Official College Board Practice Free
Released free-response questions from past years are best for practicing specifically for the free-response section in a targeted way. You can work on the prompt types that you find the most difficult or practice outlining essays in a certain amount of time, or writing all three essays in 120 minutes.
If you don’t use the Course and Exam Description as a practice test, the multiple choice questions are great targeted practice for the first section of the text. It will help you get familiar with the College Board’s question style and work on your rhetorical close-reading.
The Ap Lang Multiple Choice Resource Roundup
I have created 13 resources to help AP English Language teachers prepare students for the multiple choice portion of the exam, but I have never written explicitly about them in one post. In a departure from my typical how-to article, this piece is a simple breakdown of the resources I have created for this element of the test. If you want to test drive some of these materials, Ill email you a sampler.
There are TWELVE of these practice sets, and each is unique. What they have in common is that they are ALIGNED with the 2019 CED and CHANGES TO THE EXAM. In addition, all answer keys include thorough explanations. Each exercise is provided in both PDF and Google Slides.
Heres the breakdown:
#1 is on READING and includes five passages from Samuel Johnson, Yoshida Kenko, Zitkala-Sa, Mark Twain, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
#2 is on DOCUMENTATION and includes five exercises using Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, in-text citations, clarification notes, and footnotes.
#3 is on READING and includes five passages by G.K. Chesterton, John Boehner, Susan B. Anthony, Winston Churchill, and Jane Austen.
#4 is on READING and includes five passages by A. C. Benson, Henry Canby , Julia Ward Howe, and Catherine of Aragon.
#5 is on READING and includes five passages by Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Rodham , Matilda Joslyn Gage , and Abraham Lincoln.
#7 is on READING and uses letters written by Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley.
A Note On Exam Updates
In 2019, the College Board announced updates to the AP English Language exam. The free-response section stayed the same, although there were some changes to how the essays will be scored.
For the multiple-choice section, there are now only be 45 questions instead of roughly 55. Passages are also shorter, and there is a new question type, called “composition questions.” They make up roughly half of the questions on multiple choice and test students on their ability to “read like a writer” and properly revise texts. Vocabulary-in-context questions and identification questions no longer appear on the exam.
So what does this mean for you? Unfortunately, it means that any AP Language practice resource created before 2019 is out of date. However, that doesn’t mean they are no longer valuable resources. Free-response prompts and passages remain the same. When using older multiple-choice resources, stop answering questions after 45 questions and skip any vocab-in-context and identification questions you see.
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Type : Overall Passage And Author Questions
Overall passage and author questions want you to identify key, overarching elements of the passage or author’s views, like the purpose of the text, the author’s audience, the author’s attitude toward the subject, and so on. These questions are identifiable because they won’t refer back to a specific place in the text but will instead ask general questions that apply to the entire excerpt.
These questions can be a little more difficult to answer than those where you can look to a specific place in the text to answer your questions. You’ll really need to have an overall impression of the passage based on its overarching details. It might be helpful to jot down a couple overall impressions of the excerpt right after you read it, to refer back to when faced with overall passage questions.
Example:
This passage is about the rise of book clubs. The first paragraph gives examples to demonstrate that book clubs have become a popular phenomenon. The second discusses book club backlash and some book club guides. The third paragraph asserts that book clubs are positive and sharing literary experiences is a good thing.
Which of the answers fits with the passage? Answer can be eliminated right away because there is no personal narrative.
Answer can also be eliminated because the passage begins with an example about Oprah, not any “empirical” data.
Answer can be eliminated because the passage never introduces any questions related to the practice of book clubs.
Ap Language Exam Breakdown
There are eight skills that your teacher will cover with you throughout the course of your AP course whether they are grouped or taught in a different order than below. You can be certain these eight skills will also be tested on the exam:
- Skill one: Rhetorical Situation, Reading reflect on a rhetorical passage and explain how a writers choice made an impact on it
- Skill two: Rhetorical Situation, Writing make strategic choices when writing a text to discuss a rhetorical situation
- Skill three: Claims and Evidence, Reading find, analyze, and describe the claims and evidence in argumentative text
- Skill four: Claims and Evidence, Writing analyze evidence and select the best pieces to develop and support a claim
- Skill five: Reasoning and Organization, Reading describe the reasoning, development, and organization of an argument
- Skill six: Reasoning and Organization, Writing be able to use organization in a commentary to highlight the reasoning of an argument
- Skill seven: Style, Reading when analyzing an argument, understand how a writers stylist choices affect the tone of the argument
- Skill eight: Style, Writing with careful word choice, use elements of composition to support and advance your argument
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Learn Rhetorical Terms And Strategies
In order to analyze works, of course, you need to know rhetorical terms and strategies. You will undoubtedly learn many techniques and strategies from your teacher, and you should definitely review those before the exam. You can also check out my essential list of 55 AP English Language terms you need to know.
Make sure you aren’t just memorizing the terms and the definitions, but that you can actually identify all of the techniques at work in the things you read!
Ap English Literature & Composition Practice Exams
Need AP English Literature & Composition practice exam questions for the final push to get that 5? Educator.com has you covered with tons of resources weve gathered all over the web. And in case you need more help with specific topics, our own time-saving AP English Literature & Composition video course will answer all your questions.
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Type : Relationships Between Parts Of The Text
Another question type will require you to identify or describe a relationship between two specific parts of the text. This could be paragraphs or shorter line segments, or a specific part of the passage compared to the rest of the passage or the passage as a whole.
My advice for answering these questions is similar to my advice for most questionsgo back and read the parts of the passage in question!
You may want to jot down an overarching impression of what each part of the text is accomplishing or saying as you do, which should help you compare them and identify the relationship.
Example:
Because this passage is only two paragraphs long, this question is essentially asking us about the relationship between the first and second halves of the passage.
What is the main idea of each of the sections? Well, the first paragraph describes essentially what makes a strong writer. The second paragraph establishes that Carlyle is “such a writer” and then discusses some of his works and why they are important.
When we look at the answer choices, what matches up best with our main idea descriptions? Clearly , which describes how the first paragraph describes the strengths of a writer , and the second describes Carlyle’s “legacy.”
What kind of relationship do the parts of the text have?
Learn Literary And Poetic Devices
You’ll want to be familiar with a literary terms so that any questions that ask about them will make sense to you. Again, you’ll probably learn most of these in class, but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on them. Check out our guide to the 31 literary devices you need to know, complete with definitions and examples.
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Every Ap English Language And Composition Practice Exam
With the AP English Language and Composition exam coming up, it’s important to find the best practice resources, and that includes practice tests! The AP Language and Composition exam has two sections: a multiple-choice section with 45 questions, and a free-response section with three essay questionsone synthesis prompt, one analysis prompt, and one argument prompt.
But not all AP Lang practice tests are like the real exam, and they aren’t all of equal quality. In this guide, I’ll break down where you can find official College Board AP Language and Composition practice test resources, other free resources out there, and paid practice tests and questions. I’ll also break down which resources are high-quality and how to best incorporate AP English practice tests into your exam preparation.
Varsity Tutors Ap English Practice Tests
Varsity Tutors offers very short, skill-specific quizzes. The questions don’t sound all that much like AP questions, and every question asks about a different short passage, which is a little bit bizarre and inefficient. Additionally, not all of the specific skills they offer quizzes in are super-relevant to AP Language . However, if you feel like there are very specific rhetorical techniques you are confused about, taking some of the quizzes here could be a good study strategy. If you want to track your scores, you can make a free account with Varsity Tutors, but it’s not necessary to be able to access the quizzes.
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And Just In Case You Need Them All I Have Bundled These Resources In Several Different Ways And Discounted Those Collections
Bundle #1 includes the first five practice sets PLUS the consecutively-numbered full practice. This one is is steeply discounted to account for the duplication. This set includes four reading passages and one documentation set but no composition questions.
Bundle #2 includes five reading sets. There are no documentation or composition questions, and there is no full-length practice exam. This bundle, however, is closer to the AP Lang exam format because there are 10-12 questions for each passage as opposed to just two to four questions for each passage .
The Super Bundle has it all11 mini practice sets with 55 exercises total, the full-length practice test, and Question Stem Swagger. This is the only one of the three bundles that includes Set #11, the composition practice. Everything is print ready, and all materials are on Google Slides for remote instruction.
Tip : Interact With The Text
When you are initially reading a passage, do some preliminary marking up! Underline things that seem particularly significant, like a thesis statement or major shift in the text. Make notes of motifs or confusing sentences. These marks will help you familiarize yourself with the text and navigate it when you come back to answer the questions.
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Sample Questions From The Ap Course And Exam Description
Beginning on page 115, the AP Course and Exam description for AP Language and composition includes 17 multiple-choice questions and three free-response prompts: one synthesis prompt, one analysis prompt, and one argument prompt. As mentioned above, this is the only current source of official practice questions for the new “composition” question type, so make sure to check this resource out!
Put them in your question bank!
Complete Practice Questions And Take Practice Multiple
To succeed on the multiple-choice section, practice taking multiple-choice questions! This may seem like a no-brainer but it’s still very important nonetheless. Set aside time to take a sizeable number of practice questions every week.
Keep track of what kinds of questions are easy for youdo you identify the theme every time?and which ones are hardstumped by similes? This will help you figure out if there are any skills or concepts you need to brush up on.
You should also take a complete multiple-choice practice section at least once, twice if you are able. You could do this as part of a complete practice test or do it separately. But taking a multiple-choice section under AP-like conditions will help you feel prepared, calm and collected on test day.
As prepared as a Regency belle who has snagged an officer!
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The 8 Types Of Multiple
There are eight kinds of multiple-choice questions on the AP Language exam. In this section, I’ll go over each type, provide an example question, and walk you through answering it. All of the example questions come from the 2014 “Course and Exam Description.” You can find the original passages these questions are referring to there as well.
Crack Ap English Language Tests
Crack AP has a plethora of AP English Language “tests” , however we don’t recommend them as a resource to use. They’re based on outdated versions of the AP exam and don’t cover many of the skills you’ll actually see on the AP test. Feel free to skip this resource.
Clunky like a retro calculator.
If you need even more practice, there are also paid unofficial practice test resources available.
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Read A Variety Of Literary Works And Poems
Because the passages on the AP Literature multiple-choice section come from a variety of eras, genres, authors, and styles, it’s important to familiarize yourself with a wide variety of English literary styles so that you will feel comfortable with the passages and able to parse what they are saying without becoming overwhelmed.
Read a lot of everything: prose of course, but poetry in particular, as many students are less familiar with poetry already and poetry can be fairly opaque and hard to analyze. As a starting place for things you could read, check out our AP Lit reading list guide.
When you start to feel comfortable with the language of many eras and styles, it’s time to work on honing your close-reading skills.
Type : Reading Comprehension
As you might expect, reading comprehension questions are about testing if you understood the passage on a concrete level: what does this particular sentence mean in a literal sense You can usually identify them from phrases like “according to” and “refers.”
To succeed on these kinds of questions, your best strategy is to go back and re-read the part of the passage the question is asking about. Do so carefully, and when you then answer the question, focus on what the passage is actually saying outright. Don’t infer on reading comprehension questions!
Example:
Let’s go back and look at Lines 23-26 to answer this question: “But ‘books are not about schedules,’ author Stephanie Nolen argues rather, they are ‘about submerging yourself…about getting consumed.'”
To return to the question, what is her “primary criticism of book clubs,” then? Well, she says, “books are not about schedules.” So, they shouldn’t have to be a scheduled-in obligation. The only answer that choice that resembles what she actually says in the passage is that the problem with books clubs is that they , “are too programmed.”
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What Percent Of Ap Lang Is Multiple
There are a total of forty-eight questions you must answer on the AP language exam. This test is divided into two main sections, the multiple-choice question section, and the free-response answer question. In both portions, you will be asked to analyze a passage and write well-detailed pieces.
First, you have sixty seconds to answer forty-five multiple-choice questions on the exam, which means there will be a little more than a minute to answer. So, you should make sure you are adequately prepared for the AP English test. We will describe how to do so below.
In the second portion of the exam, you have one hundred thirty-five seconds or two hours and fifteen minutes to complete this. This means you have large chunks of time about forty-five minutes to answer each question in the section.
To do well on this exam, you will need to be well-written as well as well-read. Since both sections of it will be asking you questions about writing and reading. You will want to practice both well before you take the AP English test.
Both of the sections on the AP language exam carry a different score percentage, so here is what you should focus on and to what degree you should study it:
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Testscom Ap English Language Exam
This site offers a 38-question AP English Language and Composition practice exam. The questions are somewhat overly basic and passages are not particularly similar in style or content to actual AP Language passages, though. Additionally, the interface is a little bit clunky. I would only use these if you desperately need some extra, very basic rhetorical analysis practice.
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