Know the Exam and Your Sticking Points

Goal: learn how the AP English Language and Composition exam works and find the skill to work on first.

Time: three sittings of about 30 minutes, one 15-minute return day, and one timed essay when you have about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Help: you can do all of this on your own or with your family. You do not need a tutor or a teacher. The Forms score your answers, the answer key explains every choice, and this module shows you how to score your own essay.

How it works: start at the top of this doc and work down in order. When you reach a line that says Stop here, you are done for that day.

Get these ready:

• Your tracker. Make your own copy the first time. Use the same copy for every module.
• The answer key. Keep it closed until a step tells you to open it.
• Your Tool Card. You will use it in every essay module.
• Paper and a pencil, or your own copy of this doc (File, then Make a copy).
• A timer.

Why it is built this way: a major review of study methods rated practice testing and spacing your study over time as the two most useful methods. It rated rereading and highlighting as low. A separate review of writing studies, mostly in younger grades, found that students who scored their own writing improved. So this module has you test yourself, come back later, and score your own work.

If you get stuck

Do these in order:

1. Read the explanation in your Form results or the answer key.
2. Open the video for that skill in Part 2.
3. Add the question to the My Mistakes tab, keep going, and try it again at your next sitting.
4. Still stuck? Post your question in the Community Stream in the Student Hub. Start your post with Q: so tutors and other students can answer it. Nobody scores essays in this kit, so ask about one specific step.

Doing this with your family

A family member does not need to know the answers. They can run the timer, read the game questions out loud, and ask, "Which words in the passage prove that?" Game 2 has a version for two players.

Try first (about 5 minutes)

Open the Try First Check. Answer all 5 questions before you read anything below. Mark how sure you are on each one. It is fine to miss some, because trying first helps you remember the answers later.

When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker.

Got 5 out of 5? Skip Part 1 and go to Part 2.

Part 1: The exam at a glance

The three essays

How each essay is scored

Each essay is scored from 0 to 6 on three rows. The words below are our own, written for practice. You can also read the official scoring rubrics from College Board.

Your plan for each essay: POWre

1. Pick apart the prompt. What does it ask you to do, and about what?
2. Organize. Split the text or your ideas into sections, in order.
3. Write and say more. Talk yourself through each choice as you write.
4. revise. Check your essay against the three scoring rows.
5. edit. Swap weak verbs for accurate ones.

Your plan for each multiple-choice question

1. Identify. What is this question asking me to do?
2. Prove. What must be true for an answer to be correct? Where is the proof?
3. Eliminate. Which choices fail? If any part of a choice is wrong, the whole choice is wrong.

See the plan on one question

Question. Senator Margaret Chase Smith said this in a 1950 Senate speech: "Mr. President, I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American." Repeating "I speak as" mainly serves to

• A) show that she is unsure what to say next
• B) present several sources of her standing to speak
• C) list the jobs she held before she entered the Senate
• D) thank the senators who share her background

Your turn: which choices fail, and why? Which choice is left? Write your answer, then check the Worked Example section of the answer key.

Watch: Make a game plan for the AP Lang exam (Coach Hall Writes, about 4 minutes). The video was made for the 2026 exam. Your exam date is in the table above. It comes from an outside teacher, and some teachers use different names for the same tools.

Part 2: Common sticking points

Experienced AP teachers and test prep writers often name these as the places students get stuck. We did not find public data that ranks them, and your own results may differ, so your tracker matters most. Read the What to do column now. You do not need to open every link. Come back and open the help when a question stops you. Later modules teach each one.

Stuck on a grammar word? Open Grammar Help: Terms and Tools.

Replay Game 1 and try to beat your score.

Part 3: Practice set (about 12 minutes)

These are original practice questions, not College Board questions. Open the Practice Set and answer them there. The Form asks how sure you are on each one, scores your answers, and explains every choice. The same passage and questions are printed below for Game 3. If you prefer paper, answer them below, mark each one 1 (guess), 2 (maybe), or 3 (sure), and check them in the answer key.

Passage

Speaker: Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, a Republican and the only woman in the Senate at the time. Date and place: June 1, 1950, on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Background: Senator Joseph McCarthy, from Smith's own party, had been accusing people of being Communists, often without proof. In this speech Smith criticizes those attacks without naming him.

[1] Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration . . . .

[2] I speak as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words of bitterness and selfish political opportunism. I speak as simply as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence. I speak simply and briefly in the hope that my words will be taken to heart.

[3] Mr. President, I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American.

[4] The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.

[5] I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some real soul searching and to weigh our consciences as to the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America and the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.

Source: Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience, June 1, 1950, Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 2nd session, as printed by the U.S. Senate. This excerpt leaves out parts of the speech. Paragraph numbers are for this excerpt only.

Question 1. Which sentence explains how Smith makes her point, not only what she says?

• A) Smith says that the Senate has become a place of hate.
• B) Smith says she will speak briefly and simply.
• C) Smith repeats "I speak as" to show that her criticism comes from inside her own party and her own Senate, so listeners cannot dismiss her as an outsider.
• D) Smith talks about a serious condition in the country.

Question 2. Which verb most accurately completes this sentence? In paragraph 4, Smith ______ the way senators now debate.

• A) mentions
• B) criticizes
• C) celebrates
• D) describes

Question 3. Imagine this prompt: Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Smith makes to persuade her fellow senators to change how they behave. Which thesis would earn the Thesis point?

• A) In 1950, Margaret Chase Smith gave a speech in the Senate about fear and leadership.
• B) Smith uses repetition, word choice, and contrast in her speech.
• C) Senators should treat every American fairly, and Smith was right to say so.
• D) Smith urges her colleagues to change their conduct by speaking as one of them and by contrasting the Senate's reputation with its recent behavior.

Question 4. Which sentence uses evidence best, with short quotes inside the writer's own sentence?

• A) Smith says this: "The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world."
• B) Smith sets the Senate's "worldwide respect" against "a forum of hate," so that senators feel how far they have fallen.
• C) "But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased." This is from paragraph 4.
• D) Smith talks about respect and then about hate in paragraph 4.

Question 5. A student writes: Smith says that too much harm has been done "with irresponsible words of bitterness." Which next sentence adds the strongest commentary?

• A) This quote shows that Smith is talking about words.
• B) By blaming careless words for the harm, Smith makes her own plain style part of her argument: if careless speech caused the damage, careful speech is the first repair.
• C) Bitterness is a profound and multifaceted emotion that shapes the human condition.
• D) This proves that Smith was the greatest speaker in the history of the Senate.

Question 6. Which plan for a three-paragraph essay shows a line of reasoning, not a list?

• A) Paragraph 1: repetition. Paragraph 2: word choice. Paragraph 3: contrast.
• B) Paragraph 1: Smith earns the right to speak by naming her roles. Paragraph 2: With that standing, she contrasts the Senate's reputation with its behavior. Paragraph 3: Having shown the gap, she calls on senators to examine themselves.
• C) Paragraph 1: Smith's early life. Paragraph 2: Senator McCarthy's career. Paragraph 3: what happened later in the 1950s.
• D) Paragraph 1: what Smith says first. Paragraph 2: what Smith says next. Paragraph 3: what Smith says last.

Question 7. In paragraph 2, Smith says "the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence." This statement mainly serves to

• A) show that Smith plans a long, detailed speech
• B) present plain speech as the right match for a serious issue
• C) criticize the speeches of earlier American leaders
• D) prove that eloquent speakers are always dishonest

Question 8. Suppose a speechwriter wants to add one sentence at the end of paragraph 4 to support the claim that the Senate's behavior has gotten worse. Which sentence would do that best?

• A) The Senate has often led the nation in moments of crisis.
• B) Senators serve six-year terms, which gives them time to study hard questions.
• C) In recent weeks, serious charges have been made on this floor against citizens who have no way to answer them.
• D) Some senators are better debaters than others.

Part 4: Check, explain, and fix

Read the explanation for every choice, including the questions you got right. You can find them in your Form results and in the answer key.

Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker. For each question you missed or rated 1 or 2, add a row on the My Mistakes tab. Each explanation names the sticking point to choose. Leave the Trap column blank for now, because you will learn the traps in Game 3.

Replay Game 2 and try to beat your score.

Part 5: Plan from an official prompt (about 10 minutes)

You will read one real College Board prompt and plan an essay without writing it. Look at these official files on College Board's site only. Do not paste official questions, passages, or scoring guides into AI tools, because College Board does not allow its content to be used with them.

1. Open College Board's past exam questions page. Under 2025, open Free-Response Questions, Set 2, and go to Question 2.
2. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Read the prompt and the passage.
3. Use your Tool Card. Write SOAPSTone notes. Write what the prompt asks you to do, and about what. Split the passage into its sections.
4. Write one thesis with the frame: speaker, accurate verb, purpose, by, moves.
5. Back on the same page, open the 2025 Scoring Guidelines for Set 2 and read the Thesis row for Question 2. Would your thesis earn the point? Write yes or no, and say why on the My Mistakes tab if it is no.

Exit Check (about 5 minutes)

Open the Exit Check. Answer all 5 questions without your notes. When you submit, choose View score and read why each answer is right or wrong. Write your score on the My Scores tab of your tracker. Add any question you missed to the My Mistakes tab.

4 or 5 right: you are ready for your return day. 3 or fewer right: replay Game 3 and reread Part 1 before your return day.

Set your return date. Pick a date one to two weeks from today. Write it on the Next Step tab of your tracker and on your calendar.

1. Replay the game that felt hardest.
2. Retake the Exit Check without your notes.
3. Write your score on the My Scores tab and compare it with your first try.

4 or 5 right: go to Module 2. 3 or fewer right: open the help for the questions you missed, then retake the Exit Check in a few days.

Do this any time after Sitting 3, when you have about 1 hour and 15 minutes. This essay shows you where you are starting. A low score here is useful, because it tells you what to work on.

1. Open College Board's past exam questions page. Under 2025, open Free-Response Questions, Set 1, and go to Question 2.
2. Open a blank doc. Put your phone away. Ask a family member to run the timer, or set it yourself.
3. Take 5 minutes to read and plan. Then take 40 minutes to type your essay. Stop when the timer ends, even if you are not done.
4. Score your essay on each row in the table below. Do this before you open any official file.
5. Open the 2025 Sample Responses for Question 2, Set 1. Read one high-scoring sample, one middle-scoring sample, and the scoring notes. Find the sample closest to your essay. Change your scores if the samples show you scored too high or too low.
6. Write your final row scores on the My Essays tab of your tracker. Write one fix for next time.

This score is practice feedback on one essay. It is not an official AP score, and it does not predict your exam score.

Next step: open the Next Step tab of your tracker, then open the help for your top sticking point in Part 2. Then go to Module 2.

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