The AP® English Language course is designed to develop critical literacy and facilitate informed citizenship in students. Throughout the course, students examine and discuss non-fiction works of various types and themes, summarizing who is being addressed, what is being said, how the idea is being presented, and why it is being said. According to the AP® English Language Course Description, the exam strives to test reading and writing skills necessary for successful college careers and intellectual and civically responsible involvement in the world.
It is easy to write off multiple-choice as unimportant when developing your AP® English Language study plan. However, the section is worth 45% of your overall score. As such, it is imperative that you are well prepared for the content, format, and scoring specific to this exam. In this article, Albert.io has uncovered all this information for you, along with invaluable study resources and tips.
What We Review
What is the Format of AP® English Language?
The exam consists of 52-55 multiple-choice questions. You have one hour to complete the multiple-choice section. The free-response section includes three essay responses within 2 hours and 15 minutes. Each piece follows a particular prompt.
The multiple-choice questions focus on included excerpts from nonfiction texts. Your ability to read, understand, and synthesize information will be essential.
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Why is the AP® English Language Multiple-choice Section Important?
The AP® English Language multiple-choice questions equate to 45% of your overall score on the exam. According to College Board’s 2016 Student Score Distributions Guide, only 10.7% of AP® English Language students received a 5 in 2016. Each correct answer is multiplied by 1.2980 as seen on College Board’s scoring worksheet. Only 1.2% of students, receiving a weighted multiple-choice score between 40 and 50, achieved a 5 on the complete exam.
Above average performance on this portion of the exam is necessary to outshine the competition.
What Content is Covered in the Multiple-choice Section of AP® English Language?
There is no set syllabus or recommended reading for the course. However, there are guidelines that AP® teachers use to choose included texts. Reading assignments should represent a clear rhetorical situation (e.g. topical fiction), speak to one another through a variety of genres, offer various rhetorical devices, and challenge AP® students to understand non-fiction writing. Albert.io has compiled the Ultimate AP® English Language Reading List as a helpful tool for students.
The multiple-choice component of the exam will test your comprehension of rhetorical strategies, the significance of a writer’s audience, and relationships between multiple texts and sources. You will read a passage and then answer between 5 and 15 questions on the text.
How to Prepare for AP® English Language’s Multiple-choice Questions
How you distribute your time will be a major factor as the AP® exams grow closer. There are many invaluable resources online through College Board and Albert.io to aid in your test preparation. Review Albert.io’s practice questions and the One Month AP® English Language and Composition Study Guide. The following are some quick tips for your AP® English Literature study plan.
Familiarize Yourself with AP® Questions
Use the resources available to read and practice answering real AP® questions. Albert.io offers model AP® style questions for various topics. Work through the various example sections as you study for the exam.
Choose a Review Book
Employ the use of an AP® English Language review book to help you prepare.
Read Comparable Texts
Read all your assigned texts and as many others as you can. Use the Ultimate AP® English Language Reading List for insightful suggestions.
Take Notes
As you read each passage, make thoughtful and detailed notes, which answers the important qualifying questions for any AP® English Literature review. Who is the writer addressing? What is the author saying? Why is the author saying it? And how is the author presenting this information?
Use All Your Resources
In addition to class work, syllabus, extra reading, online AP® English Language practice questions, and College Board example questions, think outside the box. Form a study group. Watch YouTube videos on the topics you’re researching. Adapt your study tactics for your personal learning preferences.
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How Do You Answer AP® English Language Multiple-choice Questions?
Decide, in advance, in what order to address the questions. When practicing questions like those you will see in the AP® English Language multiple-choice section, try reading all the questions associated with a particular passage before reading the passage itself. Some students find this very helpful in clarifying the meaning of the passage, and it tells them in advance what they need to look for. However, other students find it disorienting or distracting.
There is no right or wrong way to take the test; you need to find what makes you most comfortable and produces the best results. Take a few AP-style tests where you read the passages first, and then take a few tests where you read the questions first. Think about your understanding of the reading and answering questions during each test and/or compare the scores from the two groups. Complete this experimentation well before you take the exam, so you can keep practicing with your preferred strategy and use it during the test.
Don’t feel obligated to complete the exam in order. There is no rule that you have to start with the first question and end with the last. In addition, the questions and passages making up the AP® English Language multiple-choice section do not get progressively easier or harder. Rather, easy, medium, and hard questions are sprinkled randomly throughout. The test-taker’s reading preferences and styles often determine difficulty level most.
All questions throughout the AP® English Language multiple-choice section count the same, so many students find it best to scan through the test, skimming passages and questions, before setting pencil to paper. That way, you can start with the easiest questions, or the passages that interest you most, and get them out of the way before those questions and passages that will take more time. This will boost your confidence (as you see correct answers piling up) and keep you from missing out on easy points because of time constraints.
If you don’t feel you have time to scan, at least mark questions you think will take longer as you come across them, then skip them and come back later. Again, all the questions are worth the same number of points. Because there are up to 55 questions to be answered in an hour, you have only a little over a minute for each question. Don’t let one complicated question cause you to miss out on three or four easy answers!
Use Everything at Your Disposal. This tip applies both to practicing and to the test, but in different ways. When studying for the AP® English Language multiple-choice section, use websites and blogs like this one andAP® prep guides (especially ones with sample questions). Try new strategies you find, even if they feel silly, for at least a few questions to see what works for you.
When taking the AP® English Language Exam, use context clues from the passages to help you with more difficult questions – this means reading the whole sentence a question is concerned with, and even the sentence around it, to help make things clearer. Sometimes, even other questions will contain hints or jog your memory!
Don’t Guess Wildly, but Think Critically. Thinking critically will give you the best chance when you are not sure of any answer. Begin by examining which answers you can eliminate first. Using what you’ve learned in the course and context clues, you will probably be able to eliminate at least a few choices from each of the tough questions. This process of elimination will hopefully get you down to two answers.
If you can’t get a question down to two good choices, skip it and don’t come back until the end, when you will have more time to think. Remember, it never hurts to guess, as the test is scored on the number of correct answers, not the number of questions you try to answer. Guessing is perfectly OK – you stand to gain plenty, and there is no risk because there is no additional penalty for guessing.
Breathe easy. Nervousness often gets in the way on major tests under timed conditions, even for confident students. Don’t let it get you down! This test, though important, will not permanently decide your path in life. Besides, if you keep practicing and using every resource at your disposal, you can do really well – and rationalize yourself out of your fears. Don’t just practice putting down answers; practice feeling your way through the test and staying calm too. Good luck!
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What are AP® English Language Multiple-choice Questions Like?
The Following are sample multiple-choice questions from the course description guide. You can find more to aid in your AP® English Language study plan on College Board.
Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers. This passage is excerpted from a nonfiction book published in the late twentieth century.
- The author develops the passage primarily through
- Pro-and-con argument
- Thesis followed by qualification
- Assertion supported by evidence
- Analysis of the ideas of other
- The author is best described as
- A curious individual who seeks out diverse information from a variety of sources
- A serious scientist who is determined to learn more about the causes of these storms
- An excited eyewitness who is too distracted to fear for personal safety
- A confused novice who is unable to decide which claims are accurate
- An ironic interpreter who comments on the failures and follies of others
- Compared with that of the rest of the passage, the diction of lines 1-8 (“Climatologists … survived”) is
- Informal and straightforward
- Technical and specialized
- Subjective and impressionistic
- Speculative and uncertain
- Understated and euphemistic
The following are important steps to answering AP® English Language questions, regardless of the order you choose.
Read the entire excerpt. While you may peruse the questions first, don’t simply skim for answers. This prevents you from making mistakes due to misunderstanding rhetorical devices. Read at a reasonable pace, as you are being timed.
Analyze the text to answer these questions. Who is the writer’s target audience? What information is the writer conveying? Why is the author communicating this material? How is the writer illustrating the message? These are common questions for the AP® English Language Exam to delve into.
Read questions carefully prior to answering. Be sure to read instructions as well as the answers to ensure you understand what is being asked.
Reread lines that are directly referenced in questions (e.g. lines 1-8 in question 3 of our example). Before selecting your answer, reread the correlated line to confirm your choice.
Wisely divide your time to read each passage and provide your answers. Remember you have 60 minutes to complete a 52-55 question exam. If you’re stuck, and completely unsure, move on. Mark these sections, so you can return once you’ve answered everything you’re confident of. If you are still wary, eliminate all the answers you can and guess from the remaining choices.
Notes along the page margins can be extremely helpful. As you read the text, note lines that illustrate answers to your overall analysis of the passage. Quickly jot these in the margin as you read. This will help you answer the questions quickly and efficiently.
Answer Key: 1. A; 2. A; 3. B
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How can I practice AP® English Literature Multiple-choice Questions?
The most efficient AP® English Language study plan will include a variety of resources and devices. Take full advantage of the practice questions provided on Albert.io, the released exam multiple-choice questions provided on College Board, and helpful articles to pinpoint strategies for exceptional performance.
To that end, check out How To Study For AP® English Language and Composition, 11 AP® English Language Test Taking Strategies, and 9 Things You Need To Remember About The AP® English Language and Composition Exam next!
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