AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITIONThe Exam

Exam Overview

Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information, download the AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description (CED).

Encourage your students to visit the AP English Literature and Composition student page for exam information.

Digital Practice and Testing Information

Updated April 8

Digital Practice Now Available

Starting April 8, students can try out the test-day experience by answering example questions in the digital testing application. See the Digital Practice page for general information about practice options.

AP English Literature and Composition students will have two options to answer example questions in the digital testing application. Both provide approximately the same time limit per question as the full exam.

• Digital Practice has a shortened multiple-choice section (13 questions, 17 minutes), a shortened break of 5 minutes, and a full-length free-response section (3 questions, 2 hours). 
• The App Demo is an even shorter subset of the questions in Digital Practice–5 multiple-choice questions, a 2-minute break, and 1 free-response question.

We highly recommend all students take the Digital Practice, and strongly advise that if they can’t take the Digital Practice, they at least take the App Demo. Both can be taken multiple times, and can be accessed directly in the digital testing application. Students can access their answers and solution materials (MCQ answer key, FRQ scoring guidelines) for the Digital Practice. Note: Taking the App Demo after completing Digital Practice may override student answers from Digital Practice.  Teachers can also access digital practice from the teacher dashboard, available beginning April 22.

Taking the Digital Exam

Students should be aware of some aspects of testing digitally that they’ll encounter—in the Digital Practice and on exam day:

• The digital testing application includes an annotation tool, which allows students to mark text and make notes on passages. Students can use the digital annotation tool to identify key elements within texts, organize their thoughts, and draft brief textual analysis. While the annotations that students construct will not be scored, annotating may help students interpret texts and answer multiple-choice or free-response questions.
• Some multiple-choice questions reference a part of the text provided. Students can click on the » symbol shown in the question to automatically scroll to the referenced location.
• As a reminder, students will answer all multiple-choice questions and type all free-response answers directly in the digital exam application. Scratch paper is permitted for notes or planning, but students cannot handwrite or otherwise upload responses. 
• Students cannot go back to questions they’ve already answered, and cannot skip ahead. 
• Exam directions and section-specific directions will not be read by a proctor–they’ll appear entirely in the application. Students will see them at the beginning of each section, and can access them at any time during the exam. Please note that the exam timer starts when the directions appear. While students should read the directions, they should be aware that the timer will be running while they do so. Teachers and students can view the full text of the exam and section directions in advance of the exam.

More information about taking digital exams is available in the Digital Testing Guide.

Digital Exam Readiness Dashboard

Beginning April 22, AP teachers and AP coordinators will have access to a new digital exam readiness dashboard. Teachers and coordinators will access the dashboard from their personalized AP login page (after signing in through AP Central or through myap.collegeboard.org). The dashboard can be used to monitor students’ progress in taking the steps necessary before and on exam day to enable them to take a digital exam. See details in the “Preparing for Digital AP Exams” section of the AP Digital Testing Guide.

Exam Format

The AP English Literature and Composition Exam has consistent question types, weighting, and scoring guidelines every year, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day. There will also be a consistent range of difficulty in the reading passages across all versions of the exam from year to year. The free-response questions will be scored using analytic rubrics, rather than the previous holistic rubrics.

Note on 2021 exams: Both the paper and digital versions of the AP English Literature and Composition Exam will be full-length, containing the typical multiple-choice and free-response sections, and cover the full range of skills and knowledge specified in the course and exam description.

There are differences between the paper and digital versions of some 2021 AP Exams, and those variations differ by course. The information below applies to AP English Literature and Composition only. View a summary of all 2021 AP Exam formats.

Section I: Multiple Choice

55 Questions | 1 Hour | 45% of Exam Score

• Includes 5 sets of questions with 8–13 questions per set.
• Each set is preceded by a passage of prose fiction, drama, or poetry of varying difficulty.
• The multiple-choice section will always include at least 2 prose fiction passages (this may include drama) and at least 2 poetry passages.

Section II: Free Response

3 Questions | 2 Hours | 55% of Exam Score

• Students write essays that respond to 3 free-response prompts from the following categories:
  • A literary analysis of a given poem
  • A literary analysis of a given passage of prose fiction (this may include drama)
  • An analysis that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a work selected by the student. In responding to Question 3, students should select a work of fiction that will be appropriate to the question. A general rule is to use a work that is similar in quality to those they have read in their AP class(es).

Exam Questions and Scoring Information

Past Exam Questions and Scoring Information