AP English Literature & Composition For Dummies »

Geraldine Woods has taught and tutored every level of English from 5th grade through AP for the past three decades. She’s the author of more than 40 books, including numerous books published by Wiley: English Grammar For Dummies, English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, Research Papers For Dummies, College Admissions Essays For Dummies, SAT I For Dummies, and Punctuation: Simplified and Applied.

Includes expert advice on annotating poems and prose!

Fine-tune reading comprehension skills with ease

Get up to speed on all the topics and themes of the AP exam in a focused, step-by-step manner. Beginning with an exam overview and ways to get the most out of an AP English class, this book has you covered. With long- and short-range planning advice, detailed chapters that discuss the four main literary genres, and two full-length practice exams complete with detailed answer explanations and scoring guides, this book helps you perfect the skills you need to get your best possible score. As a bonus, two appendixes provide a full list of teacher-recommened titles to choose from for the open-ended essay, as well as a quick grammar review to address the fundamentals of superior essay writing.

Discover how to:

• Figure out what the questions are really asking

• Maximize your score on multiple-choice questions

• Write effectively and eloquently about poetry, prose, and drama

• Prepare for paired passages and craft a clever open-ended essay

Introduction.

Part I: Hamlet Hits the Answer Grid: An Overview of the AP Lit Exam and Prep.

Chapter 1: Flying Over the AP Lit Exam: An Overview.

Chapter 2: “The Readiness Is All”: Preparing for the Exam.

Chapter 3: Getting the Most Out of English Class.

Part II: Poetry in Motion.

Chapter 4: Sorting Out Poetic Devices.

Chapter 5: Unraveling Poetic Meaning.

Chapter 6: Acing Multiple-Choice Poetry Questions.

Chapter 7: Mastering Essay Questions on Poetic Passages.

Chapter 8: Flexing Your Poetry Muscles: Practice Questions.

Part III: Getting the Story from Prose and Drama.

Chapter 9: Reading Fiction and Drama Passages.

Chapter 10: . . . And Nothing but the Truth: Reading Nonfiction Passages.

Chapter 11: Conquering Multiple-Choice Prose and Drama Questions.

Chapter 12: Writing Stellar Essays on Prose and Drama Passages.

Chapter 13: Practice Makes Perfect: Prose and Drama Questions.

Part IV: Paired Passages and the Open-Ended Essay.

Chapter 14: Free at Last: The Open-Ended Essay.

Chapter 15: Double Trouble: Paired-Passage Essays.

Part V: Dress Rehearsal: Practice Exams.

Chapter 16: Killing Three Perfectly Innocent Hours: Practice Exam 1.

Chapter 17: The Moment of Truth: Scoring Practice Exam 1.

Chapter 18: Spoiling Three More Hours: Practice Exam 2.

Chapter 19: Checking In: Scoring Practice Exam 2.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 20: Ten Mistakes That Kill Your Essay Score.

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Increase Your Know-How Without Studying.

Part VII: Appendixes.

Appendix A: Literary Works.

Appendix B: Quick Grammar Review.

Index.