http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_questions/2002.html#name08
The first question is almost always a poetry question. In 2008 the first question asks students to analyze two sonnets in a compare-and-contrast essay. Both sonnets are quoted in full, just below the essay prompt.The second question has traditionally been an essay in response to a prose passage. The 2008 passage comes from a novel that deals with the experiences of a boy from India who stays with an American family as a foreign exchange student. Other prose passages in recent tests have come from The Crossing, a novel by Cormac McCarthy, and from The Importance of Being Earnest, the stage comedy by Oscar Wilde. (You do not need to know the whole book in order to succeed on this essay; everything you need to know lies within the quoted passage.)
The third question asks for an essay about a longer work -- a novel or play -- that you select from among works you do already know. This year's question deals with foils: contrasting characters. WHS Hon. Engl. 11 students might choose, for example, to write about Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, or about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, or about Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan.
Students and families can learn a lot about the AP Literature exam by surveying the AP Central website.
