Close reading of poetry, prose, and a third literary work of your own choosing.

AP English Literature and Composition asks students to write three essays in two hours: a poetry analysis, a prose fiction analysis, and a 'literary argument' on a free-choice work. The third essay is where many students underperform because they default to plot summary instead of an argument supported by specific textual evidence.

Our literary-analysis lessons build a working vocabulary of techniques (diction, syntax, imagery, point of view, structure, figurative language) and then drill the move from 'I noticed X' to 'X creates Y effect, which advances theme Z' — the rhetorical move the AP rubric most consistently rewards.