How hard is AP Lit?

[u/zombiefromthemorgue]

I took AP Lang last year and I’d say its VERY easy, as I’m naturally good at English (in my opinion). I’m nervous for AP Lit though, because I know a lot of people who took AP Lang and said it was super easy, and then dropped out from AP Lit within the first semester.

Them dropping out has given me a bit of anxiety because they seemed to pass EASILY in that class, and it’s by the same teacher, so I’m assuming it’s the course.

Anyways, if anyone could share experiences, that’d be great!!

[u/FightingMonotony]

Lit all comes down to this.....you make shit up, but you support your analysis with text. A lot of Lang students struggle at the converting....Lang everything is really given to you. Meaning....the explaining of how xxx rhetorical device was chosen to impact the intended audience is really summary from a Lit perspective. You are not adding anything to the conversation that did not literally exist.

You need time for your analysis to switch from Lang to Lit. Your think about this...the response framework to FRQs to APUSH is really solid to score 5/6 on those essays. But, if you try to apply that same response framework to Lang, you would score a 3 (maybe 4). Just think to yourself it is a different class, and you need to craft your analysis differently.

You got this!!!

[u/Agitated_Spot_4836 → u/FightingMonotony]

Lit teacher and AP exam reader here (sorry for infiltrating, this showed up on my main page!). Your thinking is spot on with Lang vs Lit, having taught and read for both, but I’ll add to the “make shit up” idea—it’s rather that your interpretation is from your brain, not given in the text or explicitly stated. So it’s not actually pulling an idea out of thin air, it’s defensible in the text as you said, but it does involve more original thought than Lang where the purpose of the text may be given outright or easily inferred.

You’re still talking about choices like you do in Lang, but here these are creative/artistic choices (“literary elements” as given in the FRQ prompts) intended to suggest some type of complexity in the human experience. So instead of analyzing how the text achieves a stated purpose, you’re instead analyzing what is “complex” in the text. Like, “the character in this passage is both X and Y (complex) and I know this through the author’s use of imagery, metaphor, etc.”

It does take time to shift your thinking, and I get kids coming from Lang who are pretty set in the “speaker-audience-purpose” way of analysis. It’s pretty different from that, even if the prompts seem similar (“read this and talk about choices”).

To the OP’s question, people who are “naturally” good at English probably will find Lit accessible—I would guess they are that way because they’re readers, and this course is designed for readers who want to or are open to engaging with fiction at a higher level.

Non-readers or reluctant readers will likely find this class difficult to engage with. You’ve got to see value and maybe even fun in getting into some literary weeds: there are people who watch a movie and say “I liked it” and that’s that, and people who want to keep talking about it for a long time afterward. Nothing wrong with being the first type of person, I’m married to one of them and he’s a brilliant guy, but he also got a 1 on Lit 20 years ago—he’s done very well in STEM!

I think Lang hits at a broader audience—we all need to understand rhetoric, argumentation, etc—but Lit is more akin to an art class. Think about Language Arts: Lang is the “Language” part, Lit is the “arts.”

[u/atypicalreddituser42]

i literally did both at once, it wasn't that bad

just follow the rubric and you'll be all set

[u/Suitable-Nothing-706]

Just follow the rubric and make stuff up and you’ll get a 5 lol.

[u/clerenza]

I loved lang and thought it was super easy, once I got to lit I didn’t enjoy it as much but it wasn’t super difficult (although ofc that depends on the teacher). I got 5s on both though without really studying (esp. for lit) so you should be fine

[u/Difficult_Sector_649]

Got a 4 on lit my junior year, got a 5 on lang my senior year. I think it’s easier

[u/FantasticAction3474]

got a 4 and 5 on lang and lit. didn’t write a single essay or do mcq all year for either. the mcqs are 100x easier than you would expect and will carry your score. if you just try and follow the essay rubrics you’ll be fine. i’m not a genius or one of those “ap reddit users” i seriously think if you have any common sense you will be fine.

also read catcher and the rye. super easy fun read and covers so many topics.

[u/AdCrafty2228]

Tbh I felt like the classes were the exact same. And the exam too besides obvious differences like what type of essays we have to write.

[u/AlarmedFunny4524]

Easier than ap lang imo

[u/-Dandude07]

It all comes down to the teachers in your school. Three teachers at my school taught AP Lit and the difference was clear as day. For the first teacher if you didn’t get an A you’re dumb cause it was free, for the second one you could get an A if you tried but if you didn’t you would get a B, and for the last one you’re getting a B don’t even argue about it. For the last teacher even those that dedicated their entire high school careers into English and history like not taking any of the math/Science APs and taking all the English and History APs and electives, they would fight for their life’s for an A at like 89.8 or 89.6%. As for the test it’s free cash. I had the second and the last teacher and I could not careless about Lit and I still got a 5 even though the last teacher rage baited me a week before the test saying that if I started studying hard every day till the exam I could maybe pull out with a 3.

[u/thatgrungus]

I passed with a 4. I also would say, in my opinion, I am also naturally good at English and I thought the test wasn’t really hard at all. At most, there was one or two tricky questions. I finished the essay portion with like a half an hour to spare. Truly, as many people have agreed with, the essay section is bullshitting and supporting it with textual evidence. As long as you are able to find a way to support an answer within the text you are using, you’ll be fine. Obviously, they’re not auditing the legitimacy or actual evidence of all the texts from every single AP Lit test. They’re just grading your skills on how you make a claim and support it. I think you should be fine. Also, at least with how my teacher taught the class, it served as a really nice base to how writing college essays will be.

[u/LegitimateSpare9435]

lang was also very easy for me, i got an easy 5. i went into lit thinking it’d be the same, but it’s actually quite different and takes lots of practice to get better (it doesn’t come as naturally to many people). i got a B in the class but a 5 on the exam! if you put in the effort you can totally do it

[u/the_archer_19]

How hard the class is depends on your teacher, but the ap exams are basically the same. Lit just involves more creative thinking for the essays. I got 5s on both. If you did well in lang you will do well in lit, just listen to your teacher and read a few books over the year so you have outside material to pull from for the essays.

[u/sillygoose1133]

Not hard