AP Lit Test Taking Tips
Keys to Success on
the AP Lit Exam
The Night Before
• Relax! Don’t read for the test. Read
for pleasure. Watch a movie. Have
dinner with your family. Drink some
warm milk, get in your jammies, and
go to bed early!
The Morning Of
• Get up early. Don’t roll out of bed and into the
testing room. Take a shower. Wake up!
• Breakfast is important! (Please make sure you
have something healthy to eat. Apples are best
for waking up—better than caffeine.)
• Go to the potty before the test.
In the testing room
• Dress in layers and wear socks. That way you
can adjust to the temperature of the room.
• Bring a watch and tissues.
• Bring two pens, two sharp pencils, and
highlighters (if you use them).
• Leave backpacks, purses, cell phone in car or
room 1.110.
• Be here early -7:30a.m. Give yourself time to
relax, look around, find the clock, etc.
Multiple Choice
Multiple Choice section (45%)
 The first section is a set of multiple-choice
questions based on a series of prose
passages and poems.
 1 hour; usually 55 questions (about one
minute per question, including reading
time)
 Receive 1 point for each correct response
 You will not lose any fraction of a point for a
wrong answer; so always guess something.
Do NOT leave any question blank!
 Divide time per passage – be ruthless!
About 10-15 minutes per passage.
Multiple Choice section (45%)
• Expect at least two poems, two prose
passages (occasionally an extra piece of
drama). Out of the four passages, 2 are
British and 2 American.
• Test only uses literature from 1575-present
(no Middle English or Old English) and no
translated works.
• One passage will include a minority writer.
Multiple Choice section (45%)
 Work systematically; do NOT skip around from passage to passage.
Answer all the questions for a passage before continuing.
 Skim the questions before reading the passage (works for most). DON’T
read the answers yet! Find 3-4 specific ideas to search for, ignoring the
“generic” questions.
 Read the passage ONCE. Avoid rereading at this time; get the content by
reading
a. Actively
b. Visualize (2 meanings)
c. PARAPHRASE as you read(each paragraph and whole passage)!
Write on the test! Underline key words.
d. Analyze for theme, style, speaker, structure, tone, figurative
language
 Read the questions CAREFULLY! Many wrong answers stem from
misreading the question; know what is being asked. Accuracy and
efficiency count.
 Read ALL answer choices, eliminate wrong ones as you go. Remember
directions call for the BEST answer choice.
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
1. Situation
who? to whom? (poetry)
subject of 3rd Paragraph (prose)
2. Structure
poetry: how stanzas relate
what word in ______ relates back to
______
what divisions represent its structure
prose: how one paragraph relates to another
progression of thought and overall structure
3. Theme
whole and parts
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
4. Grammar and Word Meaning
poetry: specific word choice definitions within
context
pronoun references/antecedents
paraphrase word choice
prose: subject of long sentence is…
5. Diction
poetry: Use of _______ indicates
poet’s idea of _________ is suggested by
_______
prose: choice of verbs in paragraph 4 suggests
_______
speaker’s anger is implied by ________
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
6. Images/ Figurative language/ Literary
Technique
which one? Where else in work?
Purpose of a metaphor
analogy in 2nd paragraph
7. Tone (perhaps metrics in poetry)
8. Rhetoric (mostly in prose)
function of last sentence
effect of shift in point of view
ACCESSIBILITY LEVEL OF QUESTIONS
1. FACTUAL
phrase presents example of…
all are Figurative language except
Man in line ___ is pictured mainly in his role as
___
in line ___ the ___ is seen chiefly as …
in line ___ the speaker regards himself as …
beginning in ___ speaker does which …
excerpt is written in …
according to the speaker, …
“they” in line ___ refers to …
the object of “to” in line ___ is …
ACCESSIBILITY LEVEL OF QUESTIONS
2. MAIN IDEA (Did you get it? What’s the message? What is the
purpose of the passage?)
______ hated ______ because _____
parable of _______ serves to _______
_______ believed human nature is ________
which best describes ______ at the end
tone
which describes how ____ felt about …
passage is concerned with …
relation between line ____ and line ___ is best described
as …
main point about ___ is …
line ___ speaker attempts to …
style is characterized by …
irony rests chiefly on ______
ACCESSIBILITY LEVEL OF QUESTIONS
3. HIDDEN IDEA (go deeper)
____ interpreted to mean
phrase evokes ______
image of _______ refers to …
________ most likely represents ______
can be inferred
in line ___ the phrase “ ____” means
_____
line ___ suggests that …
can be inferred speaker would agree with …
REASONS ANSWERS ARE WRONG
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Irrelevant to the question
Contradictory to the passage
Unreasonable (the “Huh?” choice)
Too general or too specific
Vocabulary
Absolutes and/or qualifiers
Look for the SPECIFIC WORDS that
make the answer wrong
Multiple Choice
• Do the sections that are strongest for
you, whether prose or poetry, first.
• Look at the other two sections that are
weakest and choose the easiest. Do that
one next.
• Leave the hardest section until last. Use
Process of Elimination to guess
aggressively: Eliminate the obviously
wrong, then the half wrong, and guess
from what’s left.
The Seven-Minute Passage
• If you get to the last MC section and
have seven minutes or less, do not read
the passage. Go directly to the
questions and answer them. Some
require no reading at all and some
require only reading a few lines.
Answer those and guess on the rest.
Since this is your hardest and/or
weakest passage, you’ll probably do
about as well as if you had spent time
on it.
For Poetry Passages
• Read the poem twice unless it is your
seven-minute passage.
• Read for punctuation, not line readings.
• Use visualization to get the meaning.
Remember, it’s poetry. It’s word pictures.
Try to make a mental image of what’s
being said.
Essays
Essay section (55%)
 The second section of the exam is a 2-hours essay writing
segment consisting of three different essays (40 minutes for
each):
 one on prose,
 one on poetry, and
 one free-response.
 Always try to write at least 2-4 pages per essay. Those that are
only 1 page virtually never get a high score because, according to
the phrasing on the scoring guide, they are “unacceptably brief.”
1 page essays run the risk of getting nothing higher than a 3.
 Remember that all scoring guides essentially address the
following four points:
 Write on the topic
 Use clear, logical organization
 Develop all ideas thoroughly; address all parts of the
prompt
 Use sophisticated diction and syntax
Essay section (55%)
• 2 hours; 3 essays; allow approximately 40 minutes
for each.
• Address ALL PARTS of the prompt in every
paragraph! AP = Address Prompt or All Parts
• Do NOT forget to bring up your deep “universal
truth” or theme statement. If you don’t like it in the
conclusion, have it somewhere! Remember, if you
only write an essay on the “obvious” idea (e.g. what
the speaker’s attitude or reaction is, which character
has an inner conflict, etc.), you will only score a 5 at
best.
• Use a blue or black pen…no pencil or other colors.
Opening paragraph
• Don’t ask questions
• Don’t define the words
• Avoid a 3-part thesis statement
• Avoid rephrasing the prompt
• Put thesis statement at the end of the
introduction paragraph
Concluding paragraph
• Try to give enough time to write a concluding
paragraph: a conclusion is always good.
• BUT, if you do run out of time and can not write
a concluding paragraph, make sure to write two
or even three wonderful body paragraphs which
will still be enough for the essay readers to grade
your essay.
Body paragraphs
• Do not force a 3-body paragraph essay
• Two fat and good body paragraphs can get you a
good score
• Four body paragraphs, if time allows, are very
good.
• Style alone can raise your score
Essay section (55%)
• For the open topic, review the plot, characters,
themes, etc. of 3-5 novels (and one play, perhaps)
so that you can write on one of your chosen
works.
• Do NOT misread: author’s name, character’s
name, or anything.
• Finally, never forget the basics:
▫ On topic
▫ Organization
▫ Development
▫ Language/style
The essay questions
• Read the question. Read the whole question.
• Answer the question. Answer the whole
question.
• If you write a great essay that doesn’t answer
the question, you’ll get a bad score.
• Don’t forget to extrapolate to the work as a
whole on the open question. That puts you
ahead of 45% of the test taking population.
The essays
• Choose the type of essay you’re best at—
poetry or prose—and do that first. Do the
open question second. Do the worst essay
last.
• Find the meaning. Find how the author
gets the meaning across: images, specific
words or phrases, opposition.
• Take a position and have confidence in it. If
you can prove it from the passage it is valid.
• Intro—Universal to specific
• Conclusion—specific to Universal
And Remember…
“Success is a consequence and must not
be a goal.”
--Gustave Flaubert
“This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
this ain’t no foolin’ around.”
--The Talking Heads
You know what to do so…
“Just do it.” --Nike