5 Things to Know About Writing the AP Literature and Composition Essays

As part of the AP Literature and Composition exam you are going to write three essays in two hours. That’s a mighty task, but if you’ve challenged yourself with advanced level reading and practiced your essay writing skills, you can do it. In my career I have been an essay evaluator for an elite private high school’s entrance exam. In that role, I was reading essays that were like the AP Literature and Composition exam in that they were written on an assigned topic in an acute amount of time. Based on my experience prepping students (who were high scorers) to take the AP Literature and Composition exam as well as my experience as an essay evaluator, here are my top 5 things to know about the AP Literature and Composition exam essays:

1. The evaluator isn’t going to read every word.

The evaluator has a very limited amount of time to read your essay, so they’re going to be skimming your essay—not thoroughly reading it. You need to have all the essay components—introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion—because if you don’t have any one of these elements it will be judged incomplete. You need to spell words correctly because misspelled words jump out to the evaluator. However, in my experience, misspelling a word like bildungsroman will be forgiven because the evaluator knows what you mean and respects your effort to use a sophisticated word, but they will have no patience for mixing up their, they’re, and there. The same goes for grammar and the conventions of English usage. Mistakes like a comma splice or misused semicolon won’t take much off your score, but sentence fragments and not capitalizing the title of a novel will hurt your score.

To quote the musical Hamilton, the evaluator is looking for “a mind at work.” They want to see that you can generate a thesis, organize your thoughts, and write a coherent essay in a limited amount of time—in other words, they’re looking to see that you have a mind at work. They will notice that you have specific details to support your argument, but these are the bits that they’re reading most quickly. If you misidentify the protagonists of Moby Dick as Ahab and Ishtar instead of Ahab and Ishmael, you likely won’t be marked down, but if you get obvious facts about well-known works of literature wrong, that will be noticed and marked down. So, don’t argue that Holden Caulfield had a pet mouse in his pocket that he accidentally smothered.

2. Organization is everything.

   
   

Because the evaluator isn’t going to read every word, organization is everything. As an evaluator, the first thing I did was look for the author’s thesis statement at the end of their introductory paragraph and for the topic sentences that began each body paragraph. If the organization of the essay made sense to me based on the thesis and topic sentences, then I skimmed the rest of the essay looking for supporting details. If the organization of the essay was weak or didn’t make any sense to me, I’d skim the essay looking for any redeeming qualities.

3. It’s obvious when you like your topic.

   
   

You are subject to whatever the assigned essay topics are. Period. The evaluator knows that you’re going to be writing at least one of the essays about a topic that you are completely not interested in. But it is obvious when you like your topic and when you don’t. So, when you inevitably get a topic that you’re not interested in, you need to make an honest stab at it and try to write with enthusiasm without coming across as completely phony. If, for example, I wrote the thesis statement, “John Donne is the greatest poet of all time,” I would never be able to write an authentic essay supporting that. But I could write a good faith argument that, “John Donne was a preeminent metaphysic poet.” You’d be surprised how easily the essay evaluator can sniff out inauthenticity.

Specifically, for the analysis question that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a work, support your argument with works of literature that you enjoy (or at least don’t despise). I had an AP Literature and Composition student who could use Bram Stoker’s Dracula to support (almost) any argument because he was so passionate about that novel. He used that novel to support his argument in the essay to great success. Just because you read Jane Eyre and Their Eyes Were Watching God in your AP Literature and Composition class doesn’t mean that you must write about those works in your argument essay. The essay evaluator doesn’t know and doesn’t care what you read in class; they care about whether you can write a fully formed articulate essay in a short amount of time. One year I had a student who read Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch in her free time and loved it. She used that novel to support her argument and scored well on the exam because she was able to write so fluently and authentically about the novel.

4. You need to have a conclusion.

   
   

That’s it. You need to have a conclusion. It probably won’t be great, but it just needs to exist. It would be best if it restated your thesis, summarized key points, and provided closure, but the evaluator is realistic and understands how tired both your hand and brain are when you’re writing your conclusion. You’ll be crunched for time, so simply restating your thesis is a big step in the right direction.

5. The sample essays are unrealistic.

   
   

Chances are that you’ve seen the sample essays in the test prep books that get the highest scores of 4 or 5; I have seen them too. In my humble opinion, and based on coaching students who got 4s and 5s on this exam, the 4 and 5 essays in those books are unrealistic. To me, they seem like the essays you’d write if you had a couple hours to write and rewrite the essay. They’re fine essays, but they’re just not realistic given the tight time constraints you’ll be under while taking the exam. Every evaluator has been in your shoes and had to write an essay in a limited amount of time; we feel your pain. I have been a high school English teacher for over a decade, I have a master’s degree in English literature, and I’ve been a professional writer, and I cannot write the level of essay that is represented in the test prep books in such a short amount of time. I can, however, write an essay that would score well enough to earn a 4 or 5 on the exam. Do your best.

The best advice for success on the AP Literature and Composition exam is to practice. Sit at a table with an essay prompt from the College Board website or a test prep book, some paper and a pen, and time yourself. You’ll have two hours to write three essays, so set your timer for 40 minutes per essay. It is difficult to grade your own work objectively, but you can review the rubric and get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, you’ll get a taste of what the time constraint of 40 minutes feels like.

The AP Literature and Composition exam essays are not easy, but they are a hurdle you can clear successfully with practice. Good luck!

Have you taken the exam? Share your experience in the comments. Are you a teacher who has helped to prepare students for the exam? Share your best tips and tricks in the comments.