Sample Questions & Scoring Guidelines
The AP English Language & Composition Exam is three hours and fifteen minutes long and consists of two sections. In Section I, students are given one hour to answer approximately 55 multiple-choice questions. In Section II, following a fifteen-minute reading period, students must answer three free-response questions within two hours. The multiple-choice questions test how well students are able to analyze the rhetoric of prose passages. Through the free-response questions students demonstrate their composition skills by writing essays in response to a variety of tasks that call for rhetorical analysis, synthesis of information sources, and argument.
You can find additional free-response questions and scoring guidelines on AP Central, along with grade distributions and examples of actual students' responses and commentary that explains why the responses received the scores they did.
Multiple-Choice Questions
For sample multiple-choice questions, refer to the Course Description.
AP English Course Description (.pdf/2.3M)
Free-Response Questions
2009 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/1.2MB)
2009 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/645K)
2008 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/269K)
2008 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/433K)
2007 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/177K)
2007 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/525K)
2006 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/75K)
2006 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/74K)
2005 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/171K)
2005 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/149K)
2004 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/81K)
2004 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/85K)
2003 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/109K)
2003 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/150K)
2002 Free-Response Questions (.pdf/174K)
2002 Form B Free-Response Questions (.pdf/177K)
Scoring Guidelines
2009 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/66K)
2009 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/50K)
2008 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/77K)
2008 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/86K)
2007 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/118K)
2007 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/107K)
2006 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/107K)
2006 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/108K)
2005 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/80K)
2005 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/80K)
2004 Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/73K)
2004 Form B Scoring Guidelines (.pdf/80K)
