AP English Language

Rhetoric, argument, and the three essays

AP English Language & Composition is a course in how nonfiction prose persuades — and in how to write persuasively yourself. This journey walks the College Board CED end to end: the shape of the exam (45 multiple-choice questions split between reading and writing, plus three free-response essays), the rhetorical situation behind every text, how to build a defensible claim on a line of reasoning, how to name and analyze an author's rhetorical choices, and how to plan and write the synthesis, rhetorical-analysis, and argument essays under time. Master these and you can read any argument critically and answer it in writing.