<p>I'm trying to compile a very small list of maybe roughly 5, 6 literary works to know extremely well for the ap lit exam in May.. For, you know, the essay or something. However, I don't exactly know which are the most "universal" for the test for me to focus on...any advice? I don't care so much about how fun or interesting the works are... Im going precisely for a practical or pragmatic purpose; I want a very deep understanding of a few highly applicable pieces rather than a shallow understanding of numerous works.</p>
<p>Heart of Darkness
The Scarlet Letter
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
The Metamorphosis
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest</p>
<p>You can check for books that have appeared multiple times with a quick google search, but here’s a decent list:
Something Shakespeare (preferably not Hamlet - more like King Lear)
Catch-22 (or another satire like Slaughterhouse-5)
Wuthering Heights (or another atmospheric piece of the same period)
A classical drama (Medea or Oedipus)
A modern drama (Death of a Salesman or something similar)
Daisy Miller or First Love (bildungsroman/character piece)</p>
<p>Don’t forget to read your poetry! :-)</p>
<p>The best advice I ever received on the AP lit test (I managed a five when I took it last year) was to read and study three books: </p>
<p>Heart of Darkness
The Great Gatsby
Brave New World</p>
<p>I honestly think you can answer 95% of the essay questions thrown at you with one of those novels.</p>
<p>If you could only pick a few, I’d recommend Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, or King Lear. My class used to joke that you could answer literally any question on the test with those.</p>
<p>I don’t recommend Heart of Darkness. It’s a widely used novel but often it results in misinterpretation on certain questions. </p>
<p>Candide (Voltaire)
The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)
The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) </p>
<p>These are easy to use novels. Not complicated at all. Very straight to the point themes and symbols. </p>