Ap English Literature & Composition For Dummies prepares you for — you guessed it —
the AP Literature and Composition Exam (not to be confused with the AP English
Language and Composition exam, which covers all-purpose, general writing on current
events, personal experience, and culture). This exam is a product of the College Board,
a not-for-profit outfit based in Princeton, New Jersey. The College Board is the group of edu-
cators and educational institutions that administers the SAT, the PSAT/NMSQT, and other
laugh-a-minute hurdles that you face before entering college. “AP” stands for “advanced
placement,” which means that anyone passing the exam has demonstrated college-level
achievement before actually entering an ivy-covered building. In other words, the AP label
is for serious brainwork.
Did I scare you? Calm down. AP material is tough, but it’s also teachable. You don’t have to
be a natural-born literary genius to score well on the AP English exam. You just have to
scrape the rust off your thinking cap and do some of the exercises in this book. In fact, you
don’t even have to go through all the exercises. (You’ll still have some time to download
some music and chat with your friends.) After you get acquainted with the AP exam format
and brush up on your reading and writing skills, you can score big on the AP English
Literature and Composition exam.
After a quick overview of the exam and a crash course on timelines and strategies for test
preparation, this book hits each of the genres (types) of literature covered on the exam.
Within each genre, I review the basic elements and tell you what to look for when you’re read-
ing. I also show you how to keep track of what you found — important events, characters,
themes, and elements of style. To improve your literary skills — and grades! — even more,
I detail the easiest strategies for writing an essay about poetry, prose, and dramatic works.
Contents at a Glance
Introduction.................................................................................1
Part I: Hamlet Hits the Answer Grid: An Overview of
the AP Lit Exam and Prep .............................................................7
Chapter 1: Flying Over the AP Lit Exam: An Overview............................................................................9
Chapter 2: “The Readiness Is All”: Preparing for the Exam ..................................................................21
Chapter 3: Getting the Most Out of English Class ..................................................................................31
Part II: Poetry in Motion.............................................................53
Chapter 4: Sorting Out Poetic Devices ....................................................................................................55
Chapter 5: Unraveling Poetic Meaning ....................................................................................................67
Chapter 6: Acing Multiple-Choice Poetry Questions .............................................................................77
Chapter 7: Mastering Essay Questions on Poetic Passages..................................................................89
Chapter 8: Flexing Your Poetry Muscles: Practice Questions ............................................................101
Part III: Getting the Story from Prose and Drama .......................121
Chapter 9: Reading Fiction and Drama Passages .................................................................................123
Chapter 10: . . . And Nothing but the Truth: Reading Nonfiction Passages ......................................141
Chapter 11: Conquering Multiple-Choice Prose and Drama Questions ............................................151
Chapter 12: Writing Stellar Essays on Prose and Drama Passages....................................................165
Chapter 13: Practice Makes Perfect: Prose and Drama Questions ....................................................179
Part IV: Paired Passages and the Open-Ended Essay...................203
Chapter 14: Free at Last: The Open-Ended Essay ................................................................................205
Chapter 15: Double Trouble: Paired-Passage Essays...........................................................................219
Part V: Dress Rehearsal: Practice Exams ....................................235
Chapter 16: Killing Three Perfectly Innocent Hours: Practice Exam 1 ..............................................239
Chapter 17: The Moment of Truth: Scoring Practice Exam 1 .............................................................253
Chapter 18: Spoiling Three More Hours: Practice Exam 2 ..................................................................279
Chapter 19: Checking In: Scoring Practice Exam 2...............................................................................295
Part VI: The Part of Tens...........................................................317
Chapter 20: Ten Mistakes That Kill Your Essay Score .........................................................................319
Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Increase Your Know-How Without Studying..............................................325
Part VII: Appendixes.................................................................331
Appendix A: Literary Works....................................................................................................................333
Appendix B: Quick Grammar Review.....................................................................................................339
Index.......................................................................................347
Leave a comment