AP English Literature flashcards
AP English Literature · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Multiple-choice section length
- 55 questions to be answered in 60 minutes, based on passages of prose fiction, prose nonfiction, and poetry, with some sets pairing two passages for comparison.
- Meaning questions
- The largest category of multiple-choice items, asking what a phrase, sentence, or passage literally or figuratively conveys within its context.
- Function question
- An item asking what a specific sentence, paragraph, or stanza accomplishes in the passage, such as introducing a contrast or complicating an earlier claim.
- Vocabulary in context
- A question type testing the meaning of a word as it is used in the passage, which may differ from the word's most familiar dictionary definition.
- Speaker versus poet
- The voice constructed within a poem, which may differ in attitude, knowledge, or identity from the actual author of the work.
- Narrator versus author
- The teller of a prose narrative, whose limited perspective or bias is a feature of the text rather than a report of the author's own views.
- Tone question
- An item asking for the speaker's or narrator's attitude, answered by the single adjective best supported by diction, syntax, and imagery in the passage.
- Structural shift
- A turn in argument, tone, or focus, often marked by a conjunction, a stanza break, or a change in verb tense or imagery.
- Paired passage strategy
- Answer items about each passage individually before tackling comparison items, since comparison answers must be supported by both texts.
- Eliminating extreme choices
- Options using absolutes such as always, never, or completely are frequently wrong when the passage supports only a qualified or partial claim.
- Diction analysis
- Examination of word choice and connotation, used to support claims about tone, characterization, and theme in both multiple-choice and essay responses.
- Imagery
- Descriptive language appealing to the senses, analyzed for what it suggests about setting, mood, or a speaker's emotional state.
- Figurative language
- Non-literal devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, and metonymy, identified and then interpreted for the comparison they create.
- Syntax
- Sentence structure, including length, parallelism, and punctuation, which can convey pace, emphasis, or a character's state of mind.
- Point of view
- The narrative perspective, such as first person, third-person limited, or omniscient, which controls what information the reader receives.
- Free-response section length
- Three essays written in 120 minutes, typically about 40 minutes each, covering poetry analysis, prose fiction analysis, and an open question.
- Poetry analysis prompt
- Question 1 supplies a poem and asks how a specified technique or theme works in it; the response must address that instruction directly.
- Prose analysis prompt
- Question 2 supplies a prose excerpt and asks how a named element, such as character, setting, or point of view, contributes to meaning.
- Open question
- Question 3 names a literary concept and asks the student to apply it to a work of recognized literary merit chosen by the student.
- Defensible thesis
- A claim about meaning that a reasonable reader could dispute, as opposed to a summary or statement of fact, and that governs the whole essay.
- Holistic scoring
- Essays are rated 0-6 as a whole rather than by separate points for grammar, evidence, or organization; the top range requires thesis, evidence, and commentary.
- Commentary
- Explanation that links a quoted or paraphrased detail to the essay's thesis, showing how the evidence supports the claim about meaning.
- Evidence selection
- Choosing brief, precise quotations or close paraphrases that bear directly on the thesis, rather than long block quotations or plot summary.
- Avoiding plot summary
- On the open question, the reader already knows the work, so the essay should analyze how the concept operates rather than retell events.
- Naming work and author
- The open question requires identifying the title and author of the chosen work; omitting either weakens the response and can lower the score.
- Line of reasoning
- The sequence of claims and evidence that builds the argument paragraph by paragraph, each paragraph advancing rather than repeating the thesis.
- Complexity in thesis
- Acknowledging tension, contradiction, or qualification in the text produces a stronger thesis than a single flat assertion about the work.
- Volta
- A turn in a poem's argument or tone, often at a sonnet's ninth line or a stanza break, which analysis should locate and interpret.
- Characterization
- The construction of a character through description, action, dialogue, and others' reactions, analyzed for what it reveals about theme.
- Setting analysis
- Interpreting time and place as more than backdrop, showing how setting shapes conflict, mood, or a character's possibilities.
- Symbol
- A concrete object or image that carries meaning beyond itself, effective in analysis when tied to specific textual details rather than asserted generally.
- Conclusion strategy
- Ending by extending the thesis to its implications rather than restating it, avoiding new evidence that the body paragraphs did not develop.