Free-response practice
English Literature free-response questions
Free-response questions (FRQs) are the part of the AP® English Literature and Composition exam where you write your own answers. Here they're grouped the way the exam uses them. Write your answer, then score it yourself with the rubric and a model answer, or sign in for free AI scoring.
18 questions · 3 types
Poetry analysis
You read one poem and write an essay analyzing how the poet uses literary elements and techniques to develop a complex idea the prompt names. You need a defensible thesis, specific evidence from the poem, and commentary explaining how it supports your reading.
On the exam: Free-response question 1 of 3 in Section II (3 essays in 2 hours, 55% of the exam score); about 40 minutes suggested; 6 points: thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1. Plan on about 40 minutes for one.
Unit 2
Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush": hope at the century's end
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 2
Dunbar's "Sympathy": what the caged bird's song means
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 5
McKay's "The Tropics in New York": a shop window and a memory
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 5
Millay's "What lips my lips have kissed": forgetting and loss
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 8
Crane's "War Is Kind": comfort that accuses
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 8
Rossetti's "Up-Hill": a journey in questions and answers
6 points · about 40 minutes
Prose fiction analysis
You read a passage of fiction (it may be drama) and write an essay analyzing how the author uses literary elements and techniques to portray something complex, often a character's attitude or a relationship. You need a defensible thesis, specific evidence from the passage, and commentary explaining it.
On the exam: Free-response question 2 of 3 in Section II (3 essays in 2 hours, 55% of the exam score); about 40 minutes suggested; 6 points: thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1. Plan on about 40 minutes for one.
Unit 1
Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper": a wife's private journal
6 points · about 40 minutes
Units 1 and 4
Jewett's "A White Heron": a girl, the woods and the town
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 4
Mansfield's "Miss Brill": watching the crowd
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 7
Joyce's "Eveline": deciding to leave home
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 6
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: a narrator who reserves judgment
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 3
Glaspell's Trifles: what the kitchen means
6 points · about 40 minutes
Literary argument
You get a literary idea, such as a conflict between old and new, and pick a novel, story or play you know well, from your own reading or a list of about 40 works. Then you write an essay arguing how that idea contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole, without just summarizing the plot.
On the exam: Free-response question 3 of 3 in Section II (3 essays in 2 hours, 55% of the exam score); about 40 minutes suggested; 6 points: thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1. Plan on about 40 minutes for one.
Units 6 and 9
A foil: two characters, two different choices
6 points · about 40 minutes
Units 3 and 9
Torn between obligation and desire
6 points · about 40 minutes
Units 3 and 6
An object whose meaning changes
6 points · about 40 minutes
Unit 9
An ending that leaves questions open
6 points · about 40 minutes
Units 3 and 6
A character against a society's expectations
6 points · about 40 minutes
Units 6 and 9
Misjudging another person
6 points · about 40 minutes