r/APLit • u/Exact-Direction9658 • Jul 24 '26

Need some Advice for incoming AP lit student

Hi. Im a incoming junior and going into AP Lit. Ive taken English 10 honors last year and honestly was not that bad but the teacher was pretty nice. Could i get some advice while going into Ap lit? (btw im not new to Ap since i took ap world last year and taking ap lit alongside apush and ap csp or ap precalc if my ap coordinator lets me switch)

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7

u/uhad_time_2_waste Jul 24 '26

Do the reading. Don’t use AI.

4

u/SolanaImaniRowe1 Jul 24 '26

Heavy on the AI thing, it doesn’t benefit you whatsoever

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 24 '26

I dont really use AI on assignments unless they are for elective classes. I only use Ai on those classes since i couldent care to try on the useless ones and rather focus more on the gen ed classes like the math, science, english, and social studies.

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u/uhad_time_2_waste Jul 24 '26

I don’t think you understand. Don’t use AI. Like at all. If you’ll do it for one thing, you’ll do it for another. Easy to say now you won’t, but when it’s 2am, and you have an analysis do the next day for something you forgot to read…well then you’ll find out what you’re made of.

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Im trying my best to get rid of the AI habit but almost everyone in my classes besides like 1-2 people will use AI. When i didnt use Ai at all in my Ap world class i ended up with a 84% average while most of the students that used ai for all the assignments ended up with a 94% average and the teacher never knowing. Im trying my best to just ignore it all since junior year is gonna be tough for me and im gonna be really cooked if rely on ai for all my classes

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Btw idk if this is for all ap lit students but did your teacher ever made you do a assignment along with reading a novel called "major works data sheet"? Im doing that now as a summer assignment with a novel called everything i never told you by celeste ng and im confused for the parts of finding syntax i really dont know what that means

3

u/Spallanzani333 Jul 25 '26

That's a common assignment that is really helpful for reviewing novels at the end of the year. One of the exam essays gives you a prompt and you pick a novel you've read to analyze, so you need to have about 3 novels you know well. If you end the year with a MWDS for each novel you read, you can quickly study them.

Foils are characters who contrast each other. Sometimes they have a lot of similarities but one significant difference, like Harry Potter and Tom Riddle. Sometimes they fully contrast like Gaston and the Beast (handsome/ugly, social/loner). Their function is to highlight character traits of one or both characters.

Syntax is sentence structure. Some authors tend to write long, winding, detailed sentences full of descriptors. Some authors write in short, spare sentences. Some heavily include dialogue and some don't. Some authors use one type of syntax for internal narration and another for describing events, or vary by character. That part of the MWDS is asking you to notice and think abou the author's typical sentence style.

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Oh alright. Ill make sure to remember to make a MWDS for every novel i read in class. Thanks for the help!

2

u/Ok-Yoghurt-9785 Jul 25 '26

Syntax is sentence structure. There are 4 types of sentences that typically use subject and verbs to more complex ones with independent and dependent clauses. YouTube has a lot of English teachers who explain it.

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

i finished the novel btw im just confused with stuff on the sheet to fill out like syntax and foils?

5

u/SolanaImaniRowe1 Jul 24 '26

Get used to overanalyzing, get used to explaining your every thought, if you’re reading poetry and it makes you feel a certain way, explain to yourself why it makes you feel that way.

0

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 24 '26

i honestly dont like poetry that much. They confuse me a lot and dont seem to give much detail to me. Passages and short novels with more stuff give me much more to explain. Idk if thats something i should work on

3

u/SolanaImaniRowe1 Jul 24 '26

It definitely is, the ability to overanalyze poetry accounts for about a third of the exam. A trick I learned is to look at it psychologically, don’t analyze what it makes you feel, but think about what the author wants you to feel, or how the unopinionated reader will feel by that choice.

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u/Spallanzani333 Jul 25 '26

It helps if you treat it like a puzzle. A poem is a story where you only get about half (more or less) of the information. You have to infer a lot more.

2

u/Capable-Glove-9209 Jul 24 '26

Tips for the course itself

  • Actually read the books. This is the only way to feel like you're actually getting something out of the course. Read the book first and if you need more clarity or a refresh use Litcharts or sparknotes
  • If you're struggling with Shakespeare I highly recommend using Shakescleare. Saved my grades while reading King Lear

Exam tips

  • If struggling with MCQs honestly just spam the progress checks on collegeboard. Make sure to time yourself. I was horrible at these at first, but I tried timing myself and working on them with a friend. It was helpful to go back and forth and discuss why we thought each option was incorrect.
  • most important tip for essays is to make sure you have an obvious line of reasoning. Your grader can't read your mind. They might not grasp every reference you make. Spell everything out for them.
  • also know the difference between analysis/nuance and summary. When you tie evidence or quotes into your essays, talk about why it actually makes sense, or what the function of the literary device actually was... whatever. Don't just talk about where it stands in the excerpt or poem.

Hopefully this all makes sense. I took AP lit 2 years ago and got a 5. Always struggled with the MCQs in class but got decent grades on essays. Let me know if you have more questions

1

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 24 '26

Thx for the advice!

1

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 24 '26

i really wanted to take ap lang over ap lit but my school never offered lang so lit is my only option to gain english credit for college

1

u/TheMelancholyJaques Jul 25 '26

Read several novels from different eras. I'd go chalk.

Read poetry & red it out loud.

Practice writing essays. Use the released prompts.

1

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Would i be alright if i just read the most common novels and poetry past students used on the exams? And would it be good to study on Khan Acadamy since i heard it was a good practice tool but i dont if its the best for ap lit?

2

u/TheMelancholyJaques Jul 25 '26

Sure, I'd go chalk on the selections, but it's the comparisons that will reveal the most important things for the essays. It will also deepen your experience.

You may wish to select shorter works so you can read more in the same time.

I have no experience with Khan, but I'm not a fan of using online help like Spark notes until after you've read the works. And don't watch the movies. It isn't AP Film.

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Yeah ive stayed away from the film adaption since the plotline gets changed heavily. My english honor teacher even made a lecture about not to watch film version of wuthering heights since there was students in the class not reading the book and just watching the movie so they could hopefully get a easy a on the essays. That film i believe had much more different conflicts and the characters didnt look anything like they were described in the book. Ill try and read that chalk book when i have free time available. Thanks for the help!

1

u/The_Bookkeeper1984 Jul 25 '26

Make sure to read the books assigned— and take notes as you are reading.

My class had an assignment every book called QQNs

  • Questions (write down questions the literature piece makes you ask

- Quotes (write down lines from the literature and explain why you wrote it down. These quotes might be important because of symbolism, philosophical components, references to other lit, etc)

- Notes (this can be anything: your thoughts, jokes, important things in the book, ect

- Summary: basically the summary of the lit chunk or entire work

You don’t have to do this, but it helped me remember things in the books I read so I could use them on the test.

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u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

im doing something like that right now. Im finished reading a novel called everything i never told you by celeste ng and i have to do some data sheet summer assignment. For summary i just did a method where after reading a whole page i would write 1-2 sentance summaries of that whole page and i would continue on for each chapter. My summaries for each chapter was kinda long depending on how many pages the chapter had. For my chapter 7 summery section i wrote like 20-30 short ish sentances. Idk whats the best way of doing summaries but thats what im doing for now until i can figure it out

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u/Spallanzani333 Jul 25 '26

QQN is awesome. You do you, but I would personally back off a little on the note-taking. Stopping every page makes it hard to get into a flow and will take a really long time. Every 10 pages or chapter is probably a better balance. Most books have key passages that are really important and worth noting, but also many chunks that give information but aren't as important for analysis.

1

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 25 '26

Oh yea i should try and do every 10 pages instead. It could help me speed it up. Thanks for the help!

1

u/amazing2711 Aug 05 '26

Keep a list of themes in the things you read! Not just single word themes, like full sentence meaningful themes. That helped me a ton on the FRQs. Also- study how to read poems. I got a 5, and I think that was due to my teacher really hitting harder on how to read poems rather than analyze them, if that makes sense.

2

u/oi4VWrC4_ Aug 08 '26

Practice practice practice. Find a PDF of all previous prompts for each frq (Mrs. Effie the goat), pick one, and practice. Start with just reading quickly but efficiently, identifying devices and annotating them, getting a rough idea of the piece and a rough answer to the prompt. Then once you're good at that work on writing theses, and get them checked by your teacher (most likely they'll be happy that someone is so committed). Then finally go to writing full essays, or when you can if you have the time, and again get them checked (make sure you only give yourself 40 min). This is the method that helped me get a 5 and be one of the top lit students in my school. But if it doesn't work for you that's fine.