how is ap literature course different than the ap language courses?

by Miss Leonora Hoeger 5 min read

The main difference between the two courses is that AP Literature focuses mostly on analyzing literature and poetry, while AP Language has a much broader scope. AP English Language and Composition teaches you to deconstruct arguments and rhetorical strategies in mostly non-fiction works.Dec 18, 2021

What is the difference between AP Language and literature?

AP English Language is equivalent to an introductory, college-level literary analysis course. AP English Literature focuses more on analyzing works of fiction, such as poetry, short stories, novels, or plays.Dec 16, 2021

Is AP Literature harder than AP Language?

Many students ask me whether the AP Language test or the AP Literature test is harder. Different students may find different tests harder, but in general, the AP Literature test is harder.Aug 15, 2016

Is AP Lit the same as AP Lang?

AP Lit requires you to read longer literary works, while AP Lang focuses on shorter works of various genres. AP Lit will have you working on modes of literary analysis you'll probably find more familiar, while AP Lang will introduce you to the study of rhetoric.Feb 10, 2021

Should I take AP Literature?

A: Absolutely! Most students who take AP English don't go on to major in English. However, reading and writing well are skills you will use in nearly all college courses, not to mention organizational skills and time management. Students who take AP courses tend to perform better in college regardless of their major.

What does AP Literature count for in college?

The literature course is primarily focused on college-level literary analysis, and students who do well on the AP English Literature exam will often earn college credit for composition or literature.Jul 3, 2019

What is the hardest AP class?

AP Physics 1 is considered one of the hardest AP classes, covering topics like Newtonian mechanics and electrical charge and force. Students also spend about 25% of their class time performing college-level lab experiments and writing reports.Aug 31, 2021

What is the easiest AP class?

The Three Easiest AP ClassesAP Psychology. With a reputation as one of the easiest AP classes, it comes as no surprise that AP Psychology is also one of the most popular—288,511 students took the exam in 2021. ... AP Comparative Government and Politics. ... AP Environmental Science.Jan 24, 2022

What is the hardest AP physics class?

The hardest AP course is AP Physics 1. This advanced course has a 51.6% pass rate; almost 50% of students fail, and only 8.8% score a perfect 5. The course covers college-level instruction on electrical charge, force, and Newtonian mechanics.Jan 14, 2022

What is the difference between AP language and AP literature?

However, the AP Language course covers a wider range of material and is centered on rhetoric, while the AP literature course centers around fiction and poetry and is narrower in focus.

What is AP literature?

In the AP Literature course, students are required to read, write, and think about literary works and poetry, considering questions such as character development, theme, structure, and the use of literary devices. There’s a bit more reading to do in an AP Literature course, generally speaking. Expect to read a variety of novels, short stories, ...

What are the questions asked in AP Literature?

The AP Literature essay questions are as follows: first, you will analyze a poem. In addition to theme, it’s important to understand questions of form, content, imagery, symbolism, rhetorical and literary devices, etc. Next, you’ll analyze a work of prose.

What is AP language?

The AP Language and Composition course is chiefly centered around nonfiction works–essays, articles, memoirs, and the like. Students taking AP Language will be asked to consider questions of rhetoric, structure, and argument in a variety of texts. The course asks students to do a fair amount of writing on these subjects. The essay questions on the AP Language exam aim to test your facility in close reading, comprehension, and analyzing an argument. The synthesis essay question requires you to consider several sources and draw upon those sources to formulate an argument of your own, while the rhetorical analysis essay asks you to read a text and consider how the author builds his or her argument by using rhetorical devices. There is also an argumentative essay task on the AP Language test.

What is the second section of AP Literature?

On both exams, the second section is the essay section , which accounts for the remaining 55% of your score.

How long does it take to write an essay for AP?

On both the AP Language test and the AP literature test, you must complete 3 essays in 2 hours (the test suggests you spend approximately 40 minutes working on each essay.)

What grade do you take AP language and composition?

Typically, AP Language and Composition and AP Literature are offered as a sequence. Most commonly, students take AP Language and Composition in their 11th grade (junior) year, then move on to take AP Literature in their 12th grade (senior) year. This is not always the case, though, so check your high school’s specific policy and course requirements. In general, AP Language and Composition is taken by a more diverse array of students, while AP Literature is popular with students who will go on to major in English or the arts and humanities. Of course, plenty of future physics majors like to challenge themselves with AP Literature as well!

What is AP English Literature and Composition?

The AP ® English Literature and Composition course teaches the basics of college-level literary analysis and close reading. You will dive deep into texts and be challenged to think about literature deeply and critically. In the course, you will learn topics such as:

Do AP classes give you more homework?

Most AP ® classes assign harder readings and require more homework every night. Make sure you are ready to make that kind of academic commitment. Both courses can give you an educational advantage, help you earn credit in college, and prepare you for the type of reading and writing you’ll do in college.

Is the AP English Language Exam more popular with seniors?

Another factor is that the AP ® English Language Exam is much more popular with juniors, while the AP ® English Literature Exam is more popular with seniors. It’s possible that juniors are more committed to preparing for the exam than were seniors.

What is AP English Literature?

The course content is organized into units that have been arranged in a logical sequence. This sequence has been developed through feedback from educators as well as analysis of high school and college courses and textbooks. The units in AP English Literature and Composition scaffold skills and knowledge through three genre-based, recurring units. This course framework provides a description of what students should know and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement.

What is AP English Literature and Composition?

The AP English Literature and Composition framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to read texts critically.

What is AP English?

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works.

What is the role of AP?

Higher education professionals play a key role developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education site features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.

Why is AP Spanish Literature so challenging?

First, some of the texts covered in AP Spanish Literature are several centuries old, so they often contain difficult and outdated sentence structures.

Why is AP Spanish so unique?

But there is another reason that AP Spanish is unique: It is the only AP language that spans two separate courses. Students can choose Spanish Language and Culture or Spanish Literature and Culture, provided their high school extends both options. [.

What is the focus of AP Spanish?

Generally, the primary focus of AP Spanish Language and Culture is communicative while the focus of AP Spanish Literature and Culture is literary. The former may include the study of films and music, and places more emphasis on speaking, which is an active language skill. The latter demands strong reading comprehension – a more passive language ...

How many credits do you get for AP Spanish?

Most colleges award the same number of credits for AP Spanish Language as for AP Spanish Literature. In the California State University system, for instance, a score of three or higher on either AP exam will earn students at least six college credits.

What does "culture" mean in AP Spanish?

As you may notice from the course titles – AP Spanish Language and Culture and AP Spanish Literature and Culture – both include the word “culture.” Merriam-Webster.com defines culture as "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.”

What languages does the College Board offer?

As of this summer, the College Board offers AP courses in seven different foreign languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin and Spanish. Not only is Spanish the most studied foreign language in the U.S., it is also the most popular of the AP foreign language offerings.

How to get info on AP classes?

To get info about an AP class, first talk to your guidance counselor. Ask for the class's syllabus, the class's passing rate on the AP exam for the last few years, and what other students tend to say about the class. This will give you an idea of how well-taught a class is. Your guidance counselor can also recommend good prerequisite classes and teachers.

What is the 5 rate for AP English?

The 5 rate, in fact, a decent way to spot some difficult exams, including AP English Literature and Biology. They both have very low 5 rates (9.3 for English Lit, 9.5% for Bio). But on the flip side, a relatively easy exam, AP Environmental Science, has a low 5 rate of 11.8%.

Is AP Biology more feasible?

For example, AP Biology might be more feasible your sophomore or senior year since you won't be worrying about the ACT/SAT . However, if you take it junior year, you might have a hard time balancing ACT or SAT studying with the AP Biology class.

Is AP class hard?

The class itself could be incredibly difficult (lots of assignments, reading, and hard tests)—and you should be prepared for that. However, the class could also be easy (not very many assignments, easy tests), meaning you will have to put in a lot of work on your own to be ready for the AP test.

Is AP language test easy?

For students with tons of foreign language knowledge these can be incredibly easy exams. If you've lived abroad or are fluent in a language, the AP language test will not pose much of a challenge. (Some students who are native speakers of a language will even take an AP language exam!)

Is crime and punishment harder in AP English?

Crime and Punishment is much more difficult! AP English Literature also tests more specific rhetorical/literary terms and requires you to have a more fine-tuned ability to close read a passage. You're not just looking for the overall argument or effect like you are in AP English Language.

Is AP English Literature harder than AP English Literature?

While AP English Language is also challenging, Literature requires reading texts that are generally more difficult. Compare, say, AP English Literature staple Crime and Punishment to a non-fiction article about the criminal justice system you might read in AP English Language. Crime and Punishment is much more difficult!

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Updated May 21, 2020

Due to COVID-19, 2020 both AP exams and classes are being held online. Students can access live classes and recordings on the AP YouTube Channel. Visit their website to view the daily course schedule.

Complete List of AP Classes

Let’s get started with the complete list. Here, we include all AP classes, regardless of whether or not they culminate in an AP exam.

So, Which AP Exams Are Most Popular?

For a little bit more of the bigger picture, take a look at this data from the 2018 test administrations. Here you’ll be able to see the top ten most popular AP exams, and how many students took each is nationwide.

Discover your chances at hundreds of schools

Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admission—and how to improve them.

Which AP Exams Have the Highest Pass Rates?

Some of our students are very eager to figure out which AP tests have the highest pass rates, but we provide this data only accompanied by a disclaimer. High pass rates are not the equivalent of easy tests.

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AP Language and Composition and AP Literature

Is AP Language Or AP Literature Harder?

Similarities Between AP Language and AP Literature

Differences Between AP Language and AP Literature Classes

AP Language and Composition

AP Literature

  • As I mentioned, the AP Literature exam is narrower in focus than the AP Language exam. In the AP Literature course, students are required to read, write, and think about literary works and poetry, considering questions such as character development, theme, structure, and the use of literary devices. There’s a bit more reading to do in an AP Literat...
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