Practice Exam 1: AP English Literature Study Guide

Take this as one full AP Literature simulation.

SECTION I

55 multiple-choice questions. 60 minutes. Do not check answers or use chapter notes while the section is running.

BREAK

After Section I ends, take one 10-minute break. Do not score Section I during the break.

SECTION II

3 free-response tasks. 120 minutes total. The tasks are presented in the standard order: Poetry Analysis, Prose Fiction Analysis, Literary Argument. Use one continuous 120-minute clock.

Do not view any answer key or scoring guidance until all three Section II responses are complete.

Section I: Multiple Choice

Five passage sets, 55 questions, 60 minutes. Do not check answers between sets, and do not return to Section I once Section II has begun.

Passage Set 1

From “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë (1847)

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.

I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. A breakfast-room adjoined the drawing-room: I slipped in there. It contained a bookcase: I soon possessed myself of a volume, taking care that it should be one stored with pictures. I mounted into the window-seat: gathering up my feet, I sat cross-legged, like a Turk; and, having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement.

Folds of scarlet drapery shut in my view to the right hand; to the left were the clear panes of glass, protecting, but not separating me from the drear November day. At intervals, while turning over the leaves of my book, I studied the aspect of that winter afternoon. Afar, it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near, a scene of wet lawn and storm-beat shrub, with ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast.

Question 1

The narrator's statement “I was glad of it” (paragraph 2) is best understood as

A. a statement contradicted by the narrator's later behavior in the breakfast-room.
B. a claim that the narrator has always disliked cold weather more than social exclusion.
C. evidence that the narrator resents Bessie the nurse more than the Reed family.
D. an admission that the narrator prefers isolation to the company of the Reed children.

Question 2

The parenthetical detail about Mrs. Reed dining early “when there was no company” primarily functions to

A. suggest a household routine that changes depending on who is present, hinting at performance for outsiders.
B. establish that Mrs. Reed is a careless household manager.
C. explain why the narrator was hungry during the walk.
D. foreshadow a dinner party later in the chapter.

Question 3

The phrase “shrined in double retirement” (paragraph 3) chiefly conveys

A. the narrator's religious devotion while reading.
B. a physical description of the window-seat's height above the floor.
C. the narrator's guilt at avoiding her cousins.
D. the narrator's sense of being doubly hidden, both by the curtain and by her withdrawal from the family group.

Question 4

Which best describes the function of the detail that the narrator chose a book “stored with pictures”?

A. It establishes the narrator as too young to read prose.
B. It foreshadows the narrator becoming an illustrator.
C. It indicates the book belongs to one of the Reed children.
D. It suggests the narrator's reading is driven by escape and visual pleasure, with little interest in study.

Question 5

The relationship between the narrator and Eliza, John, and Georgiana, as established in this passage, is best characterized as one of

A. physical distance mirroring social and emotional exclusion.
B. open hostility expressed through direct confrontation.
C. mutual indifference in which neither side seeks contact.
D. temporary tension that the passage resolves by its end.

Question 6

The final paragraph's division of the winter scene into what is “afar” and what is “near” primarily serves to

A. demonstrate the narrator's skill as a landscape painter.
B. mirror the narrator's own position, distant from the warmth inside yet exposed to what lies just beyond the glass.
C. suggest that the weather is improving as the passage ends.
D. contrast rural and urban settings.

Question 7

The narrator's tone in describing her physical “inferiority” to her cousins is best described as

A. self-pitying and unaware of its own bias.
B. resigned but quietly observant, registering the judgment without fully accepting it.
C. openly rebellious toward the household's standards.
D. indifferent, since the narrator does not dwell on the comparison.

Question 8

Which choice best explains the function of the window-seat and curtain as a structural device in this excerpt?

A. They symbolize the narrator's wealth relative to her cousins.
B. They represent the only warm space in the house.
C. They are described solely to establish the season.
D. They mark a shift from the narrator's forced participation in family life to a self-chosen, partial concealment.

Question 9

The detail that the narrator studied the winter scene “at intervals, while turning over the leaves of my book” suggests

A. divided attention between reading and observing the world outside.
B. complete absorption in the book, ignoring the weather entirely.
C. the narrator's boredom with both activities.
D. that the book contains descriptions of winter weather.

Question 10

The parenthetical phrase “(for the time neither quarrelling nor crying)” most strongly qualifies the statement that Mrs. Reed and her children “looked perfectly happy” by

A. marking the happiness as temporary and dependent on a brief pause in conflict.
B. proving that the children never quarrel when Mrs. Reed is present.
C. showing that the narrator has misremembered the family scene.
D. suggesting that the family is pretending for outside visitors.

Question 11

The mention of Bessie's “chidings” alongside the narrator's “physical inferiority” to her cousins chiefly functions to

A. suggest that Bessie is unrelated to the household's judgment of the narrator.
B. prove that Bessie is cruel.
C. indicate that the narrator prefers Bessie to her cousins.
D. establish two separate sources of the narrator's sense of diminishment within the household.

Question 12

The contrast between the scarlet curtain around the window-seat and the ‘drear November day’ beyond the glass chiefly functions to

A. show that the window-seat is physically uncomfortable despite its color.
B. create a boundary between a refuge the narrator constructs for herself and the bleak world she continues to observe.
C. indicate that the room has been decorated for a holiday.
D. prove that the narrator prefers indoor color to every natural landscape.

Passage Set 2

From “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw (1913)

[Covent Garden at 11.15 p.m. Torrents of heavy summer rain. Cab whistles blowing frantically in all directions. Pedestrians running for shelter into the market and under the portico of St. Paul's Church, where there are already several people, among them a lady and her daughter in evening dress. They are all peering out gloomily at the rain, except one man with his back turned to the rest, who seems wholly preoccupied with a notebook in which he is writing busily. The church clock strikes the first quarter.]

THE DAUGHTER. [in the space between the central pillars, close to the one on her left] I'm getting chilled to the bone. What can Freddy be doing all this time? He's been gone twenty minutes. THE MOTHER. [on her daughter's right] Not so long. But he ought to have got us a cab by this.

FREDDY. I tell you they're all engaged. The rain was so sudden: nobody was prepared; and everybody had to take a cab. I've been to Charing Cross one way and nearly to Ludgate Circus the other; and they were all engaged. THE MOTHER. Did you try Trafalgar Square? FREDDY. There wasn't one at Trafalgar Square. THE DAUGHTER. Did you try? FREDDY. I tried as far as Charing Cross Station. Did you expect me to walk to Hammersmith?

Question 13

The Daughter's line “I'm getting chilled to the bone” chiefly reveals

A. impatience and discomfort that will shortly be directed at Freddy.
B. a genuine physical crisis requiring immediate medical attention.
C. sympathy for Freddy's difficulty finding a cab.
D. the Daughter's wish to end the evening early.

Question 14

The Mother's response, “Not so long,” functions in this exchange to

A. correct the Daughter's account of how much time has passed.
B. side with Freddy against the Daughter's complaint.
C. mildly deflect the Daughter's complaint while still registering her own impatience with Freddy in the next line.
D. indicate that the Mother has lost track of time entirely.

Question 15

Freddy's rapid listing of locations he tried (“Charing Cross one way,” “Ludgate Circus,” “Trafalgar Square”) primarily serves to

A. prove to the audience that Freddy is lying about his efforts.
B. demonstrate Freddy's superior knowledge of the city.
C. establish the play's setting as a specific historical London.
D. convey Freddy's defensiveness under pressure from his mother and sister.

Question 16

The rhetorical question “Did you expect me to walk to Hammersmith?” is best read as

A. a sincere request for travel advice.
B. evidence that Freddy plans to abandon his family.
C. an exasperated retort that shifts blame back onto the person questioning him.
D. a joke intended to lighten the mood.

Question 17

The family dynamic suggested by this exchange is one in which

A. Freddy holds clear authority over his mother and sister.
B. all three family members share equal frustration directed outward at the weather alone.
C. the Mother and Daughter are in open conflict with each other.
D. Freddy occupies a subordinate position, expected to solve a problem outside his control while being blamed for failing.

Question 18

Which best describes the function of setting the scene during a sudden, unexpected downpour?

A. It creates a naturalistic backdrop with no bearing on character or plot.
B. It forces characters from different circumstances into proximity, a condition the wider scene depends on.
C. It is included only to establish the time of year.
D. It foreshadows a later scene set in fair weather.

Question 19

The stage direction noting the lady and her daughter are “in evening dress” chiefly serves to

A. signal their social class before any character speaks a word about it.
B. indicate the season in which the play is set.
C. suggest that they are returning from a funeral.
D. explain why they are unfamiliar with the neighborhood.

Question 20

The stage direction describing “cab whistles blowing frantically in all directions” primarily establishes

A. a scene of organized, calm transportation.
B. a celebration taking place nearby.
C. citywide chaos triggered by the sudden rain, which explains Freddy's later difficulty.
D. that the play is set during a parade.

Question 21

The Daughter's repeated question “Did you try?” after Freddy has already explained his efforts chiefly reveals

A. skepticism toward Freddy's account, adding to the pressure already established by her mother.
B. her belief that Freddy has been truthful and thorough.
C. her own willingness to search for a cab herself.
D. confusion about what Freddy was doing.

Passage Set 3

From “Eveline” by James Joyce (1914)

She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.

Few people passed. The man out of the last house passed on his way home; she heard his footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement and afterwards crunching on the cinder path before the new red houses. One time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with other people's children. Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in it—not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining roofs. Her father used often to hunt them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick; but usually little Keogh used to keep nix and call out when he saw her father coming.

She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to weigh each side of the question.

Question 22

The opening phrase ‘watching the evening invade the avenue’ chiefly functions to

A. prove that Eveline fears a literal military attack.
B. establish that the avenue becomes more crowded as night approaches.
C. give the coming darkness an encroaching quality that fits Eveline's tired, inward-looking state.
D. show that Eveline is eager to leave the window immediately.

Question 23

The ‘odour of dusty cretonne’ primarily contributes to the passage by

A. grounding Eveline's reflection in a stale, familiar domestic sensation.
B. proving that the curtains have recently been replaced.
C. showing that Eveline dislikes every object in the house.
D. identifying the season through smell alone.

Question 24

The movement from the present-day passerby to the memory of the old field chiefly shows

A. that Eveline has confused two different streets.
B. that the narrator has changed to first person.
C. how an ordinary present sound triggers a layered memory of the same neighborhood.
D. that the field still exists behind the new houses.

Question 25

The contrast between the former field and the ‘bright brick houses with shining roofs’ chiefly conveys

A. Eveline's admiration for modern construction.
B. a neighborhood changed by development, making the present street visibly different from the remembered one.
C. proof that Eveline's family owns the new houses.
D. a change from poverty to wealth in Eveline's family.

Question 26

The childhood memory of playing in the field primarily functions to

A. show that Eveline had no meaningful connection to the avenue.
B. attach the place to a shared past, complicating the idea that leaving home is only an escape from present difficulty.
C. prove that Eveline wants the field rebuilt.
D. explain why Eveline dislikes other children.

Question 27

The detail that Eveline's father chased the children with a blackthorn stick chiefly

A. introduces fear and control into a memory that might otherwise read as uncomplicated nostalgia.
B. proves that he intended to injure every child in the field.
C. functions only as comic relief.
D. shows that Eveline's father was responsible for building the new houses.

Question 28

Little Keogh's habit of keeping watch and calling out when Eveline's father approached chiefly suggests

A. that Keogh was employed by Eveline's family.
B. that the children welcomed the father's arrival.
C. that Eveline's father depended on Keogh for information.
D. a shared warning system among the children in response to an authority they anticipated and avoided.

Question 29

The phrase ‘She had consented to go away’ most strongly suggests that

A. the departure has been agreed to at the level of action, but Eveline's emotional decision is not settled.
B. Eveline has already left the avenue permanently.
C. someone is physically forcing her to leave that evening.
D. Eveline has forgotten why she planned to go.

Question 30

The short question ‘Was that wise?’ primarily marks

A. a change from Eveline's thoughts to another character's speech.
B. the narrator's judgment that leaving is clearly foolish.
C. a structural turn from memory toward active deliberation about the future.
D. a conclusion that ends Eveline's uncertainty.

Question 31

The narrative perspective is best described as

A. third person closely filtered through Eveline's sensations, memories, and uncertainty.
B. first person spoken by Eveline many years later.
C. omniscient narration with equal access to every person's thoughts.
D. objective narration that never enters Eveline's interior experience.

Question 32

The contrast between the remembered field and the present houses, together with Eveline's fatigue, chiefly creates

A. a celebration of urban growth.
B. certainty that the past was entirely happier than the present.
C. proof that Eveline's only problem is the changed neighborhood.
D. tension between attachment to a familiar past and dissatisfaction with the life attached to it.

Question 33

Taken together, the childhood play and the memory of her father's stick chiefly show that home is

A. emotionally simple because every memory points in the same direction.
B. associated with both belonging and threat, making Eveline's decision harder to reduce to a simple wish to stay or leave.
C. important only because of the physical building.
D. a place Eveline has no reason to remember.

Question 34

The excerpt as a whole primarily prepares the reader to understand Eveline's choice by

A. presenting the new houses as the only reason she wants to leave.
B. proving that she has already made an irreversible decision.
C. treating memory as irrelevant to her present life.
D. showing a familiar home layered with fatigue, change, childhood attachment, and fear just before she asks whether leaving is wise.

Passage Set 4

“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1895)

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Question 35

The pronoun “we” throughout the poem chiefly establishes

A. a single speaker addressing an unnamed individual.
B. confusion about who is speaking.
C. a collective voice, generalizing the experience described beyond any one person.
D. a dialogue between two distinct characters.

Question 36

The juxtaposition of “torn and bleeding hearts” with “we smile” in line 4 primarily conveys

A. genuine happiness masking minor irritation.
B. the speaker's confusion about their own feelings.
C. physical injury unrelated to emotional state.
D. a stark contrast between concealed suffering and its outward performance.

Question 37

The apostrophe “O great Christ” in the third stanza shifts the poem's address from

A. the speaker's community to a single friend.
B. a religious audience to a secular one.
C. the general “world” of stanza two to a direct, private appeal to a higher power.
D. the past tense to the present tense.

Question 38

The line ‘We sing, but oh the clay is vile / Beneath our feet’ chiefly extends the poem's central contrast by

A. shifting the subject to agricultural labor.
B. suggesting that outward song has ended the speakers' suffering.
C. placing an outward act of song against difficult ground beneath it, so public performance continues while pain remains.
D. identifying the speakers' exact geographic location.

Question 39

The poem's closing exclamation point after the final repetition of “We wear the mask!” chiefly differs in effect from the earlier appearances of the line by

A. intensifying the line into something closer to a declaration or cry, not a quiet statement of fact.
B. resolving the poem's tension with a note of triumph.
C. signaling that the mask has finally failed.
D. marking the line as a question.

Question 40

Which best describes the relationship between the poem's controlled, regular rhyme and its subject matter?

A. The regular form is unrelated to the poem's meaning and exists only for musicality.
B. The regular form mirrors the deliberate, effortful control the speakers exert in constructing their outward performance.
C. The regular form suggests the speakers' situation is easily resolved.
D. The regular form indicates the poem was written for children.

Question 41

The phrase “with myriad subtleties” (line 5) suggests that the mask the speakers wear is

A. a single, simple gesture requiring no skill.
B. visible only to Christ.
C. a complex, practiced performance involving many small deceptions.
D. removed at the end of each day.

Question 42

The poem's title, “We Wear the Mask,” functions primarily to

A. name a single, isolated incident described in the poem.
B. announce, before the poem begins, the controlling image the entire poem will develop.
C. mislead the reader about the poem's actual subject.
D. refer to a literal theatrical costume.

Question 43

The phrase “this debt we pay to human guile” chiefly suggests that the performance described is

A. freely chosen without any external pressure.
B. a debt literally owed in money.
C. an obligation incurred in response to a world the speakers describe as deceptive or manipulative.
D. unrelated to the speakers' interactions with others.

Question 44

The poem's recurring return to variations of a single refrain across three stanzas is best understood as an example of

A. free verse with no formal pattern.
B. a tightly patterned form whose repetition itself enacts the poem's theme of sustained, effortful performance.
C. a printing error repeated across editions.
D. a form borrowed directly from prose.

Passage Set 5

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats (1890)

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Question 45

The repetition of “I will arise and go now” at the start of stanzas one and three primarily functions to

A. frame the poem as an act of will and longing for a journey that has not yet occurred.
B. indicate that the speaker has already left for Innisfree.
C. suggest the speaker is uncertain whether to leave.
D. mark a change in the poem's setting from stanza one to stanza three.

Question 46

The detailed plans for the cabin, bean-rows, and beehive in stanza one chiefly serve to

A. prove that the speaker has visited Innisfree before.
B. ground the speaker's longing in specific, self-sufficient, almost domestic imagined labor.
C. suggest the speaker intends to farm commercially.
D. indicate that the speaker is currently living in poverty.

Question 47

The phrase “peace comes dropping slow” uses which literary technique to convey its meaning?

A. a simile comparing peace to rain
B. onomatopoeia imitating the sound of dripping water
C. an allusion to a specific religious text
D. personification, and indirectly a metaphor treating an abstract quality as a substance that falls or accumulates

Question 48

The shift in stanza three from “the roadway” and “pavements grey” to the sound of lake water primarily conveys

A. that the speaker has physically returned to Innisfree.
B. the poem's rejection of city life as morally corrupt.
C. confusion about the speaker's actual location.
D. an internal, imagined escape that persists even while the speaker remains in an urban setting.

Question 49

The final image, hearing the lake water “in the deep heart's core,” chiefly suggests that

A. the poem's setting shifts back to Innisfree for its final line.
B. the speaker has lost all memory of the lake's actual sound.
C. the speaker's longing for Innisfree has become internalized, no longer dependent on physical presence.
D. the speaker regrets ever having imagined Innisfree.

Question 50

The color images in stanza two (“a glimmer,” “a purple glow”) primarily function to

A. mark the passage of a full day at Innisfree entirely through remembered or imagined sensory detail.
B. provide scientifically accurate description of the Irish landscape.
C. suggest the speaker's uncertainty about what Innisfree actually looks like.
D. contrast with the poem's earlier auditory imagery, replacing it entirely.

Question 51

Which best describes the function of the poem's structure, in which the same yearning is expressed at both the beginning and the end?

A. It suggests the poem's argument is circular and therefore weak.
B. It reinforces that the speaker's desire for Innisfree is constant, surviving the intervening return to urban imagery.
C. It indicates two separate speakers.
D. It marks a contradiction the poem fails to resolve.

Question 52

The word “alone” in “and live alone in the bee-loud glade” is best read as conveying

A. isolation the speaker dreads.
B. a temporary state the speaker plans to end quickly.
C. solitude the speaker actively desires, consistent with the poem's larger wish for retreat.
D. loneliness imposed on the speaker against his will.

Question 53

The specificity of “nine bean-rows” chiefly conveys

A. the speaker's background as a professional farmer.
B. a precise, fully imagined plan, not a vague wish.
C. confusion about how many rows the speaker wants.
D. an allusion to a specific historical event.

Question 54

The compound coinage “bee-loud glade” primarily functions to

A. describe a place overrun with dangerous insects.
B. compress a full sensory image, sound and setting together, into a single economical phrase.
C. indicate the speaker's fear of bees.
D. suggest the glade is entirely silent.

Question 55

The poem's compact three-stanza structure, each built around a single controlling idea, primarily contributes to

A. a sense of exhaustive, encyclopedic detail about Innisfree.
B. confusion about the poem's central subject.
C. a concentrated, unhurried meditation appropriate to the poem's theme of quiet retreat.
D. a deliberately fragmented, disjointed effect.

Section II: Free Response

3 tasks | 120 minutes total

The three tasks are presented in the standard order. Keep one continuous 120-minute clock. About 40 minutes per task is a useful pacing reference, but the section is scored on the completed responses, not equal time blocks.

FRQ 1: Poetry Analysis

“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton (1673)

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

FRQ 1

Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how Milton uses poetic elements and techniques to develop the speaker’s complex response to his own limitation.

FRQ 2: Prose Fiction Analysis

From “King Lear” by William Shakespeare (1606)

KING LEAR. Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. Give me the map there. Know that we have divided In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age; Conferring them on younger strengths, while we Unburthened crawl toward death.

The princes, France and Burgundy, Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,— Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state,— Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, Our eldest-born, speak first.

GONERIL. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty; Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; As much as child e'er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

CORDELIA. [Aside] What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent.

FRQ 2

Read the following passage carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how Shakespeare uses literary elements and techniques to convey the complex dynamic that emerges among Lear and his daughters in this exchange.

FRQ 3: Literary Argument

FRQ 3

Many works of literature portray a character who must live with the consequences of a choice that cannot be undone. Choose a work of fiction in which an important character faces such consequences. In a well-written essay, analyze how the character’s response to an irreversible choice contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole.

END OF EXAM

Score this exam only after both sections are complete. The Section I answer key and Section II scoring guidance for this exam appear in the back matter, after both practice exams.