How to write the AP Lit prose fiction analysis essay: exam skills quiz quiz

5 points

7 points

6 points

9 points

Thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1

Thesis 1, evidence and commentary 3, sophistication 2

Thesis 2, evidence and commentary 3, sophistication 1

Thesis 3, evidence and commentary 2, sophistication 1

Through a narrator who notices what the protagonist denies, the writer exposes a grief the protagonist refuses to name.

The passage is about a woman returning home.

The writer uses imagery, diction, and structure throughout.

This passage is beautifully written.

Quoting too little of the passage

Using the word 'literary' too often

Writing too many paragraphs

Summarizing the plot or labeling devices instead of analyzing meaning

Five times, memorizing it

Never; start writing immediately

Once, to save time

Twice: once for the dramatic situation, once for the writer's choices

At least eight

Every technique in the passage

Two or three lines of analysis

Exactly one

Analysis is shorter than summary

Summary retells what happens; analysis explains how the writer's choices create meaning

Summary uses quotations and analysis does not

There is no difference

It is too long

A complex character holds more than one trait or feeling, so a single-note reading cannot fully answer the prompt

It uses too many quotations

One-sided theses are against the rules

A sense of humor

Physical strength

Wealth

Order and control

A full page per detail

No commentary, just the quotation

Two to three sentences explaining what it reveals

One word naming the device

Listing more literary devices

Reading the passage's complexity or showing how the writer's choices work together

Repeating the thesis in every paragraph

Writing a much longer essay

About 8 to 10 minutes reading and planning, then about 28 to 30 minutes writing

Five minutes total

Spend the whole time annotating and never write

Write immediately with no planning