Analytical Portion

The Free Response Essay of the AP English Exam calls for the student to choose a work of literature and use it to connect to the essay question.

These questions often call for examples of literary elements that writers utilize. The student is required not only to identify the elements, but to explain why they are important to the story as a whole, why the author made that particular choice, and how they are pertinent to the essay question at hand.

Let's take a look at what kind of literary elements are most important for this essay. Of course, since you do not have the book in front of you during the test, it would be difficult to pinpoint specific elements such as metaphors, imagery, syntax, and diction. These are elements that would be better discussed with direct quotes to support your point in context. Therefore, it is it wiser to focus on broader literary elements, such as the following:

1. Irony (The Kite Runner, The Importance of Being Earnest)

2. Humor (The Importance of Being Earnest)

3. Point of View (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

4. Attitude

5. Satire

6. Tone

These literary elements are more general, and do not require exact details to be  remembered from the book that you are writing about. For example, even without the book in front of you, you could easily recall the irony in The Importance of Being Earnest, like the fact that Ernest thought he had been lying his whole life, yet as it turned out, he had unknowingly been telling the truth.