For high school students who want to seem competitive on applications and prepare for their future in high school and college, figuring out the difference between Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition (AP Lang) and Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and Composition (AP Lit) is important. While each AP course is a college level course (both approved by admissions committees nationally), and while both AP courses will have relatively high expectations for the student, each AP course offers different appeals, qualities, and goals. To give students a smooth ride in navigating their way to their most academic identity through choosing an AP English class that will best represent their academic identity and future goals for college, this guide outlines differences, similarities, and topics to consider.
Curriculum and Skills: Where Do They Diverge?
AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang)
Main Emphasis: Non-fiction, including essays, speeches, journalism, memoirs, and satire.
Central Skills:
Rhetorical analysis: Evaluating how different authors create arguments to persuade an audience!
Argumentative writing: Construct claims and support them with evidence and defend them!
Synthesis: Analyze multiple sources and create an essay that integrates evidence from each source in a cohesive way!
Types of Assignments: Persuasive essays, analytical essays, synthesis essays, current events stories, and rhetorical analysis of speeches or articles.
Who might take AP Lang?
Students interested in journalism, law, communications, political science, or scientific fields.
Students who like writing and argumentation as opposed to literary interpretation.
Students who want to develop skills in analyzing non literary texts from the real world and developing logical, evidence based arguments.
AP English Literature and Composition (AP Lit)
Main Emphasis: Fictional text—novels, plays, poetry, short stories.
Main Skills:
Literary analysis: reading for themes, symbols, and literary devices.
Close reading: evaluating how writerly choices in language and structure create meaning.
Analytical essays: writing about how elements of fiction depict more profound messages.
What would I typically be doing? Analytical essays about novels and poems, character and theme analysis, interpretation of literary devices, and comparative essays.
Who should take the AP Lit?
Students interested in English, creative writing, education or humanities.
Students who are open to reading fictional and poetic texts, and drama and will investigate the deeper meanings.
Those who may want to sharpen their skills reading for critical interpretation and studying literature as a discipline.
AP Lang: Three essays: one synthesis (using multiple sources), one rhetorical analysis, and one argument essay.
AP Lit: Three essays: one poetry analysis, one prose analysis, and one literary argument about a novel/play of your choice.
Workload and Difficulty: Student Perspectives
Reading Load:
AP Literature usually has long assignments and full length novels, plays, and poems to read each night - and can feel overwhelming if you are not a strong reader or not fond of literary fiction.
AP Lang usually uses shorter nonfiction texts like essays, articles, and speeches, which many students find easier and have connections to other subjects.
Writing Demands:
AP Lang and AP Literature focus on essay writing. AP Lit tends to do more technical writing, including constructing an argument and analyzing how rhetoric functions in a text or speech.
AP Literature has the writing demands of building a nuanced argument and on the literary value of a text with references to more than one accepted text and using literary devices.
Student Experiences:
Many students find AP Lang easier to navigate, especially if they are more comfortable with writing than with reading. The real-world texts used in AP Lang and the focus on argumentation may feel "more concrete" to them and easier to comprehend.
AP Lit is more often viewed as difficult due to the interpretative aspects of literary analysis and the amount of reading. However, students who love literature may see AP Lit as more enjoyable and rewarding.
Which Course Is Harder?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution; difficulty is based on your interests and strengths. Students who are more enthusiastic about literature may self-select for AP Lit, which has a slightly higher pass rate and 5 rate statistically than AP Lang.
AP Language: A greater range of preparedness and somewhat lower average scores are the results of more students taking this exam.
AP Literature: Draws in students who are more seasoned and frequently seniors, which could increase success rates.
College Admissions: Which Looks Better?
AP Lang and AP Lit are both very favorable to colleges as they demonstrate preparedness for reading and writing at the college level. But your choice may reflect information about your interests and intended major:
Almost every major will benefit from AP Language, but especially those that demand strong argumentation, communication, or analytical writing skills.
AP Lit is especially impressive to anyone pursuing creative writing, the humanities, or English itself, as it shows sophistication in literary analysis and interpretation.
Which Should You Take? Key Questions to Ask Yourself
Do you like to analyse themes, character development, and symbolism in fiction?
Select AP Lit.
Do you like creating persuasive essays, analysing nonfiction, and writing arguments?
Select AP Language.
Are you thinking about majoring in the humanities, literature, or English?
You might have a small advantage with AP Lit.
Do fields like law, journalism, business, STEM, or the social sciences interest you?
The abilities of AP Lang are more applicable.
What time slots do you have available?
Both classes require a lot of time. Think about your other responsibilities and your ability to manage the amount of reading and writing.
What advice do your instructors or counsellors give you?
They are aware of your advantages and are able to provide tailored guidance.
Student Voices: Real-Life Experiences
“If you like writing, Lang is easier. AP Lang is a class mainly about writing analyses of choices an author makes. For many students, it seems easier because it’s more ‘rational’ than literary analysis, which for many students can often feel very interpretive and hard to grasp. In Lit, you need to focus on how elements in a narrative connect to a theme or thematic idea.”
“AP Lit focuses on novels and plays with some poetry thrown in. If you’re not a super-fast reader, it can feel like a ton of homework to get all that reading done. Lang was mostly a bunch of essays that we had to write, but I usually did them during class or at lunch which left me with no homework.”
“Lang requires that you construct two argumentative essays and analyze one argument’s effectiveness, whereas AP Lit has you analyze prose and poetry as well as writing an essay about some theme of literature.”
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