AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

'Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition' (or 'AP English Literature and Composition' or 'AP Lit') is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.

Contents

The Course

Commonly Read Novels and Major Literary Works

Grade Distributions

External links

The Course

This course is designed for able and motivated students with a command of standard English, an interest in exploring and analyzing challenging classical and contemporary literature, and a desire to analyze and interpret dominant literary genres and themes. The AP Literature Course is typically offered to high school seniors. It is frequently offered the year after students take the other AP English course, AP English Language and Composition. In some schools that do not offer AP English Language, the course is offered after students successfully complete eleventh grade honors/pre-AP English. Students learn and apply methods of literary analysis and write with a variety of purposes to increase precision in expression.

Commonly Read Novels and Major Literary Works

The College Board publishes a recommended reading list, while emphasizing that it "does not mandate any particular authors or reading list." The reading list contains four major categories:

★ Poetry, ranging from the 16th century (William Shakespeare) to living poets (Seamus Heaney);

★ Drama, ranging from Greek tragedies (Aeschylus) to post-modern absurdists (Tom Stoppard);

★ Fiction – novels and short stories, from the 18th century comedies of manner of Jane Austen to the famous "Lost Generation" of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway;

★ Expository prose (essays), including Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Orwell.

Grade Distributions

In 2006, 281,111 students took the exam from 11,904 schools. The mean score was a 2.89 and the standard deviation was 1.05.
The grade distribution for 2006 was:

Score	Percent
5	7.4%
4	20.1%
3	34.3%
2	29.5%
1	8.1%

External links

★ AP English Literature and Composition at CollegeBoard.com

★ AP Central - English Literature: Example Textbook List