Because the AP Language and Composition exam assesses skills that take months and years of deliberate practice to develop, you simply cannot cram for it. For this reason, the best way to prepare for this exam is to engage in our coursework consistently for the entire semester (see the “Self-Directed and Cooperative Learning” page for details), and to extend your use of these skills to other parts of your life—both in and out school. In addition, here are few suggestions about how to prepare for each part of the exam.

Section I: Multiple Choice

• Your use of language fundamentally depends on the breadth of your vocabulary. So one simple, essential way to strengthen all your verbal skills is to make regular, deliberate efforts to learn the unfamiliar words you encounter, especially in the texts we read for our class. Here are a few suggestions.
• Read; read widely; read material that challenges you; read as often as you can.
• The multiple-choice questions in our textbook are modeled on the questions that appear on the AP Language exam, so carefully responding to these and other questions in our textbook, discussing them with your peers, and then comparing your responses with the correct answers is excellent practice. Here are the answer keys: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8, and Unit 9.
• To refresh your memory of our course’s skills and essential knowledge, watch videos on the AP English Language YouTube page and in our AP classroom.
• The multiple-choice section of the AP Language exam (Section 1) demands a deep understanding of rhetoric and rhetorical choices. While you do not need to know everything described in this document, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with as much of its details and structure as you can.
• “Exactly What to Expect from AP Language Multiple Choice” at PrepScholar.com
• Literary Devices.net is very useful for finding both common and literary examples of everything from ad hominem to zeugma.
• Schedule a conference with Mr. Simone to discuss anything related to our course, especially your writing!

Section II: Free-Response Question #1 (Synthesis)

• Your use of language fundamentally depends on the breadth of your vocabulary. So one simple, essential way to strengthen all your verbal skills is to make regular, deliberate efforts to learn the unfamiliar words you encounter, especially in the texts we read for our class. Here are a few suggestions.
• As this graphic tries to make clear, all of the AP Free-Response Questions require responses in the form of an argument, so the more deeply you understand how arguments work, the more skillfully you’ll be able to handle an AP “synthesis” question. To practice using your “logic muscles,” try these argument-mapping puzzles on a wide variety of topics. Even better, take this course on argument mapping!
• To sample past AP synthesis questions, go here and scroll down to “Synthesis.”
• Familiarize yourself with the rubrics that will be used to score your synthesis essays.
• Synthesis Writing: a very clearly written explanation of synthesis and kinds of synthesis.
• Your synthesis must have a clearly stated thesis. To study thesis statements, as well as the other fundamental structures of formal writing, please try using NoRedInk (via Clever). Click on “Learn” at the top-left to navigate to the curriculum library, where you can search for topics to master. Be sure to select “See all pathways” from the drop menu before entering search terms. Here are a few examples: thesis statements, introductory paragraphs, topic sentences, body paragraphs, embedding evidence, conclusion paragraphs.
• To practice synthesis—bringing together various sources of information in support of a claim—read about the pros and cons of a controversial issue on ProCon.org and then try to compose a short essay that makes an argument (complete with a claim, evidence, reasoning, and opposing views/qualifications) that draws on and cites several high-quality sources.
• Although the College Board is stingy with their multiple-choice questions, they offer complete access to all their free-response questions. So if you’d like to practice responding to a synthesis question and then evaluate your response using the relevant scoring guidelines, a range of sample responses, and the score distributions, you’ll find everything you need here.
• Do you struggle with writing under pressure? If so, know that you are definitely not alone and that there are simple techniques to help you overcome the anxiety created by limited time and/or uncertainty and confusion. Read here for an explanation.
• Schedule a conference with Mr. Simone to discuss anything related to our course, especially your writing!

Section II: Free-Response Question #2 (Rhetorical Analysis)

• Your use of language fundamentally depends on the breadth of your vocabulary. So one simple, essential way to strengthen all your verbal skills is to make regular, deliberate efforts to learn the unfamiliar words you encounter, especially in the texts we read for our class. Here are a few suggestions.
• As this graphic tries to make clear, all of the AP Free-Response Questions require responses in the form of an argument, so the more deeply you understand how arguments work, the more skillfully you’ll be able to handle an AP “rhetorical analysis” question. To practice using your “logic muscles,” try these argument-mapping puzzles on a wide variety of topics. Even better, take this course on argument mapping!
• The more you understand about the rhetorical triangle, rhetorical situations, and rhetorical choices (including rhetorical appeals), the stronger your rhetorical analysis will be. While you do not need to know every strategy and tactic described in this document, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with as much of its details and structure as you can. You’ll also find it useful to use a mnemonic device—such as SOAPSTone or SOAPSToneS—to remember the basic elements to consider in any rhetorical analysis.
• To sample past AP rhetorical analysis questions, go here and scroll down to “Rhetorical Analysis.”
• Familiarize yourself with the rubrics that will be used to score your rhetorical-analysis essays.
• The Forest of Rhetoric: This website contains far more than you need, so start slowly by reading the articles “What is rhetoric?” and “Persuasive Appeals”—both are linked in the left frame.
• Your rhetorical analysis must have a clearly stated thesis. To study thesis statements, as well as the other fundamental structures of formal writing, please try using NoRedInk (via Clever). Click on “Learn” at the top-left to navigate to the curriculum library, where you can search for topics to master. Be sure to select “See all pathways” from the drop menu before entering search terms. Here are a few examples: thesis statements, introductory paragraphs, topic sentences, body paragraphs, embedding evidence, conclusion paragraphs.
• Although the College Board is stingy with their multiple-choice questions, they offer complete access to all their free-response questions. So if you’d like to practice responding to a rhetorical-analysis question and then evaluate your response using the relevant scoring guidelines, a range of sample responses, and the score distributions, you’ll find everything you need here.
• Do you struggle with writing under pressure? If so, know that you are definitely not alone and that there are simple techniques to help you overcome the anxiety created by limited time and/or uncertainty and confusion. Read here for an explanation.
• Schedule a conference with Mr. Simone to discuss anything related to our course, especially your writing!

Section II: Free-Response Question #3 (Argument)

• Your use of language fundamentally depends on the breadth of your vocabulary. So one simple, essential way to strengthen all your verbal skills is to make regular, deliberate efforts to learn the unfamiliar words you encounter, especially in the texts we read for our class. Here are a few suggestions.
• To practice using your “logic muscles,” try these argument-mapping puzzles on a wide variety of topics. Even better, take this course on argument mapping!
• To sample past AP argument questions, go here and scroll down to “Argument.”
• Familiarize yourself with the rubrics that will be used to score your argument essays.
• Here‘s a well-written overview of argument.
• To develop a feel for the complexity of arguments, read about the pros and cons of controversial issues on ProCon.org. Even better, watch and listen to the debates on Intelligence Squared.
• The Fallacy Files: This website is a vast resource; begin with “What is a logical fallacy?“
• The Writing Center at UNC offers good examples of some of the most common fallacies.
• Your argument must have a clearly stated thesis. To study thesis statements, as well as the other fundamental structures of formal writing, please try using NoRedInk (via Clever). Click on “Learn” at the top-left to navigate to the curriculum library, where you can search for topics to master. Be sure to select “See all pathways” from the drop menu before entering search terms. Here are a few examples: thesis statements, introductory paragraphs, topic sentences, body paragraphs, embedding evidence, conclusion paragraphs.
• Although the College Board is stingy with their multiple-choice questions, they offer complete access to all their free-response questions. So if you’d like to practice responding to an argument question and then evaluate your response using the relevant scoring guidelines, a range of sample responses, and the score distributions, you’ll find everything you need here.
• Many of the AP argument questions include a quotation by a famous person, and your essential task is to respond to this quotation by arguing how, and to what extent, you agree or disagree with it. To practice this task, you could use any of the Dictation quotations.
• Do you struggle with writing under pressure? If so, know that you are definitely not alone and that there are simple techniques to help you overcome the anxiety created by limited time and/or uncertainty and confusion. Read here for an explanation.
• Schedule a conference with Mr. Simone to discuss anything related to our course, especially your writing!

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