Advanced Placement
English Information
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP English Language and Composition
The AP English Language and Composition
course is designed to help students
become skilled readers of prose written in
a variety of rhetorical contexts and to
become skilled writers who compose for a
variety of purposes. Both their writing
and their reading should make students
aware of the interactions among a
writer's purposes, audience expectations,
and subjects as well as the way generic
conventions and the resources of
language contribute to effectiveness in
writing.
The AP English Literature and
Composition course is designed to engage
students in the careful reading and critical
analysis of imaginative literature. Through
the close reading of selected texts,
students can deepen their understanding
of the ways writers use language to
provide both meaning and pleasure for
their readers. As they read, students
should consider a work's structure, style,
and themes, as well as such smaller-scale
elements as the use of figurative
language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
Focus: Non-fiction, rhetoric
Focus: Fiction, analytical writing
Similarity: Intro college composition class
Similarity: Intro college literature class
Advanced Placement Considerations
-1.0 bump on my GPA (Must Pass the Course!)
-College credit potential or course exemption
-Rigorous College Syllabus
-Develops writing and critical thinking skills
-Must demonstrate superior performance for “A” grade
-Must balance extra curricular with AP course load
-Absences impact content retention
-Independent learning is an expectation
NO AP DROPS AFTER THE FIRST THREE WEEKS
$86.00 for each exam
General Requirements
AP Literature
AP Language
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Five novels read outside class each
semester
Many short stories and poems read
in class each day
Extensive practice in test-taking and
writing
At least 5 major essays per semester
Many quizzes and projects
College-level expectations (literature
selection, independent work, analysis
and work product)
Nightly homework in addition to the
novels
Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary
to appropriately and effectively write
prose
2 novels and 1 novella
Nonfiction Articles (Magazine
articles from Time, Newsweek,
Esquire, Shape, Men’s Health, New
Yorker, etc.) emphasis on nonfiction
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analysis
Textbook readings nightly, with
occasional assessments
Analyze and interpret samples of
good writing, identifying and
explaining an author’s use of
rhetorical strategies and techniques
8 major essays per semester
Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary
to appropriately and effectively write
prose
A Sampling of Books
AP Literature
• Prayer for Owen Meany—John Irving
• Slaughterhouse Five—Kurt Vonnegut
• Life of Pi—Yann Martel
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
Dead—Tom Stoppard
• Poisonwood Bible—Barbara
Kingsolver
• Song of Soloman—Toni Morrison
• Othello--Shakespeare
• Billy Budd—Herman Melville
• Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austin
• Heart of Darkness—Joseph Conrad
• Death of a Salesman—Arthur Miller
• The Stranger—Albert Camus
• Siddartha—Herman Hesse
AP Language
• The Overachievers –Alexandra
Robbins
• Everything’s an Argument – John J.
Ruszkiewicz & Andrea A. Lunsford
• The Shawshank Redemption—
Stephen King
• The Kite Runner—Khaled Hosseini
• Into the Wild—John Krakauer
• Tuesdays with Morrie–Mitch Album
• Princess –Jean P. Sasson
• Glass Castle—Jeannette Walls
• If It Bleeds, It Leads: An Anatomy of
Television News – by Matthew R.
Kernel
• In Cold Blood—Truman Capote
• All the King’s Men – by Penn Warren
• Song Dogs – by Colin McCann
• Growing Up—by Russell Baker
Still Unsure??
Visit the HHS Website for
AP Course Information; you will find a detailed
example of the course syllabus.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t
see the whole staircase.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.