7 Key Concepts for AP English Literature and Composition
AP Exams Spring 2021 The Princeton Review
Hello, friends! I’m Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief at The Princeton Review. Today we’re sharing
the top 7 concepts and strategies you need to master to perform well on the AP
English Literature & Composition exam. Now, the AP Literature exam sometimes gets confused with the
AP Language & Composition exam. While there are similarities, let’s address the key difference.
The AP English Language exam tests students on their ability to deconstruct arguments and
rhetorical strategies in works of nonfiction such as journals, news articles, memoirs, and speeches.
Whereas, the AP English Literature exam—what we’re reviewing today—focuses
on the ability to critically analyze fiction, drama, poetry, and the use of literary devices.
Let’s jump into the key concepts and strategies you need to conquer it!
#1 – The Six Big Ideas: There are 6 big ideas that serve as the foundation
of AP English Literature and Composition. College Board calls them the six Big Ideas and they are
Character, Setting, Structure, Narration, Figurative Language, and Literary Argumentation.
These are conceptual themes that are tested throughout the exam. The first
5 are elements of literature. The sixth, literary argumentation, is the method by which you take
the five elements to analyze literature. The multiple-choice section of the exam will test your
knowledge of the Big Six, as you will be evaluated on skill categories that map very closely
to these ideas. So, be sure to understand these foundational concepts well before exam day!
#2 – Basic Parts of Speech and Literary Terms: By the time the exam arrives, you should be fluent
in your understanding of basic parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, prepositions, and so on.
You should also be a pro at literary terms—and should absolutely know terms like allusion,
conceit, dramatic irony, hyperbole, stanza, and metaphor, just to name a handful. Make a point
to review the glossary in your prep book to master these key terms. They will without
question be essential on test day!
#3 – Consistency of Answers: This a strategy that will come in handy
on the multiple-choice section of the exam. If you find yourself
struggling to identify the correct answer on a multiple-choice question, choose an answer that
agrees with the main idea of the passage. The main idea should be your guiding light for most
of the questions on any passage. We call this principle “Consistency of Answers.” As you work
on a passage, you will find that the best answer on several of the questions has to do
with the main idea, even if the question itself is focused on specific details of the passage.
You will also find that correct answers tend to be consistent with other correct answers. So
when in doubt, pick answers that agree with each other. For example, if you’re sure the correct
answer to question 9 is (B), and it says that Mr. Buffalo is extremely whimsical, then the answer to
the corresponding questions shouldn’t contradict that answer. In other words, other correct answers
wouldn’t contend that Mr. Buffalo is serious! Correct answers will be consistent
with the main idea and consistent with other correct answers throughout the section.
Concept #4 – Literary Movements: A literary movement is a
grouping of writers who share similar aims, similar years of publication, and a similar
base of operations. Examples of literary movements include
Metaphysical Poetry, Romanticism, Modernism, and The Harlem Renaissance.
Understanding literary movements can be useful on exam day. For example, if you recognize that
a poem is from the Romantic tradition, you will have some immediate ideas about form, structure,
content, figurative language, and overall meaning. You’ll readily think of phrases like
“sublime transcendence,” “redemptive nature,” and “imaginative power,” and will be able to use them
in your analysis on the free-response section.
Understanding literary movements will also help you organize your reading list. While there is no
recommended or required reading list for AP English Literature and Composition, the College
Board does offer a representative authors list. You’ll see authors and poets like Emily Dickinson,
Langston Hughes, Herman Melville, and James Baldwin on this list. At first glance, the list
may seem daunting—and by itself, it’s not of much help to you. But, when the list is reformatted to
group writers by literary movement, you will find it to be much more understandable and helpful.
Concept #5 – The Art of the 7-Minute Passage: Having a strategy to deal
with the time pressure on the AP English Lit exam is key. When you hit the last passage on the
multiple-choice portion of the test, check your time. If you have seven minutes or fewer left,
you will need a back-up strategy to manage your limited time. We call this strategy the “Art
of the Seven-Minute Passage.” Here’s what you’ll need to do.
First, don’t read the passage. That’s right. Don’t read the passage! Given your limited time,
go straight to the questions, and answer them in the following order:
Answer any literary term or grammar questions. You barely need the passage for these questions.
Go to questions that ask for the meaning of a single word or phrase.These questions always
include a line reference. Read the sentence before and after the reference, then answer the question.
Go to questions that give you a line reference in the question.
Read the reference and answer the question. Answer questions on tone or attitude. By this
time, you’ve read quite a bit of the passage just by answering the previous questions,
so you should be able to make a good guess. Answer questions that have line references in
the answer choices. Then finally, do whatever
is left over—character questions, primary purpose questions, weird questions, and so on.
Again, we only encourage this strategy if you're pressed for time. It works in six,
five, four, three, two, or one minute too. But the amount of time you have
will determine how far you get down the list.
Concept #6 – The Idea Machine: Of course, the free-response part of the exam is also timed.
The most stressful part of writing essays under time pressure is quickly coming up
with something to say. You don’t have time to write an outline during the exam, so we’ve
developed a method of approaching AP essays that we call the “Idea Machine.” The Idea Machine is a
series of questions that direct your reading to the material needed to generate an essay idea,
plan your first paragraph, and ultimately write your essay. Let’s review the questions:
First, “what is the meaning of the work?” This asks for both the literal,
face-value meaning of the work as well as the feeling (or feelings) the work evokes.
The second question is “how does the author
get that meaning across?” To answer that ask yourself the following questions:
What are the important images in the work and what do those images suggest?
What specific words or short phrases produce the strongest feelings?
What do the characters, settling, structure, or narrators tell you about the passage?
When you apply the answers from these questions to the essay, you’ll have what you need to write
the kind of essay scorers want to see. Give it a try during your next practice test!
Concept #7 – Prepare your Primary and Secondary Works: To prepare for your literary argument,
you’ll need to be strategic about which works you select. You should know at least three
works very well. Two should be longer, primary works you’ve studied extensively in class. The
third is your secondary work, which will serve as a safeguard in the event you can’t apply
your knowledge of the primary works to the question.
For your primary works, choose options that you love and know
well. They should be fairly hefty too! Consider full works from authors like Charles Dickens,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Shakespeare, or Toni Morrison. The goal is to select two primary works
that are so rich in incident and form that no matter what the literary argument question asks,
you have something to say! That said, do not pick a short story, a work of nonfiction, or a poem.
Your secondary work, or just-in-case work, should be as different as possible from your
primary works. For example, if one of your primary works is a Shakespearean tragedy,
pick a modern comic novella like Catch-22 by Joseph Heller for your secondary work.
We strongly recommend selecting a novella or play.
No matter which 3 works you pick, be sure to reread
and study each work as thoroughly as you can. We also recommend writing the first paragraph
of a literary argument a couple of nights before the test using the sample prompts
from your practice tests. Doing so will save you so much time on exam day!
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