Cracking the AP Literature Exam

Multiple Choice

It is likely that at least passage is chosen from each of the following periods:

Sixteenth or the early seventeenth century Restoration or eighteenth centuryNineteenth centuryTwentieth century

Within the Last 500 years!

Reading the Multiple Choice Passages

Pay attention to punctuation and rhythms of the lines or sentences.

Read as if you were reading the passage aloud to an audience emphasizing meaning and intent.

Hear the words in your head. Pay attention to the title, author, date of

publication, and footnotes. Look for foreshadowing. Be aware of thematic lines and details. Pay attention to enjambment and end-stopped

lines in poetry.

The Straightforward Question

The poem is an example ofThe word “smooth” refers to

The question that refers you to specific lines and asks you to draw a conclusion or to interpret.

Lines 52-57 serve to

The “all . . . except” question

These require extra time because they demand you consider every possibility.

Make inferences or abstract a concept that is not directly stated in the passage

In the poem “My Last Duchess,” the reader can infer that the speaker is

Skip if you are short on time.

Roman Numerals

In the poem, “night” refers to

I. The death of the maiden

II. A pun on Sir Lancelot’s title

III. The end of the affair

Skip if you are short on time.

Dramatic Situation Questions

SpeakerMale or femaleWhereWhenCircumstancesAudience

Structure Questions

PunctuationRepetitionsHow are stanzas 1 and 2 related to stanza

3?What word in line 20 refers back to an idea

used in lines 5, 10, and 15?Which of the following divisions of the

poem best represents its structure?

Theme questions

Which of the following best sums up the meaning of stanza 2?

With which of the following is the poem centrally concerned?

The poet rejects the notion of an indifferent universe because . . . .

Images and figures of speech questions

Expect a large number of these. Sensory objects Similes and metaphors (What is compared?) Pattern in the images To which of the following does the poet compare

his love? The images in lines 3 and 8 come from what

area of science? The figure of the rope used in line 7 is used later

in the poem in line . . . .

Single word questions

DictionWhich of the following words is used to

suggest the poet’s dislike of winter?The poet’s use of the word “air” in line 8 is

to indicate . . . .The poet’s delight in the garden is

suggested by all of the following words EXCEPT . . .

Tone questions

These do not appear frequently. The tone of the poem can best be

described as . . . .

Literary devices questions

Rhetorical devicesMetaphorSimilePersonification Which of the following literary techniques

is illustrated by the phrase “murmurous hum an buzz of the hive”?

Grammar questions

Look carefully at the context. The obvious meaning of the word is usually not

the one used in the poem. May exploit double meanings Which of the following best defines the word

“glass” as it is used in line 9? To which of the following does the word “which”

in line 7 refer? The verb “had done” may best be paraphrased

as . . . .

If no choice immediately strikes you as correct, you can

Eliminate those that are obviously wrong.Eliminate those choices that are too

narrow or too broad.Eliminate illogical choices.Eliminate answers that are synonymous.Eliminate answers that cancel each other

out.

If two answers are close, do one or the other of the following:

Find the one that is general enough to cover all aspects of the question.

Find the one that is limited enough to be the detail the question is looking for.

If time is running out and you haven’t finished the fourth selection:

Scan the remaining questions and look for:

-the shortest questions

-the questions that direct you to a specific line

Look for specific detail/definition questions.

Look for self-contained/direct questions.

Poets

Shakespeare John Donne Philip Larkin Emily Dickinson Sylvia Plath Dylan Thomas May Swenson Theodore Roethke Richard Wilbur Adrienne Rich Edmund Spencer W. H. Auden W. B. Yeats Gwendolyn Brooks Elizabeth Bishop Langston Hughes

Prose Multiple Choice

Genre questions

From what kind of work is the selection taken? (fiction or nonfiction)

Narrator questions

SpeakerAttitudes toward the characters or subjectWhoWhereWhenWhyaudience

Subject questions

Purpose

Structure questions

Determine how each part (paragraph) advances the passage as a whole.

Style questions

DictionImageryFigurative languageSyntaxRhetoric (use of words to persuade or

influence a reader)

Situation and content questions

The main subject of the passage is . . . .The primary distinction made in the first

paragraph is between . . . .According to lines 3-7, which of the

following is the chief . . . .In the third paragraph, the author is chiefly

concerned with . . . .

Meaning of words or phrases questions

As it is used in line 2, the word ---- can be best understood to mean . . . .

In line 7, the word ---- employs all of the following meanings EXCEPT . . .

The phrase ----- is best understood to mean . . . .

Diction questions

The speaker’s choice of verbs in the paragraph is to stress the . . . .

The speaker’s anger is suggested by all of the following EXCEPT . . . .

Figurative language questions

The comparison in lines 1-3 compares . . . The analogy of the second paragraph

compares . . . .The phrase ----- is best read as a

metaphor relating to . . . .The purpose of the astronomy metaphor in

line 9 is to . . . .

Structure questions

The transitions from the first to the second and the second to the third paragraph are dependent upon . . . .

The last paragraph of the passage is related to the first chiefly by . . . .

Literary techniques questions

In the third paragraph, the description of the cat on roller skates is an example

of . . . .All of the following phrases are paradoxes

EXCEPT . . . .The phrase “silent scream” is an example

of . . . .

Rhetoric questions

The rhetorical purpose of lines 1-6 is to . . . The argument of the passage can be best

described as progressing from . . . .Which of the following best describes the

function of the last sentence?The effect of shifting from the past to the

present tense in the third paragraph is . . .The happiness of the speaker is conveyed

primarily by the use of . . . .

Tone questions

The tone of the passage may be described as . . . .

In discussing ------ in the second paragraph, the speaker adopts a tone

of . . . .