AP exams, 2 exam sections
AP English Literature and Composition exam guide
Read fiction, poetry, and drama closely and argue about them in writing, the way the AP English Literature exam asks.
Follows the fall 2024 course and exam description, from 7 May 2025
Overview
What AP English Literature and Composition covers.
AP English Literature and Composition is a skills course built on six big ideas — character, setting, structure, narration, figurative language, and literary argumentation. Teachers select the texts, so the exam tests transferable habits of close reading rather than recall of specific books, and every passage on exam day is one you meet for the first time.
Section I is 55 multiple-choice questions in one hour, drawn from sets of prose fiction and poetry passages. Section II is three essays in two hours: a poetry analysis, a prose fiction analysis, and a literary argument in which you choose a work you know well and defend an interpretation of it.
Preparation therefore has two halves: reading unfamiliar passages under time until close reading becomes automatic, and preparing a handful of works deeply enough to argue about them from memory. Arcade Academy's sections below follow the exam's own structure so you can practice each half deliberately.
At a glance
- Structure
- Section I: 55 multiple-choice questions; Section II: 3 free-response essays
- Timing
- 1 hour for multiple choice; 2 hours for free response
- Weighting
- Multiple choice 45%, free response 55%
- Delivery
- Digital in College Board's Bluebook app; confirm the delivery mode published for your exam year
- Score range
- 1 to 5
- Governing body
- College Board
- Who takes it
- High school students, usually seniors, seeking college credit or placement in introductory literature courses.
Scoring
AP Exams report a single score from 1 to 5. The 55 multiple-choice questions are machine scored and contribute 45% of the exam score; the three essays are scored by trained AP readers on a six-point analytic rubric covering thesis, evidence and commentary, and sophistication, and contribute 55%. Credit and placement policies are set by each college.
Exam structure
Exam sections
AP English Literature and Composition covers 2 exam sections. Open one for its topics, published weighting, and section-specific study tips.
Section I: Multiple Choice
45%Section I presents several passage sets, each followed by a group of questions, mixing prose fiction with poetry. Questions ask…
55 questions, 60 minutes, 6 topics
Section II: Free Response
55%Section II is three essays in two hours, with about forty minutes suggested for each. Question 1 is a poetry analysis, Question 2…
3 questions, 120 minutes, 6 topics
Study strategies
How to work through this exam.
These strategies follow from the exam's own structure. Adapt them to the time you actually have each week.
- Organize review around the six big ideas so analysis has a vocabulary instead of relying on impressions.
- Balance breadth and depth: unfamiliar passages weekly for the exam's reading demand, plus a few works studied deeply for the literary argument.
- Annotate for patterns rather than devices; the exam rewards explaining effect, not spotting terminology.
- Use released free-response questions with their scoring guidelines and sample responses to calibrate your own writing.
- Reread the same difficult poem across several weeks and notice how much more you see; that growth is the skill being tested.
Common questions
AP English Literature and Composition questions students ask.
How many questions are on the AP English Literature exam?
Section I has 55 multiple-choice questions in one hour, worth 45% of the score. Section II has three essays in two hours, worth 55%.
Which works should I prepare for the literary argument essay?
College Board does not publish a required reading list. Prepare three or four substantial novels or plays you know well enough to quote and analyze from memory, ideally with different themes and time periods.
How much poetry is on the exam?
Poetry appears in both sections: among the multiple-choice passage sets and as the first free-response question. Students who read poetry only occasionally usually find it the hardest part, so schedule it regularly.
Should I take AP English Language first?
Schools commonly sequence Language in eleventh grade and Literature in twelfth, but the courses are independent and either can be taken alone. The writing rubric is shared, so skills transfer in both directions.
Is Arcade Academy affiliated with College Board?
No. Arcade Academy is an independent study resource. Use College Board's published course and exam description as the authoritative source on exam content and format.
Before you build the schedule
Exam structures change. Confirm the current format, eligibility, and policies with College Board before you commit to a study plan.
Official exam information opens in a new tabGuide structure last checked against official sources on August 30, 2026.
Markdown version of this guide for citation, offline reading, and language models.
Study AP English Literature and Composition with a plan you can keep.
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