Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.
How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples
March 30, 2024
AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Boardâs Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people donât encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.
What is the AP Lit Free Response testing?
In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, âto analyzeâ literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When weâre performing literary analysis, weâre breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.
So, for example, letâs say youâre presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, youâll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. Youâll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.
AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)
But whatâs the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?
Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that youâre also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, youâre using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then youâre taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.
So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call âsophistication,â but theyâre looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.
This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicineâwhatever pursuit, you name itâutilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.
Practice Makes Perfect
Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, itâs also something you can do on your own, if youâre interested in further developing your skills.
AP Lit Prose Essay Examples
Letâs take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.
In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled âAutumn,â which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speakerâs complex response to the changing seasons.
The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.
Example Essay
Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speakerâs unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Caryâs idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.
Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speakerâs warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumnâs coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who âfrom her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.â Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to âslipâ and âstray through stubble fields.â Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer, conveying the speakerâs reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.
Summer, âshe lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hourâ, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summerâs character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of changeâthe yellow leavesâby its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, âold tunesâ. âShe lies on pillowsâ creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain âold tunes.â According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.
Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Caryâs idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. âShorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowdâ, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilightâs âclipâ and the subject, âthe days,â are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fallâemphasizing the Speakerâs perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.
She says âthe proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earthâs chilly bosom, witched with frostâ. Implying pride and defeat, and the word âwitched,â the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speakerâs perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.
The topic of this poem, Fallâa season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscapeâis juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speakerâs perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.
Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well?
When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that itâs important to âstand outâ or âbe creativeâ in your writing. However, aside from concerns about âsophistication,â which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isnât entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.
So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?
First: The Thesis
On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, âThe essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,â which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you donât need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentencesâor go right into your thesis.
What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:
- Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
- Is specific and precise in its use of language
- Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts
If youâre sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: donât.
The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: theyâre just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.
Second: Write your essay from the inside out
While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.
My best advice goes like this:
- Choose your evidence first
- Develop your commentary about the evidence
- Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.
It will seem a little counterintuitive: like youâre writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Donât come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.
Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary
Once youâve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence youâll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?
A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:
Romantic imagery
Portrayal of summer
- Woman who âfrom her golden collar⊠moans aloudâ
- Summer as bounty
Contrast with Autumn
- Autumn dismantles Summer
- âStray through stubble fieldsâ
- Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless
Recognition of change in a positive light
- Summer âlies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunesâ
- Bright imagery/fallen leaves
- Attempt to maintain old practices fails: âold tunesâ
- But! There is sympathy: âlies on pillowsâ
Speaker recognizes: she canât prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time
By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.
Then, the speaker would take the conclusions theyâve drawn and write a âmini claimâ that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isnât the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.
Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that youâve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.
Fourth: Draft your thesis
Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to âstand backâ and see what youâve drafted. Youâll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery âillustrate the speakerâs unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,â ultimately illuminating the poetâs idea âthat change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.â
This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that âconvey the speakerâs complex response to the changing seasons.â Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.
Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.
Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph
In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is âromantic imageryâ and the second is âhyperbolic imagery.â The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.
This is why itâs important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really donât have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.
Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a âmini claimâ that makes an argument about what it is youâll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.
Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.
Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion
Finally, youâll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.
In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, âUtilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speakerâs perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.â This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, youâll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!
Seventh: Sophistication
A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls âsophistication.â This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which weâve already covered in the steps above.
There are some things to avoid, however:
- Sweeping generalizations, such as, âFrom the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,â or âEveryone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.â
- Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
- Oversimplifying your interpretation
- Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.
Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.
If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Boardâs website .
Brittany Borghi
After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, sheâs held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittanyâs work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.
- 2-Year Colleges
- ADHD/LD/Autism/Executive Functioning
- Application Strategies
- Best Colleges by Major
- Best Colleges by State
- Big Picture
- Career & Personality Assessment
- College Essay
- College Search/Knowledge
- College Success
- Costs & Financial Aid
- Data Visualizations
- Dental School Admissions
- Extracurricular Activities
- Graduate School Admissions
- High School Success
- High Schools
- Homeschool Resources
- Law School Admissions
- Medical School Admissions
- Navigating the Admissions Process
- Online Learning
- Outdoor Adventure
- Private High School Spotlight
- Research Programs
- Summer Program Spotlight
- Summer Programs
- Teacher Tools
- Test Prep Provider Spotlight
âInnovative and invaluableâŠuse this book as your college lifeline.â
— Lynn O'Shaughnessy
Nationally Recognized College Expert
College Planning in Your Inbox
Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.
How to Encourage Students to Master the AP Lit Thesis
- December 1, 2021
- AP Literature , Writing
For years, I have used a Poem of the Week as part of my poetry instruction in AP Literature . Last year, because the pandemic resulted in hybrid instruction and only 50% (or fewer) of my kids were in class at a time, I wanted to be sure that I put some significant emphasis on AP Lit thesis writing.
As part of our weekly poem study, the Friday prompt became an AP-style poetry essay prompt. Students only needed to write a thesis. And early in the year, it became evident that our thesis statements needed work.
AP Literature Thesis Statements and âThe Pointâ
When the College Board came out with the new rubrics in 2019, they set aside a point that is designated for the thesis. Itâs one point and students either get it or they donât. And truthfully, it is not that hard to âgetâ the point. Students must simply âprovide a defensible interpretation in response to the promptâ which could be supported by the text (for more, see AP Central). So in other words, students must be able to find *something* in the text that they can write about beyond a summary.
Early on, I observed two things: 1. Not all AP Lit thesis statement are created equal (even if they do earn the point) and 2. Students needed help moving from making a base claim to making a strong claims that lead to better analysis later in the essay.
AP Lit Thesis Starting Points
At the beginning of the year, my kids were writing things like
- The author uses metaphors to reveal that life gives you new, and endless opportunities each and every day.
- Merriam’s use of her metaphor for a new day in “Metaphor” reveals her positive outlook on life.
- eve marriam’s use of metaphor shows that she feels that every day is new day to write your own story.
- Love can cause pain
- Lowell uses diction and figurative language to show her intimate and spiritual connection to her partner in the poem
- Through Lowell’s uses of poetic elements and techniques, she’s able to carefully convert the speaker’s complex relationship with whoever they’re addressing.
While indeed some of these would earn the thesis point, they do no convey the depth that a good, strong AP Lit thesis will. We want students to address the complexity of the text and these just donât cut it.
The Issue of Complexity
So the first step in helping students to develop a strong thesis is to get beyond just repeating the topic with a few elements of authorâs craft thrown in. They have to be sure that they are fully addressing the complexity of the topic highlighted by the task.
The first set of thesis statements above go with Eve Merriamâs poem âMetaphor.â This is my favorite poem to start the school year with because it reflects where we are. Each school year is also like a ânew sheet of paper.â
We spend the week discussing the poem ( My daily prompts are available here. ) Then on Friday, I present students with the following prompt:
In Eve Merriamâs poem âMetaphorâ (1986), the speaker portrays the blankness of a new day. In a well written essay, analyze how Merriam uses poetic elements and techniques to convey the speakerâs complex attitude toward life.
And while all of the above thesis statements DO say something about her attitude toward life, none of them get to how it is complex. So the first step is to get students thinking about contrasts within the poem and other elements that help add to the depth of the text. A good way to do this might be through the Interstate, Microscope and Compass Technique from Gina at Lit and More.
APÂź Lit Literary Argument
Once students see complexity in a text, they can move into developing a more complex APÂź literature thesis statement.Â
It is also important to remind them that the College Board calls these essays âliterary argument.â And an argument is by definition something that has two sides. When we teach argument writing to our English 11 students in preparation for the New York State English Regents we encourage them to include the counterargument in their thesis. And although a literary argument doesnât necessarily have a counterargument, it should have two sides. In other words, complexity.
In these early stages, it is sometimes useful to give the students complexity starters that they can use as the basis of their thesis statements. This is a list that I provide to my students:
- even though x, y is also true
- not only j, but also k
- although d, also e
- nevertheless
- notwithstanding
- in contrast
This list along with other helpful tips on writing AP Literature Thesis Statements is included in my AP Thesis Anchor charts here .
APÂź Lit Thesis Examples
As we work through the year, thesis statements that once read âlove can cause painâ become
âEven though Edith Matilda Thomas’s poem entitled “Winter Sleep” appears to be a simplistic take about growing old she also uses poetic elements such as symbolism, diction, and parallel structure to convey a complex attitude towards aging as she looks back on her life.â
âAlthough the speaker is reflecting on the spring-like happiness of her youth, she understands that death is coming as she moves into the metaphorical winter of her life due to her old age.â
Building on Complexity
The key to helping students earn the thesis point on the AP Literature Rubric is to help them understand that they are writing a literary argument and that an argument by its very nature has two sides or two part. Then include both of those sides in your thesis.
For more help in AP Lit Writing, be sure to check out these other AP Lit Essay Writing Anchor Charts. Â
more from the blog
The Essential Question for Lesson Plans in High School English
This year, I am teaching a course I havenât taught in about fifteen years. So as I considered how I to plan for this class,
Favorite Bell Ringer Questions and Exit Tickets
As we start to think about going back to school, it is also time to think about the routines we want to establish in our
Teaching Argument through Bell Ringers
Our state exam and the APŸ Language exam both require students to write argument essays. I find that students need all the practice they can
4 Responses
- Pingback: Teaching Students How to Write Literary Analysis Paper in Six Easy Steps - The Teacher ReWrite
Is there a way to get working links. Both the link to the poem and the link to the daily prompts are both broken and give an error message when clicked.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. These links are fixed now.
- Pingback: 5 Formative Assessment Strategies for High School - McLaughlin Teaches English
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Hi, I'm Jeanmarie!
I help AP Literature and High School English teachers create engaging classrooms so that students will be prepared college and beyond.
Learn more about me and how I can help you hereÂ
Let's Connect!
Your free guide to planning a full year of AP Literature
APÂź is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product.
- Study Notes
- College Essays
AP English Notes
- Sample Essays
- Rhetorical Terms
- Bonus Knowledge
- Sample Thesis Statements
A thesis statement:
- tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
- is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
- directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
- makes a claim that others might dispute.
- is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.
Paragraph 1
In The Box Man , by Barbara Lazear Ascher, the protagonist reveals that a life of solitude need not always be lonely. Though the Box Man lives a life of solitude as a homeless wanderer, Ascher describes his “grand design” and “grandmotherly finger licking” to convince readers that their assumptions about homeless people are unfounded – and that they can live a dignified life. By describing the Box Man as “dignified” and “at ease”, Ascher paints a vivid picture of a man who chose a life a comfort and solitude and defeated loneliness by becoming his own friend.
Paragraph 2
In Upon the Burning of Our House , Anne Bradstreet ponders her unfortunate circumstances and appreciates that it was God’s will that her house burned to the ground. Bradstreet believed that every misfortune she encountered served to remind her of God’s will – in this case, she was reminded that “All is vanity” – a Biblical allusion meaning that everything in life is futile and the only worthy goal is entry into heaven. Bradstreet’s attitude is further revealed when she says “The world no longer let me love, / My hope and treasure lies above.” Bradstreet clearly feels that worldly life is fruitless; her sole concern is God.
Paragraph 3
In The Grapes of Wrath , John Steinbeck characterize the protagonist, Tom Joad, as a morally conscious person who stands up against evil. The image of Tom’s mother “slow with weariness” sitting and scraping potatoes affects Tom very much – so much that he is willing to give his life to rebel against the people who seek to harm his family. Through the use of imagery and diction, Steinbeck reveals Tom’s noble conscious and characterizes him as a rebellious – albeit rash – young man.
Paragraph 4
In the His Dark Materials Series by Philip Pullman, the setting is an essential element in the development and outcome of the plot in more ways than one. The protagonist, 11-year old Lyra Belacqua, lives in the precincts of Jordan College in Oxford growing up as an orphan among the old scholars. Her cheerful existence consisted of playing on the rooftops of the college and “waging war” with the local children. This contrasts sharply with the bright and exciting future she soon experiences after she escapes from the drudgery of college life. After escaping, Lyra begins a grand adventure, journeying to the north to meet armored bears, witches, and gyptians. The initial setting is important to the development of the plot because Lyra’s future resourcefulness and quick-wittedness in difficult situations were fine-tuned during the numerous challenges she faced as a child while fighting “wars” with the other local children. In addition, by understanding Lyra’s humble background, the reader can appreciate her future accomplishments.
You just finished Sample Thesis Statements . Nice work!
Previous Essay Next Essay
Tip: Use â â keys to navigate!
How to cite this note (MLA)
More ap english sample essays.
- Sample Definition Essay - "Success"
- Sample Character Analysis Essay - "Hamlet"
- Essay Tips: Style Analysis - Tone of Voice Words
- Sample Compare and Contrast Essay - "Lincoln/Douglass"
- Sample Literary Devices Essay - "Things Fall Apart"
- Sample Character Analysis Essay - "Dead Poet's Society"
- Sample Compare and Contrast Essay - "Langston Hughes"
- Sample Informative Essay - "Great War"
- Sample Literary Devices Essay - "American Scholar"
- Essay Tips: Syntax - What to Say About It
- Sample Research Paper - "The Patriot Act"
- Sample Author Analysis Essay - "Edgar Allan Poe"
- Sample Cause and Effect Essay - "Great Gatsby"
- Sample Classification Essay - "Hamilton vs. Jefferson"
- Essay Tips: 5 Ways to Improve Your Essay Scores
- Violent Video Games are Not as Harmful as Parents Make Them Seem
- Sample Letter to the Editor - "Animal Rights"
- Morality: Fate Is Not In the Eye of the Beholder
- 475,186 views (111 views per day)
- Posted 12 years ago
What are your chances of acceptance?
Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.
Your chancing factors
Extracurriculars.
How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay + Example
Do you know how to improve your profile for college applications.
See how your profile ranks among thousands of other students using CollegeVine. Calculate your chances at your dream schools and learn what areas you need to improve right now â it only takes 3 minutes and it's 100% free.
Show me what areas I need to improve
Whatâs Covered
What is the ap lit prose essay, how will ap scores affect my college chances.
AP Literature and Composition (AP Lit), not to be confused with AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang), teaches students how to develop the ability to critically read and analyze literary texts. These texts include poetry, prose, and drama. Analysis is an essential component of this course and critical for the educational development of all students when it comes to college preparation. In this course, you can expect to see an added difficulty of texts and concepts, similar to the material one would see in a college literature course.
While not as popular as AP Lang, over 380,136 students took the class in 2019. However, the course is significantly more challenging, with only 49.7% of students receiving a score of three or higher on the exam. A staggeringly low 6.2% of students received a five on the exam.Â
The AP Lit exam is similar to the AP Lang exam in format, but covers different subject areas. The first section is multiple-choice questions based on five short passages. There are 55 questions to be answered in 1 hour. The passages will include at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages and will account for 45% of your total score. All possible answer choices can be found within the text, so you donât need to come into the exam with prior knowledge of the passages to understand the work.Â
The second section contains three free-response essays to be finished in under two hours. This section accounts for 55% of the final score and includes three essay questions: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the thematic analysis essay. Typically, a five-paragraph format will suffice for this type of writing. These essays are scored holistically from one to six points.
Today we will take a look at the AP Lit prose essay and discuss tips and tricks to master this section of the exam. We will also provide an example of a well-written essay for review. Â
The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points depending on the quality of your thesis (0-1 points), evidence and commentary (0-4 points), and sophistication (0-1 points).Â
While this exam seems extremely overwhelming, considering there are a total of three free-response essays to complete, with proper time management and practiced skills, this essay is manageable and straightforward. In order to enhance the time management aspect of the test to the best of your ability, it is essential to understand the following six key concepts.
1. Have a Clear Understanding of the Prompt and the Passage
Since the prose essay is testing your ability to analyze literature and construct an evidence-based argument, the most important thing you can do is make sure you understand the passage. That being said, you only have about 40 minutes for the whole essay so you canât spend too much time reading the passage. Allot yourself 5-7 minutes to read the prompt and the passage and then another 3-5 minutes to plan your response.
As you read through the prompt and text, highlight, circle, and markup anything that stands out to you. Specifically, try to find lines in the passage that could bolster your argument since you will need to include in-text citations from the passage in your essay. Even if you donât know exactly what your argument might be, itâs still helpful to have a variety of quotes to use depending on what direction you take your essay, so take note of whatever strikes you as important. Taking the time to annotate as you read will save you a lot of time later on because you wonât need to reread the passage to find examples when you are in the middle of writing.Â
Once you have a good grasp on the passage and a solid array of quotes to choose from, you should develop a rough outline of your essay. The prompt will provide 4-5 bullets that remind you of what to include in your essay, so you can use these to structure your outline. Start with a thesis, come up with 2-3 concrete claims to support your thesis, back up each claim with 1-2 pieces of evidence from the text, and write a brief explanation of how the evidence supports the claim.
2. Start with a Brief Introduction that Includes a Clear Thesis Statement
Having a strong thesis can help you stay focused and avoid tangents while writing. By deciding the relevant information you want to hit upon in your essay up front, you can prevent wasting precious time later on. Clear theses are also important for the reader because they direct their focus to your essential arguments.Â
In other words, itâs important to make the introduction brief and compact so your thesis statement shines through. The introduction should include details from the passage, like the author and title, but donât waste too much time with extraneous details. Get to the heart of your essay as quick as possible.Â
3. Use Clear Examples to Support Your ArgumentÂ
One of the requirements AP Lit readers are looking for is your use of evidence. In order to satisfy this aspect of the rubric, you should make sure each body paragraph has at least 1-2 pieces of evidence, directly from the text, that relate to the claim that paragraph is making. Since the prose essay tests your ability to recognize and analyze literary elements and techniques, itâs often better to include smaller quotes. For example, when writing about the authorâs use of imagery or diction you might pick out specific words and quote each word separately rather than quoting a large block of text. Smaller quotes clarify exactly what stood out to you so your reader can better understand what are you saying.
Including smaller quotes also allows you to include more evidence in your essay. Be careful thoughâhaving more quotes is not necessarily better! You will showcase your strength as a writer not by the number of quotes you manage to jam into a paragraph, but by the relevance of the quotes to your argument and explanation you provide. If the details donât connect, they are merely just strings of details.
4. Discussion is Crucial to Connect Your Evidence to Your ArgumentÂ
As the previous tip explained, citing phrases and words from the passage wonât get you anywhere if you donât provide an explanation as to how your examples support the claim you are making. After each new piece of evidence is introduced, you should have a sentence or two that explains the significance of this quote to the piece as a whole.
This part of the paragraph is the âSo what?â Youâve already stated the point you are trying to get across in the topic sentence and shared the examples from the text, so now show the reader why or how this quote demonstrates an effective use of a literary technique by the author. Sometimes students can get bogged down by the discussion and lose sight of the point they are trying to make. If this happens to you while writing, take a step back and ask yourself âWhy did I include this quote? What does it contribute to the piece as a whole?â Write down your answer and you will be good to go.Â
5. Write a Brief Conclusion
While the critical part of the essay is to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs, a conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay and the last opportunity to drive home your argument. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of extra time spent in the preceding paragraphs, do not worry, as that is not fatal to your score.Â
Without repeating your thesis statement word for word, find a way to return to the thesis statement by summing up your main points. This recap reinforces the arguments stated in the previous paragraphs, while all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.
6. Donât Forget About Your Grammar
Though you will undoubtedly be pressed for time, itâs still important your essay is well-written with correct punctuating and spelling. Many students are able to write a strong thesis and include good evidence and commentary, but the final point on the rubric is for sophistication. This criteria is more holistic than the former ones which means you should have elevated thoughts and writingâno grammatical errors. While a lack of grammatical mistakes alone wonât earn you the sophistication point, it will leave the reader with a more favorable impression of you.Â
Discover your chances at hundreds of schools
Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admissionâand how to improve them.
[amp-cta id="9459"]
Here are Nine Must-have Tips and Tricks to Get a Good Score on the Prose Essay:
- Carefully read, review, and underline key instruction s in the prompt.
- Briefly outlin e what you want to cover in your essay.
- Be sure to have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.
- Include the authorâs name and title  in your introduction. Refer to characters by name.
- Quality over quantity when it comes to picking quotes! Better to have a smaller number of more detailed quotes than a large amount of vague ones.
- Fully explain how each piece of evidence supports your thesis . Â
- Focus on the literary techniques in the passage and avoid summarizing the plot.Â
- Use transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs.
- Keep your introduction and conclusion short, and donât repeat your thesis verbatim in your conclusion.
Here is an example essay from 2020 that received a perfect 6:
[1] In this passage from a 1912 novel, the narrator wistfully details his childhood crush on a girl violinist. Through a motif of the allure of musical instruments, and abundant sensory details that summon a vivid image of the event of their meeting, the reader can infer that the narrator was utterly enraptured by his obsession in the moment, and upon later reflection cannot help but feel a combination of amusement and a resummoning of the momentâs passion.Â
[2] The overwhelming abundance of hyper-specific sensory details reveals to the reader that meeting his crush must have been an intensely powerful experience to create such a vivid memory. The narrator can picture the âhalf-dim churchâ, can hear the âclear wailâ of the girlâs violin, can see âher eyes almost closingâ, can smell a âfaint but distinct fragrance.â Clearly, this moment of discovery was very impactful on the boy, because even later he can remember the experience in minute detail. However, these details may also not be entirely faithful to the original experience; they all possess a somewhat mysterious quality that shows how the narrator may be employing hyperbole to accentuate the girlâs allure. The church is âhalf-dimâ, the eyes âalmost closingâ â all the details are held within an ethereal state of halfway, which also serves to emphasize that this is all told through memory. The first paragraph also introduces the central conciet of music. The narrator was drawn to the âtones she called forthâ from her violin and wanted desperately to play her âaccompaniment.â This serves the double role of sensory imagery (with the added effect of music being a powerful aural image) and metaphor, as the accompaniment stands in for the narratorâs true desire to be coupled with his newfound crush. The musical juxtaposition between the âheaving tremor of the organâ and the âclear wailâ of her violin serves to further accentuate how the narrator percieved the girl as above all other things, as high as an angel. Clearly, the memory of his meeting his crush is a powerful one that left an indelible impact on the narrator.Â
[3] Upon reflecting on this memory and the period of obsession that followed, the narrator cannot help but feel amused at the lengths to which his younger self would go; this is communicated to the reader with some playful irony and bemused yet earnest tone. The narrator claims to have made his âfirst and last attempts at poetryâ in devotion to his crush, and jokes that he did not know to be âashamedâ at the quality of his poetry. This playful tone pokes fun at his childhood self for being an inexperienced poet, yet also acknowledges the very real passion that the poetry stemmed from. The narrator goes on to mention his âsuccessfulâ endeavor to conceal his crush from his friends and the girl; this holds an ironic tone because the narrator immediately admits that his attempts to hide it were ill-fated and all parties were very aware of his feelings. The narrator also recalls his younger self jumping to hyperbolic extremes when imagining what he would do if betrayed by his love, calling her a âheartless jadeâ to ironically play along with the memory. Despite all this irony, the narrator does also truly comprehend the depths of his past selfâs infatuation and finds it moving. The narrator begins the second paragraph with a sentence that moves urgently, emphasizing the myriad ways the boy was obsessed. He also remarks, somewhat wistfully, that the experience of having this crush âmoved [him] to a degree which now [he] can hardly think of as possible.â Clearly, upon reflection the narrator feels a combination of amusement at the silliness of his former self and wistful respect for the emotion that the crush stirred within him.Â
[4] In this passage, the narrator has a multifaceted emotional response while remembering an experience that was very impactful on him. The meaning of the work is that when we look back on our memories (especially those of intense passion), added perspective can modify or augment how those experiences make us feel
More essay examples, score sheets, and commentaries can be found at College Board .
While AP Scores help to boost your weighted GPA, or give you the option to get college credit, AP Scores donât have a strong effect on your admissions chances . However, colleges can still see your self-reported scores, so you might not want to automatically send scores to colleges if they are lower than a 3. That being said, admissions officers care far more about your grade in an AP class than your score on the exam.
Related CollegeVine Blog Posts
Lit & More
October 4, 2020 ·
Discussing Complexity in AP Lit
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources
One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is “complex,” usually paired with the word “relationship.” When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word “complex” is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are often confused. Some interpret complex writing to simply be advanced or “fancy-sounding.” Others think it has to do with the inclusion of literary elements. However, there’s one simple way to help your students understand complexity and score high on an essay.
Complexity simply means pairing two things in your analysis.
* APÂź is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website .
How it Looks in Writing
For example, take a look at the first paragraph from this released essay from the 2020 exam, which scored a 1-4-1 (a perfect score).
In this paragraph, we see the student’s claim. He or she says that the narrator, Philip Hutton, is experiencing anger and resentment as well as peace and reconciliation. This is a complex argument! This blending of different emotions makes it unique and complicated, thus the complex attitude that College Board is looking for.
So How Do I Teach Complexity To My Students?
Once you’ve grasped the concept of complexity, your students will probably still need practice in making complex claims. I recently attempted this with my AP Âź class in our discussion of Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing.”
First, I asked students to analyze the narrator’s attitude towards motherhood. After a lengthy discussion, I asked them to shout out any word they could use to describe or associate with the mother from “I Stand Here Ironing.” Then, we talked about how a complex argument would say the mother felt a sense of both guilt and pride. Or we could talk about how she shows feelings of inadequacy but also a lack of regret for her daughter’s trauma. Another wanted to talk about she seems helpless and defensive at times, but proud and assertive at others. What complex arguments!
Other Ideas for Complexity
If you’re looking for more ways to discuss complexity with your students, consider analyzing non-literary texts, such as music, movies, or art. Here are some ideas I came up with, but I’m sure there are plenty of other and better options out there too!
One of my favorite songs of the moment is “If the World Was Ending” by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels. As a mother of three kids, I don’t get to drive alone very often. However, when I do, this is one I love to jam out to.
The lyrics of this song are very relatable and easy for teenagers to understand. Essentially, both singers in the song express understanding that the other isn’t a good fit for a relationship. However, a physical desire remains. The chorus of the song is, “If the world was ending you’d come over, right?” The singers end almost every question like this with the word, “right,” showing their hesitancy and fear of looking vulnerable. I love the complexity in these lyrics. They capture the mixed emotions of desire and fear of looking vulnerable, which is one of the most relatable complex feelings.
Another example of complexity, and possibly interpretation, comes from both an art piece and a movie. One of my favorite movies is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . In one scene from that movie, Cameron looks into this famous painting while Ferris and his girlfriend make out. The message is clearly on introspection and peace, until the camera begins a gradual zoom-in on Cameron and a figure in the painting.
As the camera zooms closer into Cameron, it also zooms closer into the child in the center of the painting. If you get extremely close, it looks as though the child is screaming, presenting a new perspective to the painting. Is it simply a trick of the pointillism used in the art? Or is it a complex perspective behind the painting, that a peaceful afternoon in the park cannot be interrupted by the distraction of your screaming child? Cameron’s backstory in the movie adds to this complexity, as Cameron, too, is silently screaming throughout his whole existence.
I had a hard time picking a clip to show complexity from movies. In the end, I like this one from Jordan Peele’s Get Out , a brilliant thriller. In this scene, Chris has traveled to his girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time. Upon meeting his girlfriends’s parents and their friends, race becomes an uncomfortable barrier between Chris and almost every other character. Things move from awkward to spooky when the few other African American characters behave strangely towards Chris, almost as if they’re struggling to say something they cannot.
In this clip, Chris depicts his complex feelings of both fear and intrigue when he talks to the housekeeper. For context, the housekeeper is inhabited by another person’s brain, which has taken over her entire personality. She gravitates towards Chris because her original body, or host, is trying to find a way to warn him that his girlfriend’s family wants to lobotomize him and do the same thing to him. Chris is completely creeped out by this woman’s strange behavior, but her eerie desperation seeps out through her fake smile. Her depiction is complex, as is Chris’ curiosity and revulsion.
More on Teaching Complexity in AP Lit
Looking for more lesson plans and strategies for teaching complexity? Check out these other web pages for more information! You can also learn more about complexity, making claims, and the elusive sophistication point in my AP Âź Lit Test Prep materials , available for purchase from Teachers Pay Teachers.
Latest on Instagram
Get the Reddit app
No matter what course you are taking, we are a community that helps students earn college credit!
Good AP Lit Thesis Statements
All year Iâve been getting marks about my thesis statements. Lit thesis statements are for some reason way different than the thesis statements weâve done in the past. Sometimes I get âtoo vagueâ or âbe more specificâ or âdonât list thingsâ or... the list goes on. I can never find the sweet spot of not too vague but also not so in-depth that thereâs not enough new info left for the essay. My essay scores are typically 6s and 7s, but I did cop an 8 on my Catcher In The Rye Q3 essay.
What are some quality thesis examples?
By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .
Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app
Youâve set up two-factor authentication for this account.
Enter a 6-digit backup code
Create your username and password.
Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what youâll go by here. Choose wiselyâbecause once you get a name, you canât change it.
Reset your password
Enter your email address or username and weâll send you a link to reset your password
Check your inbox
An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account
IMAGES
COMMENTS
AP doesn't stand for agony and pain or anxiety and pressure. It stands for ANSWER THE PROMPT. Today, I show you the ONLY thesis statement you'll ever need ...
The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text.
So in other words, students must be able to find *something* in the text that they can write about beyond a summary. Early on, I observed two things: 1. Not all AP Lit thesis statement are created equal (even if they do earn the point) and 2. Students needed help moving from making a base claim to making a strong claims that lead to better ...
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself.
In AP Lit, your thesis statement should provide a clear, original, and specific claim about your chosen literary work, which your essay will then analyze and support with textual evidence. Here are a few steps you can follow to create a strong thesis statement: 1. Read the prompt carefully: Make sure you understand what the prompt is asking you ...
The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points ...
If you have looked at the new AP English rubrics, chances are you noticed that there is now a thesis point for each free response essay. This video offers ti...
The AP English Literature exam is right around the corner, which means it's time to do some last-minute preparation. With the new grading scale, essays are j...
Even though templates can be as restrictive as they are helpful, they do tend to provide writers (especially writers new to AP) with a basic "road map" of how to write an effective thesis for the AP FRQ questions. Writing Thesis Statements. 2+ LIT TOOLS the author used to get you to see what the MOWAW was. Through [his/her] use of [tool, tool ...
1. Thesis statement: Pay attention to how successful essays present a clear and concise thesis statement. The thesis should concisely answer the prompt and give a roadmap for the essay. 2. Organization: Study how the essay is organized and how the writer effectively uses transitions to guide the reader through their analysis.
AP Literature 27 August 2012 Writing Thesis Statements Thesis The structure of an AP Literature timed write thesis is the same across all prompts. 1) Explicitly name the literary work and author 2) Give brief summary and context for work 3) Answer all parts of the prompt in a succinct, precise, and synthesized statement of key ideas.
1. Introduction: Start with a hook to engage the reader. Introduce the work you'll be discussing (including the title and author). Provide any necessary context or background info. 2. Thesis statement: In a clear, concise sentence, state your overall argument or claim. This should appear towards the end of your introduction.
thesis statements, they should each have a thesis. It can be good practice for students to write a thesis statement for such texts. On the AP Exam, a clear communication of the thesis is required in the student's essays. CLE-1.O: A thesis statement may preview the line of reasoning of an argument. This is not to say
The thesis, "In Breath, the author uses a careful selection of detail and diction to convey the constant transfer of authority throughout the story, which initially fills the narrator with excitement but leads to his eager anticipation deflating," is located in the introductory paragraph.
ing to come up with a story in order to expose the man's yearning to appease his son. Evidence:Take, for example, how after the boy implores his father for a story, the father. hin, [and] scratches his ear" (5) as he attempts to satisfy his young son's desire. Analysis:The hand gesture expresses the father's want to please his son ...
The wonderful world of literary analysis. đBrowse AP Lit exam prep resources including unit reviews, big ideas, free response help, and practice questions. ...
A good AP Lit thesis⊠tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. When dealing with AP Literature, a good thesis might follow a basic formula of: "In the [story, novel, poem, excerpt, etc.] the author utilizes [probably some literary devices] to show the reader _____."
Rose, Troy's wife and Cory's mom, lets him know that he can't escape who he is, that he will forever be marked by Troy but that he can, however, be his own man. Just as Troy escaped the ...
Prose Analysis Lessons & Resources. One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is "complex," usually paired with the word "relationship.". When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word "complex" is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are ...
Definitely don't do a listing thesis, so for example. In ( book ) (author) demonstrates ( the answer to the prompt ) in order to ( theme/point of the prompt). You can also look at the thesises of past exams to see a non listing thesis to understand it.
A thesis statement is a statement of an argument that you intend to prove. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful essay and a simple retelling of facts. The thesis for an AP essay must include all parts of the question along with the position you will prove.
One way to tackle the AP Lit essay is to follow a solid structure by breaking your writing into well-organized paragraphs. Here's a tried-and-true approach: 1. Introduction: Begin your essay with a brief and clear introduction that sets the stage for your analysis. Mention the title of the work, the author, and any relevant contextual information.
Today I look at how to quickly outline your question 2 response, produce a well-developed thesis statement, and use templates to create strong topic sentence...
Grading has continued as normal in summer 2024, following the return to pre-pandemic standards last year. Overall A level results are similar to summer 2023.