AP Exam
How much does the multiple choice section of the exam weigh?
45%
Name the big idea:
_______ allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by them
Character
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
The person who is the voice of the poem/cannot assume it’s the poet
Speaker
Placing two or more things next to each other, side by side, to highlight their differences to create contrast, tension, or emphasis
Juxtaposition
How many questions are on the multiple choice exam?
55
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
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
A turn of thought or argument in a poem
Shift/volta/turn
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
How much time do you get on the multiple choice exam?
60 min
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
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
Words that look like they rhyme but do not (eg. love, prove)
Near/slant/sight rhyme
How much time do you have on the writing section of the AP Lit exam?
120 minutes
How many essays are on the writing section of the AP exam?
3
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
The emotional associations a word has (e.g. frugal vs. miserly); as opposed to a word’s denotation (i.e. the literal definition)
Connotation
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
Word order; the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences
Syntax
How much does the writing section of the AP exam weigh?
55%
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
A character that serves as a contrast to another
Foil
Pause in a line of poetry for emphasis
Caesura
When a character’s traits are revealed implicitly, through his or her speech, behavior, thoughts, appearance, and so on
Indirect Characterization