A 5 in Lit, but a 4 in Lang

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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1

I guess it can’t be absolutely true, but there’s a popular belief that Lit is usually harder than Lang.

With that in mind, I thought that Lang would be an easy test, since I got a 5 in Lit. Tragically I ended up with a 4…

Anyone have any guesses as to why Lang feels so difficult? (especially the MCQs… I basically butchered them.)

2

Analysis of fiction and analysis of nonfiction are two different types of writing. Much like someone might find writing stories easy and poems very difficult, it’s possible to have one type of writing come more naturally to you.

3

I don’t know if you’re still looking for an answer, but here are some thoughts.

I’m assuming you took the 2017 test. I think the Lang exam is experimenting more with research papers (more formal nonfiction writing). I had trouble with the questions regarding abbreviations because I just wasn’t expecting that. The MCQs were typical of a Lang exam, based on what I know from the practices I did in class. I guess Lang expects students to analyze a bit deeper than Lit. The essays for Lang are definitely tougher than for Lit because of that.

All that aside, congrats on your scores! You may have been disappointed with a 4 at first, but it won’t matter to you in the long run. Actually, it’s been a few months now and I doubt it matters to you that much anymore.

4

The belief that Lit is harder than Lang is false–they’re both hard, and just a little different (I’m an AP English teacher with 15 years’ experience).

5

This is not the case.

6

I think it depends on what your strengths are. I think that Lit focuses more on the analysis of the story, but Lang is more analysis of the elements and tools used to tell the story. It seems that your strength lies more in the former than the latter. It also could be that you scored a really high 4, or were just not feeling it like you did when you took the Lit exam.