If you’re looking to maximize your score on the 2024 AP® English Language exam, the FAQs listed below will put you on the path to success. Read below and be confident that you’re ready to crush the AP® English Language and Composition exam.
What We Review
Is AP® English Language Easy? What Can Make It Hard?
The AP® English Language exam is considered average in terms of its difficulty level. This exam has a slightly lower-than-average passing rate but has a higher passing rate than many other reading and writing-intensive courses.
For the most recent exam cycle in 2023, the AP® English Language exam had a passing rate of 56.1% and a mean score of 2.82 (source). These numbers show that passing the AP® English Language exam is harder than average.
Over the last few years, the AP® English Language exam has hovered in the mid-50% range regarding passing rates.
The AP® English Language exam is by far the most popular AP® exam for students to take. Over the last three years, this exam has averaged ~550,000 test-takers every year. The popularity of this exam may explain the relatively low passing rate, as there is likely a wide variety in the level of academic performance and exam preparedness among the test takers.
The AP® English Language course covers eight skill categories. Knowing how these skill categories are weighted on the exam can be very useful in determining how to study for the exam. Most of them are weighted at 11-14% of the exam, except for two.
“Skill Category 3: Claims and Evidence – Reading” and “Skill Category 5: Reasoning and Organization – Reading” both account for 13-16% of the exam, which is not much different than the weightings of the other sections. These weightings show that you should be generally prepared to answer questions from each skill category for this exam.
Since you’ll need to study a broad range of topics for the AP® English Language exam, knowing how many questions you need to score correctly in each section might be useful to achieve a passing grade. Albert’s AP® English Language score calculator is a great tool to help understand your likely performance.
The calculator below shows the per-section scores needed to get a 3 on this exam.
Return to the Table of Contents
Is AP® English Language Worth It?
Our research has uncovered many benefits to taking the AP® English Language exam. As a soon-to-be college student, passing the AP® English Language exam can give you some much-needed confidence to handle the academic rigors of college classes. This higher confidence level might help you jump into your first college semester without fear of failure.
You may also see some benefits when applying to colleges. Admissions counselors like to see AP® courses on your high school transcript. It shows them that you have approached your academics earnestly and that you are prepared for college. While AP® courses do not typically factor into the college admissions formula, they could lend weight when other factors may be equal.
Of course, the most well-known benefit of taking the AP® English Language exam is to gain college credit. Students have been known to graduate high school with a full semester of college credit under their belt.
This opens up many different possibilities. You can choose to graduate early or explore a minor or double major. Either way, the flexibility and potential savings cannot be ignored.
You can review the chart below to see how passing the AP® English Language exam could translate into college savings. Each college handles AP® course credit differently, so you should check with the college of your choice before assessing the financial savings available to you.
| School | Minimum Score Required | Number of Credits | Estimated Tuition Savings |
| Duke University | 4 | 1 course | $5,404 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 5 | 9 | $6,786 |
| University of Chicago | 5 | 100 units toward general elective credit | $5,541 |
| George Washington University | 4 | 3 | $4,704 |
| Northwestern University | 5 | 2 | $12,836 |
| University of Alabama | 4 | 6 | $8,340 |
| Texas A & M | 3 | 3 | $3,429 |
Any one of the benefits outlined above would make it worth your time to take the exam. Once you combine all of these benefits, it is clear that taking the AP® English Language exam is going to benefit you as a student.
Return to the Table of Contents
When is the 2024 AP® English Language Exam? Will it be a digital exam?
The 2024 AP® English Language and Composition exam will take place on:
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 8am local time
Schools can take the 2024 AP® English Language and Composition exam as a traditional paper-and-pencil test or as an in-school digital exam on computers. More information on the digital option is available here.
You should check with your teacher and AP® Coordinator to know if you’ll take a paper-and-pencil or digital version.
Curious about when other AP® exams are happening in 2024? View or download the complete AP® exam schedule here.
Return to the Table of Contents
Start your AP® English Language test prep here
When do AP® English Language scores typically come out?
According to the latest update from the College Board exam season timeline, students will receive their AP® scores in July 2024. Historically, the College Board typically releases AP® scores early in the month of July.
You can access your AP® scores online with your College Board account username and password.
Return to the Table of Contents
How is AP® English Language Scored? What’s The Weighting of Different Questions?
The AP® English Language exam is scored according to the breakdown in the chart below:
| Section | Questions | Time | % of Exam Score |
| 1: Multiple Choice | 45 questions | 1 hour | 45% |
| 2: Free Response | 3 questions | 2 hours and 15 minutes | 55% |
The AP® English Language exam was updated beginning in the 2020 exam year — these changes remain in place for the 2024 exam year.
- The number of multiple choice questions has been reduced to 45, while the time limit remains one hour.
- In addition, the multiple choice questions in the 2019 exam were grouped into 4 sets based entirely on lengthy reading passages. Now, the questions are grouped in 5 sets and will be based on shorter reading passages. The multiple-choice portion will consist of 23-25 reading questions and 20-22 writing questions.
- The free-response portion consists of three questions that will need to be answered in 2 hours and 15 minutes. The questions will consist of one synthesis question, one rhetorical analysis question, and one argument question. The exam uses analytic rubrics.
Knowing how the course skill categories are weighted in the exam can be really useful in planning your study strategy. The chart below outlines these weightings. If you want to know how these weightings impact the exam score, you can view this using Albert’s free AP® English Language exam score calculator.
| Units | Exam Weighting |
| Skill Category 1: Rhetorical Situation – Reading | 11-14% |
| Skill Category 2: Rhetorical Situation – Writing | 11-14% |
| Skill Category 3: Claims and Evidence – Reading | 13-16% |
| Skill Category 4: Claims and Evidence – Writing | 11-14% |
| Skill Category 5: Reasoning and Organization – Reading | 13-16% |
| Skill Category 6: Reasoning and Organization – Writing | 11-14% |
| Skill Category 7: Style – Reading | 11-14% |
| Skill Category 8: Style – Writing | 11-14% |
Return to the Table of Contents
What Happens If You Fail the AP® English Language Exam?
While failing the AP® English Language exam is unpleasant, it will not entirely derail your academic future. There are several ways to make sure the impact of failing the exam is minimal.
First and foremost, you can take the AP® English Language exam as many times as you want. You can retake it if you failed it on a previous attempt or even if you would like to try for a higher score. Just remember that every time you take the exam, you must pay the fee.
Failing the AP® English Language exam won’t really impact your GPA. Your high school will base your course grade on the coursework and exams you took during the academic year. Your AP® exam grade won’t be part of that calculation.
Unless you retake the exam, you cannot use your failing AP® English Language exam grade for college credit. Any score lower than 3 (and at some schools, a 4 or 5) is typically not recognized for credit by most colleges.
The most important thing to remember is that you have control over who sees your AP® exam scores. If you failed or scored lower than you wanted, you can choose not to submit that score to colleges. If you retake the exam and score higher, you can substitute that score.
Start your AP® English Language test prep here
When Do Students Typically Take AP® English Language? When is Best?
Most schools offer AP® English Language to students in their junior or senior years. However, the course requires no prerequisites, so if your school allows it, you could take it in an earlier year.
According to our research, many students who take AP® English Language first take an Honors English class in order to be better prepared for the rigors of AP® English Language.
AP® English Language is a writing-intensive course, so you will be most successful if you wait to take it until you have acquired some experience with the mechanics of essay writing and are comfortable crafting a written argument.
Students who take AP® English Language often take it prior to taking AP® English Literature. The typical timing is to take AP® English Language during the junior year and AP® English Literature during the senior year.
You will want to consider these factors as well as your academic goals beyond high school to decide if and when you should take AP® English Language. Seeking advice from teachers, guidance counselors, and your parents can also provide valuable insight to help you decide.
Return to the Table of Contents
Where Can I Find Past AP® English Language Exams?
The College Board’s AP® Central website houses past AP® English Language FRQs dating back to 1999.
These past exams include access to prior free-response questions. Reviewing these past questions will be extremely helpful in studying for this year’s exam. The actual questions you get will not be the same as last year, but they will likely cover the same concepts and require the same techniques and applications.
The free-response questions for AP® English Language for the last five years can be found below:
- 2023 AP® English Language Free-Response Questions
- 2022 AP® English Language Free-Response Questions
- 2021 AP® English Language Free-Response Questions
- 2019 AP® English Language Free-Response Questions
- 2018 AP® English Language Free-Response Questions
While the free-response portion of the exam is important, be sure not to neglect to study for the multiple-choice portion. The AP® English Language Course and Exam Description includes a small set of practice multiple choice questions, but their coverage is limited.
You can find more AP® English Language multiple choice practice questions at the Albert AP® English Language website. These questions have been written to cover all of the skill categories that are covered in this year’s exam.
You can find a wealth of useful information on the College Board’s website. Looking at the information they have provided for past exams can help prepare you for this year’s exam. You should allocate time in your study schedule to review all of the resources listed below.
- AP® English Language Scoring Guidelines 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2019
- AP® English Language Chief Reader Reports 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2019
- AP® English Language Scoring Reports 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2019
You can use the Scoring Guidelines report to view the scoring rubric for past exam questions. This rubric will let you see what elements should have been included for a strong essay. While the questions for this year’s exam will be different, they will likely draw on the elements and concepts from past years.
You should spend some time reading through all of the Chief Reader reports for the last 3-5 years. These reports provide expert analysis of all of the answers to past questions as a group. The Chief Reader identifies trends where large groups of students missed the mark and highlights the elements that indicated a strong answer.
A recent Chief Reader report noted that students had a tendency to summarize rather than analyze. They also noted that students tended to write about larger issues covered in the passage without analyzing the passage itself. Understanding these shortcomings can help ensure you are prepared to overcome them when you take the exam.
If you want extra practice on either the free-response or multiple-choice sections of the exam, you can visit Albert’s AP® English Language exam practice page. There you will find hundreds of multiple-choice questions as well as sample free-response prompts that can help you maximize your AP® English Language exam score.
Return to the Table of Contents
Start your AP® English Language test prep here
Who Should Take AP® English Language? What Sort of Students May Like It More Than Others?
AP® English Language can benefit any student wishing to go on to college. All colleges require students to take at least one English course in college. Taking AP® English Language can allow you to skip this requirement or position you to do well in higher-level English classes.
If you don’t plan to major in a reading or writing-intensive major, you can happily use your college credit from AP® English Language to move past that requirement. If you plan to major in something more humanities-based, AP® English Language can provide you with a solid foundation that will allow you to excel in future reading and writing-based college courses.
The AP® English Language course overview can provide you with additional information on what to expect when taking this course. The course will teach you how to write an analytical or argumentative essay, analyze nonfiction texts, and understand writers’ thought processes as they compose their writing.
In determining if AP® English Language is right for you, you may also want to review the passing rates for the exam. In 2019, this exam had a passing rate of 54.3% which is only slightly below the average for all AP® exams. If scoring a 4 or 5 is your goal, you’ll want to note that 28.1% of those who took this exam in 2019 scored a 4 or a 5 on the exam.
The decision to take AP® English Language should be based on your academic goals, interests, and strengths. If you feel that you can do well in the course and that the content will be engaging to you, you should take AP® English Language.
How Do Students Typically Score on AP® English Language? What’s the Score Distribution?
Students who take the AP® English Language exam tend to have an average chance of passing the exam with a score of 3 or better. This exam has the highest number of test-takers per year, so it stands to reason that some would be under-prepared for the exam, resulting in a higher percentage of lower scores. You can review the breakdown of scores for the last three years below.
| Year | % of 5s | % of 4s | % of 3s | % of 2s | % of 1s | Pass Rate % |
| 2023 | 10.3% | 19.7% | 26.1% | 29.5% | 14.4% | 56.1% |
| 2022 | 10.4% | 21.1% | 24.2% | 29.8% | 14.5% | 55.7% |
| 2021 | 9.1% | 22.9% | 25.8% | 29.3% | 12.9% | 57.7% |
| 2020 | 12.5% | 20.4% | 29.1% | 26.2% | 11.8% | 62.0% |
| 2019 | 9.9% | 18.2% | 26.2% | 31.2% | 14.5% | 54.3% |
| 2018 | 10.6% | 17.7% | 28.8% | 29.3% | 13.5% | 57.2% |
| 2017 | 9.1% | 18.3% | 27.7% | 30.7% | 14.2% | 55.0% |
The passing rate for the AP® English Language exam has hovered above 55% consistently for the last three years. It is the most popular AP® exam, with an average of ~570,000 test takers every year. Given the large pool of test takers, these statistics can be viewed with a high level of reliability.
The AP® English Language exam had a mean score of 2.82 in 2023, based on a total of 562,328 students who took this exam.
Need Help Preparing For Your AP® English Language Exam?
Albert has hundreds of AP® English Language practice multiple-choice questions, free-response questions, and full-length practice exams to try out.
Start your AP® English Language test prep here
