AP English Literature - Learn What Score You Need

AP English Literature - Learn What Score You Need AP English Literature and Composition is one of the more popular Advanced Placement subjects. Nevertheless,  roughly 175,000 more students took the AP English Language course and exam in 2018. 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. About the AP English Literature Course and Exam The AP English Literature course covers important literary works from a range of genres, periods and cultures. Students learn close-reading and analytical skills, and they learn to identify a literary works structure, style, tone, and use of literary conventions such as imagery and figurative language.   Students in AP Literature work at becoming active readers; in other words, they learn to become thoughtful and critical readers who can analyze and appreciate the various writing strategies employed by a wide range of authors.   The course has no required reading list, and individual AP instructors are free to choose any literary works that invite a rewarding reading experience. Genres will include poetry, drama, fiction, and expository prose. Most texts will have been originally written in English and may have originated in the United States, Canada, England, Africa, India, and elsewhere. A few works- such as a Russian classic or Greek tragedy- might be read in translation. The focus of the course, however, is much more on reading and writing skills, not specific authors. On the writing front, students learn to write effective analytical essays that employ a wide-ranging and appropriate vocabulary, effective and varied sentence structures, logical organization, strategic use of both generalization and specific detail, and careful attention to rhetorical forms, voice, and tone. AP English Literature Score Information Many colleges and universities have a composition and/or literature requirement, so a high score on the AP English Literature exam will often fulfill one of these requirements. The AP English Literature and Composition test has a one-hour multiple-choice section and a two-hour free-response writing section. The score on the is based on a combination of the multiple choice section (45 percent  of score) and the free-response essay section (55 percent of score).   In 2018, 404,014 students took the exam and earned a mean score of 2.57. Close to half of those students (47.3 percent) received a score of 3 or higher indicating that they have enough mastery of the subject matter to potentially earn college credit or course placement. The distribution of scores for the AP English Literature exam is as follows: AP English Literature Score Percentiles (2018 Data) Score Number of Students Percentage of Students 5 22,826 5.6 4 58,765 14.5 3 109,700 27.2 2 145,307 36.0 1 67,416 16.7 The College Board has released preliminary score percentages for the 2019 exam. Keep in mind that these numbers may change slightly as late exams are added to the calculations. Preliminary 2019 AP English Literature Score Data Score Percentage of Students 5 6.2 4 15.9 3 28 2 34.3 1 15.6 College Credit and Course Placement for AP English Literature The table below provides some representative data from a variety of colleges and universities. This information is meant to provide a general overview of the scoring and placement information related to the AP English Literature exam. For schools not listed below, youll need to look on the colleges website or contact the appropriate Registrars office to get AP placement information. AP English Literature Scores and Placement College Score Needed Placement Credit Hamilton College 4 or 5 Placement into some 200-level courses; 2 credits for score of 5 and B- or higher in a 200-level course Grinnell College 5 ENG 120 LSU 3, 4 or 5 ENGL 1001 (3 credits) for a 3; ENGL 1001 and 2025 or 2027 or 2029 or 2123 (6 credits) for a 4; ENGL 1001, 2025 or 2027 or 2029 or 2123, and 2000 (9 credits) for a 5 Mississippi State University 3, 4 or 5 EN 1103 (3 credits) for a 3; EN 1103 and 1113 (6 credits) for a 4 or 5 Notre Dame 4 or 5 First Year Composition 13100 (3 credits) Reed College 4 or 5 1 credit; no placement Stanford University - No credit for AP English Literature Truman State University 3, 4 or 5 ENG 111 Introduction to the Short Story (3 credits) UCLA (School of Letters and Science) 3, 4 or 5 8 credits and entry writing requirement for a 3; 8 credits, entry writing requirement and English Comp Writing I requirement for a 4 or 5 Yale University 5 2 credits; ENGL 114a or b, 115a or b, 116b, 117b A Final Word on AP English Literature Keep in mind that another benefit to the successful completion of an AP Literature course is that it helps demonstrate your college readiness in a core subject area. Most of the countrys highly selective colleges and universities have  holistic admissions, and the admissions officers look not just at your GPA, but  how challenging your course work is. Colleges would much rather see you successfully complete a challenging college preparatory class in English than an easy English elective. AP Literature shows that you are taking the most advanced course possible in literature. So even at a school like Stanford that does not award any credit or placement for AP English Literature, your decision to take the class still strengthens your application. To learn more specific information about the AP English Literature exam, be sure to visit the  official College Board website.