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Download free-response questions from past AP English Language & Composition exams, along with scoring guidelines, sample responses, and scoring distributions.
- 2007 Scoring Statistics
Scoring statistics for the 2007 AP English Language and...
- 2007 Scoring Statistics
Increase your exam confidence with these College Board AP® English Language and Composition past papers. Includes exam papers and mark schemes organised by year.
Question 1. (Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) The passage below is an excerpt from Jennifer Price’s recent essay “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History.”. The essay examines the popularity of the plastic pink flamingo in the 1950s.
- 6 points
- Question 3
- Thesis (0–1) points: 1
- Thesis (0–1 points): 1
- Evidence and Commentary (0–4 points): 1
Many people spend long hours trying to achieve perfection in their personal or professional lives. Similarly, people often demand perfection from others, creating expectations that may be challenging to live up to. In contrast, some people think perfection is not attainable or desirable. Write an essay that argues your position on the value of stri...
Note: Student samples are quoted verbatim and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.
The thesis, which is stated at the end of paragraph 1, takes a nuanced position on the value of striving for perfection: “While there are drawbacks to being encouraged to be perfect from a young age, perfection is something to strive for especially in one’s professional life, although there should be more room for mistakes in one’s personal life.” ...
The response makes a defensible claim in the second and third sentences of paragraph 1. This multisentence thesis distinguishes between perfection itself and the act of striving for it: “The value of perfection is none because it simply doesn’t exist. However, the act of striving for perfection holds much value.”
The evidence provided in the response is mostly general, with references to a “‘perfect person’” and the “perfect student” but with very little explanation or commentary to link the evidence to the argument (e.g., “my whole life I wanted to be the perfect student, soccer player, and daughter. Life, however, does not work that way”). Much of the com...
Question 1. The score should reflect a judgment of the quality of the essay as a whole. Students had only 40 minutes to read and write; the essay, therefore, is not a finished product and should not be judged by standards appropriate for an out-of-class assignment.
AP English Language and Composition Course Description, Effective Fall 2014 Questions 12–24. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
Jun 30, 2023 · The AP English Language Exam tests your ability to analyze a piece of writing, synthesize information, write a rhetorical essay, and create a cohesive argument. In this post, we’ll be discussing the best way to approach the argumentative essay section of the test, and we’ll give you tips and tricks so you can write a great essay.
