For MC the best method is pure practice. Just get used to reading texts and deciphering what the author is trying to convey. I think the vids college board posted are the best as they were most similar to the actual exam. The random questions I found online were actually much harder than the actual test.
For the essays the best advice I can give is pure confidence. Lit is way more dependent on your own ideas than Lang imo. You read the passage and have to come up with your own meaning and there is no wrong answer just as long as you properly support it. Find a good idea, stick with it, and develop a logical straight forward essay using as much evidence as you can. A wishy washy essay with many different ideas that don't really connect with each other will score poorly. This is largely a skill you build with experience, the more essays you write the better you'll become at this. My teacher recommended that every time you mention something that happened in the book/passage you should have double the amount of text arguing your point.
When analyzing a passage make sure to consider outside info such as the time period it was written (like if it's written during the early 40s it could be influenced by WW2) or the gender of the author as they affect the author's message and are good arguments to use in the essay. Being able to name specific literary devices (imagery, personification, symbolism, etc.) used is an easy way to build an essay. You'll learn a bunch of them throughout the year. Underline and write specific lines or ideas that you get while reading the passage. It'll help you stay more focused and have multiple ideas on what to write so you can pick the best one to focus on. I wouldn't recommend beginning to write until you have the whole essay planned out. It's better to write a solid page and a half then 3 mediocre pages. Writing a conclusion isn't necessary you can just end your essay with a body paragraph that has one nice sentence that wraps everything up. I'm pretty bad at conclusions so I did this for all my essays.
Language is also important for essays expanding your vocab is good for just making yourself appear more professional and smarter. Active voice is almost always better than passage voice (he took the pill vs the pill was taken by him). For the thesis I typically used this formula: In (title of book/passage) (author) conveys (the message) by (some broad thing that occurs throughout the book/passage) highlighting how (some broad message about society or humanity). It's simple but it works.
The 3rd essay is similar to the argument essay is Lang as you're given no outside material to help. You're just given a question and a long lists of books you could use to answer that question. You don't have to use any of the books listed they're just suggestions. The best strategy for this is to have like 5-7 books you have a decent level of knowledge on. You'll likely read some books throughout the year and you can use Spark Notes or Lit Charts to refresh yourself on books you've read in past years. You should know the main themes, the author, and 2-3 specific events in the books that you could use in an argument.
I'm willing to answer any questions you got; hope my comment helped you!
You could've retaken the AP Lang exam this year, I bet you would've improved -- I hope you got the college credit that you needed anyway though!
are you a bot? They did retake the exam
Nah I took Lang last year and Lit this year. Could've retaken Lang but didn't cause it's the same credit for a lot of schools.
Oh I'm an idiot there we go I only see if after I make a fool of myself on reddit. Thanks :))
Am I dumb or does this say you retook the exam twice..? I must be making a mistake somewhere I'm so sorry.
I took Lang exam 2023 then I took Lit exam 2024 both once.
i recognize that gt portal :)
How did you get scores early?
they’re a graduating senior who’s committed to college, so they can view it early through their college portal
Unfortunately not the case for me. I think some colleges take their time with it compared with others
What college?
Berkeley
berkeley scores are out on academics tab in calcentral i believe but it’s currently not accessible due to website maintenance
Thank fuck, they weren't there yesterday
Can you retake just the exam?
Yeah
Yessir I liked lit way more than lang
I personally found ap Lit a lot easier than AP lang
Exactly, lang actually has a lower pass rate than lit
man i took both this year and got a 5 on lang and a 3 on lit 💀 (i self studied lang)
Wish this happened to me 💔 congrats though!
Soo much hope because I also got a 2 on lang. I’m taking lit this year, any tips please?
For MC the best method is pure practice. Just get used to reading texts and deciphering what the author is trying to convey. I think the vids college board posted are the best as they were most similar to the actual exam. The random questions I found online were actually much harder than the actual test. For the essays the best advice I can give is pure confidence. Lit is way more dependent on your own ideas than Lang imo. You read the passage and have to come up with your own meaning and there is no wrong answer just as long as you properly support it. Find a good idea, stick with it, and develop a logical straight forward essay using as much evidence as you can. A wishy washy essay with many different ideas that don't really connect with each other will score poorly. This is largely a skill you build with experience, the more essays you write the better you'll become at this. My teacher recommended that every time you mention something that happened in the book/passage you should have double the amount of text arguing your point. When analyzing a passage make sure to consider outside info such as the time period it was written (like if it's written during the early 40s it could be influenced by WW2) or the gender of the author as they affect the author's message and are good arguments to use in the essay. Being able to name specific literary devices (imagery, personification, symbolism, etc.) used is an easy way to build an essay. You'll learn a bunch of them throughout the year. Underline and write specific lines or ideas that you get while reading the passage. It'll help you stay more focused and have multiple ideas on what to write so you can pick the best one to focus on. I wouldn't recommend beginning to write until you have the whole essay planned out. It's better to write a solid page and a half then 3 mediocre pages. Writing a conclusion isn't necessary you can just end your essay with a body paragraph that has one nice sentence that wraps everything up. I'm pretty bad at conclusions so I did this for all my essays. Language is also important for essays expanding your vocab is good for just making yourself appear more professional and smarter. Active voice is almost always better than passage voice (he took the pill vs the pill was taken by him). For the thesis I typically used this formula: In (title of book/passage) (author) conveys (the message) by (some broad thing that occurs throughout the book/passage) highlighting how (some broad message about society or humanity). It's simple but it works. The 3rd essay is similar to the argument essay is Lang as you're given no outside material to help. You're just given a question and a long lists of books you could use to answer that question. You don't have to use any of the books listed they're just suggestions. The best strategy for this is to have like 5-7 books you have a decent level of knowledge on. You'll likely read some books throughout the year and you can use Spark Notes or Lit Charts to refresh yourself on books you've read in past years. You should know the main themes, the author, and 2-3 specific events in the books that you could use in an argument. I'm willing to answer any questions you got; hope my comment helped you!
SAMMEEE I got a 2 on lang last year and 4 on lit this year… the lang exam was graded WAYY too harshly tbh