AP English Literature and Composition
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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.
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[edit] The Course
This course is designated for 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. Some criticism involves the fact that students are free to use supporting or contrasting examples from any works of literature they have read, which means the readers may not have read those books themselves. This has led to discussion over whether using examples from more obscure books is recommended, so that the reader will not have a bias (or dissenting opinion) upon reading the essay. Some instructors have even suggested that students may simply make up a book or event in order to support their thesis. Also, like most other AP exams, and other standardized exams, because the grading rubric is widely available, many instructors teach to the rubric so that students will develop a formulaic essay that will blatantly hit upon each of the rubric's points, rather than encouraging free and involved analysis.
[edit] Commonly Read Novels and Major Literary Works
According to Dr. Deborah Penn, 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.
[edit] Grade Distributions
In the 2007 administration, 298,478 students took the exam from 12,238 schools. The mean score was a 2.87.
The grade distribution for 2007 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 7.0% |
| 4 | 20.9% |
| 3 | 33.3% |
| 2 | 30.2% |
| 1 | 8.7% |
