Ultimate Guide to AP® English Language This course is all about the structure of the English language and how it can be used to convey different ideas. You’ll need to understand the functions of the English Language 

and how to analyze them in various texts and use them in your own writing. #aplang 52-55 multiple choice & 3 free-response questions 

 For regular AP English Language tips and resources straight to your inbox, click here. 

 

Table of Contents Understand the Exam Content Overview 

General Learning Objectives Suggested Readings Rhetorical Terms 

Past FRQs  Recommended Resources 

Facebook Group for Students Prep Books Apps Live Reviews  

 

 

             *AP® and Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product 

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

Understand the Exam   Multiple Choice - 45% 

1. There are 52-55 questions to answer in 60 minutes. 2. Every question is weighted equally and there is no penalty for guessing. You get a point for every 

question you answer correctly and you don’t get a point if you are wrong. Points are never lost. 3. The multiple-choice section features questions about four short passages 4. Questions may focus on comprehension of literal meaning, inference, and/or the features and 

functions of written English 5. Each question has 5 possible answers.  

 Free-Response - 55% 

1. There are 3 free-response questions (FRQs) you must answer in 135 minutes.  2. The three types of FRQs are: 

a. Synthesis: Defend, challenge, or qualify an issue by using evidence from multiple texts i. Question 1 is worth 9 points and is scored based on defense, challenge, or 

qualification of issue, use of evidence, and control of language. b. Analysis: requires you to analyze the rhetoric of a single text 

i. Question 2 is worth 9 points and is scored based on effective analysis of text with convincing and appropriate evidence that refers to the passage and demonstrates control of language. 

c. Argument: requires you to compose an argument supported by evidence draw from your own readings, observations, and or personal experiences. 

i. Question 3 is worth 9 points and is scored based on development of a position, use of convincing and appropriate evidence, coherence of argument, and control of language. 

 

Content Overview *The following outline was adapted from the AP® English Language & Composition Course Description as published by College Board in 2014, found here. This outline reflects the most recent revisions to the course. 

 General Learning Objectives  

I. Read from a variety of historical periods and disciplines II. Identify audience, purpose, and strategies in texts 

III. Analyze the types of arguments that writers use IV. Write formally and informally for a variety of audiences V. Write expository, analytical, and argumentative essays 

VI. Understand their own writing process and the importance of revision VII. Recognize techniques in visual as well as verbal arguments 

VIII. Synthesize ideas and information from various sources IX. Know how to interpret information presented in notes and citations X. Use the conventions of standard written English 

 

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

Suggested Readings There are no required readings for AP English Language, however the following texts illuminate themes relevant to rhetorical analysis and the American experience.  Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address Amy Tan, Mother Tongue Arthur Miller, The Crucible Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America Brent Staples, Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space Chris Hedges, The Destruction of Culture David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day Deborah Tannen, There is no Unmarked Woman Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Frederick Douglass, Learning to Read and Write Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau, Walden JD Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye Jody Heyman, We Can Afford to Give Parents a Break John Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift, The Art of Political Lying Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Myth of the Latina Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named 

Judy Brady, I Want a Wife Kate Chopin, The Awakening Kyoko Mori, School Laurence Perrine, Paradox Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun Malcolm X, Learning to Read Martin Luther King, Jr, Letter from a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Niccolo Machiavelli, The Morals of the Prince Patrick McHenry, How to Say Nothing in 500 Words Paul Theroux, Being a Man Plato, The Allegory of the Cave Ralph Waldo Emerson, From Education Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance Richard Rodriguez, Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood Robert Frost, Education by Poetry Samuel Johnson, Debtors’ Prisons Sojourner Truth, Aren’t I a Woman? Stephen Jay Gould, Women’s Brains Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence Toni Morrison, Beloved Upton Sinclair, The Jungle Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Wole Soyinka, Every Dictator’s Nightmare 

          

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

Rhetorical Terms The AP Language exam does not emphasis rhetorical terms as much as it did in the past. While it is useful to be familiar with these rhetorical terms, this course is not about merely memorizing and identifying these devices in writing. Rather, it is about discussing how a writer effectively communicates his or her message to the intended audience.  

● abstract diction ● academic diction ● active voice ● Ad Hominem Fallacy ● adjective ● Ad Populum Fallacy ● adverb ● allegory ● alliteration ● allusion ● ambiguity ● analogy ● anaphora ● anecdote ● antecedent ● antithesis ● aphorism ● apostrophe ● appeal to authority ● argumentation ● Aristotelian logic ● assertion ● assonance ● asyndeton ● balanced sentence 

structure ● bandwagon ● cacophony ● caricature ● cause and effect ● challenge ● chiasmus ● chronological ordering ● circular logic ● classification ● clause ● coherence ● colloquial diction ● colon ● comic relief 

● comma ● comparison ● complex sentences ● compound sentences ● conceit ● concession ● conclusion ● concrete diction ● conjunction ● connotation ● consonance ● contrast ● conundrum ● convoluted sentences ● coordinating 

conjunctions ● dash ● declarative sentences ● deduction ● defend ● definition ● denotation ● dependent clause ● description ● diction ● didactic ● digression ● dilemma ● discourse ● diversion ● economy ● ellipsis ● epanalepsis ● epigram ● epistrophe ● ethos ● euphemism ● euphony ● evidence ● examples 

● exclamatory sentences ● expert testimony ● explication ● explicit ● exposition ● extended metaphor ● false causality ● false dilemma ● figurative language ● figures of speech ● foreshadowing ● formal diction ● general to particular ● genre ● gerund ● hyperbole ● idioms ● imagery ● imperative sentences ● implication ● implicit ● imply ● independent clause ● inductive reasoning ● inferences ● infinitive phrase ● informal diction ● interrogative 

sentences ● invective ● inversion ● irony ● jargon ● juxtaposition ● labyrinthine sentence ● logic ● logos ● loose sentence 

structure ● lyrical 

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

● metaphor ● metonymy ● moderate ● moral ● motif ● narrative ● non sequitur ● noun ● noun cluster ● objectivity ● occasion ● onomatopoeia ● order of importance ● organizational strategy ● overgeneralization ● oversimplification ● oxymoron ● pacing ● paradox ● parallelism ● parenthesis ● parody ● particular to general ● parts of speech ● passive voice ● pathos ● pedantic 

● pedestrian diction ● period ● periodic sentence 

structure ● personification ● persuasion ● phrase ● point-of-view ● polysyndeton ● predicate ● premise ● preposition ● problem/solution ● pronoun ● pun ● punctuation ● purpose ● qualify ● quotations ● Red Herring ● Reductio ad absurdum ● refutation ● repetition ● rhetoric ● rhetorical modes ● rhetorical question ● sarcasm 

● satire ● semicolon ● simile ● simple sentence ● slippery slope ● speaker ● statistics ● stereotype ● strawman ● stream of 

consciousness ● subject ● subordinate clause ● syllepsis ● syllogism ● symbolism ● synecdoche ● synesthesia ● syntax ● theme ● thesis ● tone ● transition ● understatement ● verb ● voice 

      

            

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

Past FRQ Questions **The AP English Language exam was revised significantly for the 2007 exam.   Question 1 - Synthesis 2018 - Q1: Eminent Domain 2017 - Q1: Role of public libraries 2016 - Q1: Disadvantages of monolingual English speakers 2015 - Q1: Honor codes in schools 2014 - Q1: Is college worth it? 2013 - Q1: Memorializing events and people 2012 - Q1: Structure of the Postal Service 2011 - Q1: Locavore movement 2010 - Q1: Technology in schools 2009 - Q1: Space exploration 2008 - Q1: Should the penny be eliminated? 2007 - Q1: Effects of advertising  Question 2 - Analysis 2018 - Q2: Madeleine Albright, Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke (2007) 2017 - Q2: Clare Boothe Luce, Speech at the Women’s National Press Club (1960) 2016 - Q2: Margaret Thatcher, Eulogy of Ronald Reagan (2004) 2015 - Q2: Cesar Chavez, Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. (1978) 2014 - Q2: Abigail Adams, Letter to John Quincy Adams (1780) 2013 - Q2: Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods (2008) 2012 - Q2: John F. Kennedy, On the increase of steel prices (1962) 2011 - Q2: Florence Kelley, On Child Labor (1905) 2010 - Q2: Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1791) 2009 - Q2: Edward O. Wilson, The Future of Life (2002) 2008 - Q2: John M. Barry, The Great Influenza (1918) 2007 - Q2: Scott Russell Sanders, Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World (1993)  Question 3 - Argument 2018 - Q3: Value of exploring the unknown 2017 - Q3: Essential skills 2016 - Q3: Disobedience and social progress 2015 - Q3: Function of polite speech 2014 - Q3: Teaching creativity 2013 - Q3: Ownership and sense of self 2012 - Q3: Certainty and doubt 2011 - Q3: Characterizing America 2010 - Q3: Role of humorists 2009 - Q3: Adversity and character 2008 - Q3: Corporate sponsorship for schools 2007 - Q3: Incentives for charity   

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me 

 

Recommended Resources *Just a heads up, the following list of resources contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, Fiveable will receive a small commission. This helps support our content creation and allows us to continue to make resources like this. Thank you for the support! 

Facebook group for AP English Language students 

Join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/aplangstudents/  

 

Prep Books: 

While you are reviewing, it is insanely helpful to have a prep book to guide you. These offer nice summaries of content, practice tests, and even graphic organizers to help you visualize the information. 

Each prep book offers a different value to your review, so it really comes down to how you learn best and which style you prefer. You should definitely have one to help you out. 

Barron's AP English Language - https://amzn.to/2olHjcy  Tough read, but lots and lots of great content. More like an alternative textbook. 

Princeton Review's Cracking the AP English Language Exam - https://amzn.to/2wqrdTM  Much easier read, great summaries. 

Crash Course: AP English Language - https://amzn.to/2N1lmxr  Bulleted review, reads like AP World cliff notes. Really useful for last minute. 

5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language - https://amzn.to/2C4wVzO  Lots of practice exams, but they are pretty low quality. 

 

Fiveable for AP English Language & Composition At Fiveable, we host live AP English Language reviews every week! You can tune in live to get your questions answered, listen to concept explanations, and practice FRQs. We’re live all year because it takes time to learn and understand everything you need to pass this exam. During the month of May, we have even more live sessions including every night leading up to the exam. To get access to all live sessions, replays, and exclusive content, visit http://fiveable.me/live.  Follow Fiveable on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for all kinds of fun things all year round! 

© Fiveable, Inc. 2018 | http://fiveable.me