Important Updates
AP Latin Updates and New Resources for 2019-20
To help more students prepare for—and succeed on—the AP Latin Exam, we’ve clarified the course’s focus starting with the 2019-20 school year and are introducing new resources for your classroom. We’ve also moved exam registration to the fall, a best practice that improves students’ chances of earning college credit and placement.
Download the new course and exam description (CED)
New AP Resources
AP Classroom is now available. Designed with AP educators, it helps you provide students daily practice and personalized feedback throughout the year. Sign in to access AP unit guides with aligned resources, topic questions, personal progress checks, the progress dashboard, and your question bank.
Course Overview
AP Latin is equivalent to an upper-intermediate level college course in Latin focusing on the in-depth study of selections from two of the greatest works in Latin literature: Vergil’s Aeneid and Caesar’s Gallic War. Students cultivate their understanding of classics through preparing and translating readings and considering themes in the context of ancient literature as they explore concepts like literary techniques, Roman values, war and empire, leadership, views of non-Romans, history and memory, and human beings and the gods.
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AP Latin Course at a Glance
Excerpted from the AP Latin Course and Exam Description, the Course at a Glance document outlines the topics and skills covered in the AP Latin course, along with suggestions for sequencing.
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AP Latin Course and Exam Description—Fall 2019
This is the core document for this course and is updated for the 2019-20 school year. New unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year. The CED also more clearly outlines how material will be assessed on the exam, provides instructional strategies, and gives information on the AP Program in general.
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AP Latin CED Scoring Guidelines
This document details how each of the sample free-response questions in the 2019-20 CED would be scored.
Course Content
The course framework provides a clear and detailed description of course requirements necessary for student success. The framework specifies what students must know, be able to do, and understand, with a focus on course themes that encompass core principles of the discipline.
The AP Latin framework is organized into eight commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. As always, you’ll have the flexibility to organize the course content as you like.
| Unit |
| Unit 1: Vergil, Aeneid, Book 1 |
| Unit 2: Caesar, Gallic War, Books 1 and 6 |
| Unit 3: Vergil, Aeneid, Book 2 |
| Unit 4: Caesar, Gallic War, Book 4 |
| Unit 5: Vergil, Aeneid, Book 4 |
| Unit 6: Caesar, Gallic War, Book 5, Part I |
| Unit 7: Caesar, Gallic War, Book 5, Part II, Book 6, and Book 7 |
| Unit 8: Vergil, Aeneid, Books 6, 8, and 12 |
Course Skills
The updated AP Latin framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to think and act like
classics scholars.
| Skill | Description |
| 1. Reading and Comprehension | Read and comprehend Latin poetry and prose. |
| 2. Translation | Translate Latin texts into English. |
| 3. Contextualization | Relate Latin texts to Roman historical, cultural, and literary contexts. |
| 4. Textual Analysis | Analyze linguistic and literary features of Latin texts. |
| 5. Argumentation | Develop an argument that analyzes Latin poetry and/or prose. |
AP and Higher Education
Higher education professionals play a key role developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education site features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.
This chart shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the AP Credit Policy Search.
Meet the Development Committee for AP Latin.