AP Exam
Big Ideas
General Literary Terms
Poetry Terms
Misc.
100

How much does the multiple choice section of the exam weigh?

45%

100

Name the big idea:
_______ allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by them

Character

100

A brief, often implicit and indirect reference within a literary text to something outside the text, whether another text (e.g., the Bible, a myth, another literary work, a painting, or a piece of music) or any imaginary or historical person, place, or thing. 


Allusion

100

The person who is the voice of the poem/cannot assume it’s the poet

Speaker

100

Placing two or more things next to each other, side by side, to highlight their differences to create contrast, tension, or emphasis

Juxtaposition

200

How many questions are on the multiple choice exam?

55

200

Name the big idea:

_______ and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with it

Setting

200

The repetition of the same word of phrase in (and esp. at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences, as in “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epic belief, it was the epoch of incredulity [. . .]” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities).

Anaphora

200

A turn of thought or argument in a poem

Shift/volta/turn

200

Name the big idea:
Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence. (Arguments will support a specific “meaning of the work as a whole,” i.e. a thematic statement)

Literary Argumentation

300

How much time do you get on the multiple choice exam?

60 min

300

Name the big idea:
The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text

Structure

300

A struggle between opposing forces. A conflict is external when it pits a character against something or someone outside himself or herself—another character or characters or some impersonal force (e.g., nature or society). A conflict is internal when the opposing forces are two drives, impulses, or parts of a single character. 


Conflict

300

Words that look like they rhyme but do not (eg. love, prove)

Near/slant/sight rhyme

300

How much time do you have on the writing section of the AP Lit exam?

120 minutes

400

How many essays are on the writing section of the AP exam?

3

400

Name the big idea: A narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text.

Narration

400

The emotional associations a word has (e.g. frugal vs. miserly); as opposed to a word’s denotation (i.e. the literal definition)

Connotation

400

The technique of running over from one line to the next without stopping, as in the following lines by William Wordsworth: “My heart leaps up when I behold / A rainbow in the sky.” The lines themselves would be described as enjambed.

Enjambment

400

Word order; the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences

Syntax

500

How much does the writing section of the AP exam weigh?

55%

500

Name the big idea:
Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text.

Figurative Language

500

A character that serves as a contrast to another

Foil

500

Pause in a line of poetry for emphasis

Caesura

500

When a character’s traits are revealed implicitly, through his or her speech, behavior, thoughts, appearance, and so on

Indirect Characterization

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