AP Essay Questions

The three most important qualities of a good AP essay:

It answers all the parts of the question fully and accurately. Organize your essay according to the parts of the question and address each in turn.

It is supported with specific evidence. However, don’t quote long passages (use line numbers or paraphrase) and don’t give a detailed plot summary. The exam readers have already read all the works you will discuss.

It is well written. The essay should be well organized. Introduction and conclusion can be short. Avoid clichés and frequent spelling or grammatical errors.

In many novels, a child plays an all-important part. Choose a novel of recognized literary merit in which a child is significant and write an essay which explains how the author presents the child’s point of view and how the child’s values are related to the central themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

The conflict between an idealistic and a pragmatic, or realistic, response to life is a recurrent theme in literature. Choose a work in which such a conflict is central. Write an essay in which you analyze the reasons for the conflict and its effect upon one idealistic character and one representative of the realistic attitude.

Plays and novels frequently argue the issue of the freedom of the individual will as opposed to the controlling pressures of the environment or public world. Choose a play or novel in which this theme is prominent. Write an essay in which you discuss a character who represents this issue, analyzing the nature of the conflict, its effect upon the character, and the meaning of its resolution at the end of the work.