.

2. Free-Response Section:

   - Format: Three essay prompts.

   - Time: 120 minutes.

   - Question Types:

     a. Poetry Analysis Essay: Students analyze a poem and discuss its poetic techniques, theme, and meaning.

     b. Prose Analysis Essay: Students analyze a prose passage, focusing on its style, tone, and literary devices.

     c. Open-Ended Essay: Students choose a novel or play and respond to a prompt by developing a thesis and supporting it with evidence and analysis.

Key Tips for Success:

1. Read and annotate the texts carefully to understand the nuances and literary devices used.

2. Practice close reading to develop a deep understanding of the passages.

3. Review literary terms and techniques commonly used in literature.

4. Develop strong essay writing skills by structuring your responses with clear introductions, well-supported arguments, and insightful analysis.

5. Manage your time effectively during the exam to allocate enough time for each question.

6. Practice with past exams and sample questions to become familiar with the exam format and timing.

By understanding the exam format and question types, and employing effective strategies, students can confidently approach the AP English Literature exam and demonstrate their analytical skills and understanding of literary works.

How Is the AP Literature Test Graded?

The AP Literature and Composition exam is graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. The scoring process involves multiple steps to ensure fairness and consistency in evaluating students' performance. Here's an overview of how the AP Literature test is graded:

   - Raw Score: The number of correct answers is counted, and there is no penalty for incorrect responses.

   - Conversion to Scaled Score: The raw score is converted to a scaled score ranging from 1 to 45. This score is then weighted and combined with the free-response section score to determine the overall exam score.

   - Essay Scores: Each essay is scored on a 0 to 6 scale by trained AP readers. These readers are experienced English teachers and college professors who follow a detailed rubric provided by the College Board.

   - Scoring Rubric: The rubric assesses students' ability to understand the prompt, analyze the text, develop a thesis, provide supporting evidence, and demonstrate strong writing skills.

   - Holistic Approach: AP readers consider the overall quality of the essay, including its coherence, organization, use of evidence, and insightfulness.

   - Final Scores: The scores from the three essays are added together to give a total essay score ranging from 0 to 18.

3. Composite Score:

   - Weighting: The multiple-choice section and the essay section are weighted to calculate the final composite score.

   - Composite Score Calculation: The multiple-choice score is converted to a scaled score on a 1 to 45 scale. This score is combined with the essay score on a 0 to 18 scale, with the essay score weighted more heavily.

   - Conversion to AP Grade: The composite score is converted to the final AP grade on a scale of 1 to 5.

The exact cutoffs for each AP grade may vary from year to year, depending on the performance of students across the country. Generally, a score of 3 is considered a passing grade, while scores of 4 and 5 indicate higher levels of mastery and may result in college credit or advanced placement.

It's important to note that the grading process for the AP Literature exam is rigorous and aims to maintain consistency and fairness. The College Board takes several measures to ensure accurate and reliable scoring, including extensive training for AP readers and a robust quality assurance process.

Understanding how the AP Literature test is graded can help students prepare effectively and focus on developing the necessary skills to excel in both the multiple-choice and free-response sections.

Skill-Building for Success on the AP Literature Exam

To achieve success on the AP Literature exam, it is crucial to develop and refine certain skills that will enhance your ability to analyze and interpret literary texts effectively. Here are some key skill-building strategies to help you prepare for the AP Literature exam:

1. Close Reading: Practice close reading of literary texts to develop a deep understanding of the author's purpose, themes, and literary techniques. Pay attention to details, symbolism, imagery, and figurative language. Take notes and annotate the text to capture your observations and interpretations.

2. Literary Analysis: Enhance your ability to analyze and interpret literary works. Focus on identifying and discussing literary elements such as plot, character development, setting, point of view, symbolism, and themes. Practice analyzing how these elements contribute to the overall meaning and impact of the text.

3. Essay Writing: Master the art of writing strong, well-structured essays. Familiarize yourself with the three essay prompts in the free-response section: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the open-ended essay. Practice developing clear and concise thesis statements, providing textual evidence to support your arguments, and organizing your essay effectively.

4. Time Management: Develop effective time management skills to ensure you can complete all sections of the exam within the allocated time. Practice timed essay writing to improve your ability to plan, write, and revise your essays under time constraints. Use practice exams to simulate the actual testing conditions and become comfortable with the time limits.

5. Vocabulary Expansion: Build a strong vocabulary to enhance your comprehension and analysis of complex texts. Read widely, including classic literature and contemporary works, to expose yourself to various writing styles, themes, and vocabulary. Learn new words, their meanings, and how to use them appropriately in your writing.

6. Exam Strategies: Familiarize yourself with the exam format, question types, and scoring rubrics. Review sample questions and essay prompts from past exams to understand the expectations and requirements. Practice answering multiple-choice questions strategically by eliminating incorrect options and making educated guesses when necessary.

7. Practice and Review: Regularly practice with sample questions, timed exams, and essay prompts. Seek feedback from teachers or peers on your essays to identify areas for improvement. Review your mistakes and focus on strengthening your weak areas. Use study guides, review books, and online resources to reinforce your understanding of key literary concepts.

8. Reading Widely: Read a diverse range of literature, including novels, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. Engage with different genres, time periods, and cultural perspectives. This will expand your literary knowledge, expose you to various writing styles, and help you make connections across texts.

Remember, consistent practice and focused skill-building are essential for success on the AP Literature exam. Develop a study plan that incorporates these strategies, and dedicate regular time to practice, review, and refine your skills. With preparation and a solid foundation in literary analysis, you can approach the exam with confidence and achieve a strong performance.

AP Literature: 6 Critical Test-Day Tips

Preparing for the AP Literature exam is essential, but it's equally important to have effective strategies for test day. Here are six critical tips to help you perform your best on the AP Literature exam:

1. Read the Instructions Carefully: Before diving into the exam, take a moment to read and understand the instructions for each section. Pay attention to any specific guidelines or requirements, such as the number of questions to answer or the time allotted for each section. Familiarize yourself with the scoring rubrics to know how your responses will be evaluated.

2. Pace Yourself: Time management is crucial during the exam. Allocate your time wisely to ensure you have enough time to answer all the questions. Plan your approach for each section and stick to your allocated time. For example, in the multiple-choice section, aim to answer each question within one minute to allow time for review.

3. Analyze Prompts and Questions: Take the time to carefully analyze the prompts and questions before answering. Understand what each question is asking for and how it relates to the given texts. Highlight keywords and key phrases to ensure you stay focused on addressing the specific requirements of each question. Pay attention to directive words like "analyze," "compare," or "evaluate" to guide your response.

4. Organize Your Essay: In the essay sections, it's crucial to have a clear and well-organized structure. Start with a concise and strong thesis statement that directly addresses the prompt. Use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph and ensure a logical flow of ideas. Support your arguments with evidence from the texts, and provide insightful analysis to demonstrate your understanding.

5. Engage with Texts: Show a deep engagement with the literary texts in your responses. Use specific examples and quotations from the texts to support your analysis. Referencing key scenes, dialogues, or literary devices demonstrates a thorough understanding of the texts and enhances the strength of your arguments. Avoid vague or general statements and focus on precise textual evidence.

6. Review and Revise: Before submitting your responses, take a few minutes to review and revise your work. Check for any grammatical or spelling errors and ensure your writing is clear and concise. Verify that you have addressed all parts of the question and that your arguments are well-supported. If time allows, read your essays aloud to catch any awkward phrasing or unclear ideas.

Remember, practice is key to success on the AP Literature exam. Familiarize yourself with the exam format, practice with sample questions and essays, and seek feedback on your writing. Develop a study schedule that allows you to build your skills and knowledge over time. By following these critical test-day tips and remaining calm and focused, you can approach the AP Literature exam with confidence and maximize your chances of achieving a high score.

In conclusion, the AP Literature exam requires a combination of critical reading skills, strong analytical thinking, and effective writing abilities. By understanding the exam format and question types, knowing how the test is graded, and building essential skills, you can set yourself up for success. Additionally, following critical test-day tips, such as managing your time, carefully analyzing prompts, organizing your essays, engaging with the texts, and reviewing your work, will help you perform your best on the exam. With diligent preparation and practice, you can approach the AP Literature exam with confidence and increase your likelihood of achieving a favorable score.

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AP English Literature and Composition

Ap english literature and composition course and exam description.

This is the core document for the course.

New for 2024-25: MCQs Will Have Four Answer Choices

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.  

Course Overview

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works.

Course and Exam Description

This is the core document for this course. Unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year.

Course Resources

Ap english literature and composition course overview.

This resource provides a succinct description of the course and exam.

AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description Walk-Through

Learn more about the CED in this interactive walk-through.

AP English Literature and Composition Course at a Glance

Excerpted from the AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description, the Course at a Glance document outlines the topics and skills covered in the AP English Literature and Composition course, along with suggestions for sequencing.

The Difference Between AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition

Learn the similarities and differences between these two courses and exams.

Course Content

The course content is organized into units that have been arranged in a logical sequence. This sequence has been developed through feedback from educators as well as analysis of high school and college courses and textbooks. The units in AP English Literature and Composition scaffold skills and knowledge through three genre-based, recurring units. This course framework provides a description of what students should know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.

The AP English Literature and Composition curriculum is made up of nine units. Teachers have the flexibility to organize the course content as they like.

Course Skills

The AP English Literature and Composition framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to read texts critically.

AP and Higher Education

Higher education professionals play a key role in developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education section features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.

This chart  shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the  AP Credit Policy Search .

Meet the AP English Literature and Composition Development Committee

The AP Program is unique in its reliance on Development Committees. These committees, made up of an equal number of college faculty and experienced secondary AP teachers from across the country, are essential to the preparation of AP course curricula and exams.

AP English Literature and Composition Development Committee

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., guide to the ap english literature and composition exam.

Do you know how to conduct a close reading of prose and poetry? Can you write effectively under time constraints? The AP ® English Literature and Composition exam tests topics and skills discussed in your AP English Literature course. If you score high enough, your AP English score could earn you college credit!

Check out our AP English Literature Guide for what you need to know about the exam:

• Exam Overview
• Structure & Question Types
• How to Prepare

What’s on the AP English Literature & Composition Exam?

The College Board lists 6 Skill Categories that should be covered in your AP English Literature and Composition course, or as you prepare for the test:

•  Character—Characters in literature show a wide range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms, and provide an opportunity to study and explore what the characters represent.
• Setting—A setting and the details associated with it represent a time and place, but also convey values associated with the setting.
• Structure—Structure refers to the arrangements of sections and parts of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information. These are all choices made by a writer that allow you to interpret a text.
• Narration—Any narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that readers encounter; therefore, narration affects how readers experience and interpret a text.
• Figurative language—Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative. Figurative language can include word choice, imagery, and symbols. Simile, metaphor, personification, and allusions are all examples of figurative language.
• Literary argumentation—How do you write about literature yourself? You develop your interpretation (using the first five of the Big Six!) and then communicate it. You need to develop a thesis—a defensible claim—and support it with textual evidence. 

The multiple-choice section of the AP English Literature and Composition exam will be testing your knowledge of the Big Six. Each one is weighted a certain amount in the multiple-choice questions.

AP English Literature & Composition Book List

There is no required reading or book list for the AP English Literature exam, but the College Board provides a list of authors and poets with whom you should be familiar and whose work is of the caliber and density that you are expected to understand. These lists include:

• Poetry: W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, William Blake, Anne Bradstreet, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Browning, George Gordon/Lord Byron, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Geoffrey Chaucer, Lucille Clifton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Billy Collins, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Rita Dove, Paul Laurence Dunbar, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Joy Harjo, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, Garrett Hongo, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Ben Jonson, John Keats, Philip Larkin, Robert Lowell, Andrew Marvell, John Milton, Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Alexander Pope, Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton, William Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leslie Marmon Silko, Cathy Song, Wallace Stevens, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Derek Walcott, Walt Whitman, Richard Wilbur, William Carlos Williams, William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats
• Drama: Aeschylus, Edward Albee, Amiri Baraka, Samuel Beckett, Anton Chekhov, Caryl Churchill, William Congreve, Athol Fugard, Lorraine Hansberry, Lillian Hellman, David Henry Hwang, Henrik Ibsen, Ben Jonson, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Molière, Marsha Norman, Sean O’Casey, Eugene O’Neill, Suzan-Lori Parks, Harold Pinter, Luigi Pirandello, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Sam Shepard, Sophocles, Tom Stoppard, Luis Valdez, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson
• Fiction (Novel and Short Story): Chinua Achebe, Sherman Alexie, Isabel Allende, Rudolfo Anaya, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Raymond Carver, Willa Cather, John Cheever, Kate Chopin, Sandra Cisneros, Joseph Conrad, Edwidge Danticat, Daniel Defoe, Anita Desai, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Ralph Ellison, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, Henry Fielding, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.M. Forster, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Kazuo Ishiguro, Henry James, Ha Jin, Edward P. Jones, James Joyce, Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Laurence, D.H. Lawrence, Chang-rae Lee, Bernard Malamud, Gabriel García Márquez, Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Bharati Mukherjee, Vladimir Nabokov, Flannery O’Connor, Orhan Pamuk, Katherine Anne Porter, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, John Updike, Alice Walker, Evelyn Waugh, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton, John Edgar Wideman, Virginia Woolf, Richard Wright
• Expository Prose: Joseph Addison, Gloria Anzaldua, Matthew Arnold, James Baldwin, James Boswell, Joan Didion, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Hazlitt, bell hooks, Samuel Johnson, Charles Lamb, Thomas Macaulay, Mary McCarthy, John Stuart Mill, George Orwell, Michael Pollan, Richard Rodriguez, Edward Said, Lewis Thomas, Henry David Thoreau, E.B. White, Virginia Woolf

Read More: Review for the exam with our AP English Literature Cram Courses

AP English Literature Structure & Question Types

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.

Multiple-Choice

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! 

Free Response

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents an interpretation and may establish a line of reasoning.
• Select and use evidence to develop and support your line of reasoning.
• Explain the relationship between the evidence and your thesis.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

How to Interpret AP English Literature Scores

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:

Source: College Board

How can I prepare?

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.

• AP Exams  

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A forum to discuss the AP English Literature and Composition course and forms of preparation for taking the exam.

Automatic Grades + Feedback on Your Essays

tldr: I built a website that automatically grades your AP Lit essays and gives you feedback to improve https://alulearn.com/auto-grader

It's by no means perfect, but I've found that it does grade accurately, and the feedback is genuinely useful and actionable. I got a 5 on AP Lit when I took it last year, and I really wish that something like this existed when I was studying.

(full disclaimer: I do make a small amount of revenue from Alu, which I use to pay the server bills)

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, ap literature reading list: 127 great books for your prep.

Advanced Placement (AP)

A lot of students wonder if there's a specific AP English reading list of books they should be reading to succeed on the AP Literature and Composition exam. While there's not an official College-Board AP reading list, there are books that will be more useful for you to read than others as you prepare for the exam. In this article, I'll break down why you need to read books to prepare, how many you should plan on reading, and what you should read—including poetry.

Why Do You Need to Read Books for the AP Literature Test?

This might seem like kind of an obvious question—you need to read books because it's a literature exam! But actually, there are three specific reasons why you need to read novels, poems, and plays in preparation for the AP Lit Test.

To Increase Your Familiarity With Different Eras and Genres of Literature

Reading a diverse array of novels, poetry and plays from different eras and genres will help you be familiar with the language that appears in the various passages on the AP Lit exam's multiple choice and essay sections. If you read primarily modern works, for example, you may stumble through analyzing a Shakespeare sonnet. So, having a basic familiarity level with the language of a broad variety of literary works will help keep you from floundering in confusion on test day because you're seeing a work unlike anything you've ever read.

To Improve Your Close-Reading Skills

You'll also want to read to improve your close-reading and rhetorical analysis skills. When you do read, really engage with the text: think about what the author's doing to construct the novel/poem/play/etc., what literary techniques and motifs are being deployed, and what major themes are at play. You don't necessarily need to drill down to the same degree on every text, but you should always be thinking, "Why did the author write this piece this way?"

For the Student Choice Free-Response Question

Perhaps the most critical piece in reading to prepare for the AP Lit test, however, is for the student choice free-response question. For the third question on the second exam section, you'll be asked to examine how a specific theme works in one novel or play that you choose. The College Board does provide an example list of works, but you can choose any work you like just so long as it has adequate "literary merit." However, you need to be closely familiar with more than one work so that you can be prepared for whatever theme the College Board throws at you!

Note: Not an effective reading method.

How Many Books Do You Need to Read for the AP Exam?

That depends. In terms of reading to increase your familiarity with literature from different eras and genres and to improve your close-reading skills, the more books you have time to read, the better. You'll want to read them all with an eye for comprehension and basic analysis, but you don't necessarily need to focus equally on every book you read.

For the purposes of the student choice question, however, you'll want to read books more closely, so that you could write a detailed, convincing analytical essay about any of their themes. So you should know the plot, characters, themes, and major literary devices or motifs used inside and out. Since you won't know what theme you'll be asked to write about in advance, you'll need to be prepared to write a student choice question on more than just one book.

Of the books you read for prep both in and out of class, choose four to five books that are thematically diverse to learn especially well in preparation for the exam. You may want to read these more than once, and you certainly want to take detailed notes on everything that's going on in those books to help you remember key points and themes. Discussing them with a friend or mentor who has also read the book will help you generate ideas on what's most interesting or intriguing about the work and how its themes operate in the text.

You may be doing some of these activities anyways for books you are assigned to read for class, and those books might be solid choices if you want to be as efficient as possible. Books you write essays about for school are also great choices to include in your four to five book stable since you will be becoming super-familiar with them for the writing you do in class anyways.

In answer to the question, then, of how many books you need to read for the AP Lit exam: you need to know four to five inside and out, and beyond that, the more the better!

Know the books. Love the books.

What Books Do You Need to Read for the AP Exam?

The most important thing for the student choice free-response question is that the work you select needs to have "literary merit." What does this mean? In the context of the College Board, this means you should stick with works of literary fiction. So in general, avoid mysteries, fantasies, romance novels, and so on.

If you're looking for ideas, authors and works that have won prestigious prizes like the Pulitzer, Man Booker, the National Book Award, and so on are good choices. Anything you read specifically for your AP literature class is a good choice, too. If you aren't sure if a particular work has the kind of literary merit the College Board is looking for, ask your AP teacher.

When creating your own AP Literature reading list for the student choice free-response, try to pick works that are diverse in author, setting, genre, and theme. This will maximize your ability to comprehensively answer a student choice question about pretty much anything with one of the works you've focused on.

So, I might, for example, choose:

A Midsummer Night's Dream , Shakespeare, play, 1605

Major themes and devices: magic, dreams, transformation, foolishness, man vs. woman, play-within-a-play

Wuthering Heights , Emily Bronte, novel, 1847

Major themes and devices: destructive love, exile, social and economic class, suffering and passion, vengeance and violence, unreliable narrator, frame narrative, family dysfunction, intergenerational narratives.

The Age of Innocence , Edith Wharton, novel, 1920

Major themes and devices: Tradition and duty, personal freedom, hypocrisy, irony, social class, family, "maintaining appearances", honor

Wide Sargasso Sea , Jean Rhys, novel, 1966

Major themes and devices: slavery, race, magic, madness, wildness, civilization vs. chaos, imperialism, gender

As you can see, while there is some thematic overlap in my chosen works, they also cover a broad swathe of themes. They are also all very different in style (although you'll just have to take my word on that one unless you go look at all of them yourself), and they span a range of time periods and genres as well.

However, while there's not necessarily a specific, mandated AP Literature reading list, there are books that come up again and again on the suggestion lists for student choice free-response questions. When a book comes up over and over again on exams, this suggests both that it's thematically rich, so you can use it to answer lots of different kinds of questions, and that the College Board sees a lot of value in the work.

To that end, I've assembled a list, separated by time period, of all the books that have appeared on the suggested works list for student choice free-response questions at least twice since 2003. While you certainly shouldn't be aiming to read all of these books (there's way too many for that!), these are all solid choices for the student choice essay. Other books by authors from this list are also going to be strong choices. It's likely that some of your class reading will overlap with this list, too.

I've divided up the works into chunks by time period. In addition to title, each entry includes the author, whether the work is a novel, play, or something else, and when it was first published or performed. Works are alphabetical by author.

Warning: Not all works pictured included in AP Literature reading list below.

Ancient Works

The Queen of AP Literature surveys her kingdom.

Don't get trapped in a literature vortex!

1990-Present

Don't stay in one reading position for too long, or you'll end up like this guy.

An Addendum on Poetry

You probably won't be writing about poetry on your student choice essay—most just aren't meaty enough in terms of action and character to merit a full-length essay on the themes when you don't actually have the poem in front of you (a major exception being The Odyssey ). That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be reading poetry, though! You should be reading a wide variety of poets from different eras to get comfortable with all the varieties of poetic language. This will make the poetry analysis essay and the multiple-choice questions about poetry much easier!

See this list of poets compiled from the list given on page 10 of the AP Course and Exam Description for AP Lit, separated out by time period. For those poets who were working during more than one of the time periods sketched out below, I tried to place them in the era in which they were more active.

I've placed an asterisk next to the most notable and important poets in the list; you should aim to read one or two poems by each of the starred poets to get familiar with a broad range of poetic styles and eras.

14th-17th Centuries

• Anne Bradstreet
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• George Herbert
• Andrew Marvell
• John Milton
• William Shakespeare*

18th-19th Centuries

• William Blake*
• Robert Browning
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge*
• Emily Dickinson*
• Paul Laurence Dunbar
• George Gordon, Lord Byron
• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• John Keats*
• Edgar Allan Poe*
• Alexander Pope*
• Percy Bysshe Shelley*
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson*
• Walt Whitman*
• William Wordsworth*

Early-Mid 20th Century

• W. H. Auden
• Elizabeth Bishop
• H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
• T. S. Eliot*
• Robert Frost*
• Langston Hughes*
• Philip Larkin
• Robert Lowell
• Marianne Moore
• Sylvia Plath*
• Anne Sexton*
• Wallace Stevens
• William Carlos Williams
• William Butler Yeats*

Late 20th Century-Present

• Edward Kamau Brathwaite
• Gwendolyn Brooks
• Lorna Dee Cervantes
• Lucille Clifton
• Billy Collins
• Seamus Heaney
• Garrett Hongo
• Adrienne Rich
• Leslie Marmon Silko
• Derek Walcott
• Richard Wilbur

You might rather burn books than read them after the exam, but please refrain.

Key Takeaways

Why do you need to read books to prepare for AP Lit? For three reasons:

#1 : To become familiar with a variety of literary eras and genres #2 : To work on your close-reading skills #3 : To become closely familiar with four-five works for the purposes of the student choice free-response essay analyzing a theme in a work of your choice.

How many books do you need to read? Well, you definitely need to get very familiar with four-five for essay-writing purposes, and beyond that, the more the better!

Which books should you read? Check out the AP English Literature reading list in this article to see works that have appeared on two or more "suggested works" lists on free-response prompts since 2003.

And don't forget to read some poetry too! See some College Board recommended poets listed in this article.

What's Next?

See my expert guide to the AP Literature test for more exam tips!

The multiple-choice section of the AP Literature exam is a key part of your score. Learn everything you need to know about it in our complete guide to AP Lit multiple-choice questions.

Taking other APs? Check out our expert guides to the AP Chemistry exam , AP US History , AP World History , AP Psychology , and AP Biology .

Looking for other book recommendation lists from PrepScholar? We've compiled lists of the 7 books you must read if you're a pre-med and the 31 books to read before graduating high school .

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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